Barrel

20

“You okay?” he asked gently.

Eva’s lovely stream of night-black hair had curtained her face through the aches of her passion. She sat up on her forearms and brushed it aside, giving Barrel a sweet smirk.

“Is that a serious question?” she said, panting still.

Barrel laughed, then helped her sit up. He reached across the bed for her pack and brought out a loose T-shirt and underwear that Ahmed’s wife had gifted to her.

“We should head out at dawn,” Barrel said once they had settled. “We still have far to go to meet the chopper in friendly territory.”

She was laying up on top of him, listening to his heart chime softly in his chest. She felt like they were on a romantic retreat rather than trying to evade some twisted government ruler. She knew they couldn't stay anywhere too long … or put Tyres's family in too much danger by being here when more goons showed up … and they both needed the rest. So, Eva nodded again to him, and before she knew it, she was falling into a deep slumber. She did not dream. For once, the nightmares had subsided.

Barrel woke her urgently before the sun rose the next morning, tenderly shaking her shoulders. “Time to go,” he murmured, voice tense.

Eva felt a burst of warmth move through her chest. She had slept relatively well, given the circumstances, but was still feeling sluggish as she got out of bed, searching for a bra and pants. She tried to dress as quickly as Barrel. He looked antsy. He stood at the door, peeking through the curtains with caution.

“Is everything okay?” Eva asked.

He frowned.

“There’s a place that is more secluded,” he said, still peering out the window. “It was my mother’s uncle’s when I grew up here. I think that will keep us hidden for a few days before heading to the rendezvous point.”

It was clear the tenderness of the night before was gone, and while she didn't feel like they were in immediate danger, it was clear that Barrel didn't want to wait for it to show up.

Eva had no clue where they were or how far they were from anything remotely resembling a rendezvous point. She realized that she had trusted him before, albeit tentatively, but after they had s*x in the shower, there was something else growing in her heart.

“That’s fine,” Eva said, strapping on her bra. “Did you live here your entire life?”

Barrel gazed at her, seemingly stunned by the question.

“Yes,” he said sternly, then turned back to the window. “We should get going.”

Eva was worried she had struck a nerve. She picked up her pack and followed him outside to the car. He opened the door for her, remaining ever vigilant.

She didn’t want to say anything more to him as he climbed into the driver's seat and set off into the early day. He seemed to be in stealth military mode, and perhaps, she had pulled the conversation in a direction he wasn’t ready for. But she was captivated by him, which meant she only wanted to know more.

Once they were on the road, he released a long sigh she hadn’t known he was holding. “Tyres sold us out. I heard him on the phone just now.”

Eva looked at Tyres’s keys in the ignition and then back to Barrel.

“I think, given the circumstances, I’ll be forgiven for borrowing his car.” His smile was grim. “We’ll have to find another ride soon and hotwire it in case he’s tracking this. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have trusted him. I should have known …”

“But you didn’t know.” Eva should have felt shakier, but Barrel’s competence helped her relax. She respected that Barrel had found a way out of their situation without fighting, even if a little car theft was involved.

At an open-air market, they pulled to the side of the road behind an old man getting out of an even older truck.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Grab your stuff” was all he said as he grabbed his bag and got out. She slowly stepped out of the car, watching Barrel talk to the man. The man looked at Barrel like Barrel was crazy. Then the two men shook hands, and Barrel waved her to him.

“Get in,” Barrel said, motioning her around to the passenger side.

“This truck?” she asked. “Does it even run? What are we doing?”

As Barrel pulled away in the rust bucket, the happy old man waved to them and then got into the car she had just vacated.

“Wow,” she said, “he definitely got the better deal in this trade-off.”

Barrel chuckled. “He did. But now we’re set. They won’t expect us to be in this.”

She grunted. “I didn’t expect to see us in this.”

They moved through the brightening day, initially surrounded by tall, tropical-looking trees and then eventually into an open road, surrounded by a navy blue dome of a sky.

Eva breathed in deeply, feeling a bit exposed without the forest surrounding them but slightly less claustrophobic.

“I was born and raised here,” Barrel said once they’d eased into a consistent pace. “I haven’t been here in years, of course, but everything comes back to you once you see it, you know?”

Eva nodded, resting her head against the seat. “It’s true,” she said. “Especially home.”

Barrel glanced at her, his eyes like warm chocolate in the sun. “Where did you come from?”

Eva frowned. “Like literally?” she asked.

Barrel smiled at the trail ahead of them. “I suppose that, but in general,” he said, “I guess I meant where have you been all of my life?”

Her cheeks flushed, and her heart moved like a racehorse in her chest. If he was implying what she thought he was, the sensation made her want to curl away and hide while, at the same time, joyfully screaming from the rooftops.

“Well,” she said, trying to suppress the blush in her cheeks. “If you want to be technical about it, I would tell you that I was born in a very expensive hospital to fairly wealthy parents.”

Barrel grinned and nodded as she spoke. She felt like she was speaking in a dream.

“And ever since then, I’ve lived in a world of privilege, never venturing into the world out of fear.”