“You crazy, murdering, kidnapping son of a bitch! You stop this car right now and let me out, or I swear to God, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Michael interrupted, teeth clenched and knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. “You’re not going anywhere. Just calm down, sit back and relax. We’ve got a long day of driving ahead of us.”
Nikki huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She realized he was right. Unless she wanted to jump out of a moving car at 70 miles per hour, she was trapped.
“You’ll have to stop sometime. Hot chocolates and egg sandwiches aren’t going to pacify me anymore. I don’t care what Christian and Sophie said about you. I don’t care if we used to be together. I don’t care that you were my first, and maybe only. You. Are. A. Murderer.”
Michael flinched with every word, but he didn’t lash out. He didn’t fight back. He didn’t respond at all. Instead, he just put on the oldies channel and kept driving.
Nikki stared out the window, temporarily defeated but no less terrified. She tried to fight sleep. If she dozed off, it gave Michael the perfect opportunity to increase his advantage, either by getting gas, or perhaps even restraining her in some way. The last thing she wanted was to end up hog tied in the trunk. She needed an escape plan. She didn’t know much about him, really, and what she did remember was sketchy and contradictory at best.
“Wait a minute...,” Michael interrupted her thoughts. “How do you know I was your first?”
“I had a dream about it last night,” she growled at him.
Michael mouthed a silent “Oh” and nodded his head absently. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked quietly after a long pause.
“No, I don’t, as a matter of fact. I couldn’t believe a word you would tell me anyway, so why bother. For all I know, you could be feeding me suggestions in my sleep, making me dream this stuff about you so you can call it fact.” Deep down, she didn’t believe that. On the other hand, she didn’t trust him as far as she could spit.
“Fine,” he snapped back. “You want to judge me based on a 30 second news broadcast, that’s up to you. You don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine too. But let me make one thing clear to you, Nicole. Those memories are real. We were real. And whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me for the long haul. So chill the fuck out, because you’re only making this harder than it needs to be.”