school.
After driving for nearly twenty minutes, Jordan pulled into the very same parking spot she had been sitting in when Sawyer first climbed into her rig, turning her entire life on its head in the process.
Chapter 3 : Afraid To Die
Jordan let her hands drop from the steering wheel into her lap as she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths in and out to try and clear her head.
“I really am sorry I got you involved in this. I would never have done it if I hadn’t been desperate.” Sawyer’s tone was genuine. When Jordan opened her eyes again and turned her head toward him, he suddenly looked different to her. After doing this job for a few years, she had noticed that her perception of people had changed. She no longer saw them as human beings, she saw them as bodies. Within seconds of meeting someone new Jordan had learned to assess them, take notice if they favored one leg over the other, see if there hands moved with steady ease, hear how well they breathed, observe their complexions and watch their expressions for any indication of pain. She prided herself on these skills. They made her good at her job, some might even say she was working her way up to being one of the best. And there wasn’t much in this world Jordan cared about more than her work.
Only now she wasn’t working. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it definitely wasn’t going to get her back on the schedule anytime soon. And there was Sawyer. No longer the carjacker and not much of a patient either. Jordan could still see everything she saw before when she looked at him. He favored his right when he moved because of the pain in his left from where the bullet had gone through his shoulder. His breathing was steady, but louder than normal and his complexion was still unnaturally pale due to the blood loss and overall stress of the evening. While the gash on his head had stopped bleeding, the fact that he kept squinting made her fairly certain that he was still feeling the pain of the impact with her windshield, likely in the form of a headache that was border lining on a migraine at this point. But that wasn’t all she saw. For the first time she noticed that his blue eyes were laced with surprisingly long blond eyelashes. She also couldn’t help but take note of the fact that his lips twitched in the left corner of his mouth whenever he became anxious, something he tried to hide by frequently rubbing the stubble on his lower cheek and jaw with his hand. That was another thing. Normally, Jordan was less than impressed with the unshaven look. Mostly because she didn’t believe in making laziness a statement of style, but on Sawyer it didn’t look dirty, it looked downright hot.
Jordan blinked her eyes and shook her head the moment those thoughts crossed her mind. What was she doing? Was she really romanticizing this guy after he had nearly gotten her killed twice already? Why? Sure, he was attractive with his olive skin, dirty blond hair and striking blue eyes. And then there was all that lie below the neck. Jordan couldn’t deny that he was put together nicely. As she thought back, she suddenly had a flash of cutting him out of his shirt and remembered holding his muscle toned arm and shoulder as she tended to his wound. If it was any indication of what the rest of his body looked like, well, it was enough to distract a girl just thinking about it.
The sound of Sawyer groaning quietly brought Jordan back to reality in an instant. He was slowly trying to insert his bandaged arm back into what was left of the sleeve of his jacket, but the pain of the motion was working against him.
Jordan reached back into the cabin and pulled a heavy fleece blanket from under the gurney and began to drape it over him.