If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 10

Spying the neon orange sign which advertised Cheap Gas Here! Erik reluctantly removed his arm from Megan's shoulders and pulled into the decrepit gas station. At this time of night, the place was completely deserted except for the attendant. Erik looked up at the first pump: Self Serve only. He frowned as he glanced over at Megan. Could he really trust her?

Knowing what he was thinking, Megan made her face look as innocent as she could, but her fingers scrambled to put the pointed end of the paperclip into the handcuff key slot. Erik raised his fingers against her lips.

"Shhh, you don't want some kid getting hurt, now do you?"

"No," she whispered back, but her smile to herself got larger as the paperclip slid inside the slot.

"Good, sweetheart." He kissed the two fingers he'd held at her lips, then pressed them against her forehead in a peace sign. "I love you."

Watching Erik get out of the car, Megan struggled to hide what she was doing. Fingers soaking with sweat, she twisted and turned the paperclip, praying for the click. It slipped and slid about, looking for a tiny notch of metal to catch onto. When the metal caught, she almost didn't believe it. Only one wrist loosened, still, one wrist was enough. Triumph! The look on her face would have given her away immediately, but Erik was busy pumping gas and by the time he was finished, she had regained her composure. He leaned into the window.

"Can I get you anything, love?" he started to ask, but then his face twisted, "And don't ask for the obvious."

"Then I don't want anything," she replied with a toss of her hair, but droplets of sweat shook from her hands.

"Fine." Erik replied.

Mimicking shooting a gun with his fingers, he directed a warning glance at Megan before he went inside the gas station. After checking to be sure that Erik was inside, Megan, hands wet and slippery, fumbled with the handcuffs. Glancing quickly towards the gas station, she saw Erik talking to the attendant. Now or never, she told herself, as she unlocked the door. Head down, she slid out the side. Still keeping her body low, she crawled alongside the car and into the dark woods next to the gas station. Her left hand clutched the bent paperclip while she held the other cuff in her hand to keep it from jangling. She hit the woods running.

The gas attendant glanced up from his TV as Erik entered the inside of the store, and immediately looked down again. At eight bucks an hour, unless it was some hot chick wearing a micro-mini and not much else, who cared. Erik realized he'd caught a break. He handed the kid a twenty.

"It's 22.89. You owe another 2.89."

"Oh, uh just a minute," Erik fumbled through his wallet, getting more and more nervous. Every minute spent here inside was another chance that Megan would try to do something stupid. He handed the kid two ones and some change. The money slipped from his hands and fell to the floor. He reached down and handed it over,

"Crud dude, they're all wet. You got a problem or something?" The kid asked in disgust, dropping the money into the cash register.

Erik half laughed. "No, just a little nervous, I guess. I left my date waiting for me in the car." He decided this could be a good opportunity to lay a false trail, just in case. "Me and my girl are headed up to Springston."

Girl? Could be hot. The teenager decided it was worth a look. He peered out the window at Erik's car, yeah, just what he'd expected. "I don't see any girl," he said.

Erik's face froze. He looked out the window. The car was empty.

"Oh, she's probably just taking a nap in the back or something."

Shoving the money in his pocket, he headed out the door. Erik ran to the car and looked in the passenger side door. No handcuffs. No Megan. Cursing, he looked up to see the attendant watching him suspiciously from the window. Locking a smile onto his face, he leaned over to the backseat window, and pretended to talk to his sleeping girlfriend. Then with a terse wave goodbye, he got into the car and drove up the road just out of sight of the gas station. He began pounding at the steering wheel, beating it into submission. How could she? More importantly, how did she? He remembered the innocent smile Megan had given him as he'd asked if he could get her anything She'd set him up! She'd lied to him like before! But how? How had she gotten free? She was secure when he'd left her in the car. For a few moments, Erik tried to figure out exactly how Megan had escaped. Then he realized he was wasting time, so he acted. Reaching into the backseat, he pulled out the canvas bag that held his things. He rifled through it, grabbing some more rope, a flashlight and a medical kit. From the med kit, he took out a capped syringe, tapped it to be sure it was full, and slid it into his pocket. He then opened the glove compartment and took out something else. It all took less than four minutes before he was out of his car, and heading back behind the gas station, hand warm on the gun in his pocket.