And she sure as hell didn't belong with me.
We were on a road, a smaller road on the way out of town where the wind wasn’t so bad, when she looked at me. "What?" she yelled, over the white noise of the air blowing past our faces.
"What?" I repeated her question back. The wind whipped by me, my words probably caught on it.
“You’re staring,” she said.
“Sorry.” But I looked at her again anyway, then just as quickly, back at the road. I didn’t say anything else until we were out of town. I had been glancing in my rearview mirror, checking to see if we’d been followed, but it looked like the photographer was the only one interested in her, and I was sure my friends took care of him.
Not in the sleeps with the fishes kind of way, just in the significantly detoured him kind of way.
I pulled over in the parking lot of a diner outside of town, and I finally turned toward her. “You want me to take you somewhere else? You have a car back at the hotel?”
She was silent, looking straight ahead. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. “I don’t have anything to go back to,” she said. “Not right now, anyway.”
Why the hell was I so happy to hear that? It practically warmed my fucking heart. I nodded. "Well, I don't know what your story is, but I guess you're running from something."
She grinned. "You don't know who I am? Like, really?"
Her eyes were this hazel color with flecks of gold or something in them, almost like a cat. I felt like I should know who she was, this girl with eyes like that, this girl I kissed, who had me so turned on I couldn’t think straight.
"No idea," I said, and shrugged, the gesture more nonchalant than I actually felt. She had me feeling self-conscious, and I didn’t get self-conscious. Even with my fucking leg. I just wasn’t that kind of guy. But this girl was making me antsy.
She laughed. "River," she said. Like it was supposed to mean something to me. What the hell kind of name was River, anyway?
“Sorry,” I said, giving her a blank look. “Doesn’t really ring any bells.”
I couldn't tell if she was offended or pleased. “I’m an actress.”
"Yeah?" I said. "I never would have guessed, what with the photographer chasing you."
"Hey, you're the one who doesn't know who I am."
"Full of yourself, much?" I asked. "What, are you, like a Kardashian or something? Cause if you are, I'm going to have to kick your ass out of the car right now."
River shrugged. "No," she said. "But I know them."
I rolled my eyes. "Close enough. Get out of the car."
"They're actually pretty nice," she said, grinning.
"I'm not kidding at all," I said. "You can get out and wait on the side of the road until some nice trucker named Bubba picks you up."
"I could," she said. "It might be safer than being in here - how do I know you're not really a serial killer or something?"
"You don't," I said. "Keep telling me about the Kardashians, though, and you might find out."
"No trunk filled with duct tape and rope and tarp?" she asked.
"Sounds like a lot of kinky fun," I said. "But sadly, no. Sorry to disappoint. I'm not looking to chop you up into pieces. Of course, if I were, I probably wouldn't tell you."
"Well." She paused for a long moment, giving me the once over. "So you really don't know who I am, then?"
“Nope.” She seemed surprised by the fact that I wasn’t that curious, but I guess I didn’t give a shit if she was somebody famous. All right, I was kind of curious. I mean, how often in my life had I been kissed by a movie star?
The answer would be zero.
I just wasn't going to let on to her that I was curious. She didn't need to know that. I mean, hell, for all she knew I could be getting kissed by actresses all the time.
“Okay,” she said. “What’s your name, then?”
“Elias Saint.” I paused for a beat. "Just so you know, paparazzi follow me all the time too."
"Oh yeah?" she asked, her tone laced with sarcasm. "You must be totally famous."
I angled my head down, looked at her over the edge of my sunglasses. "Well, I didn't want to say anything, since you were being all braggy and shit, but I am kind of important."
"Oh, well, obviously," she said. "I can tell."
I slid my glasses back up my nose. "It's the devastating good looks, right?"
"Dead giveaway." She grinned.
"Chicks dig me," I said, shrugging. "What can I say?"
"I don't doubt it," she said. The way she said it, I couldn't tell if it she was being serious or still joking. The intensity in her gaze made me think of that kiss. Hell. That kiss. I turned away, looked straight ahead, afraid she'd be able to read the desire for her that had to be etched on my face right now.
“Elias,” she said.
"What?"
“Your name. I like it. It’s kind of old school. Biblical."