𝘾𝙊𝘿𝙀𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 - Rio x Reader

•Chapter 31•

The car ride had been mostly silent. Both of its occupants running on little sleep. Minds worked overtime throughout the night, bodies aching from an endless longing. Barren land zipped through your vision as the car barreled down the empty, desolate state route. You checked your phone once again. 45 minutes. Only two had passed since the last check.

"Stop.", Rio's voice filled the cab.

You pried your attention from the window and cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"You've been bouncing that leg since we left the motel.", he explained tiredly.

And only now were you aware of it. You stopped, as instructed, and let a breath escape you as your body slouched back into the seat. "You ready to talk yet?", he asked, tapping the steering wheel with his thumb, briefly flicking his eyes over to you.

"About what?", you murmured.

"This shit with your mom.", he pried again. With a brief glance he caught that little pull of your brows, slight— probably not noticeable to anyone else, but he picked up on it. He'd spent enough time studying your every twitch to know that you undoubtedly didn't want to talk about it.

And you didn't. But anything was better than sitting in silence. Besides, he was bound to hear it eventually, whether it be from yourself or Mick. You sighed. "What do you wanna know?"

"All of it.", he answered.

You couldn't help but to wonder if he wanted to know for his sake or for yours. The line between business and.. something else grew blurrier by the day it seemed. You pushed the thought to the back of your mind, it didn't really matter why. You'd spent most of the night dissecting whatever the hell was going on with you two— no need to drag it into the next day.

"When I was younger, her and my dad would fight over everything really. She'd be mad at him for being in the business and he'd get mad at her for being an addict.", you began, picking at your fingers sat in your lap.

"And every time, no matter what, she would go to this same house. My dad and I would find her there after he was done being mad. Usually she couldn't even hold her head up, you know?", you laughed a little to ease the load of the words leaving you.

He didn't see the humor in it.

"Anyway, I thought that's where she would be, and she was. I thought maybe she would know where Luis would have taken her. Gina took me there, I told her to stay in the car. One of the other guys in the house had a gun on me as soon as I got her up. They planned on selling me to the 'highest bidder'. That's when Mick came in and-", you blanked, feeling the sickly warm spray cover your face yet again, tasted the metallic on your tongue.

A silence settled within the cab. Rio's skin crawled— 'highest bidder.' You hadn't missed the way his hand curled tighter around the steering wheel. He would have spared no expense in getting you back. And not to mention, spare any spilled blood from anyone who would have attempted to buy you.

The car slowed to a stop on the side of the road. "What are you doing?", you asked, sitting up.

Your eyes followed his hands as he undid his seatbelt and finally rested on his. You were well and truly in the middle of nowhere. "C'mon.", Rio prompted before getting out of the car.

The door closed behind him as you hesitated. He began walking out into the field. He wouldn't kill you— right? You swallowed your nerves and followed suit, cool fresh air entering your nose. Wrapping your jacket tighter around your torso, you jogged down the bank— trying to catch up to him.