Lance hadn’t thought too far ahead. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. All he knew, what he’d decided, without speaking to anyone or asking Sam her view on the matter, was that she was headed down a bad path.

Drugs.

Prostitution.

Crime.

He was probably right.

“I told…”, Lance said, before stopping.

“You told what?” she said.

Lance took a long drag from his cigarette and threw the butt out the window.

Sam did the same and leaned back in her seat.

“You’re kidnapping me,” she said.

Lance shook his head. “I’m not kidnapping you.”

“Then let me out of this truck.”

“Here? In this weather?”

“So I’m not free to leave?”

“Not here.”

“That’s kidnapping.”

He shook his head again.

They drove another few minutes and she said, “So that’s it? No explanation? No discussion. You’re just going to clam up?”

Lance cleared his throat. “I guess you already know who I am,” he said.

“Know who you are? I never met you in my life.”

“You saw me outside your apartment.”

She didn’t say anything.

“And in the bars where you and your idiot boyfriend hung out.”

“I saw some creepy dude dressed like what’s his name from Top Gun.”

“Tom Cruise.”

“No, not Tom Cruise. The other guy.”

“Iceman?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, come on.”

“What?”

“Iceman?” Lance said.

“You don’t like Iceman?”

He drove on, taking the curves faster, letting the truck swerve.

“Calm down,” she said.

“I am calm.”

“You sure hate Val Kilmer.”

Lance sighed. “You never said anything to your boyfriend about me.”

“I didn’t want to give him another reason to mess me up.”

The snow got heavier. The road might have been closed behind them.

“Lucky we got out of town when we did,” he said.

At the top of the pass, about halfway between the two towns, was a gas station and motel.

“Maybe we should stop,” Sam said.

Lance had been thinking the same thing but her saying it made him reconsider.

“We’ll press on,” he said.

She looked out the window at the brightly lit restaurant. It was late, maybe ten. He thought she was getting hungry.

“Press on where?”

He didn’t answer.

“Let me guess,” she said. “You’ve got a soundproof room in your basement. You’re going to keep me there.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Like that movie. Come in and rape me whenever you’re in the mood?”

“I’m not going to rape you.”

“You better not.”

“I’m not,” Lance said.

“Yeah, well,” she said, pulling her skirt as far over her thighs as it would go.

The heat was on but she was cold. Lance undid his seat belt and took off his jacket.

“Take this,” he said.

She put it over her legs.

When they saw the glow of the town in the valley below he felt her relax.