'Welcome to Texas Drive Friendly - The Texas Way' 

That was my only indication that I had finally arrived to the place I wanted to be. The landscape had been completely the same since we left Ruidoso, New Mexico. It had been depressingly  empty.

Jordan and I had been driving for almost a full twenty-four hours. We still had roughly seven hours until we  got to the city, but at least we were in Texas now. I pulled over at the first gas station I saw and got out of the car to stretch my legs. 

Everyone (which was mainly truckers) stared at me and my Vette. I guess it wasn't common to see a beauty like herself in these parts. The minute Jordan stepped out of the car though, everyone found something much more interesting to look at. 

"I'm going to run in to use the restroom and grab some food or something. Want anything?" I grabbed a twenty out of my new wallet and grabbed my new phone in my hand as well. 

"Just a water please. I'll fill up the car." 

With a nod of my head, I took off in the direction of the store. 

Out of all the gas station bathrooms I had stopped at on the way here, this one was by far the cleanest and I thanked god because if I had to stomp on one more roach, I was going to go postal. 

When I was done, I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and took in my image. 

My hair was a deeper brown now, but my skin was still sickly pale. The bags under my eyes were designer and my messy eyebrows were definitely not making the guys line up for me, but I found myself not caring. Well, at least not in the way I used to. 

I washed my hands and threw my hair up into a messy bun. Searching up and down the aisles, I decided I didn't really want anything to eat, just something to drink, so I grabbed a water for Jordan and a Monster for me. 

"Will this be all?" The person behind the counter couldn't have even been fourteen with the way he looked. 

"Yeah. That's it." 

"Your total is $3.21." 

I placed my twenty down on the counter and grabbed my two drinks. "Keep the change kid." 

Quickly, I jogged out to the car, trying not to draw any unnecessary attention. "Here." When I got into the car, I threw Jordan his water. "Drink carefully. We aren't going to stop five minutes down the road because you need to pee." 

"Yes ma'am," he mumbled. 

I grabbed my keys, but dropped them near my feet. When I leaned forward to pick them up, Jordan startled me by saying, "Uh, Daytona. What's on the back of your neck?" 

"Ah! Is it a roach?" I swatted at my neck. 

"No. What the hell is this tattoo?" 

"Tattoo? Oh." I slid my hand around the back of my neck and traced over the raised skin of the loaded gun tattoo at the base of my skull.