Part 3: “Do it for the fans”

After spending hours on the road, Jack barely uttered a word. The long, tedious road began to slowly extract the joy from Lily, and Jack’s silence made the experience much more painful. For the third time, she attempted to make small talk.

“Do you have any family in Standstill?”

There was a brief pause in the man’s response. He looked at her and finally answered.

“How’s your shoulder?” he asked.

Taking the hint, she refrained from asking any more questions. Every nut can be cracked, Lily thought. She looked out the window and saw a sign that read: “Entering Illinois.” She realized that any question remotely close to his family seemed to be evaded. Lily altered her strategy and attempted to find an opening into the heart of a man who seemed to lack any emotion.

“What’s the point of standing on the street and waving your Bible around while yelling at people?” Lily asked.

He turned to her as if he was trying to study her eyes, possibly to see how serious she was.

“It’s not yelling, it's warning.” The cargo van bounced up abruptly and items in the back rattled and rolled on the floor after he drove over a mangled piece of roadkill.

That question struck a nerve. Keep going.  “Well, I think you’re just shoving your religious beliefs down people’s throats in an effort to get them to think like you.”

Jack scoffed. “They don’t have to think like me. They need to think like God, and God sees his creatures that He created in need of salvation.”

Lily chuckled. “Why would God create us to be individuals if He wants us to think like Him?”

Jack ignored her and veered into a rest stop area with a brick styled Welcome Center that had a backdrop of a forest. It was now after hours, and the dimly lit rest stop exuded eeriness. Aside from the Welcome Center being closed, the restrooms were still available for the weary traveler. Jack put the vehicle in park. “I have to go to the bathroom. You can wait till we get to a more well-lit area in the morning before you depart.”

She nodded. “I appreciate that. Are we sleeping here for the night?”

He rifled around in his bag to grab something. “No, there’s a town thirty miles out that has a truck stop that’s open all night. We’re heading there.” Lily watched as the man departed into the bathroom.

After stretching her legs, Lily lit up her American Spirit cigarette. She found an isolated smoking area that was tucked away and saw that as an opportunity for seclusion. While exhaling from her cigarette, she stared into the dark forest. Suddenly she felt fingertips brush across her shoulder. Startled, she jumped and turned to find the man in the black peacoat standing beside her; it was the man which had seemed to be her consultant for the past two days.

“You have forgotten about something, Lily?” He reached into her purse and grabbed her last cigarette. “Your fans.” The man smiled while revealing perfectly polished white teeth that contrasted with his black sunshades that he wore with confidence despite it being nighttime. Lily nervously checked around to see if Jack came out of the bathroom. After she didn’t notice any sign of Jack, she attempted to talk but was hindered. Her voice seemed to be stifled. The man leaned closer and without raising a hand toward her, watched as she seemingly grappled with imaginary hands around her throat.

“No, you listen, and I talk,” said the man. He sat down while she struggled next to him. “It will take some time to seduce Jack Hartwrong. He’s a different kind of man. But the good news is that he’s still a man, and any man can be broken. All it takes is a little time and pressure.”

The cigarette dropped from her hand, and she continued to struggle to breathe.

“You need to please your fans as much as you need air, Lily. There will be a trucker coming up to you to ask you for a light after I walk away. Sleep with him in his truck and film it for your fans.” The man turned around and saw Jack leaving the restroom. “I’ll take care of the preacher.”

Lily regained control of her breath and gently touched her throat. The man in black was no longer by her side, and now she heard Jack from afar speaking. “Excuse me sir, I wanted to hand you one of these.”

She turned around and witnessed Jack handing a pamphlet to the man in black. He accepted it from Jack and smiled. “What’s this?” asked the man.

Jack enthusiastically pointed to the pamphlet. “This tells you how you can get to Heaven when you die.”

The man gave the pamphlet back to Jack. “No. I don’t want to read it.”

Jack marked by disappointment on his face, retracted the pamphlet. The man grabbed Jack by the hand and spoke. “Instead, I want you to tell me.”

Lily tried to get closer to listen but was suddenly interrupted. “Excuse me, pretty lady. Do you have a light?” Lily spun around to see a burly, oversized trucker, with a beard and grease stains on his shirt. She smiled at him and reached into her purse.

“Do you have another cigarette?” she asked.

He grabbed the light from her and pulled out a cigarette. While staring at him, she leaned in and grabbed a protruding cigarette from his pack with her mouth.

The man smiled. “Would you like to see my truck?”

She grabbed his hand. “Show me.”

As the two started walking back to the trucker’s big rig parked in a dark corner of the rest stop, she overheard the man in black crying to Jack. “Why would God love somebody like me?”

Lily saw Jack touch the man on his shoulder to console him and heard Jack softly respond. “Because He created you.”

Lily felt her throat tightening, but not as she did a few minutes before. This time it was connected to a soft spot in her heart. A spot that she didn’t know still existed. “And I created you.” Her thoughts bombarded the rare moment of introspection and the sound of the man in black’s voice permeated her psyche. “I can hold Jack away for another twenty minutes. Now is your time to shine, superstar. Make it fast. Make it exciting. And most importantly … Do it for the fans, Lily.”