“Can we talk about this later?” Theo asked, keeping his eye on the car in the distance. The noise caught Maurice’s andLouis’s attention as well, and they spun around, putting their hands above their eyebrows to shield themselves from the sun.
“What more is there to talk about?” Dani continued, oblivious to what was happening behind her. “You checked out my boobs for a second. I saw your dick. Now we’re even and can go back to our normal brother-sister relationship.”
He ticked his head to the side. He wouldn’t say his full-frontal nudity wasquitethe same as checking out her fully clothed tits, but it didn’t seem like the time to argue about semantics.
“Okay, Juic— I mean, Dani…ela—”Damn, that was going to take some getting used to. “We might want to—”
He didn’t finish his thought, though. Not after the approaching vehicle picked up speed and launched off the road…
Heading straight toward them.
Chapter
Twelve
Dani
One second, Dani was staringdown Theo and his stupid handsome face, annoyed at herself for having misinterpreted what was going on between them as something more—again—and the next, he was pulling her by the arm out of the way of a bright-ass yellow Jeep-looking car barreling right toward them.
The knobby tires skidded to a halt, blocking them from Maurice and Louis.
“Theo and Daniela?” a thirtysomething-year-old bald man asked. He wore sunglasses, a gold watch, and a crisp yellow T-shirt with white pants.
“Yes,” Theo responded, hesitantly.
“Then hop in! We gotta go!” the man said, reaching across the passenger seat to open the door for them. “Hurry up, Andreas sent me!”
They took one look over the hood at Maurice and Louisrunning down the hill, screaming profanities at them. Her mind raced, contemplating their choices: take their chances with this mystery man or stay with Maurice and Louis. But when Maurice reached around his back and pulled out a gun, their options became clear.
“Get in!” Theo said, guiding Dani toward the vehicle.
She climbed inside with Theo right behind her shoving their bags on the floor, and they were instantly smooshed.
A two-seater.
“Sorry, it’s all I’ve got,” the man said, revving the engine and peeling out as Theo buckled the two of them in with Dani on his lap. But not before Louis caught up to them like a motherfucking Terminator.
While running beside the car, he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. But Dani kicked her legs straight in his chest, and he let go, falling onto the ground as they took off.
Bang! Bang!
All three of them in the car ducked at the sound of gunfire, and the man swerved, knocking Theo and Dani around like a couple of pinballs.
“Μαλ?κα!” the man yelled as he carefully peeked in the rearview mirror to see where he was. He drove like a Formula One racer, speeding down the hill until they made it back to the road. He continued at a solid clip, weaving in and out of traffic before he finally reduced their speed once they were a respectable distance from where they’d left Maurice and Louis.
“Who are you?” Dani asked.
“I’m Andreas’s cousin, Christos. Other side of the family, though,” he clarified. “His yayá called Andreas because she thought you might be in trouble, so he sent me since trouble is my middle name—that’s what my girlfriend tells me, at least.”He winked at them. “Plus, now they know who he is. Better for him not to be here.”
Theo’s arms were wrapped tightly around Dani’s waist, as if he was afraid to let go. She twisted on his lap so she could turn to face him. Theo took a deep breath and then buried his face in her chest. But when he finally looked up at her, all she saw was happiness in his eyes.
God, she couldn’t stay mad at him. Not when he was looking at her like that.
“Thank you,” Theo said, turning to Christos.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To my place outside of town. You’ll be safe.”
