“Let’s go, Trouble.”
CHAPTER43
MILLER
Jack snatchedthe keys from me before I could offer them to him.
He didn’t ask, but neither did I assume it would be any other way; he just took them from me, then he pulled me with him out of the apartment. We half-ran, half-jogged the backstreets to Enrico’s garage, where my car was parked.
He didn’t talk and Icouldn’ttalk, so I just followed his lead. After we reached my garage and unlocked it, he did a quick sweep of the underside of the car. “Good enough,” he muttered to himself. “No bombs, anyway.”
He nodded at me to get into the convertible on the passenger side, and I took his hat when he held it out to me. Then I sat tight as he revved the engine and pulled out of the garage. Part of me wished we could have the top down; the closed-in space of the car felt as claustrophobic as I’d felt sitting there with that weird-ass Julian guy staring at me for a solid ten minutes without blinking.
After announcing his name, Julian had pretty much forced his way into the apartment, although he’d been uber-polite about it at the same time. I was clear on the fact that I would die if I resisted, but he’d never said it outright. I’d remembered the gun, picked it up, even—but Julian had disarmed me almost before I realized it.
Better keep hold of this myself, he’d said. We wouldn’t want you to have an accident, would we, Miller Beaumont?
My heart was racing as fast now in our getaway car as it had been back there in the apartment. Jack seemed almost wild, turning his head this way and that like he expected an ambush out of side streets. On the wheel, his hands clenched and relaxed, clenched and relaxed. Ahead of us, a cop car was driving back the way we’d come, lights flashing and sirens loud. Jack eased up on the accelerator, dropped to just below the speed limit, and the police car flew right past us.
I stayed silent until it had disappeared in the rear-view mirror, and then I spoke.
“JJ.”
“Yeah.”
“Where are we going?”
“Away from the cops.”
“And then?”
He glanced in the mirror before replying. “Then I pull over and make goddamn fucking sure this car is clean.”
A chill made me shiver in the seat. “Whowasthat guy?”
He did not reply, just pulled into a quiet side street. “Out,” he said.
I got out shakily, my legs not-quite-steady, and watched him check the underside of the car meticulously with his extendable mirror. With a nod of satisfaction, he said: “In.”
I got back in and reached for the seat belt, but before I could buckle myself in, he had pulled me into his arms. “Miller. Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he do anything—”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Really, JJ, I’m fine. I’m okay. He didn’t do anything. Didn’t even threaten me, not really, not in so many words, although—”
“How’d he get in?”
I cringed. “I…well, I opened the door.” Hastily, I added, “I thought he wasyou. And I had stuff to tell you, which Istillhaven’t told you, but I was so excited I forgot…” I trailed off. “I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t supposed to.”
He pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged him back, wondering at how hard his heart was still thundering in his chest.
“Hey, hang on,” I said, remembering something else.
“What is it?” he asked anxiously, pushing me back a little to look me over again.
“You called me your boyfriend. I mean, after Julian was all sarcastic about it, but still…”
His mouth opened a little, and then he gave a disbelieving laugh. “That’swhat stuck in your brain?”
I gave a sheepish smile. “Well, it was pretty important tome. It was…nice.” Jack gave another laugh, blinking rapidly, and then pulled me back into another hard hug. “Whowasthat guy?” I asked again, half muffled in his arms. He hung onto me for another moment and when he pulled back, it was only to kiss me, gentle and then hard and then gentle again, as though he couldn’t make up his mind whether to be careful or passionate.
