He narrows his eyes at me. He’s wary of me, I know—I’ve been done for a solid fifteen minutes now. I flash him an awkward smile, which is progress, coming from me. Raven would be so proud—the old me would’ve just flipped him off. Speaking of Raven… I asked RJ to cover for me over the next two days, and I’m hoping the baby brain makes her gobble up whatever lie he throws her way. The last thing I need right now is an overprotective sister on my back.
I pack away my things, my hand shaking as I scoop up my pens, and head straight out to my car. My bag is ready and waiting in the trunk. I’m good to go. I’m supposed to head over to pick up Lewis from his place in two hours, and I’m pretty sure he’ll lose his shit once he realizes I hit the road without him, but that’s a problem for future Amy. By that point, I’ll be long gone.
Things with us were already tense, anyway. All that’ll happen is he’ll end up hating me a little more, which should help me like him a little less.A foolproof plan, basically.
I get comfy in my seat, swap my heels for my good old sneakers, and take a deep breath. Eight hours of open road—more than enough time to hatch the ultimate solution to this absolute mess.
I duck down to slip on my second sneaker, and I’m straightening in my seat when the passenger door flies open.
I whip around to find Lewis sitting there to my right. He nudges my jaw closed with a finger.
I hadn’t realized my mouth was hanging open.
“How’s it going, Amy?”
“What’re you doing?” I manage after a beat.
“Thought I’d come meet you here, instead.” He smiles sweetly. “Don’t ask me why, but I just got this crazy hunch you’d be bailing.”
He taps the side of his nose, and I clench my jaw. I can think of at least a dozen insults I’d love to fling his way. I thought he might head to New York without me—I hadn’t expected him toambushme.How’d he know where to find me?
He pushes back his seat and settles in deeper, buckling himself in before turning to me with a shit-eating grin.
“You ready to roll, or do you need to swing by your place first?”
I could technically strong-arm him out of my car, and there’s a part of me that really wants to. But here I am, completely defenseless yet again. I need to get my shit together, and fast. I can’t afford to show the faintest flicker of weakness, considering everything Brooklyn has in store for me.Or everything Brooklyn has in store for us, more like.
I give myself a mental bitch slap and fire up the car. It’s his Dodge, after all. What did he call it? His “baby.” It makes sense that he’d want to be involved. I’d do the same.I’d probably do worse, actually.
I suppress a sigh.
“Let’s do this, I guess.”
Just under six hundred miles ahead of us. My chest tightens at the thought of spending the next forty-eight hours with him.Good thing I seem to have regained full use of my motor skills today.
I’m busy talking to myself when Lewis yawns for the fifth time in a row.What a great copilot. Seriously, he’s worse than my nephew, Joey. If he does it again, I might just take advantage of his wide-open mouth and shove two fingers down his throat.
Then it hits me that it’s only been a day since the theft. No wonder he’s having trouble sleeping. I’d be like a caged animal. Speaking from experience, here.
“Bad night’s sleep?”
“Yeah.” He sighs, rubbing his face. “I was up all night thinking about the Dodge. It’s driving me crazy.”
“I get it.”
He glances at me. “That ever happen to you?”
“When I was sixteen.” I nod. “I was so pissed; it’s like I had lost my mind.”
“Did you get the car back?”
“I did. Took me three days, though. Three days of insanely high blood pressure. When I finally caught the guy, I may or may not have threatened him with a tire iron.”
He laughs. “See, coming from anyone else, I’d question how true that story is. But with you… Why am I not even surprised? You’re something else, Hitman.”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that! That’s just how we deal with our shit, where I’m from.”
“Brooklyn, you mean?”
