She crosses her arms over her chest. “What trouble have you gotten yourself into, Lucas? Seeing you with that nice lady, I thought you were settling down. But you’re still as wild as ever.”
“I’m not in trouble. I’m helping Penny—the woman I’m with—get away from a bad situation. Will you help us?”
Her face softens. “Of course I will.”
I breathe a sigh of relief and tell her what I need her to do. Then I rush outside, thankful to see no one has spotted Penny.
“Everything okay?” she asks with an anxious expression.
“It will be.” If Louise does as I asked, I hope to get to the car unseen and get Penny out of town.
“What did you do? How are we getting out of here?”
Glancing toward the bar, I wait for Louise to do her thing. “You’ll see.”
Right on time, Louise ambles from the diner with the cook and heads toward the bar. With a voice loud enough for the paparazzi to hear and to carry toward us, she says, “I can’t believe Penelope Aldin is in the diner! She’s the first celebrity I’ve ever met.”
Penny gasps. Swinging her head toward me, she narrows her eyes. “What did you do? We’re supposed to get away from them, not lead them straight to us.”
“If my plan works, it will lure them away from you. Do you trust me?”
Without hesitation, she says, “Yes.”
I watch the paparazzi take the bait and scurry to the restaurant. Penny is bouncing on her toes, ready to bolt. I grip onto her hand. “Not yet.”
As they get closer, we watch as they pile inside. After the last person disappears, I pull her by the hand. “Run!”
We race to the car. When we reach it, we open the doors and dive inside. I glance back at the Hop and Bop. Through the window, I see the paparazzi are wandering around the diner searching for us. One looks back out onto the road and sees us. He points and says something, and a second later all eyes are on us.
“Shit!” I turn the ignition, reverse from the parking lot, and gun it up the road.
Looking in the rearview mirror, I see the men and woman scurrying out of the diner and piling into their vehicles.
“Fuck, they’re following us,” I say. Of course they would. More photos for them to sell.
Penny turns in her seat and looks behind us. “How did they find me?”
“Someone must have tipped them off.”
She flops around with exasperation and sits forward. “It was Alison. She must have told them.”
I keep an eye on the rearview mirror. We have a good head start. If I keep this speed up, they won’t catch us. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“How can you be so sure? She recognized me. Hates me because I’m staying with you. It’s the only explanation.”
Allie has a jealous streak, one I’d never witnessed before. Would she do something so catty?
“Have you called anyone other than Claudia? You told her where you’re staying, maybe she tipped them off,” I say.
“No. Claudia would never betray me. Someone else in the bar must have recognized me.” We drive past the road that leads to the cabin. “Are we not going to get our things?” she asks.
“No, they’ll trap us there. I hope you had nothing important in your luggage you might need.” Thankfully I never go anywhere without my camera. It’s sitting safely in it’s bag on the backseat.
“Nothing I can’t live without. Where to now? Do you have any other secret hideouts?”
The last car disappears from my rearview vision, and my grip on the steering wheel relaxes. “We’re going to hide in plain sight.”
“What do you mean?”
