“Cole, what the hell are you doing?”
“Turn the car around,” I order her.
“What? I don’t have time for this. What are you—”
“Turn the fucking car around, Austin,” I snap, interrupting her. She’s right; we don’t have time for this.
I sit in the silent, dark warehouse and can hear the engine of my car outside in the street as she pulls forward and turns around to face the right direction now. “Follow me,” I tell her.
“Follow you?” she asks, her voice rising in panic. “You’re not coming back?”
“Nope,” I say and hit the door opener on the visor. “Don’t lose me, Austin. You stay on my ass. Do you understand me?”
Silence.
“Fucking answer me, Austin!”
“Yeah.” I finally hear her answer in her small voice.
“Let’s go.” I hang up, start the car, and take off.
AUSTIN
I hang up the phone and toss it into the passenger seat. You stay on my ass! What the hell does that mean?
My hands shake, and my knees bounce as I sit in the driver’s seat, waiting for I don’t know what to happen. I don’t know where we are or what he has planned.
I hear an engine, and then a red car pulls out of a driveway to the gate I had watched him jump just minutes before.
He turns onto the road and takes off. I shove the car into gear and follow him.
He’s gone before I can even figure out how to shift his car. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven a standard. And I didn’t want to tell him, but I suck at it. My ex, Martin, had yelled at me for hours when he tried to teach me. I let off the clutch, and it jumps.
Shit!
I get it into second. And then third. I make it to fourth a lot better and press on the gas. He’s long gone. I can’t even see the taillights ahead of me. But I remembered what direction we came from. I hope that was the same one he took out of this town. It’s officially dark, and the town is quiet. We must be on the outskirts because I haven’t seen another car or person since we pulled in.
I hear sirens behind me, and I start to panic. What the hell was he doing? Does he want me to get caught? Is that his plan? Another game he wants me to lose? Well, I’d much rather it be robbery than murder, if I had to choose.
I see a tire repair shop at the end of the road with their garage open. I pull into it and get out quickly, pulling their bay door shut and lean up against it. Thankful it was open. I yank my ponytail out and run a hand through my hair. Frustrated and pissed that he has done this to me. Again!
Then I hear my phone ringing in the car. I run back to it and jump in, answering it when I see shark light up my screen.
“Hello?” My voice shakes with nervousness.
“Where the fuck did you go?” he demands.
“I could be asking you the same question,” I snap.
He growls. “Where are you?”
“Hiding in a garage.”
“Goddammit.”
“Maybe if you had given me a heads-up, I would have had some time to prepare to help you steal a fucking car,” I yell. My hand squeezing the phone a little too hard.
“Calm down,” he snaps. “Take a deep breath.” He lowers his voice.
My throat tightens as my heart pounds.
“I’ll send someone to come get you,” he says calmly.
“What?” Come get me? “Who?”
“Deke …”
“Are you crazy?” My voice squeaks. “He wanted to shoot me!” I all but yell. “I’ll drive myself.”
“I’m not coming back to get you,” he says matter-of-factly.
Translation—I’m on my own. If I get caught and arrested, I’ll take the fall. But I’d rather take my chances with the cops than with Deke. Or any of those other guys who were with Cole the other night.
I fucking hate him!
“Where am I going?” I ask, running a hand through my hair. My nerves shot.
“I’ll send you the address,” he says. “And Austin …?”
I hang up. I don’t have time to talk to him. I’m wanted by the police at the moment. I have got to get myself out of here.
The sad part is that this isn’t the first time I’ve run from the cops.
I get out, yank up the bay doors, and look both ways but find no cop cars in sight. I get back into his car and take off, leaving black marks on the floor of the garage.
I hear my phone go off and take a quick look down at it and notice that he has me going back to Collins, so I toss the phone. I’ll make my way there, then once I’m in town, I’ll look at the exact address.
My shoulders start to relax once I hit the curves, climbing the mountains, the city lights behind me, and finally able to drive his car better.
Anger starts to set in. Just what the hell did he think he was doing? Was this just another situation he wanted me to be involved in that could possibly get me in trouble?
I laugh at myself. Of course, it is. The guy is hell-bent on getting my ass thrown in jail.
I take the curves just as fast as he did earlier. Not worried if I fall off the cliffs to my right. At least that wouldn’t end in jail. Just death.
I take the next curve and then it dips down to a steep hill. I reach the top and see lights. “Shit!” I hiss when I see three cop cars. They must have tried to follow Cole, but he lost them. One is sitting on the right side, its ass almost falling off the cliff. The second, parked in the oncoming lane, faces me since the road is only two lanes. And the third is driving straight for me. He comes to a quick stop on his side, and I have a moment of panic. Do I stop? Just pretend like I was speeding? Or do I gun it and try to outrun them? Maybe they don’t know I’m involved in whatever Cole did.
I get my answer when the cop who is stopped on the cliff gets out and throws something in the road. A spike strip. Fuck! They know I’m involved. Even if I stop, they’ll question me. Then I’ll have four other guys on my ass for turning Cole in.
I gun it. I get right up to the spikes and swerve to the left. The driver’s side of the car barely misses the cop car that sits there, but it doesn’t miss the side of the mountain, and it rips off the mirror.
I laugh. Cole will not be happy about that. I look in the rearview mirror to see them jumping in their cars, but they’re never going to catch me. They had all their eggs in one basket, hoping I’d hit those spikes. Too bad for them.
_______________
I pull into town and punch in the address that Cole gave me. He’s called me four times, and I’ve ignored them all. Let him sweat it if I got caught and turned him in.
I pull down a gravel road and look around seeing nothing but darkness. I shut off my headlights, not wanting to bring attention to me and the car even though he has a loud exhaust on this thing. It’s not easy to hide.
I squint as I drive two miles an hour, not wanting to hit a tree or a person, until I see lights up ahead.
I speed up. As I get closer, I see a metal barn-like structure. The door swings open and out walks Cole followed by four others.
Of course! This night just keeps getting better and better. I gun it, then pull the e-brake, bringing the rear end around to stop in front of them. Dust from the gravel flies and all but Cole lift their hands to wave it away.