Page 54 of One Second After Another

“What things?”

Her answer?

“Everything, Luca.”

He wasn’t surprised.

“We’ll need a car,” he called at her retreating back while he gathered his few possessions left in the room.

“And I bet you can get that figured out, too. Right?”

“Maybe.”

Penny winked over her shoulder where she waited by the hotel room’s door. “That’s why I need you, Luca.”

Right.

That was why.

• • •

WITH A LITTLE TIME and inspiration, Luca could figure anything out or make shit work. Some might say he was resourceful, but he thought it was a lot simpler than that. Habit bred obsession, in his case, and he was a product of exactly that. He didn’t like unanswered questions, of any kind, so he had taught himself how to find the answer to problems no matter the issue.

Penny needed a vehicle?

Last second?

No worries.

“Which unit is it again?” Penny asked.

“Three-oh-six. We’re almost there.”

The echoes of their footsteps carried down the long corridor of storage units. The wide—and tall at eight-feet—orange doors with silver numbers seemed to go on forever. He hadn’t explained much about the vehicle they were there to get out of storage. Only that he knew where they could get one without much trouble. He was one of the few people who could head into the front office of the facility, give his first and last name and passcode, and be granted full access to every storage unit on the property connected to his surname.

“Is it yours?” she asked.

“Not really.”

So to speak.

“Are you purposely being difficult?”

Luca grinned her way, saying again, “Not really.”

Penny didn’t even hesitate to swat at him, which Luca dodged easily. Just as fast, he came back into stride alongside her, slinging an arm over her shoulders to drag her close. Penny’s laughter muffled against the arm of his jacket when he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When he did finally let her go, although not too far because he kept their hands connected even if it was only by their pinkies, she didn’t ask more.

Not about the car.

Or the storage place.

He was grateful; this shit wasn’t simple, they didn’t have the time to linger for a long explanation, and he really didn’t care to get into all of it. The storage unit they were visiting wasn’t his, but he—like every Puzza in the state—had access to it.

It was his father’s. The Aston Martin Vanquish was one of his father’s favorite—and least used—car in the man’s fleet. Zeke liked to keep his many cars spread out across the state. From the Jeep he kept at the weekend townhouse, his parents sometimes used in the city to the expensive storage unit where the Vanquish stayed safe and mostly undriven.

Zeke only brought it out on special occasions. Luca didn’t even have to call and ask his father whether or not the car was available. Not that he would—hell, the man wouldn’t even know the vehicle was gone before he put it back.

When he put it back, that was.