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Colt paused and flicked a gaze at April. She knew Colt had his mind set on the VW.
“Fine, of course,” Colt said, easily relenting. Too easily. “Let’s take another look at the Ford…” April was instantly suspicious. He was planning something, she could tell.
April frowned. They doubled back in the garage, left the VW, wrapped up again in its dust sheet, to stare again at some completely average looking car instead. What was Colt up to? He flashed her a heated gaze.
They all eyed up the non-descript Ford again.
“What do you think, Kitten?” he asked her.
She stared at him, nonplussed for a second. Then she saw him raise an eyebrow, widen his eyes. She guessed he wanted her to play along again.
“Yes, I like it, Colt, I think we should take it. We should get on the road again…”
Millhaus looked hopefully at Colt. He schooled his face to look as though he was reluctantly considering it, then acquiesced with a chin lift. “You want this one? Then it’s a sure thing, Kitten.”
“Ahh, the lady has chosen! Well now, little missy, I’ll just get the keys and you can drive the Ford right outta here…” Millhaus looked elated, he clearly thought he’d done a good deal.
April gave him her prettiest smile in return. “That would be lovely, thank you very much.”
He bustled away with a spring in his step.
April turned on Colt and stammered, “Colt, what are we-”
“We’re going to take the VW,” he said to her in a low voice, eyes fixed on Millhaus’ retreating back.
She gaped. “How?”
Colt flicked his gaze back to her and blinked. “We get in, we drive off.”
April shook her head. “Colt, I don’t think-”
“Come on, we’re just borrowing it. We’ll aim to give it back one day.”
April rolled her eyes and huffed. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with this idea. “Colt, I really don’t think-”
But he was already dragging the dust sheet back off the VW. She knew no matter how much she tried to reason with him, stomp her foot or huff, he wouldn’t change his mind. He had a gleeful, smug smile on his face as he flashed her a glance and watched her come to terms with not getting her way. Something she wasn’t used to.
She eyed the VW warily. It was a cute camper van, and could be cozy inside, but there was no space for hair dryers, the kind of clothes she’d be used to packing, no ensuite, none of the comforts she was used to. No dressing table to do her makeup. Hell, she didn’t even have any of these things with her, but the reality of being on the run was laid bare for her in that instant. It would mean long hours of driving, cramped conditions, one bed… she swallowed. She wished she could change her clothes, brush her hair, her teeth. Maybe they could stop and grab a few essentials? Her mind whirred away as she watched Colt bunching up the dust sheet.
She stifled a panicked sob and turned her attention to the sports bag that she’d slung over her shoulder as they’d begun their tour of the garage. Maybe her father had put a change of clothes in there. Something to cheer her up. A bottle of water even. She held the bag with one hand and pulled at the zipper with the other.
She peered inside. Stacks of $100 bills peered back. “Err…” she said out loud. She blinked and looked again.
Yes, the bag was full of stacks of clean, unwrinkled $100 bills. The stacks were bundles of… she did some quick estimations… $10,000 probably. There were multiple bundles in here. More than ten. That was $100,000. More than twenty, easily. She calmly zipped up the bag again and cleared her throat.
“Colt…” She said, her voice shaking a little. He turned, clearly curious about the tone of her voice. She scurried over to him, tugging at the zipper on the sports bag she had slung over her shoulder. He hunkered forward, his expression exasperated, probably he was thinking, what now? She opened the bag a little, enough for him to peer in. He looked. Blinked. Looked some more. Then he looked up at her.
“Holy fuck,” he said simply.
“Yes,” she replied. “I thought maybe there’d be some water in the bag, a change of clothes, so I took a look…”
“We could buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes,” Colt said. “We could buy this fucking VW campervan.”
She nodded. He looked up at her again, regarding her carefully.
“You didn’t hesitate to show me,” he said, almost surprised.
“What do you mean?”
