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The same gray sedan that we’d used to pick up my dad was waiting for me behind a dumpster. I ran over. “Go, go, go.” I threw myself into the back seat, falling down over candy wrappers and chip bags.
Pialto squeaked from the front seat but gunned the accelerator and we were off. “Molly Easter! You gave me a heart attack.”
I pulled out a Doritos bag and looked inside. There were still chips inside. “How old is this bag?”
“Which one?”
I sat up, just barely, plopping my chin on the back of his seat in the middle section, and hung the bag over the edge of the seat. “These guys.”
He glanced at it and lifted up his shoulder. “No clue, but I wouldn’t eat any.”
I tossed it over my shoulder, keeping my head up, my chin on the seat.
He grinned at me over his shoulder before hunching back over, his ball cap pulled low. He kept driving. “It’s good to see you, boss.”
I laughed. Boss. It was good to hear that. “You too.”
He laughed, holding a fist back toward me.
I pounded it with mine. We both pretended to have it explode. Although, probably not the best idea considering my apartment door. I grimaced.
“I feel like I’m springing you from jail.”
“You kinda are.”
“We’re going to the hospital?”
I nodded, getting serious and checking my phone. “Jess’s mom has an appointment there in an hour.”
“What’s the plan?”
I cringed.
Pialto saw the cringe. “Oh, no. Tell me you have a plan. You’re putting yourself in danger for—”
“I have a plan!” I didn’t have a plan. Or, well, my plan was to get us inside the hospital, and we should be good. There were so many visitors walking around; no one would think to raise an alarm about us.
So, yeah. I had a plan.
“What is it? I’m risking my neck here too. Your man is dangerous and deadly, and word on the street is that he enjoys being cruel to his enemies.” Pialto kept tightening and retightening his hold on the steering wheel. He began muttering in Spanish.
“Hey.” I touched his shoulder. “I won’t let Ashton do anything. I promise.”
“And what if something happens to you?” He craned his neck around, enough to hiss, “You won’t be around to save my hide!”
“I will haunt him.”
He went back to muttering in Spanish. “Not helping, Mols. But it’s good to see you.”
I smothered a laugh and fell back, but moved my legs up so I wasn’t lying across the seat. I was sitting, slumped down. “You too. I’ve missed you guys. How’s Sophie?”
“She’s gonna be pissed we didn’t call her too.”
My heart tightened up. He was right, but that was another person in danger. “When we get there, you drop me off. I’ll go from there.”
“Yeah, right. We’ll argue about that when we get there.”
He was right. One fight at a time.
Jess’s mom’s appointment was in the clinic part of the hospital, but we just needed to get inside. That was the first step. The other part of my plan was ditching Pialto because he would argue about going with me, but I didn’t need to put even more people in danger. I was following the guideline that if someone was with me, and I was doing something stupid, chances were high they’d have a gun pointed at them. Because of that, the very first time he stopped the car, I darted out.
“Hey!” he yelled through the window.
I flashed him a smile and two thumbs up, then took off, heading for the ER entrance because a car had just pulled up. A guy ran around, yelling for help, and wham bam, I was there. “I can help. What’s going on?”
He gave me a cursory look before opening the door. “My wife’s in labor.”
Got it. I knew nothing about the birth process. “How long ago did her water break?”
“Two minutes.”
We both bent in, helping his wife out. I yelled over my shoulder, “We need a wheelchair!”
“You got her? I need to park the car.”
“I got her.”
“Okay. Here.” He gave me a bag, pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be right back, honey.”
She was in the middle of screaming but grabbed his hand and squeezed. Hard. I thought I heard a snap before he extricated himself, his whole face twisted up, before he went back to his car.
The nurse was bringing a chair over. “What’s going on?”
“Her water broke two minutes ago.” Act like you’re supposed to be there. Act like you’re supposed to be there. That was on repeat in my head, and the nurse glanced at me once, a frown on her face, before the woman started screaming again. “Okay, okay.” She took over as we got her in the chair.
I followed with the bag.
The security guys waved us in, but they did make me step through the metal detectors. Once I was cleared, I picked up her bag and hurried after where the nurse had gone.
