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A few minutes later, I pulled over as he prompted and killed the lights. In the dark, parked in an alley, I finally took a deep breath before peering over at Jack.
“When was the last time you drove?” Jack asked, not even trying to hide the shock in his tone. “You, uh, don’t exactly seem rusty.”
“I practice when I can.” I gave him a little shrug. “Just in case . . .”
“Thank God for that. Don’t think I could have pulled off what you did in this antique.” I couldn’t see his mouth, but I could hear the smirk in his voice on that last word.
Our conversation in the pool at the lodge felt like forever ago, and to be sitting there joking even at a time like this somehow felt right. Normal, even. How was that possible?
“Let me call the others.” Jack placed the phone on speakerphone, and Gray picked up immediately. “We’re good. You?”
“We’re good,” Gray answered. “And I just got word from Carter, he lost his tail. Camila also texted. She’s still stuck at the lodge. FBI won’t let anyone leave yet. But that also means Shannon is stuck there, too.” He paused for a second. “But there’s been a change in plans for our next stop. We decided it’d be better to head to Ecuador. We can’t stay in Peru with heat on us now. Carter’s going to arrange a safe house.”
Drive to Ecuador? How far was that? “We’ll need to boost new vehicles since we’ve been marked in these,” Gray continued.
“How are we getting across the border if we’re all wanted now?” Lucy asked, an edge of timidness in her tone.
“Money goes a long way. It’s the universal language,” Gray answered.
“Right,” I said. “Bruce Wayne without the suit.”
Gray chuckled. “So, she knows.”
“She knows,” Jack replied with a quiet chuckle.
I leaned back in my seat, totally spent, then lazily rolled my head to the side to check on my sister. She hadn’t released her death grip on the sides of Jack’s seat. I forgot she’d never been in the car on any of my joy rides over the years. This was all new for her. Not to mention the fact she’d only just learned Mom didn’t die in the accident that night, but Brant Luther shot and killed her. She was overwhelmed. Still angry with me for lying.
“What do you say?” Jack’s question pulled my focus back his way. “You up for round two of stunt driving and illegal border crossing?”
A shocking smile met my lips. “There are two things I can do all night long.”
“I know one of them,” Jack returned, his voice deep, suggestive, hinting at our night together. “Tell me driving like you’re in a Fast and Furious flick is the other one.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHARLOTTE
“Hey, you.” Jack’s sexy voice rousted me from the foggy haze of that place of in-between-sleep.
I blinked a few times, trying to get my bearings. I was leaning across the console, my head on Jack’s shoulder, while clutching his hand like a lifeline as it rested on his leg. “How long did I sleep?” I rasped, my voice still heavy with sleep. Releasing his hand, I sat up and rotated my neck, unsure if the pain there was from the weird position I’d slept in or from the military-type tank knocking our SUV over like it was weightless.
“You’ve been out since we got breakfast three hours ago.” Jack quickly flexed and wiggled his fingers before lightly grasping the steering wheel. Guess my grip on his hand was tighter than I’d realized.
I checked the time, then peeked over my shoulder at my sister, still working at the knots in my neck. “Same for her?”
Lucy was on her side, hands beneath her face, and her knees bent up to fit in the back seat of the Jeep Cherokee we’d jacked shortly after I’d morphed into the stunt driver my mother would have loved, using skills she taught me I’d only ever used that one night eleven years ago. And yet it felt like it was only yesterday.
“A little bit after you. And she, uh, asked me questions I couldn’t answer, assuming you’d told me the whole story, I guess.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” My messy bun was long gone, and my hair was tangled around my face. I checked my wrist for a hairband, but I must’ve lost it at some point. “Are we, um, getting close?”
“Almost there. We crossed into Ecuador while y’all were asleep. Clearly, without hiccups. We passed through a more, I guess you could say, discreet border crossing. I followed Carter through. Never even had to roll down my window.”
“Guess money really is the universal language, especially considering those cartel thugs were willing to go after a bounty without their boss knowing.” I looked out the window at the stretch of mountains that were so close it was as if I could reach out and touch them. “You must be exhausted by now. You should’ve slept while I drove earlier,” I chided, focusing back on him as he tilted his head my way. I caught sight of his tired eyes for a moment, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips as he turned back to the road.
“After last night’s epic display of road skills, I trust your driving more than my own. What I don’t trust are assholes who could come out of the woodwork, and I’d prefer to be awake until we’re at our final destination.” He grimaced, and I wasn’t sure why until I looked ahead and saw a truck loaded with trees. “Yeah, speaking of that . . . I’ll be forever traumatized by trucks hauling wood because of that movie.”
“I never saw Final Destination, but I’ve seen the TikToks about the scars it’s left on your generation.”
