With a cold smile on his face, Lukis reaches over and plucks Antonio’s hand from my knee. He rubs the spots where I’m sure to have fingerprint bruises tomorrow and places his hand on my other side.
“Antonio,” Lukis says, still smiling. “I see you’ve met Sugar Lips.”
Antonio stares at him quizzically for a second. “You mean Hannah? Yes, she is a delight.” Antonio’s smile looks more evil as his friendly demeanor falters for a moment. “It’s a pity she ended up in your lot. I could’ve done great things to her.”
Lukis shudders as if he’s imagining the horrible possibilities of what Antonio means. His grip on my knee tightens with a loving affirmative, not out of anger. At least, I hope not. “We’re all glad you’ll never get that chance.”
“Is she? She could live it up my mansion. Instead, she’ll be traveling the world in your beat-up Jeep as nothing more than a lapdog for Ridge Jefferson.”
It’s the first time someone has mentioned the name Ridge, and I can’t help but wonder who he is. Also, the idea of traveling around with Lukis and his Jeep and seeing the country . . . it doesn’t sound too bad.
Not that it’s a possibility for me. Eventually, I have to get back to life and do adult responsible things. I guess. I’ve never made it more south than Vegas and the thought of what could be on the East Coast is exciting. If I ever get my shit together enough to save a little money, I’ll take a short vacation there sometime. After I find a new job, and a new place to live, and a new car.
I’ll never get to the East Coast. If my seventeen-year-old self saw me now, I’d slap myself.
“Ridge is a good man, but he doesn’t own me. I work for myself, and I take pleasure in bringing scumbags like you to justice.”
Antonio laughs. “Have you? Have you brought me down, Lukis Thompson? It seems like I’ve won. Wouldn’t you agree, Rasp?” he asks the large gentleman sitting across the booth from us. It’s the first time I’ve seen him acknowledge him. And sadly, his name isn’t Gooney.
I freeze, not moving my position, my phone poised with both my hands hovering above the table. Like I’m in the animal kingdom, I play dumb so not to alert any of the testosterone-throwing men that I’m still here. It seems like the safest course of action. The only part of my body that changes is my heart trying to beat out of my chest and my thumb as I scroll across my phone screen. No one notices either of those things.
“See, Gambo, that’s where you still don’t get it. Winning is all about what you consider the prize, and I plan to walk out with mine.”
“You aren’t walking out with these papers.” Antonio leans into my side, putting his face closer to Lukis.
“The papers aren’t the prize.”
Antonio smiles, and I stop reading as both men lean closer and closer, squeezing me in the middle. “So, it’s the girl then?”
“Yes.”
I stare at Lukis, my eyes widening a little. My heart accelerates at the mention Lukis believes I’m the prize rather than this important stack of papers spread across the restaurant table. On the other hand, I don’t think you’re supposed to lay all your cards out like this, but I’ve never been a gambling girl.
“I commend you, Lukis. You never been one to put the girl first.”
“This one’s different.” Lukis leans back, his hands fiddling with something behind his shirt.
Antonio taps the table twice, the noise loud over the whispered conversation.
Nobody in the diner had given us much concern or attention, but it’s as if the entire place has clued in. Conversations stall. I’m not the only person not moving. Groups of diners haven’t left their tables. Even the waitress hasn’t approached to finalize our order. We’re all in a standoff waiting to see what happens.
“Do you think it wise to tell me you’re so fond of her?” Antonio slowly runs his hand through the bottom portion of my hair, his fingers getting stuck in a small snarl.
Lukis growls. “Maybe, maybe not. But like you said, you’ve already won, correct? Hannah and I are going to get up and walk out of here. You can keep your papers, and I’ll keep the girl. This time, we’ll call it a draw.”
Antonio shakes his head, but not necessarily in agreement. More likely disbelief. “You surprise me, Paisan. It was not so many years ago we were not enemies.”
Lukis snorts. “Feels like a lifetime.” His hand is back on my leg, and he rubs it reassuringly. I breathe in oxygen, trying not to move my body and make sure no one looks in my direction. “Lean forward, Sugar Lips.”
I do as Lukis says, leaning my chest closer to the table. It works out marvelously. I’m forced to lean farther forward, which puts the papers on the other side of the table in my line of sight. I continue to try memorizing places dates and times, just in case. Lukis’ hand passes behind and stops in the middle of my back, something cold pressing against my skin. His finger moves and the sound of a gun cocking stills my movements again.
“Really? In public, Lukis?” Antonio laughs like he’s not bothered by a gun being pointed in his direction.
“Like you said, Antonio. You won. Your information is safe.”
Antonio smirks like he’s never been more proud of himself, like a cat who just ate a delicious bird. Probably a canary. He collects the papers scattered across the table, stacking them in neat piles and placing them back in his briefcase, never once looking at me or Lukis. His black hair, still gelled, flips to one side as he closes the case and latches the sides.
Antonio taps the top of the case. “I know. I always do. When you realize that and want to work for the winning team, give me a call.”
“That’ll be a cold day in hell,” Lukis spits the words across the table. He retracts the hand from my back, holding what I can only assume is a gun, and squeezes my knee with his other hand. “Time to go, Sugar Lips.”
Lukis pushes out of the bench seats, and with the hand on my upper arm, takes me with him. I still do my best not to move, or move as little as possible while standing. Once we are both out of the booth, he pulls me a step in front of him, and I don’t fight.
“Walk to the door slowly,” he whispers, keeping one hand on my hip.
We’re four steps from the table when Lukis stops and turns back. “‘Til next time, Antonio.”
Antonio nods his head and smiles. “Until next time, Lukis.”
Then, as if we’re four people out to dinner, not a crazy thing in the world going on, Antonio turns and engages in conversation with his goon while Lukis gently pushes me out of the restaurant.
The door closes behind us, and we stand on the sidewalk for less than a second before Lukis turns to the right, pulling me toward his big green Jeep.
He mutters almost inaudibly to himself as we jog to the other end of the parking lot. Once we’re both inside the Jeep, I hurry to buckle my seatbelt, panic causing me to miss two times.
“I had to hook up with a girl who thinks she can run off with fucking Antonio Gambo.”
“I didn’t plan to run off with Antonio,” I yell as Lukis shoves his key into the ignition and turns it, starting the Jeep.
He barrels out of the parking spot. “Well, what the hell were you thinking, then?”
“Antonio called me,” I yell back. “I thought I could help you out by stealing the briefcase.”
Lukis hits the steering wheel hard with the bottom of his palm. “That’s why I didn’t tell you what I was doing. I could see it in your eyes. You’re a troublemaker.”
I scoff. “I’ve never made trouble until I met you.” This is what happens to us girls. We try to do something nice for our man and they get angry about it. There’s no appreciation.
Also, when did I start calling Lukis my man? That’s concerning.
Lukis turns left and speeds down the main paved highway in the opposite direction of the motel.
“Hey! You’re going the wrong way.” There’s nothing out this way for miles until you hit Vegas.
Lukis turns his head slowly, looking like the little girl from the Exorcist, his eyes bugged out and a vein in his forehead pulsing. “You think we can go back to the motel? I held a gun to Antonio Gambo in a shitty ass diner in a town that doesn’t even have a name, and you want to go back to that motel?”
Well . . . When he puts it that way. “But what about my stuff?” There’s nothing valuable in my backpack except a cool new swimsuit I paid for but haven’t gotten to dip in chlorine yet. And my driver’s license, which would be handy to not lose.
“Your bag is in the back,” he says, his foot pressing down on the gas harder.
I turn and check the backseat of his Jeep, and sure enough, my bag is tucked behind the seat.
Lukis hits the top of his steering wheel again, and it draws my attention back to the cab where we are in the middle of flight. The only problem is, Lukis has gone quiet. His eyes are set far out the window as he speeds down the road, taking the small turns to the desert quickly but with caution. It doesn’t seem like the time to distract the man who is participating in his own high-speed chase. I watch his facial expressions as they change. One minute, his face is calm and collected like he’s thinking about pleasant memories. The next, his forehead pinches together, and his lips form into a straight line as he scowls at the road. His knuckles tighten on the steering wheel, and his foot hits the gas a little harder.
I practice my not moving thing again. It worked so well in the restaurant.
About forty minutes of this go by before Lukis hits the top of the steering wheel again. “I can’t believe I let Antonio walk out with those papers. Six fucking months of my life down the drain. And now I have to call Ridge and tell him I didn’t get the information.”
My stomach drops because even though I wouldn’t admit it to him, I realize it’s my fault. I only hope what I give him will make up for a bit of it.
I should practice my contrite face and look sad, but I can’t help it when a small smile peeks out from the corners of my mouth. If Lukis took his eyes off the road for even a moment, he’d see the excitement in my eyes. “It might not have been a total loss.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got the girl. You can pay me back later tonight. After I get us as far away from here as possible.”
I slip my phone out from the space on the seat between us. “While you two were arguing like schoolchildren,” I hope he doesn’t think I’ve missed the discussion of a time when Lukis and Antonio were friends. Yes, I plan to ask him about that, eventually. “I snapped a few pictures of the papers on the table.”
The Jeep slows. “You did what?”
I unlock my phone and go to the photo album app. My signal has been roaming for days and it kills my battery life but there’s enough time to pull up the fifty or so photos I snapped. Some of them are too blurry to make anything out, but I took pictures while trying not to be noticed, so I’m giving myself grace here. The first five aren’t usable, but after I got my technique down, the rest are crystal clear. If you zoom in, the dates and locations are easily readable on my photos.
I hold the phone out to Lukis on one good picture, and he slams on the brakes. The back of the Jeep fishtails on the road as it swerves into the side, the tires kicking up pebbles.
Lukis grabs the phone from my hand as the Jeep comes to a complete stop. He throws it in park with a force so strong, I grit my teeth hoping he didn’t break a transmission or drivetrain— whatever it is that controls the vehicle.
“How the fuck did you do this?”
I shrug. It didn’t seem like such a big deal, but seeing the pure amazement written across his face as he swipes through the photos on my phone makes me happy and excited too. “My phone was already on silent so it didn’t make any noise, and I figure you were already distracting him. We were probably dead anyway.”
He stops flipping pictures, his eyes staring at the last one as his head shakes in disbelief. Slowly, he turns in my direction. “You’re fucking amazing, Sugar Lips. We have to get these to Maine.” He leans across the space and unbuckles my seatbelt before pulling me across the Jeep. We kiss, his lips folding against mine as his hands weave into the back of my hair erasing the spot where Antonio touched earlier. Adrenaline still courses in my veins from our earlier escape, but now my heart beats rapid fire for a different reason. A mysterious man with a bag full of guns and a Jeep going nowhere in particular, but everywhere I want to see.