Pound, pound, pound, pound, pound. “Housekeeping!”
“Jesus!” Gwen said, sitting bolt upright. The movement caused the blanket to drop onto her lap, and the cool air of the room hit her naked body. She pulled the blanket up to cover her chest.
“We’re still in here!” she shouted.
She heard some muttering outside and the sound of the maid’s cart being pushed away. She reached across Annie’s body and pulled the little string for the lamp. Annie blinked, squinting. “What time is it?”
Gwen glanced around the room, not surprised there was no clock. She’d managed to remove her watch before they finally dropped off to sleep, and she pulled it off the nightstand.
“It’s nine.”
Annie stretched, the blanket bunching under her breasts, and Gwen openly stared at them. Annie saw her and, obviously pretending modesty, pulled the blanket back over herself.
“Perv.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Annie stuck out her tongue and giggled, and Gwen bent down, kissing her deeply. She pulled away and plopped down on her pillow again. Annie climbed over her, snuggling under her chin. They lay there in the darkened room, quiet for a long while. Entwined, they were a study in contrasts—Annie thin and soft and shockingly pale, while she was toned and firm and golden brown in the dark room. Gwen was relieved they weren’t awkward around each other now. Last night, before drifting off, she’d worried about just that, but Annie seemed to be taking things in stride. They’d been stressed out, tired, and the sex had been a distraction in the best way.
“Mmm,” Annie said. “That was a nice kiss.”
“Even with morning breath?”
She nodded. “Yes. Do it again.”
Gwen obliged, putting a little more heat in this one, and Annie pulled her closer. One of her hands slid along Gwen’s back, and she shuddered with a delicious pleasure. She made herself move away and climb out of the bed, naked and staring down at her. She shook a finger at Annie. “None of that, now. We have places to be.”
“We do?”
“Yes. First, we need a car.”
“No—first, we need more kissing. Then breakfast. Then a car.”
“In that order?”
Annie flung the blanket off her entire body, revealing its softness, and Gwen climbed back into bed.
* * *
Freshly showered an hour later, they gathered their few belongings and vacated the crappy room, leaving the key in the door. The guy last night might not report them, but Gwen wasn’t sure the person in the office this morning would be so accommodating. They walked away from the motel as quickly as they could and into a fast-food joint one building over. Gwen hadn’t eaten at one of these places in so long, she wasn’t sure she’d find anything she could eat, but the woman behind the counter was friendly and chipper, and didn’t mind her request for an egg-white sandwich with no butter. Annie, as usual, ordered a huge amount: two sandwiches with eggs and cheese and meat, three orders of hash browns, an orange juice, and a Coke. Again, Gwen watched her eat with pleasure, finishing her own food long before Annie despite Annie’s usual voracious speed.
Annie pushed the ketchup-splattered tray away from herself, sighing. “That’s better.”
“Worked up quite the appetite.”
Annie gave her a grin and squeezed her hand. “Yes. We did.” Her face fell, and she stared out the window, frowning.
“What’s the matter?”
Annie made eye contact before looking away again. “I just—I don’t usually…”
“Sleep with women? Could have fooled me.”
Annie’s eyebrows shot up, and she laughed. “No. That’s not what I was going to say. I meant I don’t usually sleep with strangers.”
“You play hard to get?”
Annie shook her head. “No—not that. More like I only sleep with people I’m dating. Seriously dating.”
Gwen laughed. “So what? Do you feel guilty?”
Annie was quiet for a few seconds and then shook her head. “No.”
“Then what difference does it make? I had fun, you had fun, no problem.”
Annie nodded but still looked grave, serious. “I guess.”
Gwen leaned toward her. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t usually sleep around, either. Well, not anymore. When I was younger, yes, but not now. We were both…vulnerable, worn out, and you’re sexy as hell, even in that stupid getup I dressed you in. You don’t have to feel bad about it. Okay?”
Annie stared at her, and some of the tension seemed to leave her face. They sat there quietly for a while, Gwen drinking her terrible coffee, Annie finishing her Coke. The sound of something crashing and breaking in the back of the restaurant startled them, and they grinned at each other.
Annie glanced around and brought her head closer to Gwen’s. “So tell me how we’re going to get a car. You said we might be able to buy one, cheap. How? Won’t that give us away?”
A wave of relief swept through Gwen. The last thing she’d wanted to do was talk about last night. She lowered her voice. “Car dealerships like that one down the street usually insure all their cars against theft. That’s money out of their pockets for cars they might not even sell. Most used-car dealerships shift their inventory pretty often to appeal to more buyers, so they’re losing money that way, too, on the car leases.”
Annie lifted her hands. “Okay. So how does that help us?”
“If I can talk to the right person over there, he’ll probably let us…borrow a car for a cash fee. In return, he won’t report it stolen for a few days, giving us a little time to get away and ditch it. We tell him where we left it later. He gets some money now, he’ll get the car back later, and everyone’s happy. Even if something happens to the car, he gets the insurance money. Either way, it’s win-win.”
“Have you done this before?”
Gwen laughed. “That car I had yesterday—the one I picked you up in—that’s how I got it. Done it tons of times. It only works with little, off-brand places like the one over there, and you have to be careful who you talk to. Not everyone will go for it.”
Annie frowned. “Seems risky. Isn’t there some other way?”
Gwen nodded. “We could steal one again. Not from the dealership, but somewhere else. Long-term parking at an airport is usually a good bet. Gives you a little head start most of the time.”
Annie didn’t look pleased with this suggestion, either. She didn’t say anything for a while, and Gwen excused herself to the restroom to give her time to think. By the time she came back, Annie had cleared their table and gotten them refills on their drinks.
“Let’s try the dealership,” she said before Gwen sat down again. “Use this.” She handed her the envelope of cash.
Gwen smiled. “Okay. You’ll wait here?”
Annie lifted a shoulder. “I guess. If you think that would be better.”
“Yes. It would.”
“Okay, but be careful. If it seems fishy, just leave.”
Gwen turned to leave, but Annie grabbed her hand. “Gwen?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for helping me. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”
Gwen shrugged, more pleased by this remark than she would ever let on.
“I mean it, Gwen—you saved me. I owe you, big time.”
Gwen wanted to tell her it had been her pleasure. Even at the beginning, when Annie had been pointing a gun at her, she hadn’t been that upset. She knew Annie didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want to force her to do anything. Then, after Gwen had gained the upper hand, she hadn’t really wanted to leave her there in that first motel. She’d wanted to help her. She could admit that much to herself now. She’d pretended—to herself, to Annie—that it had been about the money, but even at the time, she hadn’t believed the money existed. No, she only went along with all this to help her.
Now, in the bright, late-morning sunshine, with Annie’s freshly clean, nearly white ringlets of hair brushing the side of her pretty face, Gwen was almost ready to simply call this what it was. And after last night…well, she never kidded herself. Less than twenty-four hours with this woman, and she was completely and utterly gone.
Annie was staring at her, obviously confused, and Gwen managed to give her a weak smile. “Sorry—just thinking. I’ll be back in less than an hour. If you see me running this way, we might have a problem.”
“Jesus. I hope not.”
“I’m kidding. If it doesn’t work, I’ll be back even sooner. I doubt they’d call me in.”
The dealership lot was cramped with old beaters, but she was happy to see only one employee here this time of day on a weekday. He was, she was even more pleased to see, the owner—his face plastered on the poster for the dealership above his desk. She got right to the point, explaining her proposition briefly and clearly. There could be no misunderstanding what she meant.
The man licked his lips, his eyes darting from side to side. “Are you a cop? You have to tell me if you’re a cop.”
“I’m not. I am not an authority of any kind. This is not entrapment. I’m simply a person that needs a car.” She could tell he was nervous, so rather than give him a chance to keep thinking, she moved on to the next point. “Do you have cameras on the lot?”
He nodded. “A few.”
“Do they cover the whole place?”
“No. We have a couple of blanks. But that wouldn’t matter anyway. We don’t keep the video more than a couple of days.”
“Still, it would be safer to choose one of the cars the cameras don’t cover. How often do you do inventory?”
“Every other day. Did it this morning.”
“That doesn’t give me a lot of time,” she said.
This was, she knew, the real test. If he agreed to her proposition, he’d have to forge the inventory lists—say the car had been there when it was already gone.
He stared at her evenly for a long moment, tapping a pen against his teeth. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. But the best I can do is Monday. My salesman comes back from vacation then. He’s the usual inventory guy, so he’ll see it’s missing right away.”
Gwen understood. He was willing to take a little risk when it was easy, but he wasn’t about to ask someone else to turn a blind eye. It was Wednesday now, so Monday was generously fair. “Perfect.” She smiled. “Now let’s talk about your fee.”
She managed to bargain him down to three hundred, a hundred more than she’d paid the last time she’d done this, but she hadn’t been in a hurry that time. This dealer also insisted that she take a much nicer car than the last one she’d borrowed, which she wasn’t happy about. He clearly wanted the extra insurance should the car be lost or irreparably damaged. She preferred older junkers when she could get them—no one noticed them—but she wasn’t in a position to argue. One benefit to this nice sedan, she realized immediately, was blissfully cool air-conditioning that functioned at once. It wasn’t as warm here as it had been in Texas, but it was still a relief to be out of the dry, hot mountain air.
When she pulled up in the restaurant parking lot, Annie rushed out, clutching an enormous bag of food. Gwen rolled down the window and pointed at it. “What’s that?”
“Provisions.”
“You’re going to stink up the whole car.”
“Sue me,” she said, and climbed inside and glanced around. “Wow. Swank.”
“Yeah. Not my first choice.”
Annie ran her hands along the leather seat. “Still—it’s a nice change.”
Gwen pulled out of the lot and took the ramp to the interstate, heading north again.
“Where are we going?” Annie asked.
“North.”
Annie laughed. “Yes, but where?”
Gwen glanced over at her. “I was thinking Colorado. I know a place in Denver we could hole up. Let things settle down a bit.”
“Won’t they check there? I mean, if they know who you are now? Wouldn’t that be the first place the police will go?”
“No, actually. The apartment isn’t listed under my name. It’s totally safe.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes. Out of the corner or her eye, Gwen saw Annie fidgeting next to her, her hands twisting nervously in her lap.
“You have another idea?” she asked.
“No. I guess I don’t. And you’re right—a few days in a safe place would be smart.”
Gwen sighed. “Annie—I get it. You want this whole thing solved right away. But you have to realize that’s not going to happen. It’s going to take time, and we have to have a plan.”
“For what? I mean, really, what can we do? We’re totally screwed.” Annie choked on these last words and started crying.
Gwen took the next exit for a rest area and pulled into a parking space. She unbuckled her belt and scooted over to Annie, pulling her into a tight hug. Annie immediately squeezed her back, shaking with sobs.
“Shh. It’s going to be okay.”
Annie drew back, her face dark and upset. “How? How the hell is it going to be okay? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running. I want this to be over.”
“Do you want to turn yourself in?”
Annie hesitated and then shook her head. “No.”
“So what do you want?”
“I want my goddamn money!” She almost screamed the words, and Gwen flinched in surprise. “I want my money, and I want the fuckers that set me up to pay. I want my sister taken care of, and I want my life back!”
Gwen let her cry for a while, hugging her with one arm, watching other travelers walk by their car. The families she saw, with their little kids and dogs, were only a few feet away from them, but they might as well have been on another planet. No one seemed to notice the little breakdown happening inside their car, for which Gwen was grateful, but she still felt conspicuous.
Finally, Annie seemed to calm down and wiped her face hard with her hands. Gwen moved away and reached into the back seat for her bag. She dug around inside and pulled out a little pack of tissues. Annie took one from her, her expression sheepish and embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. I kind of lost it.”
“It’s okay. You’re allowed.”
Annie raised her shoulders. “Maybe, but hysteria won’t help, either.”
“That’s why we need a plan.”
“You keep saying ‘we.’”
Gwen laughed. “Yes, we.”
“But why, Gwen? Why are you helping me? You could leave me right here. Drive to the nearest police station, and all you have to say is that I forced you to do it. I’ll back you up if I’m caught. So why are you helping me?”
Gwen shook her head, exasperated. “You know.”
“What? What do I know?”
Rather than respond, Gwen kissed her, putting the force of her feelings behind her lips. Annie gradually relaxed and responded, pulling her closer a moment later. When they drew away from each other, Annie’s eyes, still sparkling with her tears, were large and surprised.
“Oh,” she said.
“Exactly—oh.”
To recover her composure, Gwen moved back to her own seat and pulled on her seat belt again. She gestured at the building with the restrooms outside their car. “Do you need to go?”
Annie was still staring at her, still looking startled, but she managed to shake her head.
“Okay, then,” Gwen said, starting the car. “Let’s get back on the road.”