The man frowns. “But then I don’t have—”
Brandon shoves his gun farther into the man’s chest. “Just do it!”
The guy seems petrified. “Okay, okay.” He hastily takes off his shirt and tie and pushes it into Brandon’s hands. “Just take it. Please. Let me leave.”
“Not yet,” Brandon says. “I don’t want anyone alerting the staff.” He gazes my way, and says, “Keep him here.”
I block the door and cock my head at the guy. “Stay there.” I put my hands against my side to look threatening. I don’t have a weapon, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Brandon puts the man’s shirt and tie on and his coat too, effectively hiding himself behind someone else’s outfit. He even hides his hair under the man’s hat, which makes him near unrecognizable.
“Shoes too,” Brandon says.
“What?” the man mumbles.
“You heard me,” Brandon says, taking off his own shoes. “Same size. Switch with me.”
The guy does what he asks while sweating profusely. “Are we done yet?”
Brandon completely ignores him and throws me his hairband. “Here. Put this in.”
I do what he asks, tying it until there’s a small pigtail.
He snatches the man’s bag from his hand and opens it up, tearing it inside out until he finds what he’s looking for. He throws the sunglasses over to me. “Put these on.”
When we’re done, Brandon tucks his gun back into his pocket and tells the man, “Leave. Don’t make a sound or I’ll shoot. Understand?”
The man nods and immediately makes a run for it.
Brandon grabs my hand, and we follow.
Adrenaline rushes through my veins. Matteo’s right outside, strolling past the booths, checking each one of them. He’s looking for us, and we’re about to meet head on.
Fuck.
I hold my breath as Brandon marches toward the exit, trying to pretend we’re just a normal couple. I don’t even look that different, so I’m hoping Matteo won’t notice. Otherwise, we’re fucked.
When we get past him, I briefly close my eyes and breathe out a sigh of relief.
Then we pass our booth, and I quickly snag the piece of pie I had left. I take a sneaky bite to satiate my still hungry stomach.
“Hey!”
Matteo’s voice makes me stop halfway through my bite.
“Shit,” I whisper. “He’s seen us, hasn’t he?”
Brandon nods, refusing to turn his head to the man who’s clearly shouting at us. All the guests in the diner are looking at us now. Sweat drips down my back.
“You! Wait!” Matteo yells.
The sound of a gun clicking gets to me.
In a flash, I spin on my heels and chuck the pie straight at him, and it hits him in the face.
“Run!” I yell, and I grab Brandon’s arm and tug him along.
With a confused look on his face, he follows me outside. Matteo wipes the pie off his face and quickly follows suit.
“What the fuck was that?” Brandon asks as we run across the parking lot.
“A distraction,” I reply as he locates Matteo’s car and shoots two tires.
We run to the car, and Brandon shouts at me, “You call that a distraction?”
“At least no one got shot!”
We get inside and slam the doors shut. Right then, shots blast against the bumper, and we duck for cover.
When Brandon frowns at me, I shrug. “At least I bought us some time.”
Within seconds, he’s turned on the engine and revs the car, driving off without even looking where he’s going. I have to tug the wheel for us not to crash into a fucking pole. Bullets rain on the back of the car, and I turn my head, but Matteo stays behind and starts cursing the moment he spots his flat tires. Win.
I grin. “We made it.”
Brandon takes a deep breath as we skid across the road, escaping our attackers. “For now.”
“But damn, that was a waste of good pie,” I say, settling in my seat.
“Hmm … At least you got a few bites,” he replies, and for a second there, I think I spot a tiny smile before it disappears again.
“So where are we off to now?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Off the road.”
“When?”
He pulls on the wheel, making me sway in my seat and shriek as I try to hold on. “Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Brandon
I don’t stop until we’re so far off the road that no one will be able to follow us. There aren’t any trackers underneath the car either. I checked. Now we’re out in the middle of fucking nowhere with just the moon to light the world around us.
I’ve gathered a bunch of dry sticks and lit them with my Zippo to create a small fire. It’s not a lot, but it’ll keep us warm. We’re huddled together in front of the car, taking shelter under its bumper while also keeping warm by the fire.
Dixie has her hands in front of her, warming them up, while I keep the lizard I caught above the crackling flame to smoke it. It’s not much, but it’ll do to ease an empty stomach. We’re lucky there was still a bottle of water inside the car, which we’re now sharing. Funny how that ended up.
Me sharing food with Dixie Burrell? I probably would’ve laughed if I thought about that happening, but I just sort of rolled into it. I can’t let her perish out here in the fucking wilderness either, now can I? That would make the whole idea of me taking her pointless.
And I hate doing things I’ll regret. So I’ll make sure she survives until I can figure out what to do with her.
Because fuck me … things are getting complicated, for sure.
That whole shitshow at the diner proved just how conflicted I am.
First, the fact that I wanted to give her something to eat as if I somehow cared about her well-being and her hunger. Then the fucking looks she gave me when that waitress started flirting with me. I gotta admit, seeing her get riled definitely pushed all my buttons. I loved seeing Dixie squirm. It brought back memories of a time long ago when we weren’t two people entangled in a miserable fate.