Now we were driving straight into oncoming traffic. And the first car in our path was the white Mustang.
As we headed toward it, Camden’s intent to clip the corner of the car, I stared at the man behind the wheel to get a look at who it was. Everything happened in a flash, in a blur, but time slowed down enough for me to get a glimpse. He was Caucasian with a shock of white blonde hair, someone I’d never seen before. He had a gun pointed at my face.
Suddenly Camden was leaning over me, shoving my head down below the dash. There was a distant explosion of glass before the windshield above us erupted. My head smashed into the glove compartment as our car made contact with the Mustang. There was a crunch and spinning tires, but it was just us, still going, cold wind and glass fragments flying over my head.
I felt Camden straighten up. “Keep your head down!” he yelled at me. Despite hitting the Mustang and having the window shot out, Jose kept going. My body went from side to side as he weaved through a maze of honking horns.
Finally I looked up. With no windshield, my hair was blown out of my updo, the glass going with it. We were driving through cars, all heading straight for us but slowing down as we approached.
“Are you okay?” he asked above the roar of the highway.
I looked at him wildly. His glasses were off, lying on his lap with a cracked lens. The wound on his lip where his dad had hit him days ago had been reopened and blood was trickling out. Other than that, and the adrenaline that was pumping through his eyes, he looked okay.
I looked behind me and saw nothing but a sea of red taillights.
“What happened to the Mustang?”
He shrugged and swung the car around a minivan that was honking like crazy and flashing its lights. “It flipped. That’s all I know. That’s all I care about. We have to get off this highway before a chopper picks us up.”
I guess heading the wrong way on I-15 was a newsworthy event.
“How did you learn to drive like that?” I asked in awe. “And don’t say it’s because of video games.”
He gave me a bloody grin. “Believe it or not, I almost became a cop after high school. Dad was so proud until I failed. The only thing I could pass was the driving test.”
“What about the shooting?”
“If I ever get a real life target, I’ll let you know.”
He took the next exit, and I couldn’t help but scream again as we headed the wrong way down an on-ramp. Soon we were flying across the meridian, and with a deft twist, he got the car on the right side of the road. We sped off down the street until the house and buildings emptied into undeveloped desert. We were safe, for now.
CHAPTER TWENTY
As Camden steered the car down the increasingly deserted side road, the realization of what had happened was starting to sink in.
“Pull over,” I groaned. I was going to be sick.
He kept driving. “I don’t want to stop, not yet.”
The road we were on was now completely empty with no streetlights or development around us and the sand was starting to come in through the missing windshield. Vegas glowed in the distance against the orange-tinged sky. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. He’s gone. Pull over.”
With a sigh, he coasted us to a stop at the side of the two-lane road. Out here the wind was picking up, coating us with a chill but I was too on edge to be cold.
I opened the door and ran out of the car, stumbling through the sand and rock in my sandals, gasping for breath. I stopped a few feet away and crouched down, my head in my hands. Javier had seen me. My hand had been so close to his. What happens to love when it turns to hate? Was this it? Did it turn to death?
“Ellie?” Camden called from the car. I heard the car door slam. I waved my hand in the air dismissively. “Stay away!” I yelled, trying to slow my heart and get air back in my lungs.
He must have listened. I didn’t hear the crunch of sand under his shiny new shoes. I only heard the whistling wind and the blood rushing around in my head.
When I felt remotely better, I straightened up and walked back to the car. Camden was sitting on the front bumper, looking straight up in the sky like a dejected prom date. A few tiny stars had poked through the light pollution.
I climbed up beside him and sat on the hood, for once not caring that my ass was making a dent in it. The whole front right corner of the car was smashed up, the headlight dangling. I swallowed hard at the damage of my poor car then did a silent prayer of thanks. It was better that Jose got injured than us. Besides, he wasn’t my car to grieve over.
“Luck be a lady tonight,” Camden said quietly. “I think she’ll turn on us soon.”
I looked at him sharply, studying the back of his head. “She turned on me a long time ago.”
Silence swirled around us. Finally he said, “Oh, why don’t you just shut up, Ellie.”
My heart squeezed. “What?”