The entire car exhales.
"Give me my gun," Vic demands, holding out his hand.
Nina laughs. "Uh. No."
"Get out!" Gary screams. "Get out of my car! Now!" He opens his door.
The next thing I know, my door is open and he's yanking me out.
"Hey!" I holler, trying to pull my arm out of his clammy grip.
"All of you, out! I'm not putting up with this shit!"
I yank free, but the force of the motion sends me tripping over my four-inch wedges, and I topple onto my ass. Joey is out a second later, followed by Tori, both of them in Gary's face. The finger is out, and Spanish flies from Tori's mouth.
"Keep your hands off her!" Joey yells, practically bumping against Gary's gut. He's taller than Gary by a few inches, but Gary wins with three times the girth.
A large black hand is in my face. I look up. It takes me a couple seconds to realize that Lincoln is offering to help me up.
"Thanks."
His hand completely swallows mine as he lifts me off the ground. I swipe at the dirt on my butt, still watching the three go at it. It's all words. Nothing about their posture has me concerned that someone's about to swing.
We're in the middle of nowhere. There's maybe a streetlight every quarter mile on this forgotten road, lighting it just enough to make it creepy. Gary pulled off into one of those gravel turnouts on the side of the road--the ideal location when you're desperate to relieve your bladder or throw your door open just in time to vomit. So not the ideal location to be dumped with a psycho and his gun.
"Where's Nina and Vic?" I ask in a rush, frantically searching the darkness.
"I don't know," Lincoln answers, his voice as concerned as mine.
We creep toward the front of the car. Nina's back is to us. She's leaning against the fender on the other side of the car. Vic is in his signature angry stance, scowling at her.
Nina has the barrel of the gun open and is throwing bullets at Vic.
"Tell me what you did, Vic," she says in a taunting tone. "C'mon. You want your toy back, don't you?"
Vic grunts something.
"Then tell me. Quit being a bitch." There's a sadistic lilt in Nina's voice, like she's enjoying this.
She's starting to scare me a little. I put a big star on that mental note I already had, reminding me to never piss her off.
Vic bares his teeth. "Give me my gun, or I'm going to--"
"To what?" Lincoln challenges, straightening a few inches taller, like he might jump over the car.
Vic looks up and spots us across the hood. Nina snaps the barrel shut with a flick of her wrist and stuffs the gun into her purse.
Vic breathes out audibly, like he can't believe he has to repeat himself. "This is a fucking joke. I don't know why you won't drop it. Nothing happened."
At least he's persistent with the nothing-happened story. I have to give him that. And I'm not going to contradict it. If I do, everyone in the car could be considered accomplices after the fact. And I won't let that happen. Right now, only Vic and I know what went down in that store. And we're the only ones who will ever know. Unless he does something else stupid.
Nina approaches us with a hip-swaying saunter. The dark purple dress hugs her curves perfectly as she balances on heels that bring her to supermodel height. She looks completely unfazed by everything that just transpired. A lethal goddess.
If only I were that composed ... and tall.
"Screw this," Gary declares loudly. "Nina, let's go."
Nina shakes her head with an insincere apology. "Sorry, baby. I'm staying."