“Those ones,” I replied. “Those ones look better on you.”
She grinned and reached for her phone.
“Who are you calling?” I asked, feeling myself stiffen with fear.
“An Uber,” she replied. “Go pick out some clothes, I’ll pay for them.”
I hesitated a moment before I went along with her, but eventually, I gave in. I started leafing through the clothes on the rack in front of me, looking for something as far removed from what I would normally wear as I could find. I just needed to disguise myself long enough to get out of the area without anyone noticing me, and when I was gone, I could dump all this hideous shit and go back to...
Go back to what? I still didn’t know, not really. I had no clue what I was going to do after what had happened to Ian. Even though he had never known the real me, I felt as though I had known something of him, and it stung to think I would never get to see it through.
I pulled a pair of cargo shorts and a flowery button-down from the rack, and then grabbed some ugly sandals to finish off the look. I approached her, holding the collection, and she giggled when she saw what I was holding.
“You want to go with that?” she asked, incredulous, and I nodded. We were close to the airport, and I wanted to be able to blend in with everyone coming in and out. I didn’t want to attract any attention, and being dressed as badly as possible to match with all the ill-fated dads heading on vacation would do me well.
“Your funeral,” she remarked, and she took the clothes from me and headed to the counter. She chatted with the lady behind the till, and got her laughing along with something she said – I watched her, wondering where she had learned such confidence, such cool in the face of something as crazy as all of this. If anything, she seemed to thrive on it, seeming totally unbothered as she went through the motions.
She handed me the clothes and guided me to the back of the store where I could change into them – she’d talked with the woman who owned the place, she told me, and she said it was fine for me to change. I had no idea how she had managed to convince her so quickly, but she had pulled off getting me into that stolen van without a second thought. She knew what she was doing.
I changed into my new clothes and pulled down the sleeve over the remains of the bloody handprint on my arm. I needed to get it washed off, but there was no bathroom in here I could use, and I was sure I would attract more attention to myself if I tried to find one. I just needed to get out of here and pray the lurking Vogon car had moved on.
By the time I was changed, Arianna was waiting impatiently for me, and she grabbed my arm and pulled me outside so we could get into the Uber she had called for us.
“Where are we going?”
“The airport,” she replied. “I have a flight to catch.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. If she thought I was going to go with her abroad...
“Just me,” she shot back, as though sensing my disbelief. I followed her to the car and opened the door for her. She smiled up at me sweetly as she slipped inside, and I found myself gazing at her a little longer than I strictly needed to. There was no denying it; she was gorgeous, and I had no doubt she knew how to work that into whatever games she liked to play.
I listened as she chatted with the driver, making up some story about the two of us flying away for our first vacation in a year, and I surreptitiously pulled out my phone and shot off a text to Rafael, telling him where I was going to be and asking him to send me something or someone to get me out of there. I snapped a picture of her, too, just in case she was connected to some other case I didn’t know about.
I needed to put as much distance between myself and the meeting spot as possible, and I didn’t much like the thought of sticking around any longer than I had to. People were on my tail, and I had no idea if Arianna was caught up in some sort of trouble, too. I might not have been the only one looking to make a quick exit.
The car pulled to a halt outside the airport, and she grabbed her bag and tossed it over her shoulder before she climbed out. To all the world, she would have looked like another carefree traveler on her way to another adventure, but I knew there was more to her. This was a woman well-versed in a world most people did their best to avoid, and I was beyond curious to know how she had pulled it off.
I turned to her once the car had pulled away, wondering what I was supposed to say now. Did I tell her that I was thankful for her help? I had no idea whether I should have been. She had just made me accessory to at least one crime, after all, one more crime I should really have reported her for.
“I—” I began, but before I could say another word, she pulled me close and kissed me.
It caught me completely off-guard. It had been a hell of a long time since I had even thought about being close to a woman like this, let alone one as gorgeous as her, but as soon as her soft lips met mine, it was like all of that fell away. Her hands slipped to my waist and I wrapped mine around her, pulling her close.
Her tongue slipped into my mouth and I reached my hand to her soft hair, running my fingers through it, too shocked to think of anything but how much I wanted her. She pressed her body to mine and let out a soft moan into my mouth, and I felt something in me melt as her body moved against mine.
And when she pulled back, a soft, almost shy smile on her face, I felt like I could hardly breathe. Her eyes lingered on mine for a long moment, and she bit her lip.
“Good luck with whatever it is you’re doing,” she told me, and with that, she turned and dropped something into her bag as she walked away. I was so shocked, it took me a moment to notice I felt a little lighter in the pockets than I had before – and it wasn’t until she was well out of my sight that I realized she had stolen my fucking phone.