Chapter Twenty-Four
Arianna
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THE REALITY OF ARNOLD walking into that drugstore wasn’t lost on me. I knew what he was getting in there. I had seen a small handful of little blue pills on his bedside table when I was first in his hotel room, and now, it looked like, I wasn’t going to have any other choice but to go through with being on the wrong end of them.
I thought I could handle it, I really did. And maybe I would have been able to if it hadn’t been for Dean. But being so close to him, feeling the real, true want in my system that came to life whenever we were together, and thinking about having to fake it for that creep...yeah, it felt nigh-on impossible to wrap my head around, and I had no idea how I was supposed to make sense of it. How could I go to bed with him, when my body was still alight from the way Dean had fucked me earlier?
I wished I could pull him into the back seat and kiss him, remind myself how much I wanted him. It might be the only way I could get myself in a hot enough mood to sell my desire for Arnold, and I was sure the older man would be looking for a show. Sleeping with him was the only way I was going to be able to convince him I hadn’t just been there to steal his cash before, and I was getting less and less sure I would be able to do it. That I would be able to make it look real, at least. If he would even care.
“We could get out of here,” I blurted out, suddenly. “We could just run, right now. If you drive now, he won’t notice for a few minutes, and we could get somewhere else.”
“Like where?” he asked. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was hardly actually considering what I was offering him, but I would take any small hint of hope I could get.
“Anywhere,” I promised him. “We could – we could start over. I could make us new identities, I’ve done it before, it’s not as hard as people think...”
But he was already shaking his head, clearly uninterested in what I had to say. My heart dropped. I knew he had his loyalty to Arnold, but surely, he must have been able to see what a crazy idea this was. To let that man sleep with me, when I had just been with Dean...I needed to come up with something else, something else that would push him to make the choice I knew he needed to.
“He’s going to set you up, you know,” I told him. “He’ll do it again.”
“Again?” Dean asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “What does that mean?”
“Come on, the Vogons?” I pointed out to him. “He’s working with at least some of them, and I’m pretty sure he sent the guys who were after you to find you. He was trying to take you down, I’m sure of it. I don’t know what beef the two of you have, but I doubt he’s the kind of guy to drop it.”
“That’s the thing, they don’t know I know,” He pointed out. “I’ve just proved to them that I’m hard to kill and loyal. You really think they’re going to take another hit at me?”
“Yeah, I do,” I replied. “And I think this could be your last chance to get out of here before it happens.”
I could see his mind ticking over. He knew I had a point, there was no way he could deny it – much as he might have wanted to believe he could trust his boss, he believed me, whether that made sense or not. The Vogons had been working for Arnold, I was sure of it, and they had been sent to take out Dean, too – I was sure he would be dead if it hadn’t been for me getting in the middle of it.
Maybe I would have been better off. But even now, sitting here, facing something as horrible as going to bed with a man I didn’t care for at all, I wouldn’t have undone it. I would have taken him from that hotel, stolen the car, driven him out to the airport, and I would have spent the night with him. It was worth it. We could get out of here, we could make a run for it, and we would never have to look back. I had no idea how he had gotten involved with something like this, but it was obvious to me he had some serious doubts about it. I could get him out. We could start over.
“You really think that would work?” he asked, and I nodded.
“I know it will,” I replied. “Come on, we need to go fast – we can’t sit around here any longer-”
“That’s the best you can come up with?” he asked, and he sounded incredulous. I widened my eyes at him.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean—”
“The great Arianna Sosa, and that’s the best you can do?”
I froze. How did he know my full name? I had never told him. I was sure of it. And I had no idea how anyone in the house would have found it out to tell him.
“Why are you calling me that?” I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady. I felt like things were spinning out of my control, and if there was one thing I hated above all else, it was that. I needed to get back on top here, and I had no idea how to make it happen.
“It’s your name, isn’t it?” he asked me. I nodded slowly, carefully, not wanting to give too much away.
“How do you know it?” I replied. My voice was clipped and curt. I knew we didn’t have long before Arnold came back and decided he was going to take what was his, and I wasn’t ready to handle it. I needed to know just what Dean knew about me – what he might have passed on to anyone else, too. Had I been played? Had I managed to walk straight into a trap? My mind was racing as I tried to make sense of it. Hearing my name on his lips like that, it had thrown me for a serious loop, and yet, some part of me enjoyed it too.
“I think most people in law enforcement this side of the Atlantic have heard it,” he replied.
“So why would you...?” I replied, and then I trailed off as it started to click into place.
“Are you undercover?” I asked him. He lifted his hand to quiet me, looking around to make sure there weren’t any people around who might have heard us.
Then he turned to face me, and for the first time, it was like I was really seeing him. Slowly, he nodded, and I felt a flood of panic hit me hard.