“Fuck!” Aiden screeched.
I jumped in my seat, looking around quickly to see if we were about to hit another car or if he had possibly just avoided a collision, but there were no other cars near us. I looked back to see his face contorted with fury.
“You found them? Where?” Aiden was practically shouting into the phone. “You stay on them! Do not let them out of your sight! I’m heading that way right now.”
Aiden tossed the phone into a little cubby on the dashboard and then quickly changed lanes, darting for the closest exit as the tires squealed.
I was flung into the door of the jeep as he turned swiftly and pressed his foot to the gas. He barreled around another car, nearly hitting it.
“Aiden!” I cried. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry, babe,” he said without looking at me. “I really, really hate to do this to you, but this is the best chance I’ve had for months, and I can’t let it slip.”
“Can’t let what slip?”
He ignored me. He held the wheel with one hand and jammed his finger at the GPS with the other, entering an address.
“Route confirmed. In four hundred feet, turn right.”
He barely slowed down to make the turn.
“Shit!” I grabbed onto the handle of the door, holding on tightly.
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I really am.”
“Sorry for what?”
He didn’t answer. His fingers were turning white as he gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the gearshift with the other. His arms were shaking.
I had no idea what was happening, and his driving was terrifying me. I could barely hold on as he sped down busy roads, dodging traffic and ignoring traffic signals.
“Aiden, please! You’re scaring me!”
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Shit, I’m really sorry! I didn’t know this was going to happen…not now.”
“I don’t know what this is!” I cried again.
Aiden swerved, barely missing a bicyclist in the intersection. He slammed the jeep into second gear, slowed just enough to make a U-turn, and then veered into a parking lot. He pulled into a space in front of a strip mall and slammed on the brakes, throwing us both forward and causing my seatbelt to lock.
“You aren’t going to make that flight,” Aiden said. “I’ll get you another one.”
“Aiden, what the hell is going on?” I stared at his face, barely recognizable from the boyish grins I was used to seeing.
“You know those secrets we talked about?” He turned, and he stared at me with intense and frightening eyes.
My heart stopped, and my throat started to close up so I couldn’t take a breath. My head began to pound as I looked into his face. His eyes were wide and wild. Every muscle in his body was tense, and I could see the tightness of his jaw as he clenched his teeth.
“What secrets?”
Aiden switched off the car, pulled the key from the ignition, and turned to unlock the center storage unit. He reached in and drew out a sleek, black revolver. He reached in again and pulled out a clip, sliding it with a loud click into the handle of the gun.
Alarm! Alarm, alarm, ALARM!
“You said I was hiding something,” Aiden said, “and you were right—I am. You are about to find out what that is.”
And with that, I went from suspicious to terrified.
FOURTEEN