A Five-Minute Life

“Owe you? I—”

“Hold up.”

His glance darted over my head, eyes widening at the road leading up to Blue Ridge. As I turned to where he was looking, I heard the slow crunch of tires on gravel.

I looked at Jimmy. “Oh shit.”

He stared back. “Oh shit is right.” He yanked the passenger door open for me. “Get in. Get down.”

I crouched on the floor of the cab as he raced to the other side of the truck and jumped in. A pleasant panic bloomed in my gut, like the feeling you get right before a roller coaster drops. My stomach sent flutters up to my heart, adding to the adrenaline rush that was already coursing through my veins.

Jim scooted down below window-level and we listened, our breaths held, as the security car slowly rolled past. When it grew fainter, he ventured a peek and then I watched him follow the vehicle down the road.

“Gone,” he said. “I don’t think they know you’ve escaped yet, or we’d be screwed.” He laughed at me, curled on the floor of the cab. “You ready?”

I gave him a thumbs-up. “Born ready.”

I buckled myself into the passenger seat while Jim stripped out of his jacket and tossed it in the small space behind our seats, then fired the ignition. He filled the truck with the scent of denim and his clean, unfussy cologne. I leaned back in my seat and just drank him in.

Jimmy’s large hands gripped the wheel as he drove. His forearms were perfection, and my fingers itched to run them along the striations of his muscles under that tanned skin. My eyes blazed a path up to his bicep that strained the short sleeve of his black T-shirt. Up, up, to the corded muscles of his neck, to his strong jaw brushed with stubble.

He’s like a shot of booze, or a drug that feels too good to be legal.

I welcomed the lust. The slow roll of want shuddering through my entire body made me feel alive. I hadn’t felt it in years and never this powerful. Never.

Jimmy drove with confident precision, taking me wherever I wanted to go. He’d given me so much and never asked for a thing in return, and there was no place on earth I’d rather be than with him.

Part III

Chapter 27

Thea

“It’s a seven-hour drive,” Jimmy said. “I figure if we push straight through, only stopping for lunch and gas, we’ll get you there fast. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.”

The adrenaline rush from nearly getting caught faded, leaving me a pleasant buzz of happiness. Blue Ridge couldn’t stop me, but they could make things difficult if they got the police involved. But I was out in the world. The green of Virginia in summer outside our rolled-down windows and the wind played in my hair.

“Music?” Jimmy asked.

“You read my mind.”

He picked up his phone from the dash and handed it to me. “The truck’s too old for Bluetooth, but if you put the volume on high…”

“On it.”

I scanned through his music.

“You sure have a lot of dance and techno here for a rock n’ roll guy.”

“I loaded it up before your procedure,” he said. “For our walks, or while you were painting.”

“Damn, Jimmy. For a guy who doesn’t talk much, you always say the perfect thing.”

He kept his eyes on the road, but the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile.

I found “We Are Young” by Fun., featuring Janelle Monáe. I hit play.