Getting Out of Dodge
“Howdy!” Ella shouted out the window at the bewildered man next to her. “Y’all from around here?”
Beside her in the passenger seat of the SUV, she felt Rome’s nervous energy. Maybe she was taking a huge gamble engaging the enemy--assuming that’s who these people were there to try to kidnap Rome and take him back to his father.
The two men exchanged glances. “N--no, miss,” the passenger said.
“Too bad. Me and my cousin just got here from North Carolina, and we’re a little lost. We’re looking for the stockyards. Any idea which way we might need to go?”
“Sorry,” the passenger said, shaking his head. “Maybe try an app.”
“Oh, right. Good idea. Unfortunately, my cousin’s sufferin’ from PTSD from his time in the service, and he’s gettin’ anxious about everythin’. Includin’ getting lost. So I thought y’all might be able to help. It’s okay, though. We’ll figure it out. Y’all have a good day.”
“You, too,” the would-be kidnapper said. Ella gave him a little wave and then rolled her window up. Apparently, the ballcap, glasses, and change in her skin tone thanks to so much time on the beach hadn’t clued them in to her true identity.
“The light,” Rome said, and she glanced up to see it was green. The car ahead of her had already gone and someone behind her was honking. Ella hit the gas and powered ahead, trying not to change the way she had been driving since she wanted the men in the sedan to assume she wasn’t trying to outrun them--she just always drove like a maniac.
“Are they following us?” she asked, switching lanes in preparation to take a turn at the next light, despite the fact that she was fairly certain that wasn’t the way to get to the stockyards or to California.
“No, they switched lanes. They look like they’re arguing. Maybe they’ll head back to the airport.”
“Any signs of the other vehicle?”
It took him a moment to answer. “No, I don’t see it--wait!”
Ella was in the middle of her turn and had to assume he didn’t mean to stop turning. Rome turned around and looked over his shoulder. “What is it?”
“Yeah--the other vehicle just came from the other direction. They’re pulling into that gas station back there.”
He was basically up on his knees now, peering through the back glass. “Both cars?”
“I think so. It looks like they’re regrouping.”
Ella breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she really had fooled them after all. “All right. Should we actually start following the directions to California then?” she asked as the phone chimed at her that they were going the wrong way, there was a car on the side of the road ahead, and a cop was nearby.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Rome said, seeming to relax slightly. He had turned back around now. She reached for his hand, and after he adjusted his seatbelt, he took it. Ella felt her heartbeat beginning to return to normal. “I guess Gus and his strategy of facing the enemy works.”
“Yep, we’re two for two,” she said with a smile. Letting go of his hand for a minute, she took the ball cap off and dropped it on the console, running her hand through her hair before re-lacing his fingers with hers. Getting used to this short hair had taken a while, but for once she didn’t expect her fingers to keep going after she hit the end.
Rome’s hand wasn’t sweating anymore, a sign he was also calming down. “How many hours do you think we should drive today?” he asked.
“I don’t know. But I think we should take a detour off of the main route. Just in case they decide to follow us at a distance. I’d rather stay at a hotel a town or two away from where they might think we would stop, you know?”
“Definitely,” Rome agreed. “Once we put some distance between us, I’ll start looking for a place that should give us some buffer room. They can’t possibly have eyes on every single hotel between Dallas and California.”
“God, I wouldn’t think so,” Ella said. Thinking about the possibility that Mr. Verona could infiltrate every hotel so easily made her stomach twist. Was this what reality would be like for them from now on? Running? Hiding? Sneaking around? She knew Rome could eventually get back to normal because he’d have the protection of his bodyguards and lawyers, not to mention he could film his movies on private property. But as long as Ella’s dad thought she was dead, this would be her life.
She wasn’t sure she could continue with it, even if getting away from the henchmen had been a lot easier than she’d expected. It might not always be that way. And if it had been her father’s men, they would’ve recognized her for certain. Then, what would she do?
“Are you all right?” Rome asked, squeezing her hand.
Finding a smile, she turned to look at him. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she assured him.
Rome nodded, but she could see in his eyes that he didn’t believe her. He knew her well enough to see when she was being less than honest with him. They’d have to find a time to talk about this, to figure out if this was the best course of action for both of them, but now was not that time. Now, she just needed to drive.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
