until this thing blows over. I’ll come back and-”
“No. That’s what I wanted to tell you.” Terror had filled her at the thought of him being anywhere near Alan’s thugs. “You’ve got to stay away. Please, Kenny. I can’t lose you, too.”
“Bailey-”
“I’ll go,” she’d promised him rashly, knowing that was the only way to guarantee he stay gone. “I’ll go if you promise to stay far away.”
“Check in with me,” he’d demanded. “Text me if you can’t call, let me know where you are.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Promise. Promise me, Bail.”
She’d made that promise, and they’d been in touch by text messages at least every other day.
Small comfort.
She’d called into work for a substitute teacher, saying she had a horrible flu and needed at least a week off. No way was she going to endanger the children she’d come to love and care about as her own.
That had turned out to be a good decision, because now she had the feeling that she was being followed- everywhere she went she experienced an itch between her shoulder blades.
They were watching her, waiting for her to find the money.
She needed to get on that.
She’d thought long and hard. If Alan had stashed money-and he’d been just tight enough to do something like that-then where? Their house was too obvious; plus it was now up for sale, and every inch of it had been gone over, cleaned, redone. It had to be at one of his resorts. All had been sold except the ones in Mammoth, Catalina, and Cabo.
Kenny agreed that it was entirely likely that the money was in one of those last places. She’d started with Mammoth simply because when she’d gotten to Sky High Air, that was where Noah had been going.
She’d put out word that she was going to Aspen to throw the thugs off her tail and had hitched a ride with him.
So to speak.
Noah kept his gaze straight ahead, dividing his concentration between the horizon and his controls, flicking switches, doing whatever it was he was doing to keep them in the air.
“The sooner we’re there,” she told him, “the sooner you’re free of me.”
“How did you know my name?”
“I-I don’t.”
“Liar,” he said very softly. “You called me by name a few minutes ago.” Apparently no longer afraid of her, or caring that she had her “weapon” pressed against him, he turned his head and looked right at her.
And she let him.
Maybe it was exhaustion, or the fact that her head hurt from all that was racing through it. Or maybe she simply couldn’t make room for one more fear-that being that he would let them crash.
He wouldn’t. He loved living too much.
She was banking on that.
His gaze traveled from the hood low over her face, to her jeans, to her boots and back, before he looked at the horizon again, jaw tight.
She knew why. He’d looked, but he still couldn’t ID her. That was what happened when she wasn’t all vamped up; she was a nobody. If she lived through this mess, she was going to love being a nobody. She’d spend the rest of her days happily being a nobody.
“You might as well have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the spot at his right. “Now that I can identify you to the authorities.”
“Now who’s the liar?”
He swore, and kept flying. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
“I have to.”
He glanced over at her, utterly bewildered and baffled. “Why? Why do you have to do this?”
“It’s complicated.” The understatement of the century.
“You’re late for a manicure?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said grimly.
“Try me.”
She stared at him, wishing she could. Wishing a lot of things…
“I know. You’ve got a hot date on the slopes.”
“No, that’s you.” She knew he planned to ski his brains out, then hopefully screw his brains out. That the thought had given her an odd ping didn’t matter. What he did after he got her to Mammoth didn’t concern her.
“At least it’s not a date with the cops,” he said. “You’ve committed quite a few felonies today, Ms. Hijacker.”
She’d wondered, several times today alone, if being dead would be easier than being in prison. But despite appearances, she’d never taken the easy way out in her life.
Inside her pocket, her cell vibrated, signaling an incoming text message. She pulled it out and read Kenny’s message: R U in Aspen yet? K
She swallowed the lump of fear. He was still safe. Safe, she repeated to herself, and that was all that mattered. For now, at least, they were both safe.
Inhaling a deep breath, she thumbed a yes in answer, because she needed the world to think she was in Aspen. Carefree. She hoped to God that Kenny was carefree on an island somewhere soaking up the sun, free of trouble.
She didn’t want her trouble landing on his head.
Unfortunately, Kenny attracted trouble like a moth to flame. He always had. He’d probably gotten that special gift from their father, she thought with some bitterness.
Thanks, Dad.
Ironically enough, Kenny had stayed trouble-free while working for Alan, but now he was directionless again, and that terrified her. But that was a worry for another day.
Say if she lived.
“Please,” she begged Noah, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be in charge. “Please, just do this. Just get me to Mammoth.”
“And then…?”
And then, she would hopefully find the money, hand it over to the bad guys, and go back to teaching second grade, go back to her quiet, sweet little world where bad things didn’t happen to good people.
He was waiting for an answer, so she swallowed hard. “And then you’ll land and let me go.”
“And you’ll what, ride off into the sunset?”
“You’ll never hear from me again, I swear. No need to turn me in.”
“Other than the whole kidnapping thing.”
“You were going to Mammoth anyway,” she pointed out.
He looked at her, his green, green eyes utterly unfathomable, cool, and assessing, his mouth in a tight line of unforgiving grimness. “Just for curiosity’s sake, why don’t you tell me what else I’d be turning you in for? You know, besides hijacking and assault with a deadly weapon.”
Deadly weapon, with a fat Bic pen.
He was going to be royally pissed if he ever figured out that her gun was nothing but blue ink and plastic. At the thought, a half-manic giggle bubbled up, but she managed to swallow it. God, she was so tired, exhausted really, and she gave in to her trembling legs, sinking into the seat next to him.
Noah was watching her, his aviator sunglasses shoved to the top of his head, which kept his hair out of his eyes.
His oddly mesmerizing eyes.
Yeah, she was losing it if she was noticing his eyes. She’d had enough of men. In fact, if she lived, she never wanted another man again.
Never. Ever.
The sheer, bone-deep exhaustion weighed her down. Staying alive was damn hard work. Too hard, and for a
