She called up a car, and then strolled to the front gate, although her feet itched to break into a run. This couldn’t be a clean getaway, not with Jimmy’s security at his beck and call, but nobody suspected a thing at this point. She could play the blushing bride for another ten minutes. Hell, she’d played at being in love with Jimmy for the past six months.
Oscar, the guy working security at the front gate to Jimmy’s estate, jumped to his feet. “Getting cold feet, April?”
“Just jonesing for a smoke. I know how much Jimmy hates cigarettes and I’m trying to squeeze in a few before I quit for good.” She pinched the low neckline of her gown between her fingers and adjusted it. “You have one I can bum?”
Oscar’s gaze followed the movement, his eyes widening for a second. “I—I do.”
“That’s what I’ll be saying in an hour. I’d really appreciate it...and I’ll step outside the grounds so Jimmy won’t know a thing.” She put a finger to her pouting lips. “You know I’m good at keeping secrets, don’t you, Oscar?”
Oscar’s face reddened, obviously remembering the time she caught him rummaging through Jimmy’s desk, and he scrambled for a cigarette in his front pocket. “I know that, April, and I appreciate it.”
He shook a cigarette free from a crumpled pack and held it out toward her.
Sliding it from the pack between her index and middle fingers, she said, “Thanks. Got a light?”
He flicked his lighter, and she leaned in to touch the end of the cigarette to the flame.
She waved the cigarette at the gate. “I’ll just slip outside to enjoy it, and if Jimmy happens to smell it on me... I didn’t get it from you.”
“Of course not, thanks.” He lunged for the gate, probably happy to get her out of his sight before she could get anything else on him to report to his boss.
Holding the cigarette in one hand and the skirt of her dress in the other, she stepped outside the gates of Jimmy’s compound. She traipsed down the drive to the street, her breath coming in short spurts. Her gaze shifted from side to side. She’d better not bump into any guests arriving early for the nuptials—Jimmy’s guests.
Once she turned a corner and got clear of Oscar’s sight, she dropped the cigarette and crushed it under the toe of her shoe. Then she pulled out her phone again and texted Adam. The wedding is off. Don’t come near the estate. Don’t go near Jimmy.
The phone buzzed in her hand, and she answered the call from the app car on its way. “Hello?”
“I’m about a block away in a blue Honda. Big houses here. Can I get in the gate?”
“I’m outside the gate. I’ll be waiting on the sidewalk. Hurry.”
“Uh, okay.”
Two minutes later, a Honda pulled up to the curb. April checked the license plate, compared the driver to the picture on her phone and jumped in the back seat. “Go!”
The driver’s bugged-out eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. “Where am I going?”
“The nearest bus stop. Wait.” Her fingers creased her satin skirt into folds. How could she buy a bus ticket? She had no money. No wallet. No credit cards. She’d be a sitting duck at any bus stop for Jimmy and his so-called business associates. Now she understood why he always had an entourage. Idiot.
“Keep driving.” She pounded the back of the driver’s headrest. “I’m thinking.”
“Are you running away from your own wedding or something?” The driver adjusted his glasses and punched the accelerator.
“Yes.” She reached into the front seat and grabbed his arm, turning his laugh into a snort. “What’s your name?”
“Jesse.”
“Jesse, I have a deal for you.” April tugged at the diamond ring on her left hand. “I’ll trade you this ring for your car.”
Turning his head, he squinted at the ring cupped in her palm. “Nice rock, but I can’t do it. I need my ride to make money. This is the only job I have.”
She slumped back in her seat. She could pawn the ring for cash, but that meant she’d be wandering around Albuquerque in this damned dress.
“My friend Ryan might be down, though.”
“Really?” She shot forward again. “Where’s Ryan?”
“He lives about ten miles from here. He’s trying to sell his car, and he might take that piece for it instead of cash.”
“Perfect.”
She waited until Jesse hit the highway. Then she buzzed down the window and chucked her phone outside. She wouldn’t be able to contact Adam anymore, but Jimmy couldn’t trace her whereabouts.
Thirty minutes later, the trade with Ryan went smoother than she expected, and he even threw in a hundred bucks, cash, to seal the deal.
She rolled up the money and wedged it into her new car’s cup holder. She scooped the wooden token pressed against her breast from the bodice of the dress and dropped it in the other cup holder. Running her hand across the dashboard, she yelled out the window. “No GPS?”
“Does that car look like it has a GPS?” Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets. “No refunds.”
“I’m not looking for a refund.” She cranked on the engine of her new vehicle. “Just point me in the right direction for the 25 south.”
Jesse strolled to the car. “You going to Mexico?”
“Maybe.” She leveled a finger at him. “You remember the rest of our deal, right?”
“Yeah.” Jesse’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his skinny, razor-burned neck. “If anyone asks, I picked you up and dropped you off at a bus depot in the city.”
“That’s right. The 25?”
Jesse gave her directions and she sped off, leaving the two young men gaping in her rearview. After her first burst of speed, she eased off the gas pedal. She didn’t have her driver’s license with her, and Ryan’s name was
