Page 20 of The Holiday Fakers
A huge black SUV screeches to a stop on the other side of a row of parked cars next to the sidewalk.
“Sorry!” Brody calls from inside. “There was an accident. My phone’s in my bag and I couldn’t reach it.”
“Who’s that?” Mia demands.
I don’t reply, caught in a guppy moment. The winter wind blows my hair into my open mouth and I splutter as I pull it out.
Cars are already honking at where Brody’s double-parked and blocking the street, but he ignores them, rushing out to help me with my bags.
“Piper! You still there?” Mia asks.
“Um …” I reply as I dash toward Brody’s ride. Out of the corner of my eye, I see people leaning out of their car windows.
“Hey, asshole! Move it!” a guy yells.
“Is that Brody King?” a woman asks.
Brody opens the passenger door. “Lock it behind you,” he says urgently as I climb in.
“What’s happening? You being mugged?” Mia asks, her voice rising in panic.
Brody slams my door shut, and I lock it. A millisecond later, a young woman is tugging on the handle, her phone raised as she films me.
“Ohmygod!” she screeches. “It’s Brody King’s secret girlfriend!”
“Have they stolen your phone?” Mia is saying.
My mouth is bone dry, a strand of hair stuck to my tongue. I pick at it and swallow as Brody leaps into the seat beside me and pulls away, cutting into the traffic like he’s driving a rental tank and insured up the wazoo.
“Listen to me, you piece of shit!” Mia snarls. “You give Piper her phone back right now. I don’t know who you are, but she has a brother with a particular set of skills. Skills he’s spent a long time acquiring. Skills that make him a nightmare for people like you?—”
“Mia,” I say, but my voice is a croak she doesn’t hear.
“If you give Piper her phone back now, that’ll be the end of it. But if you don’t, he will look for you, he will find you, and he will ki?—”
“Mia!”
“Piper! Jesus Christ, what’s going on?”
I glance at Brody. His face is locked in fierce concentration as he weaves through the traffic. I can’t talk to Mia now. I can’t tell her what’s going on in front of Brody.
So instead, I laugh nervously. “Did you just do the speech fromTaken?”
“Yep.”
“And you know Hudson’s ‘particular set of skills’ involves putting out fires for a living?”
“You cannot tell him I said that, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
The car settles in one lane, and I sense Brody’s eyes on me. “Is that Mia?”
“Who’s that?” Mia demands.
“Can’t talk now. Okay, gotta go. Bye, bye.” I end the call and send her a message.
Piper: As soon as we stop for a break, I’ll call you and tell you everything
Mia: WTAF? You can’t leave me hanging like that!
