Page 28 of Break for Me

“Awesome,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Just lose him,” Memphis said. “And don’t ever call me love bug again, Jersey Boy.”

He smirked that gorgeous, heart palpitation-inducing smirk. “Yes ma’am. I’ll let you know when we stop to eat.”

“Let me know if you run into other problems.”

He was still smiling even a couple minutes after she’d ended the call.

“Is she your sister?” I finally asked. “Some weird underworld sibling kidnapper business arrangement?”

All it took to wipe the smile clean off his face was the sound of my voice. That was somehow both depressing as shit and intensely rewarding.

“No, she isn’t.”

“How does she expect you to just lose them?” I asked.

The smirk flashed across his face for just a brief second again. “Persephone can lose anyone, Fancy Face.”

I watched this man run his hand across the dashboard like he was touching an actual woman.

“You’re ridiculous,” I said, to try to cover the fact that it was probably the single most attractive thing I’d ever witnessed in my entire life. I wished the stupid car wasn’t as impressive as it was. I didn’t know anything at all about cars, but anyone with the gift of sight could see that this was a nice one. I wasn’t about to worship it the way that this madman was, but I could admit that it was pretty. I hadn’t taken much time to really look at it before this moment.

“Why purple?” I asked. The car was black as could be, but there were tiny purple pinstripes that started at the front bumper on the edges of the hood and ran nearly the full length down the sides. The leather interior was as black as the paint on the exterior, but the stitching was purple too.

“Are — are you asking me about the car?” He asked.

I hesitated big time over the crazed look in his eyes. “Maybe?”

“You don’t think black and purple go together?” He asked.

“I don’t know. I guess you just look more like a black and silver kind of guy.”

I could see the exact moment that he realized I was taking a jab at his hair. Then I wondered what it would feel like to be shoved right out of a car that was blasting down the road at nearly a hundred miles per hour. Would I even feel it, or would I just be obliterated on impact?

Except, he laughed. And the shock on my face must have been clear.

“I don’t mind that people can tell I don’t belong to your generation,” he said.

If I rolled my eyes any harder, they would’ve been lost in my skull. But he was still smiling when I glanced at him again.

He drove in silence for a long while after that, both of us uncomfortably watching the mirrors every few miles. He had to be exhausted because even I was tired of just sitting by the time he’d pulled into a shared parking lot between a gas station and a roadside diner. I was surprised that he unlocked my door when he stopped at a pump first to refill the car, but I absolutely took the chance to get out and stretch. It didn’t take long to realize why he didn’t have any concern about letting me out here. There was nowhere I could go on foot even if I did manage to sneak away from him. It was nothing but open road in both directions. And then mountains in every other direction. I’d have to steal a car, or just die in the wilderness. Surprisingly, my crime spree hadn’t included that particular offense up to this point. There were other cars in this lot, probably owned by the people who worked here. I wondered how far they had to drive from home to get here. I couldn’t see a town or other buildings in any direction, but they had to come from somewhere.

“You’d have to be faster than me by a long shot to even have a slight chance of pulling off whatever you’re considering,” Jersey said walking up behind me to put his hand on the small of my back and pushing me in the direction of the diner. “And you’re not.”

He grabbed my arm to stop me just outside the door of diner.

“Listen, I’m tired and already on edge. I just want to sit in here long enough to eat actual food. This isn’t the time to mess with me. Think it through. These people could call anyone under the sun if you asked them to, and I’d still have you tossed back in the trunk and be long gone before anyone who could help you would ever get here. Just don’t do it.”

“Only because you asked nicely,” I said.

“There was no question in anything I said. Go.”

Such a dick.

I instantly wondered what these people thought of us when we walked through the door. I fit in well enough in my old jeans and the Mountain Dew tank top that I’d bought at a truck stop in Ohio, but the suited man on my heels looked wildly out of place. Especially walking in with me. I still couldn’t help but smile when he chuckled at the waitress behind the counter as she said to sit where ever we liked. There were two whole other souls who occupied the tables so there were plenty of options. He followed me to a booth in the back corner of the diner and sat across from me, with his back to the entrance. He had his elbows up on the table and rubbed both hands over his face several times. For a second, I nearly felt bad that he looked so exhausted. Then I reminded myself that he wouldn’t have to feel this way if he didn’t devote his time to kidnapping people, and every ounce of sympathy vanished.

“You lost?” The waitress asked, stopping beside our table.

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