Chapter Twenty
Ava could only hope that her own fear didn’t show on her face. Why would Jack want to keep her around? He was probably already certain she didn’t actually know Ms. Rae’s passcode, and she’d proved to be nothing more than a liability so far.
A running theme in her life.
Jack stared back at her as red and blue flashing lights lit up the parking lot from the other side of the thick motel curtains.
The moment crackled between them like a live wire, Jack’s fierce gaze meeting Ava’s.
“All right,” he said softly. “But be ready, Ava, because if I’m seen looping back, police are going to have questions. Lots of them. And get into the back seat.”
She was never going to get to even ride shotgun, let alone drive one of their getaway cars.
Though upon reflection, that seemed like it shouldn’t be at the top of her list of worries.
“If we’re lucky, they haven’t set up a perimeter yet,” Jack said tightly. “Open the window. Be ready.”
“And if we’re not lucky?” Ava felt her heart flip in her chest.
She knew the answer. Of course she knew.
The cops would find her. She’d be done.
There would be no justice for Ari, no moment with Cale Jacobson dead at her feet.
And—
She’d never see Jack O’Sullivan’s burning brown eyes again or feel those rough hands on her bare skin.
Jack shut the door behind him with a quiet click, and Ava nearly sprinted for the back window at the far side of the kitchenette.
She pried the window open, hands shaking, and peered cautiously through.
At the far end of the motel, near the corner, two cops stood, one leaning against the wall.
They looked bored, and a little sleepy, but if they saw the woman they were looking for dive headfirst out of a motel window, they’d be onto her.
Ava looked desperately around her for something. Anything. When she looked down, she was clutching her bag so tightly her knuckles had gone white.
And Jack was nowhere to be seen.
Of course he wasn’t.
She’d trusted him. She’d stayed last night, even though she could have slipped out from under his arm—despite what she’d told him.
She’d actually stayed because being curled against his body felt good, and how stupid was that?
That she’d stayed because she’d wanted to feel something, anything, for one more moment?
And now it was too late for her.
Well, Ava had no choice but to run for it—the cops would be back to her door, and it was only a matter of time until they checked security footage and saw her coming into this room, still in that tattered red dress. She had to run for it.
There was the squeal of brakes and then some shouting, and then the two cops who had been standing at the corner jogged away, rounding the corner to see what the noise and fuss were.
Ava’s pulse pounded in her throat. Had that—had Jack—
There was no time to wonder. She tossed the bag Jack had bought for her—a Hello Kitty backpack, of all things—out the window and scrambled after it, just as Jack’s minivan came tearing around the corner. He screeched to a halt as she sprinted for the van.
He was driving before she was fully in, at full speed before she managed to get the van door shut behind her.
Ava had to stay down, had to get out of sight, and she would—she would. But first, she reached up, closed one hand over Jack’s arm.
“You came for me,” she said.
Jack’s gaze caught hers in the rearview mirror, though he didn’t turn his head. “I promised you,” he said finally, a weight behind his words that left Ava breathless.