Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,54
out your legs on this side.”
“We can stop for lunch.” He checked the clock on the dashboard. “We have time.”
“You never mentioned which part of Arizona.”
“Didn’t I?” He yawned. He knew Jenna hated it when he kept her in the dark, but he always figured the less she knew at any given time, the safer she’d be. “Down south, south of Tucson.”
“Was it their idea to meet at night?”
“I wanted to make sure we could get there by the end of the day.” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry. This is what we were waiting for, remember?”
“I just wonder why it took Prospero so long to get back to you after Jim murdered his coworker.”
“Maybe we’ll find out tonight. Maybe it doesn’t matter.” He pointed to a sign for gas and food. “Do you want to stop for lunch?”
“Only if you let me drive after we eat. This is not the most comfortable car in the world, especially for a guy your size.”
“But it sure looked good sitting by the side of the road, didn’t it?”
“Like a limousine.”
“You should know. You traveled in a lot of those.”
Jenna stuck out her tongue. “Don’t remind me. My parents were so ostentatious, but then so were all their friends, so it didn’t matter.”
“Have they wondered where you’ve been? Do they know about Gavin?” He turned down the radio. Jenna had always hated discussing her family.
“I haven’t contacted them at all.” She crossed an ankle over her bouncing knee. “They’re not my favorite people, but that doesn’t mean I want arms dealers and terrorists paying them visits. It just seemed for the best that they not know about Gavin or about my life.”
“Have they made any attempts to track you down?”
She lifted a brow in his direction. “Who hasn’t?”
“Seriously.”
“Seriously, I don’t know. Maybe—” she waved her hands around the car “—someday I’ll introduce them to Gavin. They’re the only grandparents he has...now.”
Cade’s jaw tightened. “I wouldn’t honor Kevin with that title.”
She drew invisible patterns on the window. “I’ve been thinking, Cade. What if Zendaris’s men killed Kevin because he wouldn’t give you up?”
His stomach flip-flopped. Had that thought been in the back of his mind, too? He didn’t want it there. He didn’t want any more hope associated with Kevin. He’d burned out all the hope he had.
“That’s giving the old man the benefit of the doubt. He’d already told me he was willing to play let’s make a deal with Zendaris.”
“He could’ve had a change of heart.”
Cade snorted. “That would mean he had to have a heart. I thought we were talking about your family.”
“From one dysfunctional set to another.” She sighed and rubbed her figures from the glass.
“At least your parents aren’t criminals.”
“Oh, I don’t know. They sure love money. In their own way, they love it as much as Kevin did.”
“Not enough to sacrifice their only grandchild.” Cade’s palms felt slick on the steering wheel, and he turned the heat down in the car.
“I still think Zendaris’s men killed Kevin because he wouldn’t deliver.”
“Or couldn’t deliver.” He took the next off-ramp, and the little car shuddered as he reduced his speed around the curve.
He pulled into the parking lot of a halfway decent diner that sported a few Peterbilts on the fringes. “You know what they say about dining with truckers.”
“Let’s just hope it’s true. I’m starving.” She twisted in her seat to jiggle Gavin’s leg. “Wake up. Time for lunch.”
It took her a few more tries before Gavin peeled one eye open. “Park.”
“Not yet, but we’ll go to another park soon.” She smiled at Cade. “He must’ve been dreaming about our day at the park.”
He wasn’t the only one. Cade would never forget that day, even though he planned to have many more. “We’ll have a lot of days at the park, Gavin.”
“Swimming pool.” Gavin rubbed his eyes and yawned.
“Yeah, that, too.”
“Don’t start asking your daddy for too much.” She winked at Cade. “I don’t think he could refuse you anything right now.”
And why should he? He’d already refused him so much.
They ate and got back on the road, this time with Jenna behind the wheel.
Cade shoved the seat back and stretched his legs as far as he could in the small car. He closed his eyes but knew sleep would evade him. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since...hell, he didn’t even know.
Yeah, he did. Since two nights ago, after he and Jenna had made love. Then he’d slept like the dead—while