Cocked: A Stepbrother Romance (7 page)

I felt slightly better once we were on the highway. I knew that Castillo’s men wouldn’t try to run us off the road, and we’d be relatively safe if we stayed off the grid and were careful. Still, they knew where we were, and it was very possible that they could catch up to us at any moment.

“Cam,” Trip said softly. “I think we should talk about this plan.”

I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “What’s the matter?”

He shook his head, glancing into the backseat. It was clear that he meant,
not in front of them.

“Anyone need a break?” I asked the car.

“I’m starving myself,” Trip said.

Nobody else answered.

“Okay. We’ll stop off at the next rest stop.”

Trip gave me a look but I ignored him, keeping my eyes locked on the road.

Lacey was staring out the back window, her face a mask of anger and confusion. I had no clue what was running through her mind, but I was sure it wasn’t good.

After all, I was a selfish hurricane leaving destruction in my wake. And I couldn’t even deny that. Truth was, ever since I left for Mexico, I’d been seeing more and more the truth of who and what I was becoming.

Things changed. I was trying to do something different, something good. But I couldn’t tell them all about it, not yet at least. My handlers had sworn me to secrecy, and I was afraid of losing what privileges I still had by telling everyone the total truth.

We drove on in silence until I spotted the first rest stop. I pulled off toward the bland, squat building, the parking lot full of bored and tired people who only wanted to get where they were going. Rest stops were both necessary and bizarre. Nobody went to a rest stop as a destination, and yet there were plenty of people there at all times, either working or waiting.

I pulled into a spot well away from the other cars and cut the engine.

“Should we be stopping?” Jeff asked.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Go use the bathroom if you guys need to. We’re not stopping again for a while.”

Lacey climbed out of the car and stalked off toward the building without a word. Jeff and my Mom followed her silently, staring ahead like zombies.

I climbed out and leaned against the hood of the car. Trip stood in front of me, his arms crossed.

“Shit situation,” he said.

“No kidding.”

“Folks seem to be taking it well.”

“They watched me kill a guy.”

“They’ll get over it.” He paused. “They saw me kill the other. And it’s not like you had a choice.”

“About that,” I said, standing up. “Where were you back there?”

“Told you. I had to take a piss break.”

“One hell of a piss break.”

“Look, I’m sorry. You know I’m not built for long stakeouts.”

I clenched my jaw. I wanted to hit him, but he had helped save my life back during the shootout.

“You can’t fuck up like that again.”

“I know, Cam.”

“If the cartel doesn’t kill you, I will.”

He grinned. “Loud and clear, captain.”

I wanted to keep pressing, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. It wasn’t worth going over and over the same ground. We had to move forward. “Okay. Why did you want to stop?”

“Well, there’s the matter of our plan.”

“You mean that completely fucked thing that’s basically useless now?”

“Yeah, that,” he said, laughing.

“I’ve been thinking about it.” I looked back at the building, frowning, and then back at Trip. “I think we should split up.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“The Mexicans only have so many guys. They can’t track us both effectively.”

“But we’ll be more vulnerable if we split up.”

“True. We just have to make sure we don’t get caught.”

He frowned. “I don’t like it.”

“What was your idea then?”

“Can’t really say I have one.”

“You take my parents,” I said, “and I’ll take Lacey.”

“Good luck with that. Girl seems to despise you.”

“Do you fucking blame her?” I leaned back up against the car again with a grunt.

“Nah, I don’t. Why don’t you just tell them about the agency?”

“You know we can’t do that.”

“Cam, man, the fucking CIA doesn’t give a shit about us anymore.”

“Maybe. But if we start telling state secrets and shit like that, we’re completely on our own.”

“We’re on our own right now.”

“I’m not so sure we are.”

“Look, Cam. Tell the girl at least. Maybe it’ll help her hate you a little less.”

I sighed and shook my head. Trip didn’t understand and he never would. He didn’t know about my past with Lacey and how she made me feel every time she was around. To him, we were just stepbrother and stepsister. But in my mind she was still Lacey, the girl I’d had a crush on ever since I first met her, the girl I thought about every time I jerked off. The girl I let go.

“Maybe,” I said, shrugging.

After that, we talked about where we would go. Trip decided he’d take a shot at crossing the Canadian border right away and try to travel that way. He’d cut north, which meant his trip would be shorter than mine. I was going to move through America until we hit the coast, and then start traveling north from there.

It was going to be a long trip. Alaska was far, far away from Hammond, especially by car. We were looking at a week, possibly more, assuming we drove at least eight hours a day. And since Trip was taking a more direct route, he was going to get there a few days before I did.

Which was good, since they were his people and he needed to make contact.

As we finalized our plans, Lacey and our parents walked back up to us. Lynn looked marginally more interested, though Lacey still had an awful scowl on her face.

“We need to talk,” Jeff said.

Trip grinned at me and stepped away.

“What’s up, Jeff? We need to get moving.”

“First, tell us what’s happening.”

I nodded. “We’re going to Juneau, Alaska. Trip knows some people there, people that can keep us safe.”

He frowned, looking skeptical. “How do you know that’s true?”

“Trip is as fucked as we are.”

Trip raised an eyebrow, pretending like he hadn’t heard.

“Assuming these people are real, what then?”

“Then we wait.”

“How long?”

“Weeks, months. Maybe years.”

“We can’t just hide out in Alaska for a few years. We have a life.”

“I know, Jeff. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

“Me and Lynn were talking. What if we called the police but you guys left?”

“Not happening.”

“We’ll take the risk. We understand.”

“Listen to me, Jeff,” I said, getting in his face. “If you leave with Lynn right now, you will die. But not quickly. The Mexicans will torture you for information about me first, and you’ll give it to them. Then I’m fucked and you’re fucked and we’re all dead.”

“It can’t be that simple,” he said, exasperated.

“It’s that fucking simple.” I looked at Lacey and Lynn. “Anything else?”

“When did you become such an asshole?” Lacey asked.

I ignored her. “We have a new plan.”

“Great,” she mumbled.

“We’re splitting up.”

They looked stunned and angry all at once.

“Absolutely not,” Jeff said.

“I’m not splitting up from anyone,” Lynn nearly yelled.

“You changed,” Lacey whispered, shaking her head.

“Calm down,” I said loudly, raising my hands. “Listen to me. We’re still meeting in Juneau in a few days, but we’re going different ways. Jeff and Lynn, you’re going with Trip.” I looked at Lacey and gave her my best grin, almost loving her reaction. “And you’re with me, Lacey girl.”

“No, thanks,” Lacey said. “I’m not going anywhere with just you.”

“It’s for the best,” Trip said, rejoining the group.

Jeff and Lynn spoke at the same time, both saying how they’d rather call the police, how they’d rather take their chances, the police can surely help, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew they were in shock and didn’t understand how serious their situation was, but they were being such stubborn idiots.

“Enough,” I said, yelling over them. “Get in the fucking car right now.”

Jeff blinked. “Don’t talk to us that way. We’re just scared.”

“I get it,” I said slowly. “But you haven’t figured it out yet. There is no arguing or discussing right now, because a gang of violent drug dealers wants to murder us all. Me and Trip are your only way out.”

“Okay,” Mom said suddenly. “Okay, we’ll go with him.”

Everyone was quiet for a second, and the tension suddenly seemed to drain from the moment.

“Are you sure?” Jeff asked her.

“I don’t know why Camden is involved with these people, but he saved us earlier. I trust him.”

“Thank you, Mom,” I said softly.

She walked up to me and hugged me tightly. “Promise we’ll see you in a few days.”

“I promise.” I returned the hug, feeling a mess of emotions.

She let go and stepped back, gave me a quick smile, and then ducked into the car. Jeff frowned at me for a second and then followed her.

“Better go before they change their minds,” I said to Trip.

“See you in Juneau, brother.”

We clasped hands, and then he climbed into the car. I walked to the back of the car and patted the trunk. He popped it, and I smiled ear to ear. Trip was one prepared motherfucker.

I grabbed one of the two duffel bags and shut the trunk. Trip gave me a thumbs-up and then pulled out toward the on-ramp.

I watched them disappear onto the highway before turning back to Lacey. She was staring at me with this strange look on her face.

“Guess it’s just us now,” I said.

“You realize we’re stranded here?”

I laughed. “I guess we are.”

“Seriously, we don’t have a car.”

I looked around the parking lot. “Plenty of cars around here.”

“Camden.”

“It’s okay,” I said, grinning. I felt excited for the first time in a long time as Lacey stared at me. I took her body in, running my eyes up and down her figure, and then reached into the duffel to pull out a small stack of cash.

“We’ll pay for whatever we take,” I said, laughing loudly.

I
’d never seen someone steal a car before.

Camden made quick work of it though as my heart hammered in my chest. It wasn’t the worst thing that was happening at the moment, I figured, but it was definitely pretty bad.

“We’re stranding someone else here,” I said to him as he popped open the lock with a long black tool slipped between the window and the doorframe.

“I’m aware of that.”

“And that’s okay?”

He looked at me and shook his head, not responding. He climbed into the front seat and began to take off the bottom panel near the ignition.

“Seriously, Camden, after everything today, we’re just stealing a car?”

“We’re in a hurry,” he said, concentrating on his task. “Now stop talking and make sure nobody is coming.”

I scowled at him for a second. I had to admit, it was pretty impressive how quickly he got the door open and was inside. He looked competent and serious as he began to fiddle with some wires, a screwdriver-like tool shoved into the ignition.

But he was stealing a car. Even back in the day, when I knew he was trouble, he kept that part of him away from me. At least, he didn’t let me see it directly. I was a good person, or at least I always thought I was. I’d never stolen anything in my entire life, let alone some crappy sedan from the parking lot of a rest stop. Even though I knew we needed it, knew that not getting a car could mean something way worse than whatever was going to happen to the owner of the car, I still felt bad.

“Fuck yeah,” he said as the engine suddenly turned over and the car came to life.

I looked in at him. “Proud of yourself?”

“Always.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Whoever owns this car isn’t being chased by violent criminals.” He grinned at me. “Hurry up and get in. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

I walked around to the passenger side and climbed in with a huff. I watched as he put his tools back into the duffle and began to count out the bills, all of them hundreds. He rolled them into a tight ball and wrapped a rubber band around their bulk.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Like I said, paying for it.”

He reached out of the car and dropped the wad of bills on the ground.

“How do you know the real owner of this car is going to get that money?”

“I don’t. But the universe tends to right itself sometimes.”

“That’s crazy.”

He shrugged, putting the car into gear. “We picked a car parked relatively far away from the others on the opposite side of the building. I’m guessing that the person who owns this car also works here and that this spot doesn’t get much traffic. I’m confident he’ll find it.”

“This is insane,” I mumbled for the hundredth time that hour as Camden laughed and pulled out into traffic.

We were back on the road, keeping up with traffic but not driving too fast, heading west toward the coast. I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, pointedly not talking to Camden.