I hurried over to the van I had set my sights on, and grabbed the door – locked. I wrapped one of the fancy pieces of lingerie I had brought to my so-called date around my fist and slammed it against the window. Once, twice – on the third time, it broke, and I reached inside to unlock the door.
“I thought this was your car!” the man exclaimed. I shot him a look.
“Do you want to get out of here or not?” I hissed at him. He stared at me for a moment, clearly wondering just what he had gotten himself into. Well, not that I had given him much of a choice.
“I do,” he muttered, and I pulled the door open, ducked down beneath the dashboard, and pulled out a handful of wires to start my work. He made his way to the other side of the car and opened that door, climbing in next to me. I could tell he was pissed, but he wasn’t going to argue with the chance to put some distance between himself and the people who were after him right now.
“You need a hand?” he asked, voice terse. It was the first nice thing he had said to me, which, since I was in the midst of saving his life, seemed pretty rude.
“I’m fine,” I replied. I loved this. I had done a lot of hotwiring back in the day, back before I worked out how to use my skills for something more lucrative, but I had slipped back into the role as though I hadn’t skipped out on a moment of it. I grinned as I fiddled with the wires, waiting for the spark to tell me the engine was about to come to life. I sent out a tiny apology to the person who owned this car, hoping they would be able to find another way home, and then, finally, the engine roared to life.
“Yes!” I cheered, then I pulled the door shut and grabbed the wheel. I adjusted the mirror, and, back towards the hotel, I could see a couple of the guys who had been after my new companion searching the parking lot.
“We should get going,” I told him, and, with that, I pulled out of the hotel’s grounds and hit the road.
I reached for the radio, fiddling with it as we drove – I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going, but I’d just follow the signs to the airport and hope for the best. Finally, I came across a song I liked, and I turned it up loud, rolled down the window, and started singing along.
I could see the man beside me staring at me with outright incredulity. I didn’t blame him. He had just fallen out of who knows what chaotic mess, and right into me instead. Probably wondered if I was a plant by the people who were after him to pull him into a trap or something. I flashed him a smile.
“You good?” I asked, catching my breath after the chorus.
“I have no fucking idea,” he replied, and I burst out laughing. I felt like I was on a high, more so than anything the champagne had given me the night before. This was how I kept myself feeling alive, so full of energy and excitement I knew nothing in the world could stop me. I drummed my fingers on the wheel in time with the music, and spotted a turn that was meant to take us to the airport. I took it, and the man beside me shook his head.
He clearly had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t have much room to argue with me on this, either. I wanted to make sure I got him as far from those guys who were after him as possible, but after I had pulled it off, I had no clue what I was going to do with him.
What kind of trouble was he in? It didn’t matter to me. I loved people caught in the midst of something, people who needed someone to come swooping in and make it right. I pushed my foot down on the pedal, and the van juddered dangerously underneath me. Whoever owned this thing, they were clearly cheaping out on maintenance. Maybe I would leave some cash behind so they could get this looked at.
I pulled the van to a halt next to a busy tourist area, where dozens of people were jumping out of cabs to make a run for their flight; I glanced around, making sure nobody was paying too much attention to us, and then I did the same thing. Climbing out, I grabbed my purse, and tossed a few twenties back inside the van for the owner whenever they found it. We hadn’t gone that far, I was sure they would come across it sooner or later. This would be my borrowing fee.
“What are we doing?” the man asked. Oh, so we were in this together now, were we? He seemed to at least have accepted that. I grinned at him.
“Come on, follow me,” I told him, and I slipped my hand into his and guided him into the crowd of people surrounding the airport. I had a flight to catch, but I was going to make sure this dude got out of whatever mess he was in first. Good deed for the day, and all that, right? I wanted to start my vacation off on the right foot, and I intended to use him to make it happen.
The crowd around us was big enough that we could just vanish into it. I needed to get him some new clothes, I knew that, and I needed to find him a route out of here. Maybe he could give me a little something for my troubles, too, since I was going out of my way to help him.
He held tight to my hand, as though worried about what might happen if he let it go. I felt a little flutter in my chest at the feel of his hand on me. He was hot, no doubt about it, and his begrudging acceptance of my help was making him even more attractive. Plenty of guys would have refused my aid, but he didn’t have a choice, and he was doing his best to find a way through the shit I was pulling him into. He wasn’t about to leave, and knowing I had him right where I wanted him was a hell of a lot of fun. After spending all night trying to convince some ugly old dude that I was into him, holding hands with a hot guy closer to my age was exactly the kind of tonic I needed.
My eyes darted this way and that, and I spotted a store on the other side of the crowd – clothes, beach stuff, the usual vacation trappings. I hurried towards it. I would have him looking like any regular tourist in an instant.
And then, I would take my reward for my good deeds.