Sins & Needles(82)

I nodded at it. “I’ll be fine now, you should go help your buddies.”

The escort nodded and ran off as the cries intensified. Yeah, that was turning into an all-out brawl. Javier didn’t take custody very well.

I walked as quickly as possible through the lobby to the front doors, bringing out my phone and texting Camden frantically.

Where are you???

I stepped out into the cold night, eyeing the valet guy, hoping Camden wasn’t up in the room still. We didn’t have time to spare. Knowing Javier, they’d find a way to come after me. The man was impossible to contain.

“Excuse me,” I asked the valet who was half-asleep at his post. “Did a man…”

The roar of Jose’s engine cut me off. The car came careening around the circular driveway, Camden at the wheel. He pulled up to us with a screech of brakes, leaning forward to push open the passenger door.

“Your pumpkin awaits,” he barked at me.

I jumped inside the car and was barely able to shut the door before we were roaring out of the Aria and onto the Vegas Strip.

“Are you all right?” Camden asked me.

I nodded, trying to locate my nerves. “Just get us out of here and fast.”

The Strip wasn’t as congested at this time of night, but it wasn’t empty either. Slow moving taxis and limos with people hanging out of them were filling up most of the lanes. Camden zigged and zagged between them, trying to get to the exit for the highway. He handled the wheel with supreme control, looking every bit like an intellectual 007.

“Where are we going?” I asked, keeping my eyes focused on the side mirrors, scanning for cars and anything unusual.

“I thought we’d head to Gualala. It’s always been the goal anyway.”

It’s funny how his goal and my goal were suddenly one and the same.

“So what happened?” he asked as he overtook another limo.

I rubbed my lips together, unsure how to even piece together what had just happened. It was my deepest nightmare come to life.

“I saw Javier.”

Camden went silent. “Shit.”

“Yeah. It was.”

“Fuck you!” He leaned on the horn when a cab cut us off. “How did you get away?”

“I got security involved. They nabbed him, plus Raul and Alex.”

“Do you think there are others?”

“Yes. I can bet there are.”

“Do you think it’s that white Mustang way back there?” he asked, his eyes flitting to the rear view mirror. “He just ran a red light and he’s been gaining on us.”

I couldn’t see anything out of my mirror so I turned in my seat to look out the back. Way behind in the distance was a white sports car. It was getting closer and closer, weaving in and out of traffic and clipping cars as it did so. This wasn’t a drunk driver. This was a beast coming for us.

I buckled myself in tight. “Get us out of here. Now.”

“I’ll do my best,” he growled and stepped on the gas.

Jose jolted forward, nearly rear ending the cab in front of us. Camden deftly wheeled the car around it in the nick of time and I grabbed onto the dashboard to keep myself from bouncing around. From car to car, lane to lane, we jetted in and out of the traffic. He never once let us drop speed, never once hesitated. At first I was worried that Camden wouldn’t be able to handle the car, but from the utterly determined draw to his mouth and controlled grip on the wheel, I had no doubt he knew what he was doing. The Vegas lights reflected on his glasses as we flew under the mammoth, glittering buildings.

“Do you think you can lose him?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. The car was still gaining and pulling all the same moves that we did.

“If we can get to the highway first, we can,” he told me. The lights in between Treasure Island and the Palazzo went from yellow to red and we were cars away from the intersection.

Camden grinned and gunned it. We were going for it. I covered my eyes with my hands and let out a scream as Jose shot across the intersection, running the red. I could hear horns honking, tires squealing, and the car careening over to the left. By the time I opened my eyes we were pointed straight again, leaving behind a bunch of disgruntled drivers whom we nearly collided with.

He whipped us left onto Spring Mountain Way, and with our hands clean of the Strip, the highway loomed in front of us. We were almost there.

“Motherfuckers!” Camden yelled at the rear view.

I looked behind me to see the Mustang speeding around the turn, nearly taking out a man on a motorcycle. He was still in hot pursuit and now with less traffic around us, his pursuit was growing hotter.

“I hope you weren’t kidding about that whole ‘getting to the highway first’ kind of thing,” I squeaked out. My hands were digging into my seatbelt.