“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said.
“Okay. You jump, and I’ll follow.”
“Right,” I said, not moving.
“Shelly,” she said urgently.
I glanced down and then away. “I might have a small fear of heights.”
She rolled her eyes and then pushed me.
“Wait,” I cried, but it was too late. My leg scraped along the jagged edge of the bars as I fell. I landed sprawled on the lid of the Dumpster. The impact jittered up my whole body, and my teeth chattered with the agony of it. A red gash ran from the outside of my knee to the ankle.
“Move,” Jenny demanded.
With shaky legs, I slid to the side and turned my face, ready to send encouragement. But by the time I called her name, she was already falling, landing in a far more graceful heap. No painful leg gashes for her.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “Because you saw me go first.”
She hopped onto the street beside me. “We have a plan after this?”
Damn, how had she recovered so quickly? And she looked more alert than I had ever seen. I glared at her as I stumbled onto the ground, wincing as the weight of my step shot pain up my shin.
“Come on.” I took her hand, and we ran across the street. Or really, she ran. I hobbled. We crouched behind the Jaguar and peeked over the hood. No one appeared to have seen us. In fact, we couldn’t see anyone at all. Everyone was inside and quiet, which meant they were either dead…or Major was.
Chapter Ten
I slipped into the driver’s seat, and Jenny took the passenger’s. No keys. I felt around in the pockets of the car. Jenny flipped the visor down, and the keys fell on my head.
“Ouch,” I said, rubbing the spot.
“Let’s go,” she muttered, watching the door of the complex.
“I have to wait for someone.” She gave me a look, and I recoiled from the vitriol of it.
“A man?”
“The man who helped us escape,” I retorted.
Her cool gaze slid to the keys in my hand, then back to me. I got the impression she was measuring me, deciding whether to take them by force. My fingers tightened on the keys as I waited.
The tension released from her in a breath as she had apparently decided to keep me around. “You better hope he comes out soon,” she said, her gaze glued to the door. “If they find us, we are so fucked.”
I let out a breath. “I cannot believe you were faking it all this time.”
She snorted. “As if you don’t.”
“I don’t mean orgasms. I mean pretending to be high and stupid,” I said. “All the freaking time.”
“We all have our masks to bear.”
“You could have been straight with me. What did you think, I would go tell Henri?”
Her look was assessing. “You might have. I couldn’t trust you. I still don’t, but you’re the one with the ticket out of here.”
I touched the gash on my leg, then winced. “They really did a number on you, didn’t they?”
She laughed softly. “You’re one to talk.”
I felt Jenny tense beside me. I looked back to see a man walking out of the building. Major.
“He’s with us,” I said.
Major walked across the street, focused but unhurried. When he reached the car, I climbed between the seats into the back while he got in and drove.
“You got blood on the seats,” he said.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern,” I said sarcastically, collapsing against the back. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Let’s just say I have friends in low places.”
“Well, you do know Shelly,” Jenny said.
“That’s it,” I said. “I was going to actually help you, but since you’re being rude, I’m going to sic Marguerite on you.”
She scoffed. “Another pimp? Please.”
“Much worse. She runs a shelter.”
“A shelter?” Jenny cut in. “I don’t want to go to a shelter. Hell, no. Do I look like a poor battered woman to you?”
Major looked over at her, from her dirty, tangled hair down to her bruised arms. “This is a trick question, right?”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not going.”
He looked back at me. She’s your friend. You talk to her.
“Well, that’s where we’re going, so unless you’re planning on doing the tuck-and-roll out of a moving vehicle, so are you. Besides, you haven’t lived among regular people in years. No way are you surviving on your own.”
“That’s your motivational speech?” he asked me, incredulous.
I waved my hand. “I don’t do positive thinking. That’s what my shelter is for.”