Escape

by Jay Crownover

  I had no energy, so when he pulled me to him and cuddled me into his chest, I flopped into his embrace like a limp noodle. “Fast seems to work just fine for both of us.”

  He chuckled and I felt it rumble on the top of my head. It was such a simple, perfect moment that I wanted to freeze time and keep the way it felt forever. “We did everything else in slow motion. It took us years to get here, Brynn. Eventually, it won’t feel like we have to rush through all the good we have together. Soon enough we’ll know that this, what we have together, isn’t going to go away.”

  I hoped he was right. I wanted the time and the space to savor this particular bend in the ever-winding road we were traveling together.

  Chapter 11

  Lane

  Give or Take

  The kid looked even younger and more fragile in clothes that fit, all spit-shined and polished up. There was no way he was a day over sixteen, and that was probably pushing it. His eyes were locked on my phone, which he was holding in a death grip. Brynn wasn’t exaggerating when she said he was freaking out over the radio silence from his brother. I would be in the same spot if I couldn’t get ahold of Sutton or Cy for any length of time, so I was going to do my best to get Bauer to Denver as quickly as possible. Hoping against hope that Mikey was tied up in some typical garbage that came with being a new adult and on your own for the first time. Those were distractions that seemed so important at the time and could make him forget just how much his little brother relied on him. It happened to the best of us.

  “Are you bummed that you didn’t get to experience Vegas in all its glittery glory?” Brynn asked the question sounding somewhat worried about my answer. She was walking close to my side, but her eyes were locked on the young man we were following. She felt responsible for him. She had clearly taken on his pain as her own so that he wouldn’t have to carry the burden alone. I admired her for it, but it also made me worry. There was no telling what was waiting for us in Denver and I wasn’t going to throw the kid to the wolves. I promised her I wouldn’t get anyone with a badge involved in Bauer’s situation, but if the brother wasn’t up to par, or if something had happened to him, I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going to put her in a dangerous situation because she was too blinded by her soft spot for the boy.

  “I don’t think I need anything Vegas has to offer. Everything I wanted was in my bed last night and this morning.”

  She blushed, and her head tilted to the side as she finally pulled her eyes off of Bauer and looked up in my direction. “I thought you were all for flashy and glitzy. That seems to be your thing.”

  I frowned down at her and used a fingertip to push back the brim of my ball cap. “What are you talking about? I’m a simple country boy through and through.”

  She snorted and rolled her dark eyes. “Except when it comes to women. The brighter they shine, the more you seem to notice them.”

  It was my turn to cock my head to the side and study her. “The only thing I notice about a woman is if she’s noticing me. I’ve spent my entire life getting looked over for Cy and Sutton. I learned early on to pay attention to the women who weren’t using me as a replacement cowboy.”

  She made a face, and I saw her jaw clench. “The clients from the ranch you spend time with, they all look like they stepped off the pages of a magazine or came from a reality TV show. There is nothing about them that is simple or country.” She couldn’t hide that my choice of recent bed partners rubbed her the wrong way.

  “All those women have one important thing in common, Brynn.” I reached out a hand and hooked our pinkie fingers together like I used to do when we were kids. “I knew each and every single one of them was leaving at the end of the week or in a couple of days. None of them were going to stick around, so it didn’t matter that I had zero emotional investment in them. None of them could hurt me because none of them were the type of woman I could ever see by my side for the long haul. It was all fun and games. No risk and fleeting reward.”

  Except it wasn’t always fun and rarely did it feel like a game that had any winner. I didn’t want to be lonely any more than anyone else, but at some point, the endless one-night stands started to make me feel even more isolated than I did when I was alone. The type of women I was wasting my time with reminded me of my mother, all fantasy, and no substance. They were safe because I knew I would never love a woman like Lydia Warner which meant I would never end up a broken shell of a man like my father. No one would ever own me that way. Only it was starting to feel more and more like I belonged to the woman at my side all along.

  “Is that what you’re afraid of, Lane, being hurt?” Her shoulder brushed mine as we reached the elevator and Bauer violently jabbed at the little button.

  I shrugged which shifted the weight of the duffle bag I was carrying. “I’m afraid of not being enough just like my old man. I’ve got a good life, and I like the man my father raised me to be, but all of that has to be enough for the girl who gets me. I've seen what happens when it isn’t. I don’t want to kill myself trying to give someone the whole world when my little part of it, the part of it that we occupy together, is all theirs. I will give the person who’s mine all that I have…why shouldn’t that be enough?”

  “For the right person that’s more than enough, that’s more than they will probably ask for.” It was more than she’d ever asked for considering she had never, not once since the very beginning asked for anything from me or from anyone else in my family.

  The metal doors swished open, and Bauer gave me a look over his shoulder. “Be happy you have a piece of something to share with someone, dude. There are a lot of us out here that don’t have anything to give to anyone.”

  That was a startling and heartbreaking bit of insight from someone too young to feel like they didn't have anything to give to anyone.

  His eyebrows arched and a crooked grin split his banged-up face. He looked down at our hooked fingers and mumbled, “Looks like you decided to take the risk? Was it worth it?”

  I couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “The friendship was never really at risk. It’s been through hell and back and survived things that definitely should have killed it. It’s pretty damn resilient.”

  Brynn dug her elbow into my side and pressed the button to take us down to the lobby. “It was on life support for a while. Neither one of us was ever quite willing to pull the plug though.”

  Bauer shifted uncomfortably, his fingers tightening even more on my phone. “I’ve never had anyone like that except for Mikey. He was always there for me, always had my back. He never let anyone talk down to me or pick on me for being one of the only out kids in our town. If something happened to him because of me, I wouldn't be able to handle it.” He was already on edge, one tiny push from any direction and he was going over. He wouldn’t be headed back to the streets if something bad happened to his brother. No, if Mikey was hurt or worse, Bauer’s next stop was six-feet under.

  Brynn let out a breath and quietly assured the timid teenager. “You have us now. And you just heard how stubborn we both are when it comes letting go of someone we care about.” I could see how badly she wanted to reach out to him, to pull him into her arms and offer him the comfort and security he’s been robbed of his entire life. “You aren’t alone.”

  The doors opened silently, and Bauer took the opportunity to escape the thick blanket of concern Brynn was trying to wrap around him. He pushed at his floppy auburn hair and fiddled with the phone in his other hand. Sensing he needed some space I tugged Brynn back to keep her a few paces behind the teenager as he zipped and buzzed his way along the busy carpet and past rows and rows of already hopping slot machines. Once again, I thought the sheer number of people and the noise level was overbearing. I also hated that every breath I took was clogged with cigarette smoke. How anyone ever thought of this madness as a way to get away from it all was beyond me. I was pretty certain my first trip to Vegas would also be my last.

  I moved my hand to Brynn’s lower ba
ck, and in my mind, I saw the way her spine dipped in right there and daydreamed about the way her delectable ass felt in my hands as I hammered into her. There was no comparison between Brynn and another woman. They were all forgettable and forgotten. Whereas every single part of her from the very start was imprinted on some part of my memory. Every word she spoke, every face she made, the way she moved, the way she felt, the way she tasted and turned in my arms, none of that would ever be forgotten regardless of where we ended up at the end of the road trip. She was so much a part of me that I was starting to suspect I wouldn’t be the man I was without her. She taught me as much about love and loss as the old man taught me about breeding cattle and branding.

  I was so distracted by my thoughts and my plans for the future, a future that definitely had her and I doing a whole lot more of what we were doing upstairs, that I didn’t notice that Bauer had stopped abruptly. I stumbled a little, grabbing onto the kid to keep from sending him to the ugly carpet when I bumped into him. He looked over his shoulder at me, eyes twice as wide as normal and lower lip trembling.

  I kept my hand on his shoulder and lowered my head so he could hear me over the din and ding of the casino. “What’s up, kid?”

  He blinked rapidly and gulped so loudly that I could hear him above the racket around us. “There are three guys at the front door. They’re all looking at their phones and checking out every youngish looking guy who walks by. What if they’re here for me?”

  “How is that possible? How would the people who took you know you were with us in Vegas? Why wouldn’t they just assume you went to the police back in California when Lane got you out of the RV?” Brynn sounded slightly shrill, but she purposely moved so that she was in front of Bauer, keeping his smaller frame trapped between the two of us. I snatched my camo hat off my head and plopped it down over his. I motioned for Brynn to hand me the black Ray-Bans she had hooked in the collar of her shirt and silently handed those to the teenager as well. It wasn’t much in the way of disguises, but it was the best we could do in a pinch.

  I leaned around the two of them so I could get a look at the men who had the kid so spooked. Sure enough, three hulking bodies that looked like they belonged as extras in a gangster movie were lurking at the front of the lobby near the doors. I’d left my truck with the valet the day before, so that was the only way out.

  “I texted Mikey, and I sent him an email. I told him where I was going and I gave him your plate number just in case something happened. If I didn’t make it to Denver, I wanted him to have some kind of clue to find me.” He looked back at me and even though I couldn’t see his eyes with those dark shades on I could clearly feel the panic pouring off of him. “That’s why he isn’t answering. They did something to him to get information about me.”

  “Hey,” I squeezed his shoulder again. “You don’t know that. We don’t know anything yet.” But I had to admit it was the only way they could know where we were. There were too many hotel/casinos on the Strip for them to randomly pick the one where Bauer just happened to be, not to mention the fact they seemed to know he was no longer alone in the desert. Three guys that size was overkill for an underfed street kid.

  “My brother would never sell me out, not willingly. I have to get to Denver…NOW!” He moved as if he was going to go around Brynn, but she blocked him by extending her arms and stepping backward.

  “I’ll get you to Denver. But you need to use your head. There is no way you stayed alive on the streets as long as you did, doing what you did, without thinking smart.” I pushed past both of them, turning to face Brynn. “Find a side exit. Make sure the men in black aren’t watching it and slip out. Find a crowd of people and try and blend in as they move up the Strip. Make your way to the next casino, and I’ll come pick you guys up at the entrance. Keep your heads down and move quickly.” I motioned for Bauer to hand me my phone back and told Brynn to text me when they got somewhere safe.

  Brynn gave me a sharp nod and reached back to grab Bauer’s hand. His was shaking, but hers was rock steady. “How do you know they aren’t looking for me and you as well? What if they know what you look like too, Lane?”

  “I’ll deal with it. You take care of the kid.” She nodded stiffly and bit her lip. I bent my head so that I could soothe the abused flesh with a kiss. “Cy was right. This is so much bigger than we thought it was.”

  Bauer made a noise that sounded like he was choking as he reached forward to clutch at the back of Brynn’s shirt. “Oh, my God…they want me because I accidentally overheard RV guy telling BMW guy who the client was. I know who they sold me to.”

  My head whipped around and I frowned at the cowering teenager. “What?”

  Bauer nodded and pressed himself into Brynn’s back. He was shaking like a leaf, and I was worried about him being able to stay on his feet. This conversation was killing valuable minutes, but this new revelation was eye-opening. Bauer was more than the property they bought and sold; with the knowledge he was carrying around in his brain, he was a goddamn liability.

  “Who bought you, Bauer?” Who in their right mind thought that purchasing a child for sex, and lord only knew what else, was okay?

  The kid shook his head at my question and started to pull Brynn back toward the busy casino. His head was down, and he looked like he was a split second away from bolting. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. No one would. That’s what RV guy told me when I told him that I overheard the name. We gotta go.”

  Brynn turned pleading eyes to mine, so I nodded at her. “Go. I’ll be okay.” At least this time the threat was right in front of me, and I was walking right at it instead of the ambush that took me out last time. Before she took off, she stepped into my space and threw her arms around my neck. She put her mouth on mine and kissed me as if it was her life that depended on it…because it kind of did. I kissed her back with just as much fervor, making sure she could feel my resolve to get us all out of this.

  I let her go, and she immediately grabbed Bauer’s hand and started to pull him through the crowds that were starting to gather in the bustling casino. She did what I told her to, kept her head down, and soon they were lost in the sea of strangers. Taking a deep breath and steeling myself for whatever was waiting, I shoved my hand through my flattened hair and started for the front doors. I called down for the truck before Brynn and I had left the room, so all I had to do was collect the keys and run like a bat out of hell.

  As I approached, I kept my eyes on the toes of my boots and begrudgingly admitted Cy was right…as usual. I should have called Wyatt Bryant last night and asked him if he had any Fed buddies who were willing to get involved in this mess. It was all quickly spiraling out of control. When I got close to the first man, he gave me a thorough once over and looked back down at his phone. He let me pass without a word but the second guy, the one closest to the door stuck out a hand and forced me to stop or muscle my way past him. I paused and gave the goon my best good ol’ boy grin.

  “Can I help you?” I tucked my phone into my front pocket and hooked my thumb through my belt loop. I could do simple and country in my sleep. It was a role I was used to playing. I liked it when people underestimated me. It gave me the upper hand.

  “Where are you visiting from, cowboy?” The guy in the suit was trying to appear friendly, but failing terribly.

  I cocked my head to the side “Why? Do you work for the hotel? Did I win something? Hot damn! I never win nothing.” I widened my grin and made sure I kept my posture relaxed when all I wanted to do was punch him in the face over and over again. I could see the screen of his phone the way he had it tilted. Sure enough, there was an image of Bauer looking terrified and so young on the device.

  “Sorry, no. I’m looking for the owner of the black pickup out front. You look like the type to drive something like that. The plates are from Wyoming.” He sneered at me. “Those boots look like they belong in Wyoming.”

  Shit. They were watching the truck. I hadn’t factored not being abl
e to get to Brynn and Bauer into my rushed plan.

  I was silently sizing the guy up, wondering if I could take all three of them and how heavily armed they were when suddenly the chaos of the casino amped up to a thousand. A shrill alarm went off, sounding like an air raid siren and suddenly hotel and casino staff were ushering the packed casino floor in our direction, clearing everyone out as the fire alarm continued to blare. The guy in black reached for my arm, but I deftly maneuvered out of his grasp putting space and people between us as he lifted his phone to his ear. I waved a hand for the harried-looking valet. Keeping an eye on both the men dressed in black as the battle-scarred tourists began flooding out of every opening. The noise outside was worse than it was inside and the fear of the vacating people was tangible. They were the best distraction ever, and I sent up a silent thank you to the heavens. I was pretty sure Brynn was the one who pulled the alarm. She was always quick on her feet. I told her to find a crowd to move in, and she had gone one step further to create a mob to get lost in. Saving my ass in the process.

  “Let me move my vehicle so the emergency trucks can get in.” I pointed to the truck and waited impatiently for the guy to find my keys. A security guard was threading his way through the crowd, so I reached out and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. He seemed irritated but paused when I told him, “Three guys are walking around dressed head to toe in black. They were lurking at the front of the casino before the alarm was pulled. I don’t know if they were armed, but it was suspicious as hell.” There was no need to mention the tragedy that had befallen Vegas several months earlier. Anything that was even the slightest bit off was a threat, and those in charge took it as credible intel they had to investigate.