One Wild Night by Jessie Evans Read Free Book Online Page A

urge to flirt…just a little. “Want to play
Bonnie and Clyde?”
    Her green eyes widen. “Bonnie and Clyde
killed people.”
    “Robin Hood and Maid Marian, then,” I say,
my lips only a breath away from hers, close enough to smell the
sweet-and-sour candy scent of her breath and the wild spice of her
perfume. I’m a chin tilt away from stealing a first kiss to go with
the stacks of bills tucked into my pockets, when I hear muffled
voices from the sidewalk outside the shop.
    “Who’s that?” Caitlin hisses, eyes flying
wider. “Mr. Purdue?”
    I shake my head, the hair at the back of my
neck lifting as I pinpoint two, distinct male voices conversing in
furtive tones. “I imagine it’s—”
    Before I can finish my sentence—or encourage
Caitlin to start moving her sweet ass toward the exit—the sound of
shattering glass slices through the silence, followed closely by
the blare of an alarm.
    I lift my hands to shove Caitlin toward the
back door, but she’s already on the move, darting out behind the
display cases and booking it down the hall.
    “Holy fuck, man, somebody’s already in
here!” a male voice shouts behind me as I follow Caitlin’s
lead.
    When the first gunshot rings out, I’m
already shoving the back door closed behind me, wiping it clean
with the tissues in my fist, and sprinting across the yard. My
footsteps pound the hard-packed dirt, eating up the ground with
adrenaline-fueled swiftness. By the time the fence comes into view,
Caitlin is already at the top, swinging her leg over the barbed
wire.
    My chest loosens with relief—she’s going to
make it out, even if I get shot in the back before I can follow.
But I don’t plan on getting shot, not if I can help it. Four feet
from the fence, I jump, making it halfway up before my hands claw
into the ribbons of metal and I begin to climb.
    Unfortunately, my impact sends Caitlin
flying off the other side, her heels hitting the dirt before her
momentum carries her back onto her ass.
    “Sorry!” I take the rest of the fence in
three pulls of my arms and swing over, snagging my shirt off the
barbed wire before leaping down to the ground beside her, landing
with a grunt.
    “Were those gunshots?” she asks, scrambling
to her feet and grabbing my hand, obviously not in the mood to
waste time with apologies.
    “They were.” I take off at a sprint, pulling
her along with me. “And there will be sirens soon. Best if we’re
back in the car before then.”
    Seconds later, sirens wail in the
distance.
    Caitlin and I pick up our pace, reaching the
dark corner where she parked the car in record time and slamming
inside. Seconds later, she has the Bug started and rumbling down
Orchard Street to the south headed toward Caffey Parkway and the
highway, moving swiftly away from the sirens approaching from
downtown.
    “Fuck,” Caitlin says, voice shaking. “Holy
shit-fuck.”
    I laugh. “Aren’t you glad we parked headed
south,” I say, breath still coming fast as I empty my pockets,
shoving the money into a plastic bag I find on the floor.
    “Fuck, Gabe,” she says, louder this time.
“We could have been shot!”
    “But we weren’t.” I finish emptying my
pockets and mop the sweat from my face with my tee shirt. “You’re
doing great, by the way. Two miles over the limit is perfect. Least
suspicious speed there is.”
    “You’re crazy.” She shoves her hair from her
face with a shaking hand. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into
this. What would have happened if I’d died? What would have
happened to the kids?”
    “The same thing that was going to happen if
you didn’t pay the property tax,” I say logically. “They would have
gone to foster homes. As far as the kids are concerned, the risk
made sense. And this time, you gambled and won.”
    She shakes her head, but when she exhales
the breath is smoother, longer.
    “Can you empty your pockets while you
drive?” I ask. “On the off chance we get cops on our tail and I
need to