Heaven's Crime (gxg) ✓

ten. maybe ditching people isn't a good idea

The wind whips against my face. The Californian breeze tastes like salt and sunlight. The windows to the convertible are rolled down, and as we speed past the city of Santa Monica, I can't help but forget about the danger and the fear and our imminent deaths.

Free. I feel free.

But the feeling doesn't last. Somehow, although Veah managed to outdrive the helicopter, we are still being followed.

"Keep an eye on that car," Veah says, her eyes flicking up at me through the mirror.

"I'm trying," I say through clenched teeth.

My wrist still aches from where the handcuff was, only an hour ago.

The traffic of downtown Santa Monica pulses, a living, breathing labyrinth of convertibles and people still dressed in bathing suits, honking with too-tan hands and all-star American smiles.

The Yakuza must be getting frustrated.

My head falls back on the seat, a groan tipping out of me.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but drive faster."

Veah glances at me, her dark eyes brightening, and the cars ahead part for us like the sea of Moses. It might have something to do with the way she rams our convertible right into the truck in front of us.

"You're going to get us sued!" I protest, looking back at the driver as she becomes smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. I see something in her hand━a phone━and it takes me two seconds to put it together.

Oh, lovely. We're about to have the police on our tails, too.

Let's throw a party, shall we?

"Did you, or did you not, tell me to drive faster?" She is still grinning, as though both the Mafia and the police are of no concern to her. And maybe they shouldn't be━I've seen her fight.

I stop complaining.

The airport, from a distance, is a one-story building shrouded in palm trees and open, white columns.

From the runway, I see an airplane incline towards the sky, dipping into the clouds.

The airport. Maybe I should have asked her why it is we are going to the airport.

I open my mouth, but the car jerks to a stop on the outskirts of the parking lot.

"Can you run?" she asks, unbuckling her seat belt.

"I thought we already established this!" I'm already out of the convertible, and from behind us, I see a sleek black car running over a shopping cart. An old woman screams.

She looks to me, and somehow, I already know what she's asking.

"For someone who can't run, you're pretty fast," she remarks, crashing through the doors of the airport.

"Could be the threat of oncoming death, kidnapping, or possibly terrorists. Pick one."

She grabs my hand, and I'm too out of breath to even protest.

Before the security guards can see, we are already in the bathroom━Veah drags me into a stall, pressing me up against the wall.

We are so close our breaths intertwine. So close I can hear the roar of my heartbeat, echoing hers.