DRAMA NOVEL ONLINE Runner: Chapter 21
“Is it my turn to choose the music?” Mili grumbled from the back seat.
I reached forward to the radio and turned my music up a little more. “Shotgun chooses music.”
“You stole my seat when we stopped at the gas station,” she snapped, her head popping up between the passenger seat and the driver’s seat. “Why the hell did I agree to drive with you?”
“We only have twenty minutes before we get there,” Kade muttered, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove through the mountains.
We were driving with her because we wanted to make sure she didn’t try to pull any shit behind our backs. Kade was convinced she was going to screw us over again. Even though I had my doubts, I thought she really wanted to work jobs with us before the Panther job. But still, I’d been wary for the entire four-hour drive. We were driving in a white SUV since Mili told us we didn’t want any cars that stood out.
“You should put your seat belt on,” I said, turning my head to glance at her. “It would be a shame if you got hurt if we got in an accident.”
She scoffed. “We’d be screwed either way if Kade crashed now.”
Looking out my window, I stared at the steep cliff. The guardrail did little to protect cars from going off the edge. We were high up in the mountains, going to a tiny vacation town named Roseville. I’d never been there, but we’d heard about it. Roseville was a place where the rich came to unplug from life. From what I’d looked up, everything in the town was expensive and catered to every need of their guests, even though it was in the middle of nowhere.
“You two remember the plan?” she asked. “Because after we check into the hotel, you’ll have to go right away to make it on time.”
“We know what we have to do,” Kade clipped out.
I smothered my laugh at how short he was being with her. He was still pissed about her locking him in the bathroom, and I had a feeling he wasn’t going to forget anytime soon. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took one out. Mili reached over him and snagged one before rolling her window down.
“Do you ever do jobs solo?” she asked casually. “Or do you two work together all the time?”
“We work better together,” I answered, seeing the welcome sign for Roseville.
“Who pulls rank when you disagree? Or do Juan and Vic handle all the decisions?”
“Why so curious?” Kade asked tightly.
“I’m trying to understand. There’s two of you. So what happens if you two don’t agree?”
“We work it out,” I told her, having no intention of explaining how we ran things.
Kade moved to flick his cigarette out the window, but before he could, Mili lunged forward and snatched it from his hand. I whipped around, watching her drop the cigarette into a water bottle, along with her own.
“Are you an amateur?” she snapped, glaring at the back of Kade’s head. “You don’t leave any fucking evidence of being here.”
“Are you kidding?” Kade grated out. “We’re nowhere near where we’re staying. Or the guy’s house.”
“It doesn’t matter. There is no logical reason for you to even be in this town. Once the car gets reported stolen, they’re going to investigate. You don’t fucking leave anything that could come back to you.”
I raised an eyebrow, studying her. Her entire demeanor was different. Her usual sarcastic, playful manner was gone, and in its place was a calm and calculating stare. Her body was tense as she looked out the window as we drove down the main street in town. Roseville only had a few streets, but it was bustling with tourists. Restaurants and shops lined the road, and I glanced at the GPS, seeing our hotel was on the next street.
Kade pulled to the curb and parked in front of where we were staying. It was more of a bed-and-breakfast than a hotel; a place where newlyweds stayed. Why she picked this place instead of the popular hotel was a mystery to me. We climbed out of the car and grabbed our bags out of the back before going up the steps to the wraparound porch.
“Good afternoon,” the receptionist greeted us with a smile. “Checking in?”
“Yes, we have two rooms booked under Chelsea Green,” Mili answered, her voice a few notches higher than usual.
The smile faded as she looked up the reservation, and she gave us an apologetic frown. “I’m sorry. Our system crashed last night and messed up the reservations. We tried contacting everyone—”
“I didn’t receive an email,” Mili cut her off.
“Yes, some contact information was lost. I am so sorry.” She clicked a few more times before looking at us again. “But we do have one room available if you’d all like to share it.”
“Share?” Kade sputtered. “No, we can look at the other hotels.”
Mili looked as put out as Kade as the receptionist glanced between us. “There is a convention in town this week. I’m not sure there will be availabilities anywhere else.”
Kade had already pulled out his phone, clearly calling the other hotel, while Mili pulled out a credit card and placed it on the desk. “I’ll take the one room, thank you.”
Kade stepped to the side, muttering under his breath before hanging up. “The other place is booked. And apparently this place and the other hotel are the only two in town.”
“Yes, most of our guests own their homes here,” the receptionist answered, trying to be helpful. “We usually don’t get this many people only staying two nights.”
“We have a house to stay at, but isn’t ready,” Mili lied smoothly. “We’ll be here all week for the convention.”
“Wonderful. I’m glad it will work out.” The lady handed us key cards and pointed in the direction of our room before moving to help another customer.
“Why did you tell her we’re staying the week?” Kade asked in a low voice as we walked down the hall.
“Because she said they don’t get many people coming for only a couple nights,” Mili spoke slowly, as if we should already know. “We don’t want to seem out of place. We want to blend in like we belong. We want to be invisible and leave without anyone remembering our faces.”
“You’re going above and beyond for us to take one car,” I muttered, wondering if she was this careful on all her jobs.
We stopped at our door, and Mili turned toward us. “This town is crawling with wealthy people. People who I may or may not have already done business with. Who you might have stolen from before. There’s a fucking reason I’ve planned this so carefully.”
Kade rolled his eyes as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. We all stepped inside, freezing while we looked at the room. Thick white carpet covered the floor. There was a large fireplace, and in front of it was a small coffee table with two chairs. There were vases of flowers on every available surface, and floral portraits were on the walls. But it was the bed we were all staring at.
Because there was just one.
Mili bolted forward, throwing herself on the four-poster king bed. She sprawled out, lying on her stomach and resting her face in her hands while grinning at us.
“Looks like you two are sleeping on the floor,” she said sweetly.
“Hell no, we’re not,” I ground out.
She pulled out her phone, glancing at the screen. “We can argue about it later. You need to be at the party in a half hour.”
Kade grabbed the garment bag. “Let’s go.”
“Is she sure he’s going to show up?” Kade muttered. “We’ve been playing this valet act for over forty minutes.”
I flicked my tongue over my lip, forgetting for a moment that I didn’t have my lip ring in. “She planned this down to every detail. He’ll be here.”
“She should have come with us instead of staying back in the hotel room,” he grumbled, messing with his white dress shirt. “I feel like she’s plotting something that we don’t fucking know about.”
“This is the whole reason we’re doing this job with her,” I reminded him. “He knows what she looks like.”
“And you believe her? I feel like everything she gives us is a half-truth.”
“It probably is,” I mused. “But she seems pretty serious when it comes to her jobs.”
“Too serious.” He straightened up when headlights turned into the circular drive.
The red Mustang got closer, and I began backing up toward the entrance. “Looks like our guy. I’ll see you in a few.”
Kade nodded, stepping up to the car as it stopped in front of him. I spun around, heading into the foyer of the ballroom. Straightening my black tie, I went behind the coat counter, and the girl who was working shot up from her seat.
“I’m sorry, only employees are allowed back here—”
“Why do you think I’m here?” I gave her a charming grin before glancing at my suit. “I wouldn’t be wearing this if I didn’t work here, would I?”
She pushed back her blond bangs as her eyes trailed over me. “I guess not. I’m supposed to work this whole shift tonight.”
I frowned, pretending her words were new to me. “I just started this job, and I could have sworn tonight was my first shift.”
The front door opened, and my stomach rolled with anticipation as I locked eyes with the guy I’d been waiting for. He looked exactly like the picture Mili had shown us. Black hair that was styled to the side with gel, brown eyes, and a small scar above his left eyebrow. I was guessing he was in his late thirties, while the petite redhead on his arm looked like she still belonged in college. He helped her take off her shawl before shrugging out of his jacket.
I stepped forward. “Good evening. Please let me take those for you.”
The guy all but tossed his jacket at me, his eyes wandering over the girl next to me. The redhead obviously noticed him checking out the employee, but she didn’t say a word. I handed him the small paper stub so he could collect his jacket later, and he snatched it up, striding into the ballroom.
“Let me hang these up,” I told the girl, who was still staring at me in confusion. “And then I’ll go to the office and try to figure out why they put me on the schedule.”
“Okay,” she said uncertainly, turning to help the next couple that came in.
Slipping behind the thick curtain, I looked over my shoulder, making sure I was alone before opening the guy’s jacket. I ran my fingers down the smooth interior until I felt a lump. Just like Mili explained, he had a small hidden pocket with a key inside. The zipper was small, making it hard to unzip. I finally got it open, and I grabbed the tiny key, slipping it into my pocket. After hanging up the jacket and shawl, I walked back out, nodding to the girl and heading toward the offices. Once I was out of sight, I turned down the other hall and pushed open the side exit door.
I made my way to the valet parking lot, scanning the aisles until I spotted the red Mustang. Kade was standing beside it, and the car lights flashed as he unlocked it when he spotted me. He already had gloves on, and I slipped mine on as I got closer.
“You get it?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I held up the small key before opening the passenger door.
I slid into the passenger seat as Kade stood outside, scanning the parking lot to make sure we weren’t disturbed. I stuck the key I’d taken from the jacket into the glove box lock and twisted. It clicked when it unlocked, and I pulled it open.
“I still don’t believe someone would leave a spare house key in their damn glove box,” Kade muttered, watching me dig through paperwork.
“Well, this guy does.” I finally found the key at the bottom of the glove box and pulled it out.
“Make sure it’s exactly how it was,” Kade said, watching me rearrange the papers I’d just gone through.
“I know,” I muttered, closing the glove box and locking it. “Let’s go.”
“Now we get to stay holed up in that bed-and-breakfast until tomorrow night,” Kade grumbled as we walked toward the building. “We should just do it tonight.”
“And that’s probably why she didn’t give us the code to his house. So we didn’t go behind her back.”
Kade scoffed. “I still don’t trust her.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever trust her,” I muttered. “But we agreed to do the job with her, and I’m positive if we fuck it up, she will try to kill us.”
“And what’s stopping her from trying to do that anyway?”
I arched an eyebrow before pulling the side door back open. “I don’t know. But messing with her job wouldn’t help.”
He rolled his eyes and went to get the car while I went back inside. The girl at the coatroom frowned when she saw me again.
“You were right. I’m not scheduled to work.” I grinned sheepishly. “I left my phone in the back. I just need to grab it.”
She nodded, turning her attention back to the customer she was helping. I pushed the curtain back, going to where I’d hung up the guy’s jacket. Pulling the key out, I slid it back into the small pocket, making sure it was zipped back up. Once I got back to the front, I nodded to the girl and strode out the front door. Kade was parked around the corner, and he took off as soon as I got in the passenger seat.
“Let’s go find some food. I’m starving,” I said, pulling out my phone to search what fast-food places are in the area.
“And stop at that other hotel to see if they have any open rooms,” Kade grumbled.
I chuckled, leaning back in the seat. It would be a miracle if blood wasn’t spilled tonight. Sharing a room for a night with her was going to be interesting.