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Knox knew he was worthless at the moment, but he wasn’t a scumbag.
Not that he could tell her that. Not when she was threatening to stick to him like a damn barnacle instead of running in the opposite direction like she should.
“Don’t fucking test me,” he growled at her. “You can get out willingly, or I’ll make you get out. Maybe even before the car stops moving.”
She was silent for all of three seconds before she burst out laughing. “Yeah, right. Sorry, Cheekbones, not buying it. You’re not the violent type.”
“The wardens at Midfield would disagree,” he said with a sneer.
She rolled her eyes. “Am I supposed to be shocked you were in prison? Because I’m not. It’s written all over your face. And your clothes. But I’d bet everything I have that you weren’t in for a violent crime.” Her gaze flicked over him in an assessing manner that made him distinctly uncomfortable. “If I had to guess, I’d say…liquor store robbery? No. Too low brow. You’re obviously prone to moments of rash stupidity, but you’re not an idiot. You sound well educated, too.” Then she snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Embezzlement. You definitely have the face of someone who’d embezzle.”
Knox wasn’t sure what bothered him more. The fact that he had indeed been incarcerated for embezzlement, or that she thought he had the face of an embezzler. “You don’t know anything about me.”
She chuckled softly. “I know enough. And I know you’re not going to hurt me. So, look. I need a ride out of town. The truck stop isn’t far enough. Take me with you to wherever you’re going.”
“Or else what?” he asked, tossing her own words back at her, only way sharper.
A delicate shrug. “If I get out at the truck stop, I’ll be calling every law enforcement agency in the world to tell them the story of my horrific kidnapping. A scary ex-con like you kidnapping a pretty, innocent-looking young thing like me?” She tsked. “One look into my teary eyes and they’ll hunt you down like a dog. Or…you can take me wherever you’re going. And if you’re well behaved, I’ll let you go when I’m done with you.”
And now this was officially the weirdest day of his entire fucked up life. The woman he’d kidnapped was trying to blackmail him into keeping her. “Lady, did you miss the part where I kidnapped you? I was there. Trust me, it didn’t happen the other way around. You might think you’re in charge here, but you’re not.”
She patted his forearm again. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Cheekbones. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
Seriously, though…what the fuck was happening here?
CHAPTER 3
“Son of a bitch!”
Tenley jolted out of her catnap. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Cops.”
She followed his narrowed eyes to the flashing lights at the checkpoint ahead. “Relax. They’re probably just looking for drunks. If we play it cool, we’ll be fine.”
“I’m turning around.” He started to cut the wheel to make a sharp turn, but she grabbed his wrist.
“You can’t,” she said. “We’re too close. There’s cars behind us now. If you make a big deal out of going back, you’ll only be drawing unwanted attention to us. We can make it through the checkpoint. We haven’t been drinking.”
He shot her a look like she was the dumbest creature on the planet. “You think they let me renew my driver’s license in Midfield? This isn’t even my car. My lawyer is a friend and he let me borrow it.”
She groaned. “Fuck.”
“Welcome to the conversation,” he snapped.
“Well, how was I supposed to know any of that? But calm down. It’s going to be fine.”
He turned to face her fully, and the effect was no less gut-punching than the first time she’d seen him head-on. Damn. He might whine like a panicky little bitch, but he was undeniably the hottest little bitch she’d ever met.
But as usual, he ruined all that spectacular male beauty by speaking.
He shoved a hand through his already wild hair. “I’m a felon without a driver’s license in a borrowed car with a kidnapped crazy woman in the passenger seat. Lady, what part of that says, ‘it’s going to be fine’ to you?”
She gave him her best pout. “That’s hurtful, Cheekbones. But crazy or not, I can handle this. Switch me places.”
His brow furrowed. “Why would you—”
“Oh, my God, does everything have to be a discussion? Look, you don’t have a choice. Crawl over here so I can slip into the driver’s seat. We can share all our hopes and dreams and feelings once we make it through this checkpoint.”
