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His brow furrowed, and he scratched the back of his head. "Casino Menengo won't satisfy you. You want to gamble, go to Vegas or Biloxi."
A man like him could probably dart off to wherever he wanted. I was limited by finances and my obligation to keep the bakery open. "I don't really want to gamble."
"Then why do you want to go to a casino?"
"I don't know. I just want to feel free, dance, dress up, and enjoy myself without worrying about money or expectations." I hadn't told anyone about this before, but it didn't seem so unreasonable now that I'd verbalized it. I'd served my time being the dutiful granddaughter. Now I wanted to see what else was out there. "As soon as we're clear with Kenny, I'm getting the marriage dissolved, and I'm going to be free for the first time in my life."
He grunted, took my hand, and started walking again.
"Tonight was fun too. I want to do it again. I want another shooting lesson. I want to know what to do next time I encounter Tommy." I made the shape of a gun with my fingers and pretended to shoot out over the canyon.
"Never shoulda let you go alone into that bathroom. Gotta teach you some survival and evasion skills."
"Ooh, what's that?"
"Basically learning to avoid capture and torture."
"Torture?" I gulped down the nervous lump in my throat. I hadn't thought of what might've happened if I didn't escape Tommy. Mag had obviously thought about it because his face was serious, probably still beating himself up that it happened. "Okay, so teach me what to do for next time."
He chewed his lip and scanned the horizon. "Alright. Say I'm the bad guy. Not so hard to imagine, huh?" He winked and let go of my hand. "You have to evade me for ten minutes. No leaving the concrete. You game?"
"Like hide and seek?"
"Sorta." His eyes were already scanning the area and plotting out a strategy while I didn't even understand the rules yet.
"Do I get a head start?"
"Sure. One minute." He looked at his watch.
"I'm not wearing a watch."
He nailed me with a warning glare. "Then start counting."
"Um..."
"Run, Rebel. Don't get caught for ten minutes. Stay in the concrete areas."
My heart was already racing. It felt incredibly risky to me to run around a public place late at night. It was probably against the rules. I was about to tell him we shouldn't when he started counting.
"One Mississippi," he said casually, but the undercurrent of danger in his voice raised goosebumps on my skin.
There were a few other couples enjoying the view, but it was mostly deserted. "Okay. Don't watch me." I bent down to take off my shoes.
"Two Mississippi..."
Chapter 25 Sentimental Softie
Wren
My bare feet thudded on the pavement as I took off running. The heavy coat slowed me down, so I shed that and dropped it. He'd have to stop and pick it up, so I bought myself a few seconds. Mag's counting tapered off, and the last I heard from him was his chuckle.
In the center of the plaza, I hid behind a statue of famous astronomers and tried to make a plan. The planetarium offered the two closest hiding spots. Left stairs or right stairs. Fifty-fifty chance and time was ticking.
I chose the left set of stairs and raced up to the middle level. I crouched in a mostly dark corner and tried to make myself as small as possible.
"Ready or not, here I come," he said in a mocking, serial-killer voice.
Oh Lord. Oh God. Oh shit.
