Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“You better go out the back and down the fire escape,” he suggested, wincing. “Last time this happened, two buyers got into a fight right here in the living room.”
Throwing blows over decorative eggs seemed excessive, but I didn’t want to make the already twitchy young man any worse.
Ducking out the back, I was out on the fire escape and scaling down to the next floor when I heard yelling from above me. Poor guy, it had to suck to tell people no.
The alley behind the building was covered in puddles, and since I was wearing my white Converse sneakers, I had to be careful where I stepped so I didn’t submerge my whole foot. It ended up taking longer than it should have, but I finally made it back to the sidewalk.
“There he is!”
Turning, I saw three guys running toward me, the guy who gave me the eggs behind them at the door of the building and a girl beside him pointing at me. I was betting she was another buyer, and maybe the guys coming for me were her brothers? Or maybe one was her hubby and the other two were her brothers? I had no idea, but when people run at you, the smart thing to do is run.
Bolting down the sidewalk, not wanting to lead them back to my car since clearly they didn’t care that I’d actually bought the eggs legitimately, I charged across the street, nearly got hit, but ran on, really happy that I’d been running with Kola lately to try and improve my endurance. Once upon a time I’d been all about the gym, and I still went regularly but not every other day like Sam did, and I didn’t lift weights either or swim like him and Hannah. Kola didn’t like the water either, so we’d been running lately, and I was glad since without the new stamina, I wouldn’t have been able to keep in front of the men who wanted to steal Easter from me.
I ran on, down streets, down more alleys, even cut through a few businesses—like I had no experience in this area or something—and finally made it to the parking lot far enough ahead to get to my car, gently place the package on my passenger seat, and then get the car started.
It’s hard not to shriek when someone is suddenly at your door, so I ended up screaming my head off while the guy tried to yank my door off. Another guy appeared at the passenger door, and when he took out his gun, only then did I realize that perhaps this wasn’t about eggs. I had a moment of horror, not that I was going to die but that I’d have to explain this to my husband, and how the hell was this going to sound even remotely possible. Even when things started off so normal, they somehow went right off the rails.
Throwing the car into reverse, I checked my rearview, because my God, there could be kids crossing behind me, and then when I saw it was clear, gunned it, squealing out of the Starbucks parking lot and hitting the street fast.
As I drove, I told Siri to call Sam.
“Hey,” he yawned, at the office, catching up on some paperwork like he normally didn’t do on a Saturday. But Kola was at an ACT test prep until three, and Hannah was working on a school project with her group at a friend’s house. We were all reconvening at home at four before we took all the plastic eggs we’d filled to the homeless shelter. “Did you pick up the eggs from that woman?”
“Uhm…yes and no,” I answered as I realized that I had two cars behind me. I’d run a red, and both SUVs came with me.
He made a noise. “I’m sorry, not what you thought, huh? Too small?”
“No, I’m sure they’re great, but I picked up the wrong thing, I think.”
Silence.
I plowed on. “And so I’m considering driving to the––”
“What?!”
“Don’t yell,” I grumbled.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at––”
“Never mind, I see you,” he snapped. We had location sharing on our iPhones, so I was guessing he checked. “Drive here to me.”
“Sam, I––”
“Jory!”
His voice could get so loud in a heartbeat.
“Stop,” I pleaded with him. “I’m not sure what’s in the package, and I don’t want to bring it to you and get you in trouble, and these guys following me are––”
“Following you?”
“Well, yeah,” I said matter-of-factly. “They chased me from the building to the Starbucks.”
“Oh God,” he groaned.
“You know, Sam, that Starbucks was a lot bigger than the one near––”
“Focus!”
Ugh, the yelling.
“Drive to me now!”
“Yes, dear,” I said instead of yessir and turned at the next light. “I’ll call you when––”
“Don’t you dare hang up the phone.”
“We’re just going to chat for twenty minutes?”
“Yes,” he said, disgruntled.