On the Run - M Zeigler (philippa perry book .txt) 📗

terrifying for anyone with me or watching what I do. Graciously god has permitted that the traffic isn’t too heavy, it’s twilight so the long distance travelers are hunkering down into hotels and  the one’s on the road are heading to their local homes.

Devon’s Ferrari speeds right up onto my tail in the time it takes for me to react, our two vehicles are now matched for horsepower unlike the Azusa run. The only difference at this time is I have one thing that Devon will never ever have because he will be dead by this time next month. What he is lacking is knowledge with cars; he just randomly buys the ones with the biggest price tag on them figuring that if they are expensive there must be a reason.

Any high end sports vehicle you hand me I know how it handles, how fast it runs, I know how far I can push any one vehicle. He lacks control whereas I know just how to keep control of what I am driving; Devon’s biggest mistake is engaging in an extremely high speed pursuit against me.

With a screaming jolt the Mustang goes from third gear into fourth reaching its top speed of two hundred and seventy five miles per hour in just a matter of seconds. Barrette is sitting in the passenger’s seat with a look of complete terror plastered on his face; both of us are pressed completely into the bucket seats without any form of pain as the seats are padded with thick memory foam. Judging by the look on Barrette’s face, I don’t think there is enough padding in the world to make this ride anything more than a high speed horror show.

Just as fast as I accelerated, Devon jumps on the gas trying to keep up with me, and he is doing a good job until we see a thick amount of traffic up ahead of us. “Good lord, Bonnie! Slow down! You’re gonna get us killed!” I barely hear Barrette shouting over the engine, his right foot is pressed into the floor pressing on the imaginary break on his side of the car. As for me, well, my eyes close in on  the road ahead searching out  every single point I need to maneuver around to put distance between myself and Devon, or at the very least cause him a high speed wreck that will hopefully kill only him.

“I don’t fear death, I only fear never trying. So shut up, hang on and trust me, I’m a street racer!” I shout back at Barrette who gives a disgruntled sounding holler before replying with an incredulous look as if talking to a completely insane person. “Now is hardly the time to be quoting a movie! And informing me that you’re a street racer adds no comfort to the situation!” Barrette shouts back then flops back into his seat when he sees me gliding effortlessly to the right cutting between two vehicles only to dart back to the left zipping around another four cars beyond the four cars I guide off to the right a second time. Beyond these cars I am Scott free or in this case Devon free, Barrette is still panicked over an event that began and ended within a matter of mere seconds. However the man riding shot gun still thinks that we are going to die because I can hear what sounds like a prayer from him; I cannot be sure because if he is speaking it’s just barely loud enough for me to hear anything.

All I know here and now is that I am in my zone, adrenaline coursing through my veins feeling a lot like boiled morphine in the blood stream only with the adverse effects of one hundred percent alertness. My heart thunders in my chest, not with fear but with exhilaration, this right here is where I belong.

Glancing quickly to the rearview mirror I see that Devon is roughly eight cars back and having to decrease speed because one truck will not let him pass for any reason. Even Devon knows that at the speed we are going we cannot go off onto the shoulder of the road or to the center divider because the dirt will cause loss of control. Number one rule of street racing, only drive something that you can control to the best of your knowledge, rule number two, pray; pray that this will not be your last ride and that you don’t end any innocent lives if this is your last ride.

I finally dodge around one last straggling vehicle that I hadn’t noticed earlier; Barrette relaxes noticeably when he realizes there is no longer traffic ahead of us. But he is still tense from the high speed I’m still rolling at. “He’s gone. For now that is, can you slow down now?” Barrette heaves when he looks back to see that Devon is nowhere in sight, Devon is just one of the many tiny lit up specs far behind my car.

“I told you, you can trust me. If there’s one thing I do better than raise hell its drive fast.” I say to Barrette as the Arkansas forest lands flit by us so fast it’s impossible to make sense of what we are passing by. I’m driving at an even speed of two hundred and fifty miles per hour with no signs of slowing and Barrette is saying I need to slow down. “That’s part of your problem Bonnie you don’t slow down long enough to enjoy life.” Barrette sighs giving his opinion of me, he seems more relaxed now that there are less things around us for me to hit. It was kind of funny watching him panic like that, maybe I should give him the statistics of high speed tire blow outs?

Deciding I can’t be that cruel and unusual to Barrette after what happened back at the hotel I settle for a more dignified response. “I slow down when I want to, and for me, that is enough.” I reply shifting into a more relaxed position somewhat leant against the car door. Barrette gives an irritated huff but decides not to push anymore on the issue of my driving. After ten minutes of silence between us I look over to see that Barrette calmed himself enough to fall asleep which is a happy thing for me because I now have time to think of the future. Something I don’t do often because like I told Barrette I live for the here and now, not tomorrow, next week, or next month.    

I do have to think about the future right now because I know what Barrette wants from me when this wild ride comes to an end. He wants me to leap on the band wagon tour bus with him and ride off into the sunset. The problem with is, I’m not sure that I want to settle down. Don’t misunderstand me, Barrette is a great guy, he would make a great husband but like I told Heather back at the jailhouse. I’m not the kind of woman that makes a good house wife, sure I can cook, I can clean, but there is more to coupled life than just cooking and cleaning. There’s learning to communicate, one skill of many that I severely lack, and then there’s discussing things, I don’t discuss anything I just do it and not care what anyone says or thinks. But then again Heather did warn me that though Mr. Barrette Green is a heart breaker, he has a way of changing people for the better. She also told me that we will wait and let him decide who he wants; we agreed that no matter the choice her and I will still be best friends.

Looking back to the passenger’s seat I am left with an even more confused feeling, there is no way I can make my decision until I am in that moment. That’s just who I am, if I make a final decision right here and now I’ll never be able to hide that choice from Barrette, and we’ve come too far in this life or death race for him to hate me now. Besides, I could never betray him that much, I’ll at least give him the benefit of the doubt, and I’ll give the opportunity for him to change my mind.

Chapter 16

 

On the run chapter 15

Time to rest

Bonnie’s perspective

“Are you ready to talk about what the hell happened at the hotel?” Barrette asks trying to sound kind even though he’s heavily intoxicated. This man can hold twice his weight in alcohol, I think to myself as I take a needle to the palm of his hand. “What do you mean?” I ask tugging the sewing thread through his skin. “You know exactly what I mean; you froze up back there and nearly got both of us killed. You’re lucky that Hugo didn’t knock me out, you know that right?” Barrette says then stares at me very pointedly waiting for me to reply.

“Bonnie.” He calls my name sounding harsh and entirely angry with my lack of response time back at the hotel. “What do you want me to say Barrette? I screwed up? I panicked? Or is this an ego thing? You want me to admit you’re more of a kick butt kind of person than I am?” I sneer back at him fed up with his irrational anger tonight, even as I’m sitting here stitching up his hand because the guy can’t even sew!

“No, Bonnie. I want you to tell me why you freaked out like that!” Barrette shouts drunkenly, I release my focus from sewing up his hand and look him straight in the eye. “Knock it off Barrette; you seem to forget I don’t have to be working with you. I can walk away at any time; Devon doesn’t really want me dead, but you? You, he will murder in the blink of an eye. And beside’s that since when did my emotions become your top priority? Can’t a girl have a moment to freak out when big bad john is two steps from killing the closest thing to love she’s ever found?” I shout at Barrette as I yank closed the last portion of his skin. I cut the string close to the needle figuring that he is more than capable of tying a simple knot, with anger freshly brewing inside of me I snatch the bottle of rum away from Barrette and storm out the door of the barn we are hiding out in to have a cigarette and get some fresh air.

The nerve of him! Demanding me to tell him what is going on with me! It’s none of his business why I froze up like that! I think loudly as I pick up one of many rocks and throw it out into the small pond near to the barn. “Unbelievable.” I finally mutter to myself as I pitch another rock out there and watch water slosh everywhere rippling the otherwise calm pool in multiple different places. What angers me even more is the fact I let someone get close to me and I almost let that thug kill him!

“Big bad