Marked by Bonnie Lamer

cars and I don’t think the djinn even noticed us.  I wouldn’t bet my life on it, though.  I hope whatever she and Roman came up with will make us less conspicuous.  Maybe she has a spare car stashed somewhere.   I know that’s wishful thinking on my part.  Considering the quality of the items in her apartment, I seriously doubt she can afford another car.
     
    I expect her to fly through the streets ignoring red lights and stop signs but she’s not.  She is obeying every traffic law on the books.  It’s making me so tense that I have to keep looking behind us.  I’m itching to climb over her seat and take over driving.  We’re kind of in a hurry here.
     
    I’m even more frustrated when she pulls into a dead end alley.  She pulls to the end and parks the jeep behind a dumpster.  Like that’s going to hide us.  This doesn’t even work in the movies.
     
    “What the hell are you doing?” I practically scream.
     
    Brielle just grins and gets out of the car.  “What is she doing?” I ask Roman.  He winks at me and gets out of the car as well.
     
    They’ve both gone mad.  Or they’re leaving me behind for the djinn to find.  They are not going to get away with that.  I fumble with the door handle trying to get out, but the door doesn’t open.  Now I’m really starting to panic.  I pound on the window.
     
    “Sorry, child lock is on,” Brielle says through the glass.  “Just stay in there.”
     
    Child lock?  Really?  Like I couldn’t slide over the seat and get out Roman’s door.  I’m about to bitch her out when she scrapes her nail under my window and peels back the camouflage paint on the jeep.  No way.  Underneath is glossy black paint.  The camouflage is a sticker?  I thought things like this only happened in cartoons.
     
    Brielle and Roman continue around the car peeling off the giant stickers.  Where do you find stickers like that?  When they’re done, Roman balls them up and throws them in a box in the back of the jeep.  My mind is still reeling when Brielle reaches into her hair and pulls out some bobby pins.  Then she pulls the red hair off her head.  Shoulder length brown hair tumbles down.  She adds the red wig to the same box Roman put the stickers in.
     
    Brielle is now using an electric screwdriver to change the license plate.  Roman opens the other back door and he has a blanket in his hands.  “We need to cover up in this,” he says, climbing back into the jeep next to me. 
     
    “Are you serious?” I ask.  Yes, the Jeep Cherokee is fairly roomy, but Roman’s a pretty big guy.  I barely have enough room to lie down myself.  Both of us are not going to fit.
     
    Reading my mind, he says, “We’ll make it work.”
     
    “Today?  Could you make it work today?” Brielle snaps from the front seat, slamming her door closed.  Sure, now she’s in a hurry.  I glower at her but she doesn’t care.
     
    After a few minutes of jostling each other around, Roman and I are spooning under the blanket on the seat.  I am lying on the edge and he has wrapped his arm around me to keep me from falling to the floor.  His mouth is close to my ear and his hot breath is causing some uncomfortable, but not all bad, reactions within me.  The raging erection he now has as he pulls me closer isn’t helping.  The name Malik jumps into my mind and a wave of guilt washes over me for reacting to Roman’s touch.  I strain to pull away from him but he has a firm grip.  “You’re going to fall if you keep that up,” he whispers in my ear.  I can hear the humor in his voice.  He knows I can feel his erection.  You’d think he’d be insulted that I don’t want to be this close to him.  Nothing wrong with his self-esteem I guess.
     
    “Hang on,” Brielle says.  I hate it when she says that.  I brace myself for the worst.  She puts the jeep in reverse and we back out of the alley.  I’m kind of glad I can’t see what she’s doing.  The