Page 56 of Jump on Three
“Thank you,” I whispered.
My limbs were shaking. I knew this to be from adrenaline, so I let my head fall back and attempted to regulate my breathing. Sal kept her music low and didn’t try to converse. She must have sensed I was struggling to calm down.
The safe feeling of her cozy, warm car and the steady sounds of the road infiltrated my overwhelmed system, relaxing me mile by mile.
This night hadn’t gone how I’d hoped, but I’d acted pretty damn bravely, and I was proud of that. My determination to find answers had been solidified. I wasn’t going to give up after one or two setbacks. I’d just have to be better prepared next time.
Taking out my phone, I looked up where a girl could order a skimpy dress on short notice.
Chapter Eighteen
Evelyn
The thing about walking out of my dorm room in a skimpy dress? I lived with three other girls. Two were occupied with their boyfriends, so they were easy to get around. The third? Well…she was moping, which meant she’d set up camp in our shared living room.
As soon as I emerged from my room in my black dress that barely covered my butt, Bella went on red alert.
“What’s happenin’ right now, babe?”
I, being terrible at lying, couldn’t think of a feasible excuse for wearing skintight spandex when all I normally wore was my school uniform or athletic gear. Also, Sal had notified me she was ten minutes away, so I needed to get by Bella as quickly as possible. That meant laying it all out there.
“I’m going to LA to find out what Ivan is up to on the nights he gets picked up in a black car. This is the third time I’ve followed him. I lost him the first time. The second, I saw him go into a nightclub, but the bouncers wouldn’t tell me anything. Tonight, I’m going to sneak in the side door and find out for myself.”
Bella’s eyes rounded. Her mouth too. For a suspended moment, all she did was gawk at me. I inched toward the door, hoping she was too shocked to stop me.
“You’re not going alone,” she announced, jolting up from the couch.
“Well, I—”
She held up a hand. “Give me five minutes to throw on something tarty. I’m going with you, babe.”
Sal twisted in her seat when Bella and I both climbed into her car. “Two dames tonight?”
“Yes. She wouldn’t let me go without her,” I replied.
Bella stuck her hand out. “Bella. Pleased to meet you.”
Sal shook her hand. “Sally Forth—named after the phrase, not the comic. You can call me Sal, though. I’m not really a Sally kind of gal.”
She’d said those exact words to me. I liked that. Expecting the unexpected was for normies. Getting exactly what I expected was a warm hug on a cold day. Sal was the warmest of hugs.
“All right, Sal. Thanks for comin’ to get us.” Bella grinned. “Your hat is fly.”
“She’s Sherlock Sal,” I said.
Sal thanked Bella then faced forward, slowly pulling out of her parking spot. “Never had more fun than committing espionage with that sweet thing. Your target left as I got here, by the way.”
I nodded. “Right on time.”
There were a lot of things I questioned about Ivan, but his commitment to a schedule was unwavering. Now that I’d noticed him, I’d taken note of him being on time to practice, arriving at the dining hall at the same time every day, and in this case, leaving in the mysterious black car at exactly ten p.m. three nights a week.
Sal gave Bella her attention. “Glad she’s got a partner in crime. That relieves me of some of my worry. You seem like the kind of gal who’ll raise a ruckus if something nefarious goes down.”
“You got that right,” Bella agreed.
“Nothing nefarious is going to go down,” I murmured, suddenly nervous it might but a little excited by the possibility.
Obviously, I’d been cloistered for too long. Now, imminent danger gave me thrills.