Page 52 of Run Away With Me

Brooke went over to the dresser and pulled out a crisp white pillowcase, laughing as she turned it out and eight, maybe ten, wallets tumbled out of it.

‘Easiest thing in the world.’

‘Shit, Brooke,’ I murmured. ‘I only got four.’ That seemed almost pathetic now.

I pulled over my backpack and fished them out. ‘Oh, and a money clip.’

‘That’s really good, Jessie. Especially for your first time!’

‘What are you going to do with the wallets?’ I asked, curious, as Brooke started to sort through them.

‘Dump them,’ she said. ‘I’m just going to take out the cash. Taking the credit cards and using them is a whole other ball game.’

The nerves that had consumed me earlier in the evening now settled in a rock of anticipation in my stomach. I’d be devastated if my wallets didn’t bring in much cash. There was no way I could better Brooke’s haul, so I wasn’t going to aim for equality. But being able to contribute, and being part of whatever this was … that had become increasingly important to me.

‘Ready?’ Brooke asked.

‘Absolutely.’

‘Pick one.’

I grabbed one of the wallets I’d taken, though I couldn’t remember which man it had come from. Dark-brown leather with a snap closure. I flipped it open and went straight for the dollar bills.

‘Eighty-five. No – ninety. That’s a ten, not a five.’

I set the bills down on the bed and put the wallet to one side.

‘Good start. I want to see what’s in that fucking money clip.’

I laughed, and Brooke prized it open, tugging free the folded bills.

‘Holy shit, Jessie. There’s like … almost three hundred bucks here.’

We kept going, back and forth, tit for tat, until we had eight hundred and twenty-five dollars in front of us.

Brooke fell silent. I looked up at her, and she seemed to sparkle in the artificial hotel room light.

‘Holy shit,’ she breathed again, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I let out a strangled scream and bounced on the bed, displacing all the bills we’d stacked in careful piles.

‘Jessie!’ Brooke yelled, then she did the same, bouncing on the bed next to me, before collapsing on her side in a fit of giggles.

I laid down next to her. ‘Not bad for one night’s work.’

‘I knew you’d be great,’ she said, her face alight with a mix of excitement and satisfaction.

When she reached for me, I let her pull me into a hug, and for a second we tangled together, elbows and knees and wild energy, before we both flopped onto our backs, breathless. She grasped my hand and squeezed it, and didn’t let go.

Brooke tipped her head to the side and smiled at me, her cheeks flushed, and my heart stuttered. This didn’t feel likea friends thing, it felt different, like we were right on the edge of somethingmore.

Brooke swallowed hard and her eyes grew intense, and I didn’t dare look away.

Was she going to kiss me?

How would she react if I kissed her?

I looked down at our joined hands, then back at Brooke. Electricity sparkled between us for a second more, before Brooke turned her head and looked up at the ceiling, still smiling.

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