I snatch the bagel bag from him, jam my hand into the clear plastic and pull out a sesame seed bagel, tearing into it with my teeth. Closing my eyes, I savor it.
With my mouth full, I tell him, “The last couple days we were in hiding. I couldn’t find us enough food, so everything I got I gave to Alex.”
“Fuck.” He spreads butter over the next bagel in the pack with the spoon and passes it to me.
“Thanks.” My voice is muffled with chewed bagel.
“So, your kid brother is seven, but how old are you?”
“Just turned fifteen.” I begin working on the buttered bagel, and it melts in my mouth. “You?”
“Sixteen.”
For a moment he considers the bag of bagels then says, “Here, you keep these. If you don’t eat them all, I’d recommend hiding them between the wall and the chest of drawers. They won’t find them there.”
I look at them. “Thanks. I should save a couple for Alex.”
“You always think for two?”
“Always. It’s my job to keep him safe.” My eyes sting for a moment, but I push the tears back. “Do you have family?”
A dark look ghosts across his eyes, but it passes. He nods.
“In California?” I ask.
His lips turn up a bit, and I wonder if it’s because I remembered California.
“My mom is there.”
“Why don’t they let you leave to be with her?” I ask incredulously.
“They can’t find her.” He takes a breath. “And neither can I.”
“Oh.” I swallow the chunk of bagel too soon and choke.
“Hey, don’t die. I like you.” Con pats me on the back. “But if you need mouth-to-mouth, I’ll be the first to volunteer.”
I catch my breath and laugh.
“Ah, there you go.”
I smile and our eyes catch.
“You have pretty eyes,” he says. “Like a clear, blue sky.”
My smile grows, and I can feel my cheeks heat.
“Here.” He hands me the milk. “Drink up.”
I take it and swig. Once I start, I can’t stop, and I nearly swallow the whole half-gallon down.
“Sorry.” I swipe at my mouth with my sleeve. I’d meant to save him more of it.
“Don’t worry one bit. You need the fuel.”
I’m not sure what he means by that.
“So, do you know where they’re bringing your brother now?” Con asks.
“He’s staying at a halfway house on Underwood Street before they transport him in the morning to Santa Fe.”
He cocks an eyebrow.
“What? I’m good at spying,” I retort. “We also have a system. If he can leave on a light he does. Or if he can drop something—usually a couple of his Army men—he does. Like breadcrumbs.” At that, I feel my face fall.
“What is it?” Again, Con sits close to me on the bed.
I shake my head. “They warned me not to come after him again. They made sure to tell me he’s being moved out of state so this can’t keep happening. If I miss this moment… I may not get another.” I can’t stop the hot tears that creep into my eyes, spilling down my cheeks. “He needs me. I’m all he’s got.”
“And he’s all you’ve got,” Con says as he tenderly curls a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
“Yeah. It works both ways.” I wipe my eyes.
“Where’s your stuff?” he asks.
“I don’t have any stuff,” I reply bitterly.
“Give me another sec.” He leaves the room again.
I can’t help but look toward the window, at those confounded steel bars.
Con comes back in with a green camo backpack. “It’s not much, a couple clean tee shirts and a pair of jeans that’ll probably be too big, but you should be able to find a piece of rope or something to use as a belt. And this…” He throws a black hoody at me. “Put it on.” He shoves the bag of bagels into the pack and zips it up.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” He takes my hands, pulls me up, and helps strap the pack on my back. “Getting you out of here.”
Swiftly, he goes to work, positioning my pillows under my blanket to look like a sleeping person.
“What? How?” Is he out of his mind?
“I have a plan, but we’re going to have to move fast.” Con takes my hand in his—his touch sends electric tingles up my arm and butterflies fluttering in my abdomen—and leads me into the hallway before locking my bedroom door behind us. “I can get you out, but the rest will be up to you. Now, follow my footsteps exactly.”
I’m careful to step only where he does. At specifically troubled areas—like on the stairs—he slows way down to miss the creaky spots.
He stops us in front of a wide door with a nameplate that says, Director Ferguson. Con takes off his right black Converse, works his fingers into the shoe and, a moment later, pulls out a single key.
I can’t hide my surprise. “How did you—?”
“I told you,” he whispers. “I collect keys.”
He winks and without a sound, save the near inaudible click, unlocks it. We step in and he closes and locks the door behind us.
Con gives a big middle finger salute to the security camera pointing down at us, before walking behind the director’s desk.
“As far as I can tell, this is the only window in the whole place without bars,” he explains. “Guess Director Reynolds doesn’t like his view obstructed.” Con emphasizes obstructed with a snooty accent that makes me giggle, while he pushes the oversized desk away from the window and toward the center of the room. “We’re not permitted into this area of the building, it’s where they have the administrative offices.”
“How did you see it then?”
“During one of my find-a-way-to-get-the-fuck-out expeditions, I had the opportunity to wander down this hall for just a few seconds before I got caught. The security guard who grabbed me was pretty loud, shouting at me and shit. Reynolds opened the door to see what the fuss was about. That’s when I saw the window.” He shoves the thick beige curtains to the side, then lifts the slatted blinds to fully expose the glass.
I check out the window. “It looks double paned and sealed. How are we going to open it?”
“I got that covered.”
“Why didn’t you use this window before?”
“It was only a few weeks ago that I even discovered it. Then I had to be patient to get the key. Seems to me, the timing is perfect.”
Coming behind me, he tightens the straps of the pack. Then he stands in front of me—so close I catch the hint of sweet chocolate milk on his breath—and carefully pulls my hair back out of my face and off my shoulders. For a moment, he twists a strand around his finger. “Your hair is like the color of corn silk.”
I’m pumping with adrenaline, from the escape and his proximity to me. His face hovers right in front of mine.
“Here.” He unclasps the gold chain he’s wearing. As he pulls it away from his throat, I get a better look at the pendant that dangles between us. “Saint Sophia. Patron saint of orphans.” Con fastens the pendant around my neck. “She’ll keep you safe.”
“I can’t take this from you…”
“Yeah you can.” He looks at the pendant then into my eyes. “I want you to have it.”
I nod.
He cradles my face gently and moves in closer.
“I’ve never… kissed a boy.” I hold my breath as my heart races.
He smiles and it lights his eyes. “Then I’ll always be your first kiss. You’ll never forget me.”
His eyes fall closed. I watch for a moment as his lips press onto mine, but at the sheer sensation of it, my eyes close too. His lips are soft and warm. His thumbs caress my cheek, and I don’t want it to stop.
Too soon, he pulls back. “I don’t even know your name.”
My eyes still closed, I savor the moment. I catch my bottom lip between my teeth, as if to capture the tingling he created.
; “It’s—”
That’s when the sirens go off. They’re so loud I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin.
“You’re okay.” He firmly holds my shoulders. “Stay focused. Keep between the houses, then take the side streets and alleys.”
Con turns, takes hold of the director’s thick steel-framed chair and swings it with all of his might into the window.
The glass shatters, and the chair flies out onto the lawn. Quickly, he uses his sneaker to kick out a row of leftover glass.
“Give me your hands; I’ll lower you out.”
He does and I feel my feet connect with solid ground. I wait for him, but he doesn’t immediately follow.
“What are you doing? Come on!” I urge.
Sadness passes over his face, then determination. “Someone has to stay here and distract them. If they find me here, they won’t be looking for you out there. I figure we have at least twenty minutes before they discover you’re not really in your bed. Now hurry.”
My feet don’t move. How can I leave him? What will happen to him?
“Run! Go get your little brother!”
“I’ll never forget you.”
“I hope not.”
I turn and run into the night.
Elle
Present Day
I see him clearly now, the boy inside the man. The teenager he was. I wonder how I didn’t see it before.
That’s why, from day one, he was obsessed with my pendant.
His pendant.
Oh my God!
“Con,” I say and look back up at him slowly. “Like Con-artist or Con-vict?”
He smiles and closes his eyes for just a moment, like he’s savoring my words. “Either works.”
I still like it when that boy smiles.
“You’ve known this whole time?” I state more than ask.
He nods with an intense look on his face.
A thousand emotions crash over me at once. Tears threaten to well in my eyes.
“Connor.” I say his name as if it were the first time, feeling like we’re those same two teenagers locked in that damn room.
My first kiss.
At this moment, I want another.
I unlock myself from Lily. “Go play, love,” I tell her. She hops down and runs into the other room.
We’re not really alone, but I want to be. To say thank you; to explore the rush of feelings washing over me—and everything I’ve been feeling.
Everything has culminated in this moment: My fear and mistrust of Connor the lawyer. My interest, amazement and intense attraction to Connor of North House and The Core. The man who protected us on the mountain, who brought three orphans together without hope of reward and, in fact, probably put his career in jeopardy. He’s also Connor, the boy who sacrificed himself to give me my freedom so I could find my brother.
“Tell me what you’re thinking… please, Elle, I’ve got to know.” The intensity grows in his eyes as he searches my features.
“I can’t say everything I’m thinking.” I shake my head slowly. “It’s all too much.”
He doesn’t move. And I realize he looks… scared.
I don’t know why.
But it compels me forward.
I step up to meet him. I’m so close, I could see myself reaching up and holding his face in my hands.
God, all those kids are going to come crashing back into this room at any second. I keep my hands down at my sides.
“I have so many questions.” I swallow so hard, I’m sure he can hear it.
“Me too.” He’s breathless.
Our eyes search each other’s.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I don’t know.”
His gaze drops to the pendant. “I was trying to find a way to tell you.”
“I can imagine,” I sympathize. “The circumstances surrounding our reacquaintance didn’t lend you much of a chance.”
Connor’s gaze lifts back to mine, stormy seas churning in his eyes. “Sometimes I thought I was out of my mind, to think you kept it.”
“I never took it off.” My chest rises and falls with each shallow breath that I manage to take.
He steps in closer, his lips slightly parted. “Never?”
“Never.” My voice is a whisper.
Suddenly, footfalls thunder toward us.
“HOLY SHIT! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE JUST MET THE JACKHAMMER!”
“Watch your vocab, Brandon! Little kids,” Nicole reminds him.
“Who are you calling little?” Jackson’s voice rings above the rest.
“Max and Lily of course,” she assures him.
“I’m not little!” Max shouts back.
“I am,” Lily says.
A pained look crosses Connor’s face and, reluctantly, we take a long step back from each other.
Connor
FOR THE NEXT couple hours, we’re consumed with House business, as much as I’m consumed with thoughts of Elle. Josh uses the color printer to give each of the kids their own photos with him and autographs them. Of course, all the kids make sure we see said photos over and over again. After Josh heads out, everybody hits the showers, eats dinner, cleans up and has movie time before bed.
Each agonizingly slow hour flows into the next, and I can’t wait for a moment to be alone with Elle. We keep stealing glances at one another when we think the kids aren’t paying attention.
By the time Elle brings the little ones upstairs to put them to bed, I’m pretty much losing my mind.
An hour later, the teens head off.
“Hey, goodnight, Connor! Thanks for an incredible weekend!” Tyler calls on his way upstairs.
“Best group home ever!” Brandon states in agreement.
“I’m happy you guys had such a great time. You deserve it,” I tell them. “You’re great kids.”
Now go to bed!
Once they’re gone and the silence follows, I’m left alone with my own racing thoughts. Standing in the middle of the living room floor, looking around like I don’t know where I am, I think, What do I do?
She likes tea. Go make tea. I go to the kitchen and put on the kettle.
She might’ve fallen asleep with Lily. It’s already been over an hour since she went to tuck them in.
No way. She’s not going to fall asleep. She’ll be back down. Right?
What am I going to say to her? Maybe this rush of emotions is one-sided. What if I’m the only one who feels this strongly?
The kettle whistles, breaking me out of my mania.
“Connor?”
I whirl around. “Elle.” She came back.
What did you think? She was going to tie the Star Wars sheets together and climb out the window?
“That was a crazy day, wasn’t it?” she says softly, taking a tentative step forward.
“Yeah.” I swallow hard. “Would you like a cup?”
“Please.” She nods.
“Chai?”
“Yes.” Elle smiles. “It’s my favorite.”
“I know.” I try to pull the words back as soon as they come out of my mouth, but she bites her bottom lip to stifle her smile. I try to recover. “You drink it so often.”
She looks up at me from underneath her lashes as she sits on the stool opposite me at the counter. Lightning quickens in my abdomen.
“You said you went to a high security detention facility after you… because you helped me,” she begins. “What happened after I got away?”
“The guards, I mean counselors, came downstairs. They saw the condition of the room, the smashed window, and pretty much freaked. I jumped out and led them and the cops on a merry chase—in the opposite direction from the way you’d gone. It was an hour before they finally caught me. I figured the longer I could keep them focused on me, the more time you’d have to get away. By the time they did a head count and realized you weren’t there… I knew you were long gone.”
She shakes her head, looking at me in amazement. “You sacrificed
yourself for me. For my brother. Thank you.”
“It’s all good.” I shrug. “You know, I wanted to go with you, when you first asked me to, and for weeks I wished I had. Not that I would’ve changed the way it went down—you needed the distraction or they’d have discovered you missing too soon,” I clarify. “But I wished I’d gone with you because I missed you. I thought about you every day after that. I think it was you and your defiance, your dedication to your brother… and that kiss… that got me through the toughest times in juvie.”
I hear her breath hitch, but she stays quiet for a moment before she says, “I always imagined I’d see you again. Wherever I was, I looked for you—scanning crowds, libraries, classrooms—believing it could happen. But then so much time passed.” Her eyes search me unbelievingly, as if I might be a mirage. “I still can’t believe it’s you! Oh, and what you went through—because of me—I’m sorry for it.”
“I’d do it all over again, Elle,” I tell her seriously. “In a heartbeat.”
A flurry of unspoken emotions passes between us, like charged-up electrical currents bouncing back and forth… off the walls… down the hall. It’s so strong, I wouldn’t be surprised if the house breaker or outside transformer blew up from the overload.
“The burning question for me is,”—I pass her the steaming mug—“did you find your brother?”
Elle smiles brightly. “Yes, because of you. We got away and stayed hidden for nearly six months before the police found us.”
That sounded bittersweet. “I’m so glad you found him. But what happened after the police found you?”
“They split us up again. For good.”
I wince. “Elle, I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. Your sacrifice bought me another six months with him. It was the best six months of my life because we got to spend them together. I have you, and only you, to thank for that. I’ll be forever grateful to you.”
“It was completely worth it. You’re forever welcome,” I say sincerely. “Have you been able to reconnect with him since you’ve been out of the system?”
An agonized look crosses her features. “They sealed the records. I’ve tried everything. Being an advocate-social worker, I thought I’d get clearance or access.” She shakes her head. “I’ve traveled to nearly every state trying to find Alex. I’ve searched online, petitioned the courts… they won’t open the files. I have no idea where he is.”
Risk: An Enemies to Lovers, Second Chance Romance Standalone (Brothers of Ink and Steel) Page 15