“I won’t hold you to it.”
The grin widened. She set her cup down. “Can I tell you something?”
“Sure.”
“I…” She spun the feather ring around her finger. Over and over again. “This is going to sound silly, but I feel like you’ve never left. Like you’ve always been here.”
The apartment grew sticky with the silence that followed. I didn’t know how to respond to that without sounding like a total jackass.
“I’m sorry,” she added quickly. “I know that sounds dumb.”
“It doesn’t.”
She pulled the ring up over her knuckle, then shoved it back down again. “Where have you been all this time?”
I debated telling her about the lab, about the Altered program, but decided against it. It was old news, and it didn’t have anything to do with her.
“I was tied up for a long time.” Almost literally.
“Mmm.”
She did that a lot, made a noise that was part hum, part moan. Like a sound was better than a word, like a sound was all she could manage.
“How did you get out?” I asked suddenly. “Wherever they were keeping you. How did you escape?”
I’d been wondering about this for a while, since I read the news article, since I realized she’d escaped before I’d even met her in the forest.
“Someone let me out,” she said, and hung her head, staring at her coffee trapped between her hands. “They opened the cell door and led me to an air vent and told me which way to go to crawl out.”
I leaned forward over the table. “Did you see who it was?”
She shook her head quickly. “I never saw a face. It was a woman, that’s all I know.”
“Did she follow you out?”
“No. She said she would get my mother, but…” The open-ended sentence said enough.
“That kind of thing happens a lot with the Branch,” I said. “People dying. People you care about.”
She bit at her bottom lip and nodded. “Anyway… enough about me. What about you? How did you get out? I mean, how are you no longer working for this… Branch?”
“The guy who ran the program I was in is dead.”
Her hands tightened on the coffee cup. “Did you… you know—”
“Kill him? No. But I would have, if I’d been given the chance.”
“You can’t mean that.”
I didn’t say anything.
She drew her shoulders back, and her shirt tightened across her chest. She met my eyes. I knew what my eyes could do to girls—sometimes they were obvious about it, twittering on and on about how blue they were, how unnatural they were—but Elizabeth didn’t seem unnerved by them. If anything, it seemed like she saw right past the color, right into the blackness of my soul beyond them. And she didn’t turn away.
She pursed her lips and the gesture made them plump, made her cheekbones carve severe lines across her face.
My heart shuddered one foot away from my mouth, and both wanted to haul Elizabeth closer and taste the blueberry on her tongue.
Shit.
I got up, whirled around, set my hands on the edge of the counter. All the muscles in my body convulsed, wanting to move, wanting to do something other than this dance that wasn’t getting us anywhere.
What was it about this girl?
I’d only known her a day, and already I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
No, that wasn’t true.
I’d known her a lot longer than a day.
Elizabeth had always been there, haunting me even when the memories were buried.
“Nick?” she said, so quiet I barely heard her over the stomping of my heart.
“Yeah?”
“Did I… I mean… do you want me to leave?”
I inhaled so deep, I felt my lungs press against my ribs. I turned around. “I should probably take a shower.”
A cold one.
“Okay.” She pushed the chair back and stood. “Will you meet me in town later? After my shift?”
“Yeah. Eight, right?”
She nodded.
“I’ll be there,” I said.
She grabbed the trash from our breakfast. “I’ll see you later, then.”
I didn’t relax until the door shut behind her.
22
ELIZABETH
EVAN, CHLOE, AND I TOOK OUR BREAK together since it was dead and Chloe didn’t have any tables. We ordered fried pickles—one of Merv’s most popular appetizers—and a round of sodas.
I got to sit next to Evan thanks to Chloe. She complained that her feet hurt, and that she wanted to stretch out sideways and put them up on the seat beside her.
Evan and I bumped shoulders when he scooted in beside me.
“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Evan asked.
Chloe raised a brow at me and winked. “We get off at the same time, right?”
I dug around in my bag for the cell phone I’d bought earlier to replace the broken one and checked the messages. Zero new messages. Not surprising. “I get off at eight.”
“Me too,” Evan said.
“Let’s all do something, then,” Chloe suggested.
“I would, but…” I trailed off, torn between wanting to spend time with Nick and wanting to be with the group again. Even though Nick was ungodly good-looking, I still had a major crush on Evan. Evan would always be here, and Evan was safe. Nick would leave again, before too long, and he was most definitely not safe.
“But what?” Chloe coaxed.
“I promised Nick I’d hang out with him.”
Evan tensed next to me.
Chloe dipped a pickle spear in her puddle of ranch dressing. “Bring him with.”
“I don’t know about that,” Evan said. “I don’t like the guy.”
Chloe snorted. “You don’t like him because he’s probably better-looking than you.”
Evan grumbled and slid out of the booth. “I should get back to work.”
His break wasn’t even half over.
“Oh, he’s pouting,” Chloe said, and waved a pickle spear in the air at me. “Pouting is good.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t bring Nick.” I took a drink of soda. “After all, the first time I saw him, he had Evan by the collar of his shirt.”
“That’s because Evan can be a dick sometimes.”
“Chloe!”
“Well, it’s true. It’s just male posturing. Don’t worry about it.” She pulled a compact mirror out of her purse and examined herself, picking at her hair. “I need to get my roots dyed again. I look like hell.”
That was so far from the truth. Chloe was gorgeous, and dark roots showing through her sunny blond hair wouldn’t change that.
We finished off the rest of the pickles in record time and grabbed our dishes.
“You want my opinion?” Chloe said as we walked back to the kitchen. “Bring Nick along. If anything, it’ll make Evan jealous. And a jealous man is a motivated man.”
“I don’t know if he’d come anyway. He seems to like to keep to himself.”
“Oh, girlie, if he likes you at all, he’ll come.”
She pushed through the kitchen door, her blond ponytail swinging behind her.
A few minutes after eight, Evan came back to the kitchen, where I was putting in one last order. “Nick is here,” he said. “He’s at the bar.”
“The bar?” I echoed. I’d thought he was eighteen, nineteen at the most. But if he was at the bar, then that made him at least twenty-one.
“The bar,” Evan repeated, hardening his eyes. “I’m not sure about this guy, Lis. How well do you even know him?”
I slipped my pen into my apron. “I don’t. Not really. I mean, I owe him. I trust him, I think.”
“You think?”
“Just give him a chance tonight?” I tried. “Please? He’s a friend and I don’t want anyone to be mean to him.”
Evan softened. “Yeah, all right.” He smiled. “Anything for our Lissy.”
&nbs
p; I blushed. “Thanks.”
With my order placed and a few minutes to spare, I went out front. Nick’s back was to the kitchen, but as soon as I entered the bar area, he straightened, shoulders leveling, as if he sensed me. And then I realized he was watching me through the mirror behind the bar. He turned as I walked up.
“Hey,” he said. There was a tumbler in his left hand, a couple of inches of brown liquid inside.
Everyone carded here. Merv was strict about that kind of thing. So Nick definitely was over twenty-one. Or had a very good fake ID.
“I’m almost done,” I said. “Give me a few more minutes?”
“Sure.” He brought the tumbler to his lips and drained the glass. He waved at the bartender for another.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny blond-headed girl weaving quickly through the tables as if on a mission. Chloe. She was grinning at me like a fool, her eyebrows waggling. When she bounded up, Nick went stiff as a cutting board.
“Hi,” Chloe said, and held out her hand to Nick. “I’m Elizabeth’s best friend. Her coolest friend.”
Nick stared at her hand, his face impressively blank. But then he blinked, smiled, and shook her hand. “Hey,” he said.
“Did Elizabeth talk to you about tonight yet?”
I cleared my throat and made shut-up eyes at Chloe. “Not yet. He just got here.”
“What’s tonight?” Nick asked, glancing between Chloe and me.
I told him about the group, and about the lake. After our break, Chloe, Evan, and I had decided it’d be fun to have another fire. It was supposed to be nice tonight.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I added when I’d finished.
“I’ll come,” he said without giving it a second thought. “Something tells me there isn’t much else to do here anyway.”
Chloe slid onto the bar stool next to him. “You got that right.”
“Well,” I started, “I should go check on my order, and then I’ll be out. Chloe?”
She raised the line of her brow. “Yes, dear?”
“Be nice to Nick while I’m gone.”
She glanced at him, and a large smile spread across her face. “Never fear, Lis. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her, but the sooner I got my last order out, the sooner I could rescue Nick.
23
NICK
“WHAT THE FUCK?” I SAID IN A RUSH, once Elizabeth was out of earshot.
The smile on Chloe’s face disappeared like a snuffed-out flame. “Calm down. I’m not going to say anything.”
She was the girl. The girl I’d picked up at Arrow two nights ago. The girl who told me her name was Sarah.
Sarah/Chloe was Elizabeth’s best friend?
The whiskey in my gut turned sour and cold. It wasn’t just the connection between the two girls—there had been something off about Chloe. She hadn’t blinked an eye when I’d come out of my flashback and nearly knocked her on her ass.
I twisted around on my bar stool and propped my elbows on the bar top, burying my hands in my hair.
Chloe leaned in to me and lowered her voice. “Lis doesn’t need to know. Nothing happened between us anyway. Remember? You went ape-shit before anything could.”
“Ape-shit.” I snorted and shifted so that I could look at her through the gap of my bent arm. “How the hell does something like this happen? You of all people! Her best friend?”
She frowned and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “Something tells me you pick up a lot of girls. And something tells me that the likelihood of this happening is actually pretty damn high considering how cute I am.”
I scowled her way. “You are unbelievable.”
“Me?” Her free hand fluttered at her chest. “I should be the one worried here. I’m Lis’s best friend, and you are clearly, somehow, questionably important to her. And, if I had to guess, you don’t place much importance on anyone you meet.” She pulled herself upright. “Just what are your intentions with Lissy, anyway?”
I mirrored her, pulling back from the bar top. The stool creaked beneath me. “My intentions? Well, I don’t plan on courting her, if that’s what you mean.”
A hoarse laugh escaped her throat. “Despite my better judgment, I actually like you. You’re not a pussy.”
She had no idea, and I was grateful for the flashback that’d interrupted us. If it hadn’t, what else might have happened between us? What else might she have figured out about me? Elizabeth knew some of my past, but she didn’t know the scary parts. And if she did, then she’d push me away and this whole mission would turn to ash.
Chloe narrowed her eyes, as if she sensed the horrible things I was hiding.
“What did happen the other night?” she asked. “What happened to you?”
“Migraine,” I said quickly, too quickly.
“Sure.” The look on her face said she knew it was bullshit, but she didn’t press, and I wasn’t about to elaborate.
Elizabeth came up behind me, her uniform apron gone, her purse slung over her body. “Ready?”
Chloe and I shared a look. If she could keep her mouth shut about the other night, then so could I. I just wasn’t sure if I could hide the growing elephant in the room.
“Ready,” I said.
Elizabeth led the way out.
Chloe shot a look over her shoulder at me and winked as she walked away.
We followed Evan in his puny little sports car north of Trademarr.
Evan had offered to give Elizabeth a ride to the lake, but she’d said she’d ride with me. Part of me was glad (smug) that she’d turned him down. The other part didn’t know what to say to her now that we were trapped in the truck’s cab together.
We slowed for a stop sign, and the truck idled as Evan waited for a car to pass through the intersection.
“Are you sure you’re okay with going out with my friends?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
More silence. Evan hit the gas, pulling away from me in just a few seconds. The truck I’d picked out earlier this spring had a V8, and I’d picked it out for that reason. I caught up to Evan fast.
Jackass.
Truth was, I didn’t really feel like hanging out with Evan for the night, but I did want to stick close to Elizabeth. If she was hiding something, I needed to find out what. If she was drinking tonight—and from the sound of it, there’d be booze—then she might let something slip. And the more time I spent with her, the more opportunity I’d have to gain her trust.
There was something she wasn’t telling me—or anyone for that matter—about what had happened during her captivity. And it was aggravating, because the more I could learn about her captivity, the more I’d know about the program and what the Branch was up to when they were here six years ago. In my experience, the Branch changed people in screwed-up ways, and if I had to guess, they’d altered Elizabeth, too.
The biggest question was—had they made her into a weapon like they had me? And if so, what was she capable of?
We left the main road, turning left down a dirt two-track that cut through the woods. The lake came into view when we rounded a thick grove of trees.
I parked the truck on the passenger side of Evan’s car and got out. We still had some daylight left, but out here, away from the city lights, it felt duskier.
It was quieter, too.
Another few cars pulled in behind us. More of Evan’s friends, from the looks of it.
A tall, skinny guy went straight for the fire pit and started stacking wood inside. There were several rickety lawn chairs around the pit, and a few logs that had been used for seats. From the looks of the trash lying around—empty beer cans, plastic cups—this was their favorite party spot.
I scanned the surrounding woods. The two-track we’d used to get here was the only viable way out. We were cornered, with the woods on either side and the lake at our backs. It left me on edge. If the Branch attacked, I could run to
escape, but could Elizabeth?
The lake was probably the best route out. There was a house about two miles east of the party spot, with a boat tied to the dock. Mentally, I tagged it as my escape route, should I need one. Swim to the boat, steal it, and take it across to the other side. The Branch would need a lot more ground time to cut me off on the other side than I would to boat across it. By then, I’d be long gone.
Another of Evan’s friends showed up with beer and liquor a few minutes after we arrived.
“Hey, Nick!” Evan called. “Want a beer?”
I glanced at the girls. Elizabeth was sitting between Chloe and me. “You guys want anything?”
“Beer, please,” Chloe said. “I had a ton of tequila the other night and I’m still paying for it.”
Elizabeth was watching me, so she missed the teasing look Chloe shot my way.
Was she trying to piss me off? Because it was working.
“A Coke, if they have some,” Elizabeth said.
While I wasn’t one to get a girl drunk if she didn’t want to drink, I’d been counting on her getting a little bit sloppy. “Want me to throw in some rum?”
“Umm.” She thought for a second and glanced at Chloe. Chloe nudged her knee with a smirk. “All right. But just a little.”
The booze had been set up on the back of some guy’s truck, the tailgate used like a table. There were cases of beer, some vodka, Red Bull, rum.
I grabbed the bottle of vodka and poured enough for a shot into one of the red plastic cups. I gulped it down, the alcohol lighting a fire in my gut. “‘Liquor before beer,’” I said, when Evan looked at me sideways. It was an old saying I’d learned from my dad. One of the many gems handed down from father to son.
Evan grabbed a cup and did the same. “Good thinking.” He smiled, but it was tight against his teeth. If Evan and I got through the night without punching each other in the face, it’d be a goddamn miracle.
I poured Elizabeth a drink, grabbed beers for Chloe and me, and sat back down. Chloe was talking Elizabeth’s ear off about some customer at the restaurant. I was pretending to listen, laughing when it seemed appropriate. I’d got through two beers by the time Chloe came up for air. She hadn’t touched her beer, I noticed. Elizabeth had been nursing her drink, but at least half of it was gone.
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