Seeing Mom, hearing her voice, learning about her secret life ripped my guts out. Yet, I felt an odd sense of relief as well. It scared me, sure, but I had a twin sister. And I was loved and protected.
But, one question nudged at my tired, murky brain as I fell into sweet oblivion.
Where the hell was that darned book Mom mentioned?
CHAPTER 26
“Wait for me here?” I asked Scott as we walked into the hospital entrance. “Just a quick peek to make sure he’s okay.”
My brother nodded, his big eyes sad for me. I was doing the right thing staying away from Zach, but I needed to be sure he was okay after what I’d done to him last night. The wimp that I was, I needed Scott close by since Georgia was in class.
I stopped outside Zach’s door and peeked in.
He sat on his bed, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, like he was getting ready to leave. A bright white cast covered his wrist, not quite up to his elbow.
“I think we’re all set.” His dad strode out from the bathroom with a shaving kit of some type. “Docs cleared you from concussions. Got your lit final rescheduled for tomorrow. It’s rest-time for you, son.”
Zach glanced at his phone and shook his head.
“Something wrong?”
“No. I’m fine.” Zach stood and slid his phone into his pocket. “Let’s go.”
He’d texted me several times this morning, but I hadn’t returned any of them. Couldn’t. I’d made my decision, and I had to stick with it.
Sure hurt like a son of a gun, though.
I backed away from the door and hid around the corner.
“Sure is a miracle how your cuts healed, though.” Zach’s dad clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
Now that I took a closer look, Zach’s face was free from scratches. His arm, too.
“Medical mystery,” Mr. Landry said. “You sure you don’t want to talk to that reporter about it?”
“I’m sure.” Zach shoved his hand into his front pocket.
I’d healed him. My heart leapt into my throat, and I had to bite back a cough. I’d healed Zach. Just like Mom had mentioned she’d done for Dad. But wait, a reporter? That couldn’t be good.
The fact that Zach refused confirmed his pledge he’d made to me last night about protecting me. That made the sting in my heart even worse. Maybe he could help me, like Dad helped Mom. Be that for me.
Oh hell, we were only eighteen, soon to be nineteen, he was off to college on a full ride scholarship. He needed that more than he needed what I had to give him.
Zach and his dad walked down the hall and turned toward the exit.
I still couldn’t believe I’d been healing him last night. I thought I’d been freezing Zach to death, and I’d beaten myself to a pulp over it all night.
He still wore a cast, though, so I must have disconnected too soon to fix his arm.
Didn’t change anything. I had to stay away, but at least I hadn’t hurt him like I’d thought. He deserved a little less pain considering I was the reason he’d been in the hospital, in the first place.
I booked it to the lobby but skidded to a stop when I saw Zach talking to Scott. Why the hell wouldn’t he have hidden from Zach? Sometimes that brother of mine…
Scott looked in my direction, and Zach’s attention followed suit.
So much for avoiding him.
My stomach cramped.
“Mandy.” Zach hurried to me, eyes wide. “I’ve been texting—” He stopped short of me. “What?”
I shifted my weight and glanced around, almost choking on my hammering heart. Scott stood in the waiting room area, and Zach’s dad lingered by the exit doors.
“Look. My cuts are gone.” Zach pointed to his face.
“That’s great.” I nibbled on my bottom lip, hoping to keep it from trembling. “Feeling better?”
“Still have the cast, but—why didn’t you return my texts?”
I coughed and studied my feet, summoning my super strength to fuel my willpower to say what I had to say. “It’s better that way. To make a clean break.”
“Mandy don’t—”
“It’s for the best, Zach. I’m not safe to be around.” I stepped back. Distance was good. Needed that to keep my focus. “Anyway, we’re packing up to leave.”
“But—”
“Goodbye, Zach.” I glanced into his eyes one last time, then turned around and walked away from the first guy I ever loved.
* * *
“Scott thinks it might be okay to tell the folks about the adoption-thing. They may know more than we think, and that might be a good lead in.” Georgia and I settled down at a table at The Pizza Shack, along with the afternoon rush of students.
The bar stool was so tall, I propped my feet on the footrest and pitched myself closer to the table. The place had fantastic pizza, but they clearly didn’t have short people in mind when they chose the furnishings.
“Mandy?” Georgia asked.
“And if they don’t know more?”
“I brought the flash drive. We can show them the part where our mom says I’m adopted. Maybe I won’t even have to get into the whole I-broke-into-your-safe thing.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll be interested to see how that works out for ya.”
“I’ll blame you. You’re the troubled one, anyway.”
The waitress brought the steaming pepperoni pizza. My stomach rumbled in anticipation of the cheesy goodness soon to follow. My mind rioted with everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours. I needed some food and time with my sis to figure things out.
I grabbed a slice. “What if they ask why you went to the safe?”
“I could say I got an anonymous tip or email or something about being adopted. So I snooped around and got into the safe.”
“That’s going to open a whole can of worms. Like who warned you? How’d they know about the safe? Things like that.” I blew on my steaming hot pizza. “But really, I’m not sure what else to do. They might know about all of this, anyway.”
I glanced around as I waited for my pizza to cool down enough to eat without burning every single one of my taste buds off. In came that girl Scott went out with on Saturday. Oh crap, what was her name?
Strands of her long, dark hair fell from a loose bun, framing her ivory-skinned face. Low-rider jeans and a too-short t-shirt left a full view of her six-pack abs. I guess if I had a stomach like that, I’d show it off, too.
“What?” Georgia asked.
“That’s the chick Scott went out with the other night. You remember her name?”
Georgia shook her head. “She’s so pretty.”
I narrowed my gaze on her. “Hope she’s not in town to see my brother.”
“She’s carrying a smoothie cup, you big dork.”
What’s Her Name waved a hello in our direction and sat down at a two-seater table by herself. “She’s digging Scott, isn’t she?”
“I guess. But it doesn’t matter. We’re packing up. Only a couple more days ‘til grad—as long as we’re Coat free.” I bit into my pizza. “You got your one emergency bag packed?”
“Yeah. Just the getaway bag. Kinda hard to pack up much else with The Mom lurking. She’ll ask questions.” Georgia sipped her soda. “We really have to leave?”
“After that shit that went down with Zach. Shooting out tires…that’d be a yes.” I glanced around the restaurant. “I’m surprised we haven’t left in the middle of the night yet.”
“How would I explain that to The Mom?”
“The main goal is to stay alive and out of The Center’s hands. If we have to bolt, that’s our main concern. We’ll worry about those other details later. Besides. You’re over eighteen. You can leave without any permissions.”
A guy, buzzed hair, dark eyes, sat alone at a table, reading the newspaper. A black glove covered his right hand, and it looked padded. His forearms were thick, the gray fabric stretched tight.
A chill scampered up my spine a
s my gaze landed on a few more unfamiliar faces. Not that I knew everyone in this tiny town, but something felt off.
“Lots of family coming in already for graduation?” I asked.
Georgia glanced around. “Probably. Why?”
“Nothing. Just paranoid, I guess.” Or not. Mom had said to trust my instincts. My abilities. And right now, something didn’t feel right about those faces I was seeing. Especially Mr. Buzzed Hair. He’d not turned the page in the newspaper this whole time I’d been watching him. And why the heck was he here eating pizza at the hang out place for noisy students?
Totally out of place. “G. I think we need to go. I—”
“Oh, boy.” Georgia nodded to the door. “Zach just came in.”
I willed myself not to look. I’d spent most of the day drowning my wise choice to dump him in smoothies while Georgia had been in school. I should have figured I’d bump into him, but I’d hoped he’d be home resting like his dad had said earlier this morning.
“Is he coming?” I slid off my chair. “Can I make a break for the restroom?”
“Mandy?” Zach’s voice sliced right through my bright idea of running.
Georgia mouthed a big Sorry!
Standing next to my barstool I pivoted and locked with his intense steel eyes. I cleared my throat. “Hi, Zach.”
He glanced at Georgia, then returned his smoking gaze to me. “Can we talk?”
“Dude, what happened to your arm?” Shawn came up beside Zach and nodded a quick hello at me.
Seemed the memo of Zach and I breaking up hadn’t gotten around yet. And here I thought it was a small town. It’d happened over nine hours ago…
“Crashed my bike,” Zach answered, never taking his focus off me. “Mandy. We need to talk.”
I shifted my gaze from Zach to Shawn, and his eyes widened. “Stop by our table when you’re done, Dude.”
“Zach. No. It’s—”
He grasped my elbow. “Mandy. You can’t just bolt like that.” He gave Georgia a quick look, and his jaw clenched.
Zach didn’t know that Georgia was aware of everything, so I could tell he wasn’t saying what he wanted to. He really did mean he’d never share my secret. Had to admire that.
“How’s your arm?” I drew in a big gulp of soda. My stomach wrenched, and I’d only had two bites of my pizza. I cast a quick glance around the joint.
Mr. Buzz Cut was gone. That didn’t help my nerves at all.
“How’s your arm, Zach?” Georgia asked, probably to help me. No doubt she could see how uncomfortable I was.
“It’s fine.” He released his hold on me but stayed close. “So, that’s it? You’re just done? Bailing again?”
I wanted to cry right then and there at the pain in his eyes. Not to mention his warm breath against my cheek, and that yummy scent that was all Zach.
He shifted his stance so we could be eye-to-eye. “I’m not scared, you know.”
“You should be.” I sat on my bar stool again and focused on the cold slice of pizza on the plate before me.
Zach didn’t move for a long time, and neither did I. No matter how much I wanted to, I didn’t. And each second he stood there, my heart cracked a little more.
This sucked.
Finally, he let out a long breath and walked away.
“He’s over sitting with Shawn now,” Georgia whispered. “I’m sorry, girl.” Her warm hand patted my forearm.
“It’s fine. Let’s talk about something else.” I picked up my slice of pizza. “Oh, great. It’s cold now.”
“Let me heat that up for you.” Georgia touched the crust and within seconds the cheese sizzled.
“You’re going to come in handy, Blaze.”
“I’m sorry about Zach. I know you were really into him.” Georgia looked off to the side. “But it’s best you let him go.”
I followed her line of sight in time to see Samantha Jones sit beside him on the two-person couch next to Shawn. I’d not even seen her come in. Should have known she’d swoop in right away.
“Bitch,” Georgia whispered.
“No. You’re right about it all. I needed to let him go. Samantha can have him. He can go on to college and live his life.”
“While we run,” Georgia said.
“Yeah, while we run.”
“Two more days ‘til graduation, then we’re done with this small town.”
I forced myself to sit up straight even though I wanted to curl up into a tiny ball and disappear. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to handle your folks.”
CHAPTER 27
“Mason Albi,” Principal Nimrod’s mechanical voice droned on. They were still on the “A’s” and I was an “S’.” We chose the wrong last name to use this time.
Honestly I was happy—and lucky—to be here. Graduating. Mom and Dad would be so proud. Hell, I was proud.
I glanced up a few rows to see the back of Zach’s head. His chocolate locks spilled out from beneath his blue graduation cap. He turned around, almost as if he felt me staring at him, and smiled.
He’d stopped texting and calling since I’d given him the final goodbye at the pizza place, but he was never short of a smile when he saw me. I hated that I couldn’t be with him. That I couldn’t be kissing those yummy lips and gazing into those beautiful eyes.
Damn Coats.
My thoughts slid to Mom and Dad. Scott had always said they pushed school so much. That it was important to them. I’d never really remembered that, but for how much he wanted to see me graduate, I knew it must be true.
My phone vibrated in my hand. Someone else had been sneaky and brought their phone into the ceremonies, too.
My face flamed when I saw Zach’s name scroll across the miniature screen.
Smile we r graduating
I looked up. My favorite, sexy, half-smile curved his lips. Ugh…my life sucked.
“Georgia Kelsey” rang over the loud speaker. I snapped my attention forward and slid my fingers into my mouth. I whistled so loud it prompted groans from those surrounding me.
That was my sister up there. Sure, nobody knew it was my sister—my twin no less—but I still had to make some noise.
My phone vibrated again. Now who?
I flipped my phone over. Private number. Who the heck…?
I clicked the message and read it.
Coats are here
I almost puked.
“Zachary Landry,” Edwards called out.
My phone crashed to the slick gymnasium floor, earning me several stares from the students surrounding me. I leaned forward and grabbed it.
I glanced around the bleachers for Scott while my mind whirled with escape scenarios. Heat coursed through my veins. Stay calm. Stay calm.
Where did Scott say he’d be sitting? Tears welled, morphing the crowd into a sea of blurry faces. Goosebumps covered my skin. I had to keep calm or I’d freeze the kids next to me.
Ah, there he was. Sitting next to his girlfriend, Jasmine. Scott looked at the front stage. I flipped out my phone, forwarded him the text and looked back to him.
Wait, whose name was just called?
Oh, the “P’s.” It was getting close to my turn. My stomach gurgled. The chick next to me stared.
I’d be an easy target for a tranq dart if I went up on stage. But the Coats wouldn’t do that in front of all these people, would they? Maybe I should bolt. I could fake sickness. I watched Scott, and he hadn’t moved.
He flinched, then dug into his front pocket. Even though he was across the gym, I saw his mouth drop open. His head snapped up and turned in my direction.
Our gazes connected.
My phone vibrated with a text from Scott,
Do not go up front
Packed in about five seats from the end. Oh, make that four, a name was called, and the kid got up. I frantically scanned the ocean of graduation caps and found Georgia’s beaming face. As soon as our eyes met, her elation vanished.
She obviously read the expression I en
visioned was on my face. Tears welled in my eyes. If she was hurt in all this I’d never forgive myself. Damn it.
“Excuse me,” I whispered to the girl next to me. When she didn’t move I said, “Move. I’m going to puke.”
She bolted to her feet. My phone vibrated again. My foot caught someone else’s, and I landed in the lap of some dweeb with greasy hair sticking out from under his cap.
“Oh, sorry,” I said.
Damn it, I was making a scene. My phone vibrated again.
“Clear the way, going to puke here,” I said as quietly as I could. I glanced to the front. Principal Edwards eyeballed me.
Crap.
Finally, I made it out of the row and scurried for the side exit. My phone listed two texts from Georgia and three from Zach.
Scott made his way down the bleachers.
“Amanda Smith.” Finally, they called my name. And of course, I wasn’t there. This is so not fair. “Amanda Smith?”
I burst through the gym doors into the hallway. Walls stripped of all the posters celebrating graduation the school looked empty.
My churning stomach disturbed the silence. My phone tickled my hand again. A call this time.
“Mandy?” Georgia whispered.
“Coats. Gotta go. Stay there. Stay away from us. No one knows about you.”
“No. I can help.” She was talking louder. “Excuse me. Move. I have to get out,” she said.
“Don’t, G. Please.” If the Coats were watching, they’d see her get up right after me and think something of it.
Call waiting beeped in. Zach’s phone number.
The doors behind me swung open. Scott’s eyes bulged. Goosebumps formed on his bare arms.
He stomped toward me. “Let’s go.”
“Where? What do we do?” My voice cracked.
Scott tugged me toward the exit. “I don’t know who sent that text or what the hell is going on, but we’re out of here. We’ve pressed our luck enough.”
“I don’t want to go.” I yanked away from Scott.
He whirled around. “We don’t have a choice. I can’t let them get you again. I can’t lose you.”
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