by Hannah Jayne
Riley just wagged her head, unable to answer.
“You didn’t call your parents, did you? Look, Riley, usually I’m all for ditching out and everything, but this guy has been following you for a week. And from a different town. He could be dangerous. Do your parents know?”
Riley bit hard on her lip. “They don’t care about me. They want me to move smack dab in the middle of my junior year. What kind of parents would do that?”
“Riley—”
“JD, if I go back home—or to the police—something bad is going to happen.”
“You just said something bad is happening.”
“I won’t be here anymore. We’ll have to leave.”
JD frowned. “What do you mean, leave?”
“I can’t really explain right now. Look, I get it if you don’t want to be a part of this. Just do me a favor and don’t tell anyone you saw me.” She spun on her heel and speed-walked halfway down a hall before she felt JD’s hand on her arm.
“Where are you going to go?”
She hadn’t thought past avoiding a new life and a new identity. “I’m not sure yet.”
“All right. Stay here.” He guided her into a shadowed doorway at the end of the hall. “I’ll go get the car and pull up at this exit. Just make sure no one sees you.”
It seemed like hours passed while Riley waited for JD. When his car screeched up, she was finally able to breathe. JD barely waited for Riley to belt herself in before sinking his foot on the gas and glancing at her.
“I’m not even going to ask, Ry. You have to tell me what’s going on.”
“You’re not going to believe it.”
JD worked the muscle in his jaw. “Try me.”
“I just don’t want to get you in trouble.”
JD’s nostrils flared. “You probably should have told me that back in the bus bathroom.”
Riley sucked on her teeth. “I’m not Riley Spencer.”
“Who are you—007?”
It was a lame attempt at humor, and it died in the stolid air between them.
“I’m Jane Elizabeth O’Leary. That guy, the guy from Granite Cay? His name is Gavin Hempstead. He’s a deputy U.S. Marshal.”
JD seemed to push the car a little faster. “So you—were you kidnapped?”
“No.” Riley shook her head and smiled at the thought—how much easier it would have been if that were the case. She’d never have to tell anyone; she could stay in her house, continue to be Riley Spencer. She cleared her throat and thought about how much to tell JD. But one look at his profile, one thought back to the way he showed up to take her to Shelby, and Riley started talking.
“My parents and I are part of the Witness Protection Program. I didn’t even know until—” She tried to think back to that moment when her parents sat her down. It could have been two minutes or two months ago—her mind was in such a hazy fog. “I just found out.”
“Are you serious?”
The phrase serious as a heart attack flopped in Riley’s mind, but she stamped it down. Things were much more serious now. “Yeah. I didn’t know—when I was looking up the birth certificate, trying to find information on the O’Leary family? I didn’t know that was me—us.”
“So then, do you normally have U.S. Marshals following you?”
There was a hard edge in JD’s tone, and it struck Riley. “Are you mad at me? I didn’t know—”
JD blew out a long sigh then was silent for a beat. “No, Riley, I’m not. I’m just”—he raked a hand through his dark hair—“I just didn’t expect this—any of this.”
She sank back against the bucket seat. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“So, what happens now?”
Riley leaned her forehead against the cool window glass. “I have no idea. I think”—her throat was tight—“I think we have to disappear. Change our names again. My family and me, I mean.”
“So that’s what you meant by leave.”
A sob choked in Riley’s throat and she nodded.
“Do you have time for that bite?” What he didn’t say hung in the air between them: before they take you away.
Riley rested her hand on her belly. “My stomach is in knots. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat again.”
“OK, how about I eat and you hold down the other end of the booth?”
Riley tried to smile. “Sure.”
They were silent on the drive, but Riley couldn’t stop the voices in her head. What was she planning on doing? She couldn’t run away from her parents. They had no choice: they were going to take Riley away.
Then came an inching, niggling thought: what if Tim was telling the truth?
Riley shook her head. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe a stranger over her own parents.
But her parents had lied to her for fourteen years.
JD clicked his blinker on right before turning onto a cracked driveway.
Riley glanced out the windshield and wrinkled her nose. “You want to eat here?”
It was a perfectly square restaurant, once painted a cheery tropical pink. The pink had faded and peeled and hung like bits of dead skin off the building, making its boring façade look less neglected and more zombie-homicidal. The neon “BU” of a once functioning Burgers sign twitched underneath lacy, fresh-looking curtains.
“Are you sure?”
JD skipped the regular parking lot and zipped around toward the back of the building, stopping the car just behind a fetid dumpster. Riley grimaced.
“You really know how to woo a lady.”
JD chuckled. “Who says ‘woo’?”
“Who parks their car five feet from a dumpster?”
“Someone who doesn’t want his car spotted. The least I can do is give you a half hour of freedom.”
Riley considered that and then nodded. “Good thinking.”
JD pulled the door open and grinned. “After you.”
Despite its faded, forgotten appearance, the restaurant was clean and cute inside: mismatched chairs surrounded light blue Formica tables, each dressed with a fake flower pushed into a milk bottle. It smelled homey—like butter and pancake batter—and Riley’s stomach seemed to spring to attention, announcing that she wasn’t nauseous; she was starving.
A redheaded woman who could have been Riley’s grandmother pushed out from behind a swinging double door and grinned at them. She was big all around; she took up most of the doorway she was standing in. Her demure, faded pink uniform pulled against her chest and hung longer in the front than it did in the back. She matched the ensemble with thick white tube socks and a pair of gaudy black and purple Sketchers—the kind that was supposed to give your butt a lift. Riley smiled at the ground.
“Just the two a you?”
JD nodded and the woman opened up her arms. “I’m Rose. I’ll be your waitress. Sit wherever you like.”
Rose followed them to a corner table and laid down two enormous laminated menus then filled up two glasses with water and ice. Riley looked down at the menu, her stomach growling.
“Wow, this is a huge menu.”
“Not really,” Rose said, shifting her weight. “We’re not serving any of this right now.” She jabbed a finger, pulling it down the entire left side of the menu. “Or this. We’ve got bacon, no sausage, huevos, no rancheros.” She laughed at her own joke, her apron jumping on her chest.
“How about burgers?” Riley asked.
“Oh yeah,” Rose said. “We got those. Wouldn’t have lit the sign if we didn’t.” She pointed her pencil toward the half-illuminated BU sign.
“Cheeseburger?” Riley asked. “Fries, Coke?”
Rose wrote it down, nodding at each word. “Check, check, and check.” She turned her enormous boobs toward JD. “And for you?”
JD handed up his menu. “Sam
e. But can you add bacon to mine?”
Rose narrowed her eyes playfully. “We got bacon. No sausage.”
Riley leaned forward, feeling more comfortable. “Oh, and do you have cheddar cheese? Or just American?”
The smile fell from Rose’s lips. “We got square cheese.”
Riley raised her eyebrows and handed off her menu. “Good enough for me.”
Rose disappeared through the double doors yelling “two cheesers!” to no one in particular while Riley pulled her tablet out of her purse.
JD’s leaned in. “What are you looking up?”
Riley rested her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand. “You said you found Tim, Jane’s brother.”
“Your brother.”
She looked up. “What did you say?”
“If you’re Jane, then…”
“Not necessarily. Didn’t you say you found some webpage? Where he was looking for…” Riley swallowed hard. “Where he posted stuff?”
“Yeah.” JD slid the tablet to him and began searching.
Rose busted back through the double doors, Coke glasses in each hand. “So, what brings you two out today?”
“Uhhh.” Riley and JD both started.
Rose tapped her finger against her lips and smiled. “Oh, I see.”
Heat shot up Riley’s spine, smacking the back of her head. “You do?”
“I’m no idiot.” Rose’s eyes cut from Riley to JD. “Young lovers, sneaking off.”
Riley’s heart pounded when Rose pointed to her.
“Your parents don’t know you’re out together, do they?”
“Yes, that’s what we’re doing. You won’t say anything, will you?” JD said, his eyes going from nervous to sweet and imploring in one of Riley’s thudding heartbeats.
“Oh, of course not. Who am I going to tell? It’s just me and Mr. Tastee Freeze in here today. You all enjoy yourselves, and if you really love each other, that’s what matters. Love conquers all, you know? That’s what they say.” She looked off. “Least that’s what I think.”
There was a ding from inside the kitchen and Rose jumped to attention. “Burgers are ready!”
JD watched Rose’s back as she walked away. “Well, she’s cheery.”
Riley offered a tight-lipped smile and leaned toward JD.
“Have you found it?”
He frowned. “That’s weird. I could have sworn it was on this site.” He turned the tablet toward her. “It’s not there anymore.”
JD slid her tablet toward the wall, and Rose set down two enormous plates overflowing with double-fried fries and burgers with patties as big as Riley’s head. The scent wafted up to Riley’s nostrils and she couldn’t remember ever being this hungry. She decimated every inch of burger and every single fry in what seemed like sixty seconds. JD pulled a fry through his puddle of ketchup and grinned.
“You eat like that around your boyfriend?”
She wiped the grease from her hands on her napkin and eyed JD. He had driven her out of town, accompanying her on this weird, unplanned hideout mission; he was skipping school; he was taking her safety into consideration.
Riley shifted her weight. “I need to tell you something.”
JD sat up straighter, his eyes going saucer-wide. “Really? Something else? What are you—an alien? A Russian spy? A sister wife?”
She wrinkled her nose but smiled. “A sister wife?”
“It would probably be less crazy than a chick running away from some killer.”
Riley shook her head. “No. It’s just that I lied when I told you I have a boyfriend. I don’t.”
JD shrugged and crumpled his napkin onto his plate. “No big deal. Could be worse, I guess.”
“How’s that?”
“You could have told me you were an alien.”
Riley crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And that would have been a serious issue?”
JD pinned her with a stare. “I have a very real fear of being probed.”
“Noted.”
They were silent for a beat. Then JD jerked his chin toward the phone in Riley’s purse. “You should call your parents.”
Riley chewed the inside of her lip, eyes glued to the phone’s dark screen. She had turned the ringer off, but her parents—and Gail—never stopped calling. There was even a text from Shelby’s mom telling Riley to call home. She let out a long breath then went to dial. The screen illuminated then flipped instantly black.
“Battery died.”
Riley felt slightly guilty—and slightly angry. She knew her parents were worrying. She knew she should just go home. And I will, in a second, she thought. But that little flame was there. They were going to pull her out of her life. They didn’t even know if the Spencers were in any real danger, but Gail and Hempstead had already made arrangements.
She would never see Shelby again. They couldn’t even text. JD would be gone too. She’d be at a new school. She’d be a new person. Tears rimmed her eyes and she wiped them on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “Can you take me home now?”
JD nodded, and they both peeled a few bills, laying them on top of Rose’s check.
When Riley pushed open the door, she was hit with a rush of cold air that shot goose bumps all over her body—but it wasn’t the damp chill that made her teeth start to chatter. Her hackles went up.
“I feel like we’re being watched.”
JD scanned the parking lot. “There’s not even another car around here.”
Riley brushed her palms up and down her arms. “I can’t explain it. I just feel like”—she turned around and around—“I just feel like we’re not alone.”
“Well, let’s just get out of here.”
JD made a beeline for his car and Riley was right behind him. She had her hand on the door handle when she turned back to the diner, the yellow lights flooding out through the window. Rose was standing there, arms crossed in front of her chest, her head cocked as she balanced a phone on her shoulder. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on Riley, her lips moving fast. Riley swallowed, her saliva sour and metallic—she was beginning to recognize the taste of her own fear.
FIFTEEN
Riley slammed the car door shut and JD sunk his key into the ignition.
“You ready to head home?”
Riley nodded, a thick lump in her throat. “Guess so.” She paused for a beat, and then, “Can I borrow your phone?”
JD looked at her, brows raised. “Sure.”
He handed the phone over, and Riley played with it absently before turning to him. “I need to call my parents. I’ve got to tell them everything, come clean, and whatever happens, happens. I mean, it’s not like I can go out and track down this guy myself. The police aren’t even able to do it.” A heavy wave of sadness rolled over her. This was how it was going to be. And if someone found them in their new house, it would start all over again.
She dialed the phone while JD drove. He mouthed the word “gas” while she listened to the ringing of the phone.
“Hello?”
Riley bit her lip but pushed herself to speak. “Mom?”
“My God, Riley! Where are you? Where have you been?”
Her mother was sobbing, and guilt was twisting Riley’s gut. She blinked back tears. “I’m sorry. I’m coming home right now.”
“Riley Allen Spencer, do you know how worried we’ve all been? Deputy Hempstead and Gail have been working around the clock to find you.” It was her father now, and he did nothing to hide the spitting anger in her voice.
Riley began to cry harder. “I’m sorry, but—”
“Where are you? Who are you with? Stay where you are, I’m coming to get you. I don’t trust you to—”
“You don’t trust me?” Suddenly, she stopped crying, rage tearing through her. “I wasn’t the one lying for fourteen year
s! I’m not the one who is trying to force his daughter to start lying.”
“We don’t have a choice, Riley.”
JD pulled into a gas station while she sucked in a sharp breath. “You have a choice. I don’t.”
Riley watched JD stuff the gas pump into the car then jog across the pavement into the tiny store.
“I’m sorry, turnip, but we can’t take any chances.”
She swallowed hard. “Don’t worry. I’m on my way home.”
She hung up the phone without waiting for her father’s response then doubled over, holding her head in her hands. She blinked when something small and shiny caught her eye. It was embedded in the black car mat carpeting and she had to yank to get it out. She studied the silver charm in her palm, and her stomach soured.
The charm was broken.
She reached into her purse, her fingers closing around the broken angel that the “squatter” had left in the house across the street. The two pieces, when pressed together, were a perfect match.
“Oh my God.”
When Riley looked up, JD was at her window, holding a Coke out to her. His eyes skittered across the charm in her palm and went wide.
“You’ve been watching me.”
Anger, fear, and hurt welled up inside her. She blinked back tears.
“You—”
Riley went for the door handle but JD snapped the door shut again.
“You don’t understand. Just stay there and let me talk to you.”
She started to shake her head, her hands splayed as she pressed against the door. “I don’t want to talk to you. Let me out, JD.”
His lips inched into a mean grimace and his nostrils flared. “You have to trust me.”
We asked you to trust us…
A damn of hot tears broke and washed over her face, silently dripping over her chin. Everyone begged her to trust them, and everyone lied to her.
JD pushed back against the car door, his dark eyes challenging. Riley edged back on her seat, moving toward the driver’s side, and JD was around the car like a shot, pulling open the driver’s side door.
She shuffled the other way.
Riley felt the wisp of wind as JD reached for her, his fingertips grazing her hair as she kicked open the passenger’s side door and, once her feet made contact with the cement, took off running.