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A knot twisted and twisted in my stomach, listening to them.
But then he grabbed her, squeezing her arms. “You want to tell me what you’re doing here? Huh? This was stupid.”
She looked at him, worry etched on her brow, and then he released her and walked away, tossing his T-shirt onto a chair. The black ink all over his body melted into itself in the dim light.
She approached him. “It’s been a year. You had to know we were going to figure out something was wrong,” she told him. “Your parents are telling everyone you’re doing humanitarian work in…like South Sudan or something.”
He started laughing as he rubbed his forehead.
She knit her brow. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I don’t know if I’m more hurt that it took you all so long to come after me, or aggravated that you had no faith that I’d be able to get myself out of this on my own?”
“At least you’re not mad they sent a girl,” she shot back, shrugging her shoulders.
He flashed her a look. “Oh, I know you get shit done.”
He said it with almost a reverence.
I didn’t know what I’d thought, but I didn’t think they were so chummy. I wasn’t sure why. It was like he was with one of the guys when he was with her. At ease.
She shifted on her feet, the silence stretching between them. “So, um…if you want to bring anything, I’d pack it now. I have an exit plan, but I can’t say when it’ll go down. I need you to be ready.”
He didn’t move, though. “How did you get here?” he asked. “Can you get back?”
“What do you mean?”
He wet his lips, finding the words. “I need you out of this house. Now. This minute.”
Her brow creased with confusion. “What’s the matter with you?” she whispered, but I could hear the worry in her voice. “I’m taking you home.”
“No, you’re leaving,” he said. “And you’re going to tell them I can solve my own problems. I don’t need help.”
“And Emory?”
He stopped, straightening his spine as he looked down at her. “What do you know? Did you have her brought here? Did Michael?”
“She just asked me the same thing,” Alex blurted out. “Why would we do something so dumb? I have no idea who sent her here or why, but it was probably that brother of hers.”
My brother didn’t have the funds for this place, and I wasn’t that important.
Will regarded her. “You know her?” he asked.
She nodded. “We met last spring.”
Will’s eyebrow shot up.
“Don’t give me that look,” she told him. “She was in Thunder Bay burying her grandmother. We ran into each other. I didn’t seek her out.”
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
Alex remained quiet, and a look crossed his face that said he knew the answer.
“So you arrived on the shipment with her days ago, and you, what?” he continued. “Spotted her and decided to roll the dice and stay hidden to see this play out with her and me?”
She folded her arms across her chest, a satisfied smirk on her face.
“Get her out of here,” he bit out, “and both of you fuck off.”
