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“What took you so long to get here?” Emery asked, parking alongside a pump.
I smothered a yawn and reached for the door handle. “I had to drop something off.”
The quick glance she shot me indicated she wanted to know what that something was. Thankfully she didn’t question it. We entered the gas station together, both surveying the various aisles.
“Good evening,” the attendant greeted us cheerfully. A plastic badge deeming him as Henry was affixed to his polo shirt.
“Evening,” Em replied with a small wave. Turning to me, “Do you know what you want?”
I shook my head. “I’m gonna check over there.”
“Okay.”
We separated, her going to the right, me the left.
I perused the chips, snagging a bag of barbeque twist, and then a bottle of water. Rounding the endcap, I caught back up to Em. There was a hot dog carton cradled in her right hand, loaded with two buns.
“Figured you might want one of these.”
“Thanks.”
After we grabbed her a drink, we carried everything to the front. The attendant smiled warmly at us, the freckles on his cheeks squishing into creases. I waved Em off before she could attempt to pay.
“I got it.”
“You sure?” she checked.
“Yeah.” I dug in my purse, removing Tony’s credit card with discretion. If anyone thought to check his activity as a hint of where he could be, this would be the last place that came up. I declined the receipt and helped Em gather our things. We were nearly to the door when she froze.
“Shit,” she cursed. Her hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, leaving the dogs to drop to the faded linoleum floor. With a tug on my arm, I was forced to crouch down behind one of the shelves.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“I saw a black pick-up pull in.”
“Em. There’s got to be hundreds of those.”
“Not like the one Callum drives.”
Good point, but how would he have found us so fast? And why was she so willingly going along with this?
The doors swooshed open, I picked up on multiple footsteps.
“Good evening,” Henry greeted. Bless his heart for sound completely casual. There was no way he missed the two women dropping to their knees in one of his aisles.
“It is a nice night, ain’t it?”
The first word out of the newcomer’s mouth had Em’s body going rigid. It had to be Callum.
“It’d be even better if you could help us out,” a softer voice added. “We’re looking for two of our friends. That car outside belongs to one of them.”
Em and I shared a look. An alarm began going off in my head, screaming that this was bad. Very bad. We needed to get the hell out of here. I leaned forward and peered around the shelf. Yep. That was certainly Callum. Angel was with him, giving Henry a smile that could topple empires.
Most gas stations had a rear exit, I hoped that was the case for this one because it was our only option.
We couldn’t waltz right out the front. I glanced at Em and nodded my head towards the restrooms. That’s where the back door would be. She caught on instantly, giving a nod in response.
As Callum and Angel moved on to harmless interrogation, we crept around the corner and down the far aisle. I held a hand up, flashing three twice so she understood.
