Page 100 of Antihero

“Kenzie.”

“Kenzie. It’s gonna be okay now. What’s his name?”

“Tyler. Tyler Russell.”

“I will handle Tyler Russell. Where’s he live?”

“I don’t know. I only saw him at the mall.”

“You just need to—”

A spirited ringtone erupted over the line. “God!” The sound of her phone clattering to the floor. Shuffling noises. Then Kenzie came back on, voice thin with panic: “It’s him. He’s FaceTiming, like, right now!”

“Hold on,” Evan said, swiping his screen to find the right app. “I’m gonna text you a remote-access link to your phone. So I can watch the call and he won’t know I’m there.”

“But I have to answer! I have to answer or else—”

“It’s coming right now, Kenzie.”

He generated the link, pinged it over.

“I missed it! Oh my God, I missed the call.” She was sobbing. “He told me I couldn’t. He told me if I did—”

“Kenzie, he’ll call back. Do you see the link?”

“Yes.”

“If you agree to let me into your phone, I can track him down.”

Another shriek. “He’s calling! He’s calling back right now!”

“It’s okay. Just click the link.”

“Okay! Shit, okay.”

Her screen came up, filling the RoamZone’s visual field. Evan pressed to record the feed. “Answer.”

“What do I tell him?”

His eyes swept the laptop screen—

Stepdad Surprises Her! 559 views.

—and he felt a sharp edge of hostility slice through his operational calm.

“Tell him you’ll get him pictures tonight. When you’re alone.”

“Okay. Shit, shit, shit.” Kenzie’s face was there in the corner, half in shadow, her selfie view. A sweet-looking kid, should be babysitting or lying in a heap of friends watching a movie. Automatically, she peered into the camera and fixed her hair, sweeping her bangs to one side. Her instinct to look good, to please, even under these circumstances, was hard to watch.

She wiped her nose and answered, her face a flushed mess.

“Kenzie, Kenzie, Kenzie.” Tyler Russell was walking outdoors, phone jostling along at his side, angled up to capture his face and a swath of blue sky. He barely bothered to look down at her. As the lens careened around, Evan caught glimpses of him between strobes of sun glare. High-school junior or senior, shock of blond hair, strong jaw, sports tank top putting gym-enhanced biceps on display. “I told you what’ud happen if you didn’t pick up when I called.”

“I’m sorry. When you called? I was in the bathroom. I’m sorry, okay?”

“Now we all know girls take their phones into the bathroom, don’t we, Kenzie?” Tyler looked down now, shadowed eyes peering out beneath a baseball cap, nasty little grin dimpling both cheeks.

“I forgot it. On the couch.”