Page 17 of Kyle

“I get it,” I told him.

“I suppose you do. What happened earlier won’t happen again,” he vowed.

I figured he meant what he said, but trauma has a way of bubbling to the surface at the worst times. The tiniest things could trigger a memory and you’re left fighting to push it back.

“If this is too much—”

“It’s not. I have it under control. If you’re worried about us keeping you safe, you don’t have to be.”

“I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you and what being at the orphanage will bring up.”

His lips tipped up into a sad smile.

“’Preciate your concern, especially after I was such a twat, but I’ll be fine. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine as long as I don’t think about it,” I told him honestly. “It was a long time ago. I’d like to think I’ve moved on.”

“You and me both.” He chuckled without humor. “But we both know the venom is just under the surface eating away at our insides, fighting to get out. Time doesn’t erase the memories.” He was right, time didn’t. And I didn’t think there was anything, time or otherwise, that would dull the horror. “I’m glad you were rescued in time.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk about tonight,” Kyle said from the doorway.

Declan’s eyes cut to Kyle and with a nod he agreed, “You’re not interrupting. We were done anyway.”

I was grateful Kyle had shown up when he had, I needed to stop thinking about the past, stop with the idiotic daydreams about Kyle, and start concentrating on helping the girls escape Amisha.

I followed the men into the living room that was no better than the bedroom. With so many different patterns it was enough to make you dizzy. Only instead of white on the walls above the wood paneling this room was Pepto-Bismol pink. No joke. Bright pink that made no sense and matched nothing in the room and made the brown couch look dingier than it already did.

A map was spread out on the coffee table and I knelt next to it to get a better look. Kyle sat on one couch and Declan took the one opposite from him.

“We’re here.” Kyle pointed. “We’ll take the direct route through the center of the city to Amisha’s house. But our egress will be around the city, we’ll zigzag our way back here. Each time we go to recon we’ll take a different route, both there and back, but for tonight we can go direct.”

Declan picked up one of the aerial images I’d provided and studied it.

“Tex confirmed the building across the way from the house is abandoned, but we can expect transients. I still think it’s our best option to watch the house. Unless you have an idea.”

I looked up from the map to find Declan looking at me.

“You’re asking me?”

“You’re the one that pointed out you’ve spent time in the city. We haven’t. Do you have any suggestions?”

“I do but it’s risky,” I answered.

“Hit us with it,” Kyle encouraged.

“There’s an apartment building here.” I pointed to the map. “From the roof you have a better view of the front of the house. You’re right about the transients and we have to take into consideration they’ll talk. No doubt they won’t give us trouble when we’re there, but come morning they’ll sell us out. We have a better chance sneaking around the apartment building unseen.”

“Have you been on the roof?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah. There’s an access door on the third floor. If we use the apartment building, I suggest we split up—”

“No fucking way,” Kyle interrupted. “We stay together.”

“Here me out before you shoot me down. If someone sees the three of us together, we’re basically screwed. But there’s four sets of staircases. If we split up and each use a different one, meeting on the third floor, if someone happens to see one of us, it wouldn’t be so alarming.”

“She’s right,” Declan said. “We’ll use the apartment building. What else can you tell us?”

Kyle didn’t look pleased as I told them everything I remembered about the three-story building. Amisha’s house wasn’t in the best area of the city, but neither was it in the ghetto. The apartments were decent but not fancy and they lacked security, which was perfect.