Page 19 of Breathe Like Hell

“Me too. Are you sleeping over?”

“If that’s okay?” My eyes slid over to her side profile and she grinned, partially loosening the knot in my chest.

“Of course.”

I was dreading the moment when Micah showed up at the gas station in thirty minutes and found me gone. I regretted lying to him about it now. Somehow, I always ended up making the wrong choice, doing the wrong thing, hurting people, hurting myself.

Plus, if there was a real threat on my life, I was probably safer with him than Mila. But I couldn’t think about that now. I shoved it all to the back of my mind. I’ll deal with it later, just like every other thing currently going wrong in my life.

He’s lying, too.

Mila turned the music up and we sang along to it for the rest of the ride.

At her apartment, Ivan had Katya over and they were watching reruns of The Office on the TV in the living room, a frozen pizza baking in the oven. Mila dragged me into her bedroom and switched on her salt lamp, casting the room in a soft orange glow, like a sunset. I dumped my bag on the ground and kicked off my boots, then joined her sitting criss-cross on her bed.

“Do you want me to order food?” she questioned, holding her phone up and waving it around, beaded charm dangling from her phone case.

“I mean, if you’re ordering something, yeah. I can pay you back,” I offered, nerves making my fingers fidget on her fluffy comforter. I couldn’t afford the extra delivery charge or the increased prices on food apps, but I’d feel guilty letting Mila pay for it. There wasn’t much of value left at my trailer for me to sell, so my income was limited. Working in the lab with Micah hadn’t helped as much as I’d hoped.

“Zayka.” She leveled me with a scolding look. “Don’t be fucking dumb. I’m paying for it. I want Chinese food.”

My cheeks were warm, but I just nodded, grateful.

“We can share something—the portions are huge here. Fried rice okay with you?” Mila asked as she pressed buttons on her phone. She still had her navy blue scrubs on. “Unfortunately, you have to be okay with teriyaki chicken because that’s the only thing I’m willing to get right now. I’ve been craving it all day.”

“That is perfectly fine with me.” I nodded, gripping my phone tighter. My throat constricted when I tried to swallow. “I love you, you know that?”

“I love you more.” Mila winked.

I leaned back against the wall, tugging a leopard print fuzzy pillow onto my lap. My phone buzzed the moment I got comfortable, and I snatched it up too quickly, dread already heavy in my gut.

Mason

I’m picking you up

I huffed out a breath, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. At least it wasn’t Micah. He was going to be so mad at me. Plus, Mason didn’t know where I was right now, so it wasn’t like his message meant anything to me.

Me

Feel free

He was more than welcome to show up at my trailer—it would be empty. If he felt compelled to wait all the way until the morning when Mila inevitably dropped me back off, he could do that. By morning, I’d hopefully be a bit more stable than I was now. A night with Mila, Chinese food, a horror movie I’d already watched, and a few shots of Russian Standard chased with blue Gatorade usually did me good. It’d been too long.

Mason

Great. See you soon

Me

Yup

Mason

Micah isn’t going to let you sleep at your friend’s place tonight. That’s why I’m coming to get you

My heart skipped several beats.

I blinked, sitting up straighter, eyes wide on my screen. What the fuck? I checked—yep, that motherfucker shared my location with himself again.