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“Don’t get anywhere near Sadie. She doesn’t want you to.”
“I think she can talk for herself.”
“I think you can take a flying leap off the balcony for all I care. Just stay away from h
er, you’re making her nervous.”
Nathan mutters something under his breath, but we’re interrupted by the door opening.
“Well,” Rafael says, his voice artificially bright. “We’ve got to decide what to do next. Obviously we can’t all stay together. Adam, it’s easiest if you’re with me. So, Cole, you and Eden can take Sadie to a safe house, and I’ll take Adam and Annie.”
“No.” Sadie’s voice is lower than I expect it to be, almost husky. “I want to stay with Annie.”
I’m surprised by this, but pleased. Someone needs to take care of her, so I’ll be that someone. It’s about time I had someone to take care of again. “Okay,” I say.
Rafael sounds patient as he’s talking to Sadie, but something is off. “I don’t think it’s safe for you and me to be in the same location, since they might be looking for us. Why don’t you explain exactly what you can do, and we can decide where the best place is for you.”
Then it hits me. Rafael uses a different tone of voice when he’s talking to women. His accent masked it, and, if I’m being honest, I liked flirting with him too much to notice. It’s not obviously condescending and skeezy like Nathan, but it’s there.
That detail feels like sand on my skin, irritating and impossible to brush away. “It’s okay. I’ll go with Sadie.”
Eden takes my hand and draws casually in my palm. I wonder what she’s doing until I realize she’s forming letters.
What is wrong?
“Eden, can you show me where the bathroom is?” I ask.
She stands, taking my arm, and leads me through a room. We close the door behind ourselves. “You’re worried. What?”
“I don’t know. I’m confused. I’m so worried about Fia. And I don’t know how to feel about things here. Rafael is . . . I don’t think I had him figured out the way I thought I did.”
“Yeah, he’s a puzzle. You were distracted by his accent, weren’t you?”
I laugh. “Shut up. Okay, yes. I was. Listen, I’ll stay with Sadie. I feel responsible, you know? But I worry about Adam.”
“He seems like a good guy.”
“He is. But . . .” I tell her about the vision that started all this. “I think he needs to be watched. Would you—this is awful, I don’t want to be separated from you, but would you stay with him?”
She sighs. “I just barely got you back. But this is important to you. I’ll do it. And I’ll try to feel out Rafael better.”
I hug her. “Thank you.”
“Seriously though, this company is wasted on you. Adam is all nerd hot, Rafael has that whole Latin lover vibe going, and even Cole is smoking. It’s kind of a slow build, you know? At first he looks pretty average, but then he’s got this incredible intensity in his stares, and his body is rocking. I should have joined Lerner ages ago.”
I laugh. “You’ll get no argument on that point. I’m so, so glad you are here.”
“Me, too. But they’re going to start wondering why you need so much help in the bathroom. I’ll head back and volunteer to stick with Adam and Rafael. Rafael thinks I’m very attractive—which I am, obviously—so he won’t have an issue with it.”
“Wait, when you said you were going to try to feel out Rafael better, did you mean emotionally, or did you mean literally?”
Her laugh is downright evil as she closes the door and leaves me in the bathroom.
Already missing her, I follow a few minutes later.
“I go with Annie and Sadie,” Cole says.
“I think you’ve earned a vacation,” Rafael says. “After what happened to Sarah. I know how close you two were. Nathan can get Annie and Sadie to a safe house.”
