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“Oh God,” he whispered.
Shock tore through me as I saw what he was seeing.
An empty box.
Ethan shook his head. “It must be some kind of mistake,” he murmured as he looked over his shoulder at the slot where the box had been removed from. He compared the number on the little door to the number on his key. “It’s…it’s my box but this makes no sense.”
“We need to go,” I said quickly as I grabbed his arm.
“We should talk to the lady-”
“We need to go right now, Ethan!” I ordered. “Jace, we’re coming out.”
I didn’t hear a response and suspected the link was fucked up by the heavy metal of the vault surrounding us.
“Cain, what’s going on?” Ethan asked, his voice heavy with fear.
“You said Eric was already inside the house that day you got home from the gas station, right?”
“Right.”
“He found the key, Ethan.”
“No,” Ethan argued. “If he’d found it, why didn’t he just take it?”
“Because he wanted a way to find you again if you got away that day.”
Ethan came to a complete stop, his face a mask of shock, but I yanked him forward. “Stay calm,” I told him softly once we reached the main lobby. The woman who’d helped us was on the phone, but as soon as she saw us, she put it down and rushed towards us.
“Can I help you gentlemen with anything else?” she asked eagerly. Too eagerly.
“No, thank you,” I said easily. “Have a good day.”
I practically dragged Ethan towards the door. I waited until we were in the vestibule to say, “Jace, it was a trap.”
“Copy that,” he responded quickly. “All clear out here.”
“Ethan, lose the jacket and hat,” I snapped as I tore my own jacket free and stuffed it into the garbage can next to the ATM machine. I did the same with Ethan’s jacket and hat and then pushed out the door.
I turned us right towards the parking lot, but we hadn’t gotten more than a couple steps before a police car rounded the corner in front of us, lights on but siren off.
“Keep walking,” I said to Ethan as I grabbed his hand in mine and held onto it. I could feel the tremor in his fingers as he gripped my hand in an icy grip.
“Jace, we need a distraction,” I said softly as I continued to move Ethan towards the parking lot. In my periphery, I saw the cops getting out of the car. One ran into the bank, but the other didn’t follow him.
“Hey,” the cop called out.
“Jace,” I said desperately as I pretended to not hear the cop.
“Twenty seconds,” I heard Jace say calmly. I could hear the sound of metal on metal and I knew he was likely putting together the long-range sniper rifle he was known to carry.
“You there, just a minute,” the cop called again.
“Cain,” Ethan whispered.
I knew we wouldn’t make it to the parking lot. My eyes fell on the alley as I mentally counted down the seconds. If the cop saw Ethan’s face and recognized it, this whole thing was over. Not to mention the ID he was carrying with his real name on it. I was armed, but killing a cop wasn’t going to happen. I debated taking him out with just a few punches, but knew I’d waited too long to make my move when a second patrol car rolled up behind the first.
Desperation crawled through my mind. I needed to buy Jace fifteen seconds.
“Hey!” the cop shouted, louder this time. I still had a hold of Ethan’s hand so I quickly tugged him into the alley. I pushed him against the wall, but before he could ask me what was happening, I sealed my mouth over his.
Ethan let out a startled gasp and went completely still in my hold. I could hear footsteps hurrying towards us.
“Kiss me back, Ethan. It needs to look real,” I said as I reached down to pull his arms up so they were around my neck. I covered Ethan’s mouth again, but this time, his lips didn’t freeze beneath mine. I stifled a moan as his mouth moved against mine and then opened in invitation. I didn’t need to taste him to make this whole thing look like it was the real deal, but I did anyway. Ethan let out a startled cry when my tongue licked over his and I felt his arms tighten around my neck.
“Hey, you!” I was dimly aware of someone saying as I pressed Ethan back against the wall, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“Five seconds,” I heard Jace say in my ear.
I ripped my mouth free of Ethan’s and used my hand to tuck his face against my shoulder so the cop wouldn’t see it. “Uh, sorry Officer, just looking for a little privacy with my guy,” I said with what I hoped sounded like an embarrassed chuckle. “Is there, ah, a problem?” I asked.
