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“Have you been in contact with your father since he was arrested?” I asked.
When Caleb didn’t answer right away, it was answer enough.
“When?” I asked.
But Caleb just shook his head. As much as I wanted to press him, I knew I needed to stick to my plan and take care of step one.
Getting us good and lost.
Chapter 4
Caleb
I was happy to stay in the car as ordered because my anxiety was through the roof. I could still see Jace through the windshield as he talked to the man in front of a small red house just yards from the water’s edge. As I watched him nod his head at something the man said, I fought back the emotions that were threatening to bubble to the surface. The timing couldn’t be worse. I tried slowing my breathing in the hopes that would calm me down, but I knew it wouldn’t.
There was only one thing that would take away the burning need to get out of the car and walk straight into Jace’s arms.
I kept my eyes on Jace as best I could as I dropped my hand to the floor of the car and began searching out what I wanted. A mix of shame and relief went through me when I closed my fingers around one of the larger pieces of glass from the shattered window. I didn’t even stop to think about what I was doing as I slipped the sleeve of my shirt up on my right arm. Fear of discovery had me keeping my eyes on Jace, even as I drew the edge of the glass over my skin. And just like that, the pain took away everything.
The fear.
The anger.
The hope.
I couldn’t enjoy the moment because I could tell from Jace’s body language that he and the man were saying their goodbyes. I quickly dropped the glass between my seat and the console of the car, then reached into my pocket for the small scrap of fabric I kept there specifically for moments like these. I applied pressure to the cuts and was relieved when blood didn’t instantly seep through the cloth – it meant I hadn’t cut deep enough that I couldn’t easily control the bleeding. I spied the hair tie Jace had removed from his hair and left in the cup holder. I grabbed it and looped it around my arm so that it held the fabric in place. It was a little tight, but that was a good thing. I quickly dropped my sleeve back down, then scanned our surroundings.
I had no clue where we were because I’d fallen asleep after Jace had pulled over long enough to look at my head and to make a phone call from a payphone at a convenience store at the base of the mountains. My head was throbbing, but he’d been right that the ringing in my ears had stopped shortly after we’d left the cabin.
It was late afternoon by the time we’d reached our destination, but now that the anxiety was gone, I was so tired it felt like we’d been driving for days. I couldn’t make sense of the fact that despite all the terror I’d lived through in the last thirty-six hours, I could barely keep my eyes open. Why was my body deciding to catch up on sleep now, after nearly two years of not being able to sleep for more than a few hours a night?
I was still struggling to process the events of the morning. One minute I’d been trying to figure out how to make it clear to Jace and Mav that nothing they could say would make me return to Seattle, and the next minute Jace’s big body had slammed into mine and I’d felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of my lungs. I was terrified for Mav and Memphis, but I had to believe what Jace had said – that they were okay.
I watched as Jace shook the man’s hand, then walked back toward the car. I hated the sight of the smeared blood on his face. The flying glass had left several small cuts on his skin. I’d wanted to stop long enough so I could make sure there wasn’t any glass in any of them, but he’d said there wasn’t time and had merely wiped at the blood with the sleeve of his shirt. The idea that he’d been hurt protecting me made the tension I’d just gotten rid of start to roll around in my belly again.
Jace didn’t say anything as he started the car up. It wasn’t lost on me that I was completely reliant on him at that point. I’d promised myself just that morning when I’d woken up that I wouldn’t lean on him again, but that was exactly what I was doing. Of course, it wasn’t like I had a lot of choices. It was one thing to try and just disappear… to start over. But to do it with killers on your trail? Nope, I wasn’t down for that. That pesky will to survive was still kicking in.
