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“How much do you know?”
“Holy crap Henleigh, are you okay?” She rushes out, as though she’s afraid I’m going to hang up on her or something.
“Ivy, focus. I need to know how much Harrison has told you and then I need you to do something for me,” I’m talking quietly now, I don’t need H to hear this.
“Everything, I know the guy who beat you is now following you. Harry thinks he’s going to try and do something real bad to you both, and we’re trying to figure out how he is keeping track. Henleigh I am sorry for what I did at Padstow and I will do anything to make it right,” she says hopefully, I just don’t know if I can trust this family. That’s what they are isn’t it, family.
“There are at least two different people following us and I don’t know if any of them are good or just a lesser of two evils, I need to know what they can and cannot do. This is where you come in, but for all I know they could be listening to us right now,” I emphasise that point clearly, she needs to know how risky this is.
“You don’t need to worry about that, maybe they can trace you but they can’t tap your phone, not without having access to it or being in the government,” she says casually, but it does very little to reassure me.
“I was knocked out, the guy who acted as though he was on my side may have done something, guess I’ll need a new phone entirely. Look I need you to listen closely okay, Roxie hates you for whatever reason but I need you to get a message to her.” I drag my hand through my hair, I need to choose my words carefully, just in case I can’t trust her. “Tell her I’m on the right track and ask if she’s still looking for a guitarist. That’s all I need and also ask her if Bella was lucky in love as I could use some ‘advice.’ I will call you in a couple of days from a private number, please do this for me,” I say, I don’t care if I sound like I’m begging, Roxie is the only one I can trust and Ivy is my only option.
“I’ll do it, but Henleigh please,” she hesitates before I hear her sigh deeply, “look after yourself and Harry. He’s not as bad as he likes people to believe.”
“I know he isn’t, I’ll speak to you in a couple of days,” I say, just as I disconnect the call and Harrison comes back out.
“We have two days until I’ll know where we need to go, what shall we do?” I ask and I don’t miss his stoic demeanour or the way he holds his hand out so he can have his phone back.
“I only rang Ivy, don’t worry I didn’t try to find out what you were so clearly trying to hide. Got a secret girlfriend or something H?” I ask, as I pull out a change of clothes and get my things together so I can have a shower.
“Or something,” he says under his breath and I’m not jealous. I’m really not.
WE FALL asleep around midnight and by the deep bags under his eyes and the paleness of the skin, he’s clearly sleeping as well as I am. We get up and dressed and we’re acting on nothing more than autopilot as we go through the motions and set off for a phone shop. I’m going to miss my phone but I can’t risk it, I don't second guess myself as I crush the screen beneath my boot and shove it in the bin.
We don’t waste much time getting a pay as you go SIM card each and a cheap touch screen phone for me, and then we go around the town and pick up some extra clothes and some food to keep in the car.
“H, if you’re not great with computers how did you set it all up. The emails and the countdown, you couldn’t even be traced. We could only prove the emails were coming from the school,” he’s looking at me questioningly, probably wondering why I’ve waited this long to ask him in the first place. He’s got a point Henleigh, you need to be faster on the draw.
“I had some help from Finley with the emails, he had his brother set it up for me and that was it. The countdown failed because I did that on my own, I still don’t know how it was taken over but I'm guessing that was the work of our friendly neighbourhood psycho,” he says mockingly and I can’t help but let out a bitter laugh.
“We must be blowing through your money with the amount of hotels we’ve stayed at,” he points out and I roll my eyes in return, until I sign into my banking app.
“Umm H honey, we may have a problem,” he raises his eyebrows as I turn my phone around to face him. My bank is now empty, forty grand has just upped and vanished.
“I’ve got about a couple of hundred in mine,” he says as he quickly checks and sighs in relief when his money shows up.
“I have the same in my duffel, but that won’t keep us going for long, what are we supposed to do?” Panic is setting in and it's getting hard to keep my cool.
“Ever been camping?” He asks with a smirk and I cover my face with my hands. I hate bugs.
We get everything we could possibly need, a four-man tent because Harrison is adamant that a two-man won’t be big enough. Two sleeping bags, a camping stove, a kettle and some bowls, plates and cutlery. He grabs some other bits, but I don’t even remember what those were, although I do know he grabbed some sort of dimmable lantern and that’s where my interest in our great endeavour runs out.
“Oh shit, someone dropped their keys,” I say as I pick up a set of keys and head into a shop, but Harrison grabs me and pulls me back outside.
“What are you doing?” I ask as I blow my hair out of my face and put my aviators back in place.
“Maybe we shouldn’t hand those in,” he looks down at my hand and my mouth drops open, he can’t be serious.
“Harrison, that’s theft,” I whisper yell, as he pulls me further from the street and away from prying ears.
“They keep finding us when we do things the legal way, and we’re not stealing more, borrowing,” his voice has this really weird sound to it, does he believe this pile of shit he’s shovelling at me right now.
“They’ll get it back and we’ll look after it, we just need to get out of town far enough that we can dump the car and maybe jump on a train or a coach somewhere.” He places his huge hands on my shoulders, but his eyes weigh me down more than his hands ever can. “You don’t trust that Sawyer guy, and yet we’re driving his car. What if they’re tracking that as well? It would explain how that bike keeps find
ing us,” why does he have to be so wise? I wonder if he was some kind of owl in a past life.
It doesn’t feel right as we press the button on the key fob and we see the lights of a Peugeot flash, Harrison stops before me and takes my hands in his. “We’re only borrowing it, I’ll even ring the police and tell them where to find it once we get away from here. I promise,” he leans his head on mine and I feel his breath wash over me as I resolve my feelings and slowly close my eyes.
