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Four
“That’s my brother,” Mara says, pointing at him with a red-chipped fingernail.
I blink. “Uh, no, it’s not.”
Her entire sweet face crumples into a frown. “Yeah, it is.”
“Holden Michaels doesn’t have a little sister. He has a little brother, Trevor.”
Around us, the crowd slowly disperses into smaller groups around the store, people taking photos with items from the shelves and heading to the registers or exit.
“You know them?” she asks.
“Saine?” Holden comes up behind Mara, placing his hands on her shoulders. His cheeks are red and sweat clings to the hair by his face.
“You know her?” Mara asks.
“You know each other?” he asks, glancing down at her.
“Yes, we all know each other. That’s Mara. You’re Holden. I’m Saine. What the hell is going on here?” I bend to Mara’s eye level. “Blink twice if you’re being kidnapped.”
Her eyes widen. “Now all I want to do is blink!”
“What are you talking about?” Holden directs Mara—and by extension, me—to the side of the store where there are fewer people. Vice and Virtual employees help Repairisburg employees move the shelves at the back of the store to their proper places, and a few winners are being interviewed for the web series. I wonder if Holden knows he’s wasting an opportunity to get his smarmy face out there by glaring at me.
“What else am I supposed to think when a little girl says she’s your sister and I know you don’t have a sister?”
“He has two,” Mara chimes in.
“You honestly thought I kidnapped a kid instead of, I don’t know, I now have stepsisters?” Holden grinds his teeth. “You know what? Now that I’ve said it out loud, your idea makes much more sense.”
I don’t know why I feel guilty, andbetrayed, for not knowing his parents split and one—or both—remarried, but I do. It’s not like we’ve been friends the last few years, and this isn’t exactly something you put on social media, but still. Even when Corrine dated him, she didn’t talk about him much—not his personal life, at least. She definitely never mentioned a sister.
“Who’s the other?”
“Taylor,” Mara says. “She’s in college and now Holden gets to watch me all the time. He looooooves it.”
“I won, by the way,” he says to her. “Not that you’d know because you walked away and could have been kidnapped. I told you not to move. You’d never have done that if Taylor was watching you.”
“Because she would have beenwatchingme.” She offers ahigh five. “But you won, so it’s all good?”
I snort, looking away when Holden glares at me.
“No. If something had happened to you—”
“She’s okay,” I cut in. “I found her and she’s fine.”
“If something had happened to you,” he repeats, “that would be on me.”
She rolls her eyes but sighs. “Sorry that my kidnapping and eventual murder would have reflected poorly on you, Holden.” She points to me. “But she has a point. Someone much worse could have found me.”
“I don’t know about that.” Holden glances at the camera in my hand. “What are you even doing here?”
I adjust my grip. “I was filming one of the players, but she... I don’t really know.”
“Oh, the lady that bailed?” He smirks. “What, did you scare her away?”
“No, thank you, she did that herself.” And now I’m screwed.
