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My joke thankfully had Slade smiling, his scowl leaving temporarily. Seeing him in a color that wasn’t black was disorienting, but I didn’t dislike it. My eyes must’ve been giving off heated vibes because I found him looking at me a second later. Licking his lips, his tongue ring poked out, and I found myself moving toward him instinctively.
Zane grabbed my hand, though, pulling my attention. “Can I go with you and Noah? It might help to make him more comfortable. I want him to like me.”
“Yeah, of course.” The crease in his brow lifted some, and I focused back on what my priority was for the evening.Noah and fun.
No sexy times till later, you got that va-jay-jay.
“Noah, how about we form teams and see who can get out of the maze the fastest? You, me, and Zane against Simon and Slade?”
He’d looked excited until I said Zane, but he nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
We paid for our tickets and entered the maze, kids and adults screaming around us as we started our way in. The maze was a mix of corn stalks and hay bales, and there was a haunted house and spooky village when you exited it, but first, you had to finish the maze. Noah, Simon, and I did this every year, and the farm made it different each time.
“On your mark,” I cheered, “go.” We took off, going to our right as we began to twist and turn. When we got to a fork, we looked, debating. “Which way, Noah?”
“Hmm, um, how about this way?”
“Let’s do it.”
A few turns later, and we were stuck at a dead end. “Okay, let’s backtrack.”
“Sorry, Lennox,” Noah said, hanging his head.
“Nothing to be sorry about, little man. It’s how mazes work. We just have to keep trying until we find our way out.”
“How about I go one way, and you the other for a minute, and then we return to see which one was the right way?” Zane offered.
“Uh, sure.” I hedged, but Noah nodded eagerly, and I gave in. He really wanted to get it right. Zane went left, so we went right, and I set a timer on my watch so we’d know when to go back. When we came around a corner, though, it was another dead end.
“Well, I guess this means we turn back.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, agreeing.
Pivoting, we found our path blocked by someone wearing all black. “Excuse us,” I tried, attempting to skirt past them.
The figure reached out, grabbing Noah, pushing me down as they took off running.
“No!” Clambering up, I raced after them, smacking into a chest.
“Lenn? What’s wrong?”
“Si, someone took, Noah! We have to go! Now!”
I kept trying to move him out of the way, but he held on tight. “Stop, Lenn. Let’s think this through, okay? Call your Dad. I’ll call Slade.”
“Where is he? Why aren’t you together?”
“We got to the end, and when you didn’t show, I came back to find you. He’s waiting at the exit, so they won’t pass him.”
Nodding, some of the fear left me as I dialed my father. Explaining what happened, he said he was on his way and would send whoever was close to the farm. I felt calmer, knowing we had people on the way. A message came through when I went to put my phone away.
Unknown: I saved him once, and I’ll save him again. Then you’ll remember we belong together.
ME: Where is he? What did you do?
Unknown: I didn’t do anything, princess. Don’t you get it? I’m alwayshelping.
“Ugh!” I screamed, shoving my phone into the pocket on my skirt. I took off in a direction, ignoring Simon as I went, who was still on the phone. Adam had pissed off the mama bear in me. Whether he was the hooded figure or had just staged this, I wouldn’t let him get away with it. When I found a hole in the maze a few feet ahead, I knew it was the direction I needed to go. He was smart and wouldn’t have put himself in a situation without a way out. We were the dumb ones thinking otherwise.
