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Jasper managed to chuckle, a little darkly. “Isn’t that what they all are around here?”
His footsteps treaded through the store—right toward my hiding spot. I craned my neck and noticed the rack of heavily padded parkas just five feet away.
Stomach churning, I edged to the side around the other racks. Suddenly I was grateful for the tightly packed stock that made for easy hiding places.
As I sank deeper into my crouch, out of view of the parka rack, a flicker of embarrassment passed through me.
Was I being ridiculous? Maybe Jasper wouldn’t think twice about noticing me in here. I could be making the situation so much worse by hiding rather than showing myself like a normal person who wasn’t up to anything at all sketchy.
But the possibility that he’d realize my real purpose here gnawed at me deeply enough to keep my legs locked in place. Understanding crept up over me with chilly fingers.
I didn’t just want to keep my old life separate from the new one I was building. I wasterrifiedof Jasper and Niko finding out who I’d once been.
If they realized the things I’d done, the acts I’d carried out on Mom’s orders… If they knew the world I’d moved in and the people I’d associated with…
How could men like them see me as anything other than some kind of monster?
Neither of them could have blood on their hands—not anything like what weighed on my conscience. They’d never be able to wrap their heads around what I’d been through, what I’d been forced to become.
That version of me had died the second that I’d crossed the Texas border. I was becoming something different now, as well as I could. I couldn’t let anything jeopardize the happiness I’d found here.
I couldn’t lose the first people who’d really welcomed me in and made me feel like I deserved something more.
Unexpected tears pricked my eyes. I closed them and took a slow, deep breath, praying that the clerk wouldn’t call out to me and alert Jasper to my presence.
From the rustling of fabric to my left, I could tell that Jasper was picking up parkas and trying them on. I could even imagine them draping his muscular frame.
It made a pretty sweet visual. Would have been nice if I could have checked it out for real.
I forced my eyes open and pretended to be fascinated by the row of canteens in front of me.
Jasper muttered under his breath, followed by more rustling. “Have you got anything else in the back? The biggest size here is still a little snug.”
“What we got is what we got, son.”
Jasper let out a long sigh. “Right. Thanks again.”
I only let myself relax after I heard the door chime again with my skating partner’s retreating footsteps. That had been way too close for comfort.
I swiveled around—and found myself staring at one of the objects I’d most wanted to stumble on.
A grin stretched my lips, my worries falling away. Reaching out, I plucked the simple gas mask from the floor where it’d tumbled off a shelf. “Come to Mama.”
But as I tramped over to the counter with my prize under my arm, my spirits deflated a little. How could I be triumphant when I was living a double life?
As long as I was making plans like this, taking on the criminals who lurked around this town, everything I did and said with Jasper and Niko was a sort of lie.
But as long as the gang kept terrorizing Hobb Creek, I didn’t have much choice. So I’d just have to end their reign as fast as I possibly could, whatever it took.
TWENTY-THREE
Luciana
I filledmy lungs with the chilled air of the rink, closing my eyes as I glided across the ice. Tomorrow was the qualifying round for the competition, and I wanted to be as one with the routine as I could possibly be.
They said if you told yourself something enough times, you’d actually start believing it. So I rehearsed what I wanted to believe in my head.
I was confident in myself and in my skills. I was cool and calm, knowing that I was going to skate well in front of the crowd.
