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My detective instincts kick in as I skim the ground in search of a clue that might reveal who the jackass is that jacked my car. Except, the driveway is completely clean, and so is the grass beside it.
That’s about as far as I get before Masie burst out the front door. She has a towel wrapped around her and panic in her eyes.
“Alexis, please just wait a second. I can explain.”
For a brief second, I consider running up and kicking her ass. But, since I’m still in a little bit of trouble for the last fight I got into, I turn and run like hell down the driveway and into the road. I keep running and running without looking back, wishing I never had to look back again. Wishing I could forget it all—Masie, Blaine, my friendships with both of them. I want to forget either of them exists.
I want to forget everything.
Benton
Fuck. Ridge isn’t having very much luck with tracking down West’s phone number. We tried Ellis and Steel’s too, but they must have listed their phones as private, which makes them even harder to track down.
Seeing no other choice, I head into the bedroom to talk to Zhara and ask her to call Alexis. Although, I hate putting this on Zhara’s shoulders. But if something happened to Alexis that I could’ve stopped, she’d never forgive me.
When I enter my room, she’s awake and sitting up in the bed. She looks exhausted with dark circles underneath her eyes, her hair is a tangled mess, and she doesn’t have a drop of makeup on. She looks gorgeous.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I say as I take a seat on the edge of the bed.
She flushes at my little nickname for her. “Hey… Sorry, I slept for so long and took over your bed.”
“You’re fine,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t have been sleeping anyway… I have too much work stuff going on.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” she asks, tucking strands of her hair behind her ears. “Or do I still need to do more training before I can help?”
“Actually, you can help me with something.”
She looks more than eager to help and I’m starting to wonder if she likes this whole undercover thing. The thought makes me smile, but I worry about her getting hurt. Not just physically, but emotionally.
“I need you to call Alexis,” I explain. “And see if you can get her to come here for a bit.” While my plans are to have West, Ellis, and Steel keep an eye on her, I can’t make that happen until I get a hold of them.
Her back stiffens. “Why? Is she in trouble?”
“Not yet.” I take her hand to try to calm her down and then give her a quick recap of what’s going on with Alexis.
By the time I’m finished, she’s on the verge of freaking out.
“You don’t know why these hackers are going after her?” she asks, worriedly biting her fingernails.
“Not yet. But I promise I will. And once we get a hold of West, Steel, or Ellis, we’ll have them keep an eye on her and make sure she’s safe.”
Zhara nods, getting a funny look on her face. “I can’t believe West is part of the organization.” Shaking her head, she grabs her phone out of her pocket then stares at the screen. “Any suggestions on what I should say to Alexis?”
“Why don’t you call her and then hand the phone to me,” I suggest, moving up beside her.
Nodding, she dials Alexis’s number. Then she waits. And waits. And waits.
“She’s not answering.” She hangs up. “Let me send her a text to call me.” She types in a message and we wait for a reply.
But after five minutes of silence, I start to worry that we might be too late. That perhaps Hacker Hearts Anonymous already found Alexis.
A Note and a Missing Car
Alexis
Instead of running on the side of the road where Masie and Blaine can find me—that is, if they’re even looking for me—I take a shortcut through the park nestled in the heart of countless cul-de-sacs enclosing Masie’s neighborhood.
I have the strangest feeling I’m being followed, but every time I glance over my shoulder, the trail is empty. I chock it up to being paranoid, probably because of the card in my pocket.
When I reach the playground area, I flick a glance over my shoulder, and then my heart bottoms to my stomach. Blaine’s truck is driving down the road. Shit. He’s the last person I want to talk to right now. Well, Masie might be on the bottom of the list since she knew about my crush and Blaine didn’t.
Picking up my pace, I sprint toward the playground then duck into the top of a plastic tunnel that leads to a series of slides. Out of breath, and completely out of shape apparently, I peer out one of the oval, plastic windows and at the road.
Blaine’s truck is creeping down the street at the pace of doped-up snail. I worry he’s spotted me, but then the truck moves past the park and disappears down the street.
Releasing an exhale, I sit down and prop my feet on the wall in front of me. I sit in silence, completely alone. Well, at least I think I’m alone. For some reason, I feel like I’m not. However, I can’t see anyone else around.
To distract myself, I fish out the note from my pock
et it. After reading it several times, I feel as lost as ever. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Go back to Masie’s house and search for a clue? No way is that going to happen. I need another starting point, and I think I have an idea.
I dig out my phone to do some research, frowning at the seventeen missed messages displayed on my screen. Ever since I ran away from Masie’s, my phone has been buzzing in my pocket like a crazy lunatic running away from her two best friends. Most of the messages are from Masie, while a few are from Blaine. My twin sister, Zhara, has also texted me, which is weird. We barely talk anymore, not since our parents died and I decided to leave my good, sweet girl persona behind while she latched on to it.
Zhara: Call me ASAP, please! I need to talk to you about something super important!
I sigh heavily. More than likely she wants to talk about my behavior and how I need to change into a better person—it’s a conversation we’ve had a lot. I can’t deal with that right now, though.
I blow out a breath and decide to message Zhara a bit later, after I’ve calmed down. Then I check the rest of my messages. I have a text from Loki, my older brother, who got guardianship of our brother and sisters after our parents passed away.
Loki: Are you coming home tonight?
Such a simple message, but to me, it says so much more. Like, how he’s tired of me coming home late. Tired of me in general. I don’t blame him. I’m a tiring person. I feel bad, but I just can’t be the girl I was before our parents’ deaths. That girl felt too much.
Still, I send him a message.
Me: Probably to take a shower, but then I’m leaving again.
He doesn’t respond, his silence showing how agitated he is with me. Now that I graduated, he doesn’t chew me out as much. Still, I can tell I annoy him whenever I disappear and don’t tell him where I’m going, when I refuse to set plans of going to college, whenever I get fired from a job. Deep down, I know I need to make a decision about college, but the truth is, I don’t think school is for me. I love art. I love painting. I love creating. That isn’t really a career. At least, according to a lot of people.
