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My girls.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
trista
I kept my eyes on every mirror in that car more than I actually paid attention to the road in front of me. It had to have been by the grace of something unholy that I made it back to Jersey’s property. Memphis was on board with Utah following me back, but I was not. I was entirely prepared to bet on myself. I knew I could get far enough away before I had to worry about Virginia waking back up, and I absolutely drove like a psychopath to make that happen. Part of me was still also completely certain that Utah had followed me anyway. I didn’t see him at any point on the drive back, but I still felt him; the same way I could feel Jersey when he was always right behind me.
Kyle came out from behind the garage when I pulled Persephone back inside and asked if I needed help. I opened the hatch for him, and he retrieved the box from it without any hesitation. I still had so many questions for him. The willingness to just coexist with the two of us while he cared for someone else’s property, without even knowing what had happened to Jersey, felt so odd to me. But he was helpful and kind. He kept to himself pretty much all the time, unless he was coming by to ask if we needed anything. I opened the doors to the house for him so he could carry the box inside, and we found Memphis perched at the kitchen island staring at her laptop. She didn’t so much as glance in our direction when we walked in through the door.
“Did you have Utah follow me back here anyway?” I asked.
“Utah?” Kyle asked and chuckled. “Jersey. Memphis. Utah. You ladies are mixed up in some weird stuff.”
“We’re going to need his help,” Memphis said, still without looking at me. She pushed the laptop toward the empty space in front of the stool next to her and put her face in her hands. I forced myself to breathe before I sat beside her. I pushed the play button in the middle of the black screen and stood up to back away from it like it was on fire when a video of Bryson standing over Jersey, punching him repeatedly, started to play.
“Indy sent it to me,” Memphis said. “It’s from a few days ago. They’ve sent it out to all the Judges in case any of them are still in contact with me. In case any of them are able to locate us.”
“There’s no sound?” I asked, stepping back toward the computer and the island. “He looked like he was saying something to the camera.”
“No sound.”
“It wasn’t meant for us to see?” I asked. “Didn’t say where to meet them or how to go about exchanging us? Nothing?”
“They’re not interested in an exchange. Nobody just goes free from this, Trista.”
“Then what do they want?”
“Both of us. All of us,” she said and laughed uncomfortably. “You and Jersey will get merciful deaths if we just go to them easily.”
It was upsetting all on its own that that sounded like a pretty solid deal at this point in my life.
“And you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “They just want me.”
Kyle sat the box on the island and came around to stand next to me. Without bothering to ask, he reached around me to play the video again. He smirked after the part where there were back-to-back moments of Jersey very clearly saying something to illicit Bryce’s fury.
“Never was any good at keeping his mouth shut,” he said, and even managed to smile.
The truth in that statement was outrageous.
“Why did Indy send this to you?” I asked Memphis. “Does he know where we are?”
“No, not yet. He sent it because we’re friends and he was trying to warn me that others would be out looking for us. The contract on us is massive now. But like I said, we’re going to need help. I can do this part of it behind the scenes by myself now, but someone is going to have to do the physical retrieving. I can’t imagine that’s something you’ll want to attempt alone.”
“You think we’re just going to bust into wherever they’re keeping him, steal him, and stroll right back out?” I asked.
“We?” She asked motioning between herself and me. “No. You and I, absolutely not. But with Utah, maybe.”
“How well do you know this person?” I asked.
“I don’t,” she said, like that should’ve been obvious. “None of us ever really knew anything about the others. That’s how it worked. That’s how it was organized. I just — do my own research when I need information.”
“But we’re going to just trust this person to not ruin our lives? Allow him here and hope for the best in the end?”
“Jersey took a chance on you,” she said and slammed her laptop closed before she snatched it up under her arm and started to walk out. “We’re going to take this chance for him.”
Kyle chuckled again beside me. “Sun will be going down soon. I’ll be out by the fire if you need to not be in here.”
