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Kenna nearly snorted, shaking her head under the cascading water.
Now wasn’t the time to get nostalgic.
She shut the shower off and grabbed a towel. The hotel bathroom wasn’t big enough to turn around in without hitting something, but she managed to dry off and dress in the shorts and T-shirt that Maizie got for her.
But thoughts about Jax lingered. Something about the past week or so had made her sentimental…and homicidal. Sure, her feelings for him did separate her from the dangerous men she’d met since she got here—and at other times in her life—proving she was a better person. They thought she was weak for doing the right thing rather than being strong because she did whatever she wanted and called it freedom.
Everyone had the capacity for good in them just like they had the capacity for evil. Each person in the world had to decide which they were going to be. They all had to choose.
There is none good, no not one.That’s what the priest had said.
She knew the difference between who she wanted to be and who she would be if she allowed herself to slip into the darkness. The slide started with shutting off care and concern for those who needed her protection. That was the difference between her and people like Navarro, or Ramon. They seemed to have given up and called it who they “had” to be like there was no choice to be made.
Kenna woke up and made the choice for herself. Who she was going to be. The kind of person she would strive to be that day.
Every day.
It was part of her survival to continually move forward. To press on and look for how she could grow. Like reading more about Christianity. Listening to her friends. Researching.
That had been on hold since they were ambushed in DC and brought here, but her need to pray had grown. More out of desperation than anything else. And yet, for a long time, God had been the one who listened to her thoughts. The yearnings of her heart. When there was no one else, He had been there.
Rather than seeing it as invasive, she sought comfort in never being truly alone.
Kenna strode out of the bathroom to find Maizie at the tiny desk on the hard wood chair typing furiously at the computer. “What’s new, Maze?”
The girl started, then glanced over. “Huh?”
“You were pretty focused there. Sorry I disturbed you.”
“Oh.” Maizie’s expression changed. “I shouldn’t do that.”
The teen thought she should be more conscious of her surroundings? “You’re safe here, so it’s fine to lose your awareness in what you’re doing.”
Even if there hadn’t been anyone else in the room while Kenna had been in the shower, that didn’t mean the girl was at risk—at least, not any more than she would normally be.
Kenna sat on the end of the bed and started to put her boots on. “Anything new with Kart, known associates, other properties he might own…or Jax?” She’d rather hear about Jax not Kart, but Javier had to be the priority until he was found.
Maizie pushed out a breath between tight lips. “I want to find him so badly.” The teen rubbed her hands on her thighs. She wore wide leg jeans and that same zippered sweater with the hood—thin material in concession to the heat.
Meanwhile Kenna had on shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt. Anyone who looked at her would see the scars on her forearms, but she’d rather have opted for Maizie’s tactic and kept them hidden. Usually she wore a sweat-wicking base layer that cooled her under whatever shirt she had on. She also tended to avoid hot climates, especially in summer. That way she didn’t have to do the bare-arms thing.
But right now that wasn’t an option.
And it had her on edge.
Don’t think about it.Who cared if people saw her scars? It wasn’t a secret what’d happened to her. If they couldn’t see them, people asked about them. Practically everyone she met knew her history—or so it seemed.
Maizie tapped her mouse pad. “Stairns is across town. He looked at a house that was under Benjamin’s legal name. There are two more, one owned by Anthony. Crash pads by the sound of it. But it’ll take him all day to drive between them.”
“Nothing at Ben’s?”
Maizie shook her head. “Stairns said it looked like a place Ben had just so he could go do all the things the Bible says will keep you out of heaven.”
Kenna frowned, figuring out what that meant. She could guess. “That’s one way of putting it.”
Maizie said, “He’s on his way to the one Anthony kept now. Apparently, it’s on the side of a lake. The maps app has a satellite image that makes it look like it’s a fishing spot. Unless he had a cabin or something there’s nothing else there.”
“Everyone needs a getaway. Even bad guys,” Kenna said. “Maybe he takes a tent and camps.”
