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Almost.
“I’m coming to Canada.”
“No, you’re not,” I counter firmly.
“Why not? What good am I here? At least I can help protect you over there,” he says, and I can feel his frustration over the phone.
“I don’t need you to, Tristan. You’ll protect me by staying safe where you are.”
He huffs, and I feel awful for being so harsh. “Look, we’re in the home stretch now. Abi said her dad is working hard, so it’s only a matter of time. Please, just stay put. Okay?” I reinforce when he remains silent.
“Yeah, okay. Fine,” he stubbornly replies.
“Thank you. It’s bad enough I have one brother facing the death penalty.”
The moment the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. But I can’t take them back.
“Death penalty? What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I say, trying to brush it off.
I look at Quinn and mouth, “Sorry.”
“Hey,” I quickly say, hoping to change the subject. “You got a pen?”
“Yeah,” Tristan suspiciously replies.
“Write this down.” I rattle off the cell number. “You guys can contact me anytime on this number. The phone is untraceable.”
“That’s some high-tech Batman shit right there,” Tristan says, parroting his brother’s earlier comment. I’m thankful I hear him scribble down the digits.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay? Oh, can you pass the number on to Abi also?” I ask, realizing Tabitha mustn’t be working today.
“No problem. Hey, Mia…”
“Yeah?”
“I miss you,” he says sincerely.
“I miss you, too.”
Quinn lowers his head, and I feel like I’ve done something wrong, but I shouldn’t. I tell Abi I miss her all the time, so why is this any different?
I know the answer.
“Say goodbye to Quinn for me,” Tristan says, filling the silence.
“Will do.” I nod, looking at Quinn, who’s toying with his lip ring.
“Bye, Mia. I’ll see you real soon.” He hangs up before I get a chance to say goodbye.
I leave the phone pressed to my ear, realizing that real soon is not soon enough. I just want this shit to be over with.
I remain still, waiting for Quinn to break the uncomfortable silence.
But he doesn’t.
I can’t help but notice how uneasy he gets when I talk to Tristan, which is ridiculous since we’re just friends. But being on the run and focusing on not dying has really made me blind to the fact that before we ran, Quinn stayed away from me because of Tristan.
