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Maybe Jackson was right. Maybe we were overreacting and didn’t need to be here. Back at home, when I realized she was missing, I’d assumed the worse. But seeing her here now, eating dinner and laughing, I wondered if my fear had been more influenced by my time in jail than I’d realized. In prison, there was always someone waiting to do you harm. But in a seaside restaurant? Probably not.
We turned to leave, and a waitress came up to us with a notepad in her hand.
“Can I get you a table?” she asked in a perky voice, and I shook my head.
“We’ve decided not to stay.”
“No worries,” she said. “But just so you know, tonight’s specials are fresh locally caught lobster, a spicy beef pizza, and a seafood sharing platter for two.”
“Maybe next time,” Xavier said.
We returned to the car. Xavier put the key in the ignition and sat back without turning it.
“Why don’t we wait for a while,” he suggested. “It won’t hurt to make sure she gets back to her car safely.”
It seemed like a good idea. We played on our phones, none of us speaking, and every now and then I checked the tracking app to make sure she was still at the restaurant. Ten minutes later, the blue dot moved.
“Here she comes,” I said.
The dot progressed slowly down the street.
“Which way is she heading?” Xavier asked. The traffic had thinned since we arrived, and he moved the car into a newly vacated spot on the main street, where we could keep a better eye on things.
Emma and her friend were a few hundred meters away, deep in conversation. A car pulled into the space next to where they walked, and when a man climbed out and stood in front of them, I knew something was wrong.
“Nathan,” I said, and we jumped out of the car, slamming the doors behind us as we ran. Nathan sprinted after Emma and Cora as they fled, but we were faster. Xavier barreled forward, hurling himself at Nathan’s knees, sending him sprawling over the concrete. I waited next to them with my knees bent, ready to fight.
Emma spun around, and her reaction was nothing like I’d expected.
“What the fuck are you three doing here?”
25
EMMA
“What do you mean, what the fuck are we doing here?” Adrian asked. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re saving you.”
I wasfuming. All my emotions bubbled up at once — fear, shock, surprise. I could believe that Nathan would follow me here, but the other guys? Who did they think they were?
“I don’t need saving,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “I was fine.”
“Doesn’t look like it,” Jackson said. “Two more seconds and you would’ve been unconscious.”
On the ground, Nathan grunted. His face was red, and he looked like he still wanted to get up and punch me. Xavier pulled him up by his collar and shoved him across the sidewalk.
“You’re going to piss off, got it? Right now.”
Nathan looked like he wanted to say something else, but Jackson shot him a warning look and it shut him up.
“You’re not my boyfriend anymore,” I said. “Nothing you do will change that. You need to leave me alone.”
Anger flashed across Nathan’s face again and he lunged toward me, only to be intercepted by Xavier and Jackson.
“Let me go,” he panted.
“Only if you promise to do what she asked,” Jackson said.
Nathan wriggled uselessly, trying to escape the four strong hands that held him back. “Fuck you,” he spat. “Fuck you all.”
