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“Where will we look?” I ask, thinking about the dozens of locations of various sizes where our friends could be hiding out. There are probably more safehouses than I can remember at the moment, which is an even more intimidating prospect. When you add in Bunny’s unpredictable nature, she in particular could be anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bun climbed to the roof of the police station and camped out up there, just to thumb her nose at Ramsey and the Vipers.
Kendrick sits next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. I flinch, mostly out of reflex, but his touch is gentle.
“We’ll start with the clinics. If any of them are hurt, they’ll go to one of those first. If we don’t find them all there, we’ll just fan out until we do locate everyone. It might take a few days, but you shouldn’t worry too much. From what I saw in the alley, Bunny wasn’t hurt when she escaped, and we both know that Doc will take care of Neil. Your boyfriend’s safe with mine, and our girl’s a tough cookie. It’s just a matter of time and footwork. We’ll find them, Keys.”
I wish I could believe him. Something nags at the back of my addled brain, though, like a muted warning siren. I don’t know why, but I justknowthat morning will be too late.
Did I see something important when the Vipers breached the firewalls? It’s possible, I suppose, but I might never know at this rate. There’s no sense in trying to convince Kendrick to leave now, either, because I already agreed to morning. We’ve finally reached a kind of truce for the first time since we met, and if I start to argue it’s just going to ruin that tenuous accord.
I toss and turn all night. Every little sound around the holistic center startles me awake, and around three o’clock I give up on sleep. Kendrick’s slow, even breathing carries me through until dawn, when our eastern-facing window lets in the sunlight.
We dress in silence, hoping not to wake Mama Navid and her kids. She has us figured out, though, and greets us at the door with hot breakfast burritos on our way out.
“You boys will need these. Can’t go on a rescue mission on an empty stomach, now.”
I wonder how she knew. We made our little pact after she and her family had gone to bed, and we didn’t say a word about our “mission” while getting ready.
Maybe there’s something to the holistic stuff after all.
I tip my borrowed baseball cap at her as we head out the door, and Kendrick offers a similar gesture. We both sport caps, hoodies, jeans, and battered tennis shoes. My long hair is stuffed into the cap, and Kendrick’s tattoos are covered; we’re as nondescript as we can be, given who we are. With me so painfully gorgeous to both genders and Kendrick so massive, though, I’m not counting on the garb to hide us too much.
At least the cap hides my bandages. Never one to be self-conscious about much of anything, they bother me more than they should. What will Neil think when he sees them? What if he doesn’t love brain-damaged me?
Kendrick and I walk for five solid city blocks before either of us says a word. When Mr. Silent and Stoic is the first to speak, it catches me off-guard.
“They’re okay, you know.”
“I know.”
That’s a lie. I have more doubts than ever, but it feels like the right thing to say.
The sudden microburst of conversation breaks my concentration on my footing, and I falter in my steps. Kendrick catches me with an arm around my shoulder. To my surprise, he doesn’t let go once I recover. Instead, he gives my shoulders a squeeze.
“They’re okay because they have to be,” he continues. “We won’t let them get away with being hurt or scared, will we?”
My mind must be particularly out of it this morning. I’d almost swear Kendrick was trying to convince himself more than me. I laugh it off, hoping it doesn’t come across as condescending.
“Yeah. You’ll beat the shit out of them for having the audacity to get hurt, and I’ll never let them live it down.”
Kendrick squeezes my shoulders again. “That’s right.”
We unwrap our burritos and sit down together on a park bench to eat. I tentatively rest my head against his beefy bicep, and when he doesn’t complain, I relax a little more. Maybe everything really will be okay. We’ll find Bunny, Neil, and Doc, and they’ll all be fine. I’m probably the only unlucky mook who got injured in the explosions at the Burrow.
The nagging feeling fades, but never fully goes away.
Chapter 22
Bunny
The next day passes uneventfully, with me helping Sun Yi do some of her household chores. It’s almost like I never left, minus the rape and trauma of course.
She offers to tuck me in at night, but I wave her off. I need to take some time to think, to figure out my next steps. I have to find the others, of course, and then there’s the pesky issue of finding and killing Samson Ramsey. Which first, though? My mind wanders into peaceful daydreams of slicing Ramsey to pieces for fucking with me and mine, and I drift into a restful doze.
I wake with the familiar sensation of sharp steel gliding across my thigh. My first thought is that Kendrick found me, that my Daddy’s back, but when I stretch and find my arms and legs unbound, I realize something’s wrong.
Kendrick would never start knife play unless I was good and tied up. He made that mistake once, and I got the knife away from him.
Memories of the past two days come crashing back, and I jerk upright. Sun Yi stands beside my bed clutching a carving knife in her hand, and when I look down at my leg, she’s just about finished slicing the word “whore” into the skin. In all caps.
