Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
I put away the groceries while he did that. A few minutes later, he returned with an armload of pastel-colored sweats and said, “I know it isn’t ideal, but I think you’ll fit into this stuff. It was left here by Reg’s sister, Margot.”
“And Reg is built like you, so his stuff would be way too big on me?” He nodded and piled the clothes on the counter. I didn’t know why I asked, or why the answer made me feel so insecure.
I scooped up the sweats and the new T-shirts as I told him, “I’ll take the room with the queen bed.” It was a given he should have the main suite, and the third bedroom contained two bunk beds, so my choice was obvious. “I want to get dressed and call Moira. Come get me if you need anything.”
“I’m going to move the car, but I’ll be back soon.”
“Move it where?”
“There’s an old logging road about half a mile from here. If we need to make a run for it like we did at the motel, we can exit out the back door and cut through the forest.”
“Do you honestly think anyone would find us here? Because this is truly the middle of nowhere, unlike that motel.”
Sam shrugged. “I think there’s a ninety-nine percent chance we’re perfectly safe here. But nothing is a hundred percent, so I’ll feel better with an escape plan in place.”
After he left, I went into the living room with my armload of clothes and took a look at the framed pictures on the mantel. They seemed like stock photos of a stereotypical family, with a mom, a dad, an older brother, and a younger sister, all of them smiling, fit, and model-perfect.
The pictures spanned decades, from Reg’s childhood into adulthood. I leaned in and studied what looked like the most recent photo. It was incredibly easy to picture Sam with a guy like that, someone buff and sporty and outdoorsy, who looked like he’d stepped out of an ad for expensive cologne.
If that was his type, why had he kissed me last night? Was it an any port in a storm type of thing? We were off-kilter, afraid, and on the run, and I was right there, so why not?
I wanted it to mean more than that, though. It had been the best kiss of my life, and I hoped it was the start of something. But it was hard to believe he felt the same.
Not that I wanted to be totally pessimistic. Just the opposite.
I absolutely wanted to believe in impossible things—in a world where everything worked out in the end. A world where the jock fell for the nerd, and where two total opposites could make it work. That was the reader in me, the boy who usually preferred fiction to reality.
Real life had let me down too many times. Every attempt at a relationship had been such a disaster that I’d stopped trying, and I’d built up walls to protect myself.
Was I capable of letting my guard down?
Or should I really be asking if I was getting my hopes up for nothing?
After one final glance at Sam’s ex, with his square jaw, perfect smile, and rugged good looks, I left the room with a sigh.
When I reached the bedroom I’d claimed for myself, I dumped the clothes onto the bed and put on a couple of random things. It turned out Reg’s sister’s stuff fit me perfectly, including the pink sweatpants I’d selected, which had the word “juicy” stitched across the ass. They all featured that lovely detail.
I paired the sweats with one of the earth-toned T-shirts Sam had found at the convenience store. It featured the slogan “Take a hike” above a cartoon of a happy bear strutting along with a walking stick. Then I made the mistake of checking my reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Not only was the outfit a train wreck, but my hair had dried into messy spikes. That really completed the look.
Well, whatever. I retrieved my phone from the pocket of Sam’s hoodie, curled into a chair by the window, and called Moira. She answered on the first ring with, “Are you okay, Andy?”
“I’m fine.” She didn’t need to know about our narrow escape from the motel. It would only worry her, and my mother and Julie, who she’d definitely run to with that information.
“Where are you?”
“Someplace safe. How’s everything there? Is everyone okay?”
“We’re worried, of course, but we’re fine.”
“You’re being safe, right? I don’t know if these people would try to use you to get to me, but you need to be careful.”
“You already told me that, last time we spoke,” she reminded me. “And I’m being very careful. I’m staying home, and Qian took a leave of absence from work, so he can be with me. His cousin is on his way to join us, too—the one with all the superpowers. Between that and the ward on the building, there’s no way anyone could get to us.”