Sang

That afternoon, Victor and I went to the security trailer behind Bob’s Diner.

The security trailer was two rooms, separated by a door, with a tiny bathroom between. The smaller room in back held cots, collections of clothing, and supplies. It was more a miniature storage location for when the guys were on the go.

A few of us thought to stay here more long term, but there was too little room for us.

Someone had brought one of the big bean bag chairs from Kota’s house and set it in the corner. I went to it the moment we were inside, rolling around on it, stretching and yawning.

Victor put his bag near the door, then made sure the door was locked. He unbuttoned the front of his shirt and rolled up the sleeves a bit higher on his forearm. “What a day, yeah?”

I made a noise that wasn’t quite a grunt but close. “Can I ask you something?”

“Always.”

My head had been partially sideways and upside down on the bag. I picked it up, the blood rushing out and making me a bit dizzy. “How long do you think Karen might have been stealing stuff from lockers? And was she always doing it for Hendricks?”

Victor finished fiddling with the sleeves and sat down next to me on the bag, causing me to roll into him. He put an arm around my shoulder, reclining and putting his head back. “Remember when you were in trouble because someone stole stuff out of girls’ lockers?”

I couldn’t forget. The girls had been herded into the showers, and I was cornered by Mr. McCoy, before he went rogue. “I was wondering the same thing.”

“If she did it,” Victor said.

“And if Hendricks...or McCoy put her up to it?”

“I don’t know if there’s a way to find out unless she tells us. I don’t know if she’d be willing.”

It had bugged me since earlier today. Karen wasn’t the only one taking odd orders from Hendricks. We knew this. The problem was, I knew she wasn’t on his side. She couldn’t have been volunteering. She’d helped me out before when it came to Hendricks.

I scratched absently at my leg, exposed a bit more with the way we were sitting. The space was a bit cold, but the seat with Victor was warming up.

“How much time do I have?” I asked.

Victor leaned into me to pull his cell phone out and check the time. “A couple of hours. Although I recommend eating something and taking a good nap. We don’t know how long this is going to take tonight and you might be up late.”

I considered it, but I wasn’t really sleepy.

With his arm around my shoulders, he leaned closer. He sniffed once. “That’s the bath bombs?”

“Can you still smell it?” I asked. When I lifted my arm to my nose, I smelled it to. Sugar and sweet fruit flavors. I realized then I’d been smelling it all day. I hadn’t noticed because I got used to it.

“I think I like that one. Which one did you use?”

“Three of them? Thank you, by the way. I forgot to say that earlier.”

He chuckled with his face close to my shoulder. He kissed it once. “Maybe next time we’ll get to enjoy it together instead of Luke and Gabriel.”

My cheeks heated and I sighed. “I tried to get them to hold off.”

“They weren’t going to. That’s why I bought so many. If they found a single basket or two, they would have opened them all unless they knew they were for someone else completely.”

“What’s yours is mine, right?” I giggled. It was sort of how their group worked. I was still getting used to the concept. But then, I constantly borrowed clothing, books, blankets, beds...nearly everything. Asking ahead didn’t always work, because they could be unreachable. Knowing I could just borrow or use and it was okay made it much easier.

He lifted his head, the fire in his eyes lighting up to a full blaze. “Absolutely,” he said, his voice huskier than before. “Everything I’ve got. Want anything?”

I smiled at this, a bit warmer. The tone of the conversation changed. “I don’t need anything.”

He started rubbing my shoulder, and then massaged a bit. “It’s a shame I wasn’t there last night.”

“It was a little weird to be there without you.”

He beamed at this, leaning over to kiss at my shoulder again gently. “Maybe...soon I won’t be so far away.”

I swallowed and then turned over, shifting so I was more on my side, looking at him. He shifted around as well, letting me prop my head up on his arm, but turning so we were stomach to stomach.

I put a hand on his side to stabilize while I was shifting around but then left it there. It was odd how with some of them, I got used to some things, touching and leaning into them. Sometimes, like now, it had been a while since I’d been around Victor like this, and I was feeling a bit shy. Not as bad as like when we were first getting to know each other, but still I was blushing and hesitating.

“I know you want out,” I said softly.

The fire eyes lit up. “I want to be with you,” he said.

“If there’s a house for us...”

“We’ll find one.”

“But...I mean you know the others will want to go. Luke and the rest...”

He pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. “I think it will be okay. If I want to see you, you’re down the hall. Or at least not an hour away.”

When I thought about it like that, I liked it. “I do worry about the others, if this might push at them...with how they feel.”

I didn’t want to say what I was thinking, but my nerves lit up like his eyes when I thought of them in the same space. Would they find it harder to be around each other? Even outside of the relationship issues, their personalities were so different. Being friends and then going to their own homes was one thing. Living with each other was totally different.

He put a palm on my side, and it slid around to the small of my back. “I think we’ll figure it out better doing it rather than trying to guess. Forget all of that for now. You need a place to stay. Where do you want to be?”

I shook my head slow. “I don’t mind where.”

He smiled and leaned in a bit, his face close to mine. “Downtown? A house like my parents?”

A house like his would have ample room, but there was also the attention factor. That house was meant to be looked at and admired by people on that street. It was a statement house. That wasn’t really me. “Oh. Not...really. No offense.”

“It’s not for me, either,” he said. His fingers caressed my spine. When his fingers got caught in the shirt I was wearing, he tugged up until his fingers could slide across bare skin.

My heart raced and my focus shifted from what we were talking about to what he was doing with his hands. My hand tightened at his side, lightly gripping through his shirt.

His fingers traced around the bones of my spine. He leaned in, kissing my nose once.

He whispered. “I’d live here with you, if that’s what we had to do.”

“You’d give up a big house?”

“I’d give it all up.”

I didn’t want him to have to, but I realized we used quite a bit of his parents’ money. “We’d have to find another way...to you know...”

“Money isn’t a problem,” he said. “But you’re right. I stopped using my parents’ cards a while ago. I didn’t need them knowing what I spent, like for you.”

My eyes widened at this information, and I backed my head up an inch. “What? What about the...” I thought of the closet with so many clothes, the bath bombs... “How?”

He laughed and shook his head. “I’d put together my own investment algorithm a couple of years ago. Mr. Blackbourne showed me how, and I put some of my savings aside. It’s not a ton of money yet, but it’s working. In the meantime, Mr. Blackbourne had me take one of his cards.”

“You have his card?”

“Gabriel has one, too. And maybe Kota. I’m not sure exactly.” His hand drifted to my side to pull me back into him. He leaned against me, his head lowering to my face. “Does it matter?”

I hadn’t realized Mr. Blackbourne would issue out cards like that. It shouldn’t have surprised me. It just wasn’t expected.

Not to mention Victor was already ahead of his exit plan, with his own investment portfolio. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I barely had time off to work at the diner when I could.

“Do I need an investment portfolio?” I asked.

He chuckled, kissing at my lips close to my cheek. “If you want to learn, I’ll show you.”

I’d no idea if I wanted to learn, but it felt important. I needed to contribute something.

While I was thinking of where to start, Victor’s hand traced up my body until his fingers were tracing my rib bones.

“I don’t care where we are,” he whispered. “I don’t need the portfolio. I’d work the diner with you all. If I could just be with you, like this, when we have time, that’s what I want. I don’t need the rest.”

I smiled at what he was saying, tilting my head down. “I don’t need a big house, either...But...It’ll probably be a big house. With rooms for everyone.”

He chuckled and nodded. He whispered close to my lips, “Whatever you want.”

He kissed me. It was slow, holding his lips still.

He was waiting for me.

I responded, parting my lips.

After a moment, he responded. He moved when I did. He did what I did. With every touch and kiss that followed, he was there, following along. His fingers traced over my ribs like keys on his piano, and his warm breath passed through his lips between kisses. First slow, and then faster the deeper the kiss became.

There was a very slight sound across the room, the sound of a car coming into the parking lot outside, but it was louder than other sounds from outside moments ago. The air pressure changed, getting colder.

I pulled back from Victor, finding Luke tiptoeing his way to a table up against the far wall, but his face toward us. He’d opened the door and slipped in.

Victor backed up from me, sitting up when he realized what was going on. “Luke!” he said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Luke continued to tiptoe but chuckled. “Don’t mind me,” he said in a loud stage whisper. “I just came in to get the tablet thingy.”

Victor groaned and picked up his cell phone that fell below him. “Are you supposed to be here?”

Luke made it to the table, picked up the tablet and stopped his tiptoeing and whispering. “I have to wait for Nathan. I wanted a bigger screen to watch a movie.” He grinned and then looked at us. “But if you two don’t mind...”

Victor sighed and rolled his head back. “You want to stay?”

“If you insist.” Luke hurried over, wedged himself between the two of us, nearly knocking me off of the beanbag chair. He faced Victor, put his arm around him holding the tablet. “Is it my turn now?” He puckered his lips, hovering over his face.

“Ugh,” Victor said, shoving his hand at Luke’s mouth and pushing him away.

“Vic, you never give me kisses!” He laughed and then shifted to put me in the center and himself on the edge. With me in the middle on my side, and Victor on his, we three barely had enough room.

It surprised me Victor was going along with it. It had me giggling.

Victor pressed to my stomach, Luke at my back, but it was a mess of legs, and I couldn’t fully relax.

Luke hugged the both of us with one arm thrown over me and holding to Victor’s shoulder and then chuckled. “Do we have to get separate bedrooms? A few of us fit in a bed just fine.”

Victor chuckled but then sat up. “How long where you standing there?”

“Inside? Only for a minute. Sang noticed.” His goofy smile told me he’d been listening at the door for a while.

Victor combed his hair with his fingers and then sat up. “I may as well start my hook up. I’ve got a few feeds to split.” I think he meant some computer stuff, but I could only guess at what specifically.

“Wait, don’t go,” Luke said. “Let’s play cuddle.”

Victor rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he did laugh. He went to the table that was set up with some gear, laptops and tablets across the top. It was pressed to the far side, facing windows that were closed with blinds.

“He’s no fun, is he?” Luke asked me and winked. He scooped me a bit until he could move me over and then gave himself more room. “Want to watch a movie? We’ve got time to kill.”

I didn’t have anything to do other than wait until that night. We spent some time watching a movie. Victor listened and, every once in a while, would comment on something. Luke brought dinner from the diner after.

Before I knew it, it was nightfall. Luke had gone. I was playing a game on my phone to distract myself when North walked in shortly after ten.

I looked up, finding North in all black again, wearing a turtleneck and a black cotton hat. The sight of him with the hat preoccupied me.

He scoped me out still in the school uniform. “Why aren’t you ready?”

“I am ready,” I said. I climbed out of the beanbag and stood up. The backs of my legs had red marks from where I’d been sitting for so long. “I’ve been waiting.”

Victor looked over his shoulder at North and then at me. “Oh, I forgot. Sorry. Sang, I was supposed to tell you to change into dark clothing.”

He forgot? That wasn’t like him. And we’d been here all afternoon.

North groaned and then went over to the desk. “What the hell are you doing you couldn’t break from to tell her?”

“Nothing!” Victor said and closed his laptop, but his eyes lit up and he looked at me. “There are clothes in the next room. Your bag is marked.”

“I won’t be long,” I said, dashing off before North had more reason to get after Victor. Whatever he was up to, I imagined he had good reason for being so distracted.

I left the door partially opened. North teetered in the hallway, hovering between me and Victor.

I found a pink duffle bag I imagined was for me. I opened it, finding options in dark clothing. I slipped dark pants on under the skirt before removing the skirt and putting it aside. The shirt was more difficult, but I simply turned a bit from North, took it off, set it aside and put on the dark, turtleneck. They were both very snug. I also put on dark boots, not heavy, but enough to be protective.

Spy clothes, or so it felt.

North gazed in at me through the doorway, his lips twisted.

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head and then motioned. “Let’s go. Don’t bring your phone.”

I pulled it out from my bra and thought where to put it. Then I moved around North through the tiny space between the two rooms and went over to Victor.

Victor had his laptop open, but he turned it slightly when I approached. “Be careful out there,” he said.

I passed him my phone. “Hang on to this for me.”

He nodded and slipped it into his back pocket. “The one time you hand it to me not yet broken.”

I smirked. “Not yet.”

“I give it two more days,” he said with a chuckle.

I did have a bad habit of losing or breaking them.

North held open the door for me and peeked out. “Time to move.”

North and I dashed over to the Jeep between people going in and out of the diner. Once I was in, I quickly put on my seatbelt.

North put a flip phone on the dash above the radio and then started the engine.

“I thought you said no...” I paused and then shook my head. “Oh wait, emergency.” It was something that Luke did once when we were going to do something dangerous. I hadn’t expected this to be a similar situation.

He nodded shortly and threw the Jeep into reverse. Soon we were on the road and taking a detour route back to Ashley Waters. Traffic had all but cleared out. Neighborhoods were mostly dark and quiet.

I breathed in sharply, feeling excitement creeping up through me. It didn’t sound dangerous, just monitoring a delivery and figuring out why it was happening at night.

Or perhaps it was that it had been a while since I’d spent time alone with North. His dark musk scent and the way he was unshaven and dangerous looking did something to my insides.

North made a turn onto a road and then gazed at me, giving me the same odd expression he had when he’d witnessed me putting on the clothing I was wearing now.

“What?” I asked him.

He returned his attention to his driving. “You don’t look right.”

“I look weird?”

“No,” he said. “I think it’s all the black. It doesn’t look right on you.”

“You wear all black,” I said, but he’d said something like this to me before. “We match.”

We parked not far from the school, at a small shopping center with a central grocery store. The grocery was open twenty-four hours and a fast food place nearby was open late, so we still blended in at this hour. There were a few cars in the lot, but he parked in the back of the grocery store, where there was a smaller lot for employees.

He parked and then checked the dash for the time. “We’ve got a few minutes.” He gazed out the window, checking the building in front of us. There were yellowed lights in the back, although not as many as there were in customer parking. Most of the cars were in darkness. “Victor should have taken care of the cameras.”

I checked where he was looking, at a camera angled toward the employee cars.

“Unless he forgot that, too,” North said with a grumble.

“What do you think he’s doing?” I asked. “I’d been there most of the afternoon before you came over. He seemed pretty busy. I was trying to leave him alone. He couldn’t watch the movie with me and Luke, and I thought he was working on whatever was happening tonight.”

“I think he’s buying you a house,” North said.

“He wouldn’t dare.”

He scanned the parking lot once more and then looked over at me and smirked. “Bet you a dollar.”

I didn’t think it was possible. Despite now knowing he had his own portfolio and he was using Mr. Blackbourne’s card more than his own, it still didn’t seem like he could just buy one.

He put a hand on the back of my seat near my head and turned to look at me. “If you ask us anything, we’ll do it. You know that.”

“I don’t know if I want to get accustomed to that,” I said.

“Why not?”

“I want to help, too.”

“You are,” he said. He leaned toward me and a thick, dark eyebrow lifted over one eye. “You’re helping me tonight. You were great today at the school.”

“I feel like I can do more.”

“You will,” he said. “And because of it, not a damn one of us is going to think you spoiled or lazy for wanting a house big enough to fit all of us in. You didn’t come to us asking for a three-story mansion in Hawaii or some other bullshit. You said house. And not just for you. For Victor and Gabriel and whoever else. So let Victor find a house he might want to live in.” He smirked. “But I’ll tell him we all need to approve. That’s a big decision to make alone.”

I crossed my arms over my stomach and relaxed against the seatback. “Don’t let him put it on the credit card.” I wasn’t sure that was possible, but Victor often bought things on a whim. I thought he’d do it if he could.

North chuckled. It was deep and rumbly, and with the way the dark hair on his cheeks and chin were grown out, it was downright frightening sound coming from his scary face.

He captured my chin and drew me toward him, until we were nose to nose. “You’d think I’d stop him?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head, his nose rubbing against mine shortly. A rough thumb traced along my jawline. “If he won’t, I will.”

My breath shortened. My pulse raced. I didn’t dare move. He was too close in the dark for my eyes to focus. I could only feel his touch, sense him close to me.

“I got you something,” he said softly.

Surprised, his comment made me pull back. “Don’t tell me it’s a house.”

He chuckled again and then reached behind my seat, into a small paper shopping bag that I hadn’t noticed.

I held my breath as he pulled out a small slim box. He took off the top, showing me a necklace.

It was a silver chain, with a long slim glass container attached. The glass had sand crystals inside.

On the surface was etched some numbers. I realized they were latitude and longitude coordinates.

“Where...” I asked without being able to finish the question as I was breathless.

“The beach. The North Shore on Folly,” he said.

I picked up the glass jar, looking closer. I couldn’t help but remember the night we’d sat on the beach. I fell into the water and he pulled me back out. We spent the night in the hotel.

“I love it,” I said.

He captured my hand that was holding the vial. He clutched at my fingers and focused intently on me.

“I’ll take you back,” he said.

“When we’ve got time.”

“Tonight. I want to go tonight.”

My heart raced, and I tried to work out some reason why we shouldn’t. It felt like I wasn’t supposed to.

But where was I going to go after this any way? Back to the trailer?

Did it matter?

“Come with me?” he asked.

I nodded. He knew if we could go, and if he said we could, I’d go. “Yes.” I rubbed the jar of sand between my fingers. “I want to wear this...but not right now. When we get back.”

“I know.” He pulled back and motioned to me. “It’s time. Let’s go.”

We put the necklace back, and he stuck the box back into the bag and underneath the seat. I hated to leave it.

I put on a hat similar to his dark cotton one and tucked my hair into it. I still wore the clip, and the hat pressed around it, but the important thing was my hair was contained.

North attached a few things to his belt, a flashlight, a small camera, and something else I wasn’t sure of but it looked like a stun gun. He carried a small backpack as well with other gear.

He passed me the flip phone.

“All you have to do is open it, and it dials out,” he said. He leaned into me and looked me directly in the eyes. “Don’t open it unless we get separated and you can’t make it back to the Jeep.”

“What if you can’t make it back?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll get back.”

We went to the back of the lot behind the grocery store. The back of the lot had a hill and trees, which separated the space between the shopping center and the school. I skirted around that tree line and behind North, following him, which was difficult with him wearing all black and his dark skin blending in with the shadows.

Despite the air being cool, the humidity was high. I couldn’t see stars and suspected it would rain tonight.

Before we got to the very edge of the shopping center, North darted into the trees, creating a path and weaving around low hanging limbs and bramble. I followed, feeling brush and bramble scratching at my clothes and boots. I tucked my arms tight into my body.

I didn’t dare talk. I became his shadow as we entered into dangerous territory. There would be no excuse if we were caught.

When we broke from the trees, we were near the lot that the busses parked in during the day. Dim lights were on over a couple of doorways but otherwise, everything looked quiet. The building blocked our view of the student lot on the other side. Nathan was waiting somewhere over there. Luke was inside the school already, probably in a ceiling somewhere in the cafeteria.

We walked the long way around the bus lot, sticking near the trees.

North stopped suddenly and ducked back into the trees once more, kneeling in the grass. I did the same. He motioned out toward the school.

There were two doors on this side I hadn’t noticed before. Wide doors that had previously blended into the brickwork. Two people pushed the doors opened. One was a woman, and I didn’t recognize her. The other was Mr. Morris.

“What’s he doing here?” I whispered.

North didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. I realized immediately if Hendricks trusted Ms. Johnson to watch the student lot, he’d have other teachers preparing for the delivery.

What was being delivered?

North suddenly started moving, but keeping inside the trees, making our progress slow. He waited until we circled an exterior building, what seemed to be a maintenance shed or storage. We crossed over, going behind it just as a loud, large rental truck pulled into the drive for busses.

North hurried from that point. The trailers were close by. We sidled up to the closest one. He took off his backpack, pushed it ahead of him and started crawling on his stomach underneath.

Ick.

I swallowed my fear of bugs and other creeping things and followed. Underneath of the trailer was mostly dry dirt. It clung to my clothes.

When he was positioned not far from the edge, he stopped, putting the pack beside himself. I crawled next to him. He passed me a pair of binoculars and kept a set for himself.

“Just watch,” he whispered.

I looked through the binoculars, checking in on the open doors. I spotted Mr. Morris right away. He monitored as the truck rolled in, backing up close to the doors. The woman had disappeared into the building, but soon returned with what looked like a large wagon that she tugged behind herself. I studied her features, but I still didn't recognize her. A teacher I didn't have?

“Who is she?” I asked.

“One of the cafeteria crew.”

The truck stopped when Mr. Morris waved to it. Two men got out, also people I didn't know. They went to the rear of the truck and rolled the back open all the way. From where they stood, they started pulling out cardboard boxes and plastic containers.

They were all marked, but I couldn't read what the labels said from where we were.

It made me wonder why we were picked to be here, instead of relying on the video cameras, which would have been less of a risk. Why did we need people on the ground?

Moments passed as we lay in the dark together, side by side. I got a little cold and pushed myself closer to him, but kept watching.

North didn't move or seem to notice that I had shifted. He kept vigilant.

The men from the truck continued to load the wagon the woman had brought out. After it was full, the woman tugged it into the school, with Mr. Morris following her. The men from the truck continued to unload boxes, setting them aside.

It took a good while before Mr. Morris returned alone with the wagon.

The wagon, however, was full of boxes. They were different than when they had entered but appeared similar.

“Damn it,” North muttered. “I want to know what's in those boxes going out.”

“How do we find out?”

He didn't answer but continued to observe.

I kept watch as well. The boxes the men had pulled out of the truck continued to go into the school via the wagon and with Mr. Morris and the woman assisting. The men kept to the truck.

Mr. Morris and the woman returned again, this time with different boxes. I considered it was possible they were empty boxes, maybe they recycled them.

But with the way they lifted them into the truck, it seemed those boxes were full. The men bent at the knees to pick them up and put them one at a time into the truck, replacing the ones they'd delivered.

This went on for a while, with the men trading boxes and Mr. Morris wheeling them in. They worked quietly. It felt like they’d all done this before.

The men took longer to get boxes out of the truck. I imagined they were getting to the back and were out. The men finished loading the wagon. Mr. Morris said something that I couldn’t hear. The men followed Mr. Morris inside the building this time. One of the large doors closed. The other remained open.

North shoved the backpack aside instantly, dropped his binoculars. He grabbed at the material at my turtle neck and pulled me close. The move left me breathless.

“Wait until the truck clears,” he said, his voice deep and his breath warm on my face. “Follow the tree line the way we came and go back to the Jeep. My keys are in the bag. Wait for me.”

He leaned in and he kissed me. Hard.

I closed my eyes, confused by the kiss and what he’d been saying. The kiss distracted me, with the coarse hairs on his face scratching at my cheeks and chin. His tongue darted out for one second, and he nipped once at my bottom lip.

He released me quickly.

I didn't have time to question him before he was crawling forward. Once he was out from under the trailer, he bolted for the truck.

He kept himself low. My heart raced with him as he dove at the back of the truck, through the opening. Within moments, he'd disappeared from my view.

He left me! What was he doing? He was going to get caught. Was it worth it to take a peek at what was inside the boxes? Did he assume he'd get caught and then he'd have to talk his way out?

I stayed where I was, too terrified to do anything other than what he said. But...what he said was...

Mr. Morris and the men returned. The men went to the truck, lowering the door completely and blocking any chance for North to escape.

My heart was in my throat and remained there as the men checked in with each other and headed to the cab to get in. Mr. Morris remained by the open doorway, watching as the men got into the truck and drove off. The truck followed the bus lane back out to the road and took a left.

Mr. Morris scanned the perimeter. After a minute, he closed the door.

I breathed slowly. North. He's gone.

How was he going to get back?

The truck was gone for a few minutes and I still waited, because I wasn't sure Mr. Morris wouldn’t come back out while I was on the move.

Eventually, I turned underneath the trailer and crawled back out, dragging North's pack with me. I shoved our binoculars into it as I moved. I considered a flashlight, but at this point, I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. Mr. Morris and possibly someone else could be nearby.

I carried the pack over my shoulders on my return trek. I went the same way he'd brought me, taking the long way around the brick outer building until I could get to the trees. And because someone could be watching, I slipped into the trees further, keeping an eye on the school.

When I returned to the back of the shopping center lot, I stopped for the first time to catch my breath. I gripped the straps of the bookbag, gazing back into the woods, hoping North would appear behind me.

Was this all worth it? Was it worth jumping in and risking a lot of trouble to find out what was inside?

Rain started to come down in a drizzle, more like mist falling from the sky.

It still wetted my skin and clothes and my nerves started to shake.

“Don’t flip out,” I whispered to myself. My heart was racing, but I did my best to focus. I couldn’t faint here.

I lowered the hat more and stepped into the trees for some protection. I shifted the pack to cover my head.

I blinked rapidly, fighting the urge to run to a building. I needed the Jeep. Get inside. Get out of the rain.

Don’t faint. Don’t stress out so much that it happened. Calm down.

I bit the inside of my cheek but then started to move again, keeping to the tree line to follow it back around the lot. My clothes were dirty. My hair was falling out of the hat. The parking lot was dark and quiet.

I still tasted North on my lips.

I was going to get after him about doing something so dangerous. I was pretty sure Mr. Blackbourne wouldn’t have approved of it.

It was probably why he kissed me. To distract me from protesting.

I was wary of the possibility of cars as I moved around the lot. It made sense to me to park here now when we could have parked in the front. Coming back so dirty did look suspicious.

With the rain now, I needed to do what North said, get to the Jeep and wait.

I went to the edge of the lot, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d somehow walked past the Jeep in my anxiousness. I slowed down, stepped into the lot, checking the cars nearby and scanning through them.

North's Jeep wasn't among them.