Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1)(66)

Something is very wrong about this.

There could be another office, but from the lobby it looked very small inside. I don’t know what to do.

As much as I dread it, I know I need to stop by the apartment and look for any notes. I still have no mail key since I can’t connect with Meg, but I’ll check my door.

I arrive to find nothing on my door or under it. Hesitating, I turn to Jared’s door and decide to knock. He doesn’t answer. Figures.

Deciding it is Meg and Luke I need to be researching, I stop by INK

coffee shop near the hotel to splurge on a mocha to take with me to the room. I’ve just ordered when I hear, “Amy.”

I turn and find Jared sitting in a corner chair with his computer in his lap, his long, light brown hair loose around his shoulders, and that familiar feeling roars through me more powerfully than ever. He motions for me to join him and I hold up a finger, then grab my coffee and join him, claiming the empty seat next to him. “I’ve been worried about you,” he insists.

“After that guy dragged you from Earl’s, I wasn’t sure what to think.”

“He’d had a family emergency and was worried about losing it in the bar.”

His eyes narrow. “That’s your story and you’re sticking with it, right?”

“It’s my story because it’s true.”

He closes his laptop and sets it aside, and my gaze catches on his University of Texas graduation ring. And I know now why Jared is familiar. I must have seen the ring, and my subconscious registered it when I did not.

He has a connection to my brother and an image of Chad flashes in my mind. My fingers dig into my leg. I see his face. I actually see his face.

“You look like you saw a ghost,” Jared comments, and I jerk my gaze to his.

“You went to UT?” I ask, and I sound strange, but I feel strange, too.

Jared glances at his ring. “I did. Why do you ask?”

“Way back when, I considered attending.” Because I wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps and convince my father I was as good as Chad.

“Why didn’t you?”

“New York was home so it made more sense.” It’s a lie I tell easily. I don’t like this connection I have to Jared, but it seems he wouldn’t wear the ring if he wanted to hide it.

“How long ago did you graduate?” I ask, trying to find out if he could be linked to my brother.

“I’m twenty-eight if that’s what you want to know.”

Chad would be thirty now. “I’m twenty-four.”

“So, not long out of school,” he observes.

“A few years.”

“What did you study?”

“Nothing exciting. Business. How does someone get into hacking?”

“Generally by getting into trouble. I had a knack and did a few high-profile hack jobs just to prove I could. A narrow miss with the law and a close family friend shook me up.” He sips his coffee and I do the same.

“You don’t seem to be staying at the apartment.”

“You just keep missing me. I’ve been in and out early and late.” I push to my feet. “I need to run. Good seeing you.”

“Good seeing you too, Amy. Maybe I’ll catch up to you again soon.”

I step onto the street, and all I can think is what looks like a goldfish in the pond could be a shark swimming at my feet. Nothing is right and everything is wrong. I think I need to leave before I pull Liam into the quicksand that is swallowing me. But if I leave, I’m not sure he will look for me, even if it’s only out of obligation, and he will put himself at risk. I don’t know what to do. I need a plan, but my mind just keeps flashing an image of the graduation ring on Jared’s hand, blocking out everything else. The connection between him and my brother seems too coincidental. They could have been in school together. But what about the empty offices at Evernight?

The pinching sensation in my forehead begins. I speed up and head for the hotel, certain I need to get out of public and fast. I manage to get to the hotel elevator when I see a flash of my brother’s face. So clear. So perfect, when I’ve not been able to picture him for years. That’s how powerfully Jared’s ring has impacted me.

Leaning on the wall, I will away the image of my brother I’d otherwise welcome, praying I make it to the room without collapsing. My hand shakes as I swipe the key across the security panel and then shove open the door. I make a beeline to the safety of the bed and lie down. My cell phone rings but the spots are before my eyes and I see only darkness.

“Where’s your mother?”

Lying on the bed on my belly, a book in front of me, I jump at the unexpected, unfamiliar harshness of my father’s voice and find him in my doorway. “I don’t know. She left a while ago.”

“How long ago?”

“A few hours.”

“Be more specific, Amy. You know I like details.”

The sound of an engine and tires on gravel signals her arrival and he is already gone, stomping down the stairs. I rush to the window, parting the curtains to see him yank her out of the car and shove her against the door. I

gasp and press my hand to my mouth. My father has never touched any of

us. Their voices lift, loud enough to echo through the air, and be heard by neighbors, but I cannot understand the words no matter how hard I try.