Forsaken (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #3)(19)

“It’s a Walmart in Texas,” I tell her. “They’re happy if you manage to show up with pants on.”

She laughs despite an effort to stop herself. “I suppose so. I’m just nervous about getting attention we don’t need.”

“We’re fine.” I fit some tape over the bandage on her hand and dump the supplies back inside the basket sitting on the counter.

“Right,” she agrees. “I know we are.”

She doesn’t sound convinced, and I can’t seem to quell my need to convince her otherwise. “Don’t let my getting captured fool you. It took him years to find me. I’m good at what I do. He won’t find me again. That means he won’t find you.”

“Until you’re done with me,” she murmurs, cutting her gaze away from me, and for the first time since that bedroom in East Austin, fear radiates off her. I tell myself to let it go, that she could be working me over, but I can’t seem to care.

I slip a finger under her chin and force her gaze to mine. “No matter what your intentions were when this started tonight, if you help me, really help me, I’ll make sure you stay protected.”

“I don’t work for him, and I don’t know why I’m even saying that again. I know I can’t convince you.”

“I told you. Help me. I’ll help you. Okay?”

“Yes. Okay.” She’s not convinced, and the truth is, neither am I. I stayed away from people until Meg, Amy included, for a reason. People die when they’re near me, but I’m not telling Gia that, and I let my hand fall away, settling both on my hips.

She hugs herself and for several beats we simply stare at each other, until she wets her lips, and I try not to look at her mouth, or think about kissing her, but I fail. I think about it. In vivid, I-want-to-f*ck-her detail.

“This is what you do?” she asks. “How you live? Always looking over your shoulder? Is that how I have to live?”

“What I do is exactly what you said earlier. I, like others in the organization I work for, find what no one else can find.”

“For a price.”

“Yes. For a price. We also hide things so no one else can find them.”

“Sheridan hired you to find the cylinder for him.”

“Yes.”

“And did you?”

“Whether I did or didn’t isn’t what’s relevant. Clearly I didn’t give it to him.”

“But he thinks you found it.”

“Yes. And that’s exactly why we need to get moving. He’ll have a reward out for finding us. A big one.” I motion to the bathroom stalls. “You’d better go ‘seize the moment’ yourself. We aren’t stopping again anytime soon.”

“Okay. But you have to leave.”

“I’m staying. Shut the door.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “No. I’m not doing that. You have to go. Please. I’ll hurry.”

It’s the pink flush of embarrassment in her cheeks that makes me concede. “Two minutes or I’m coming back inside.” I don’t waste any of the precious time ticking on the clock hanging around, quickly rounding the corner and exiting the bathroom and the hallway beyond it. Doing another quick scan of my surroundings, I’m satisfied we are not in imminent danger. I lean against the wall, and check my phone for any missed calls I might not have heard, frustrated to find no record of Jared responding to my attempts to contact him.

My mind replays the short message I’d left him when I hadn’t thought that I’d survive another hour, let alone the two weeks I’d managed to stay in hiding before I’d been captured. I’d been attacked before I could mention Meg, and that could have been a lethal mistake for him and my sister. Gia appears in front of me and I need answers. I take the basket from her and drop it to the ground, my hands closing on her shoulders. “What do you know about my sister?”

“What? Nothing. I know nothing.”

“You know nothing about Amy?” I press. “Nothing at all.”

“Amy?” She looks stunned, her voice taking on a rasp. “Her name is Amy?”

“What do you know about my sister?” I demand, tension coiling in every part of my body.

“Nothing. I mean, I heard something. Maybe.”

My fingers flex into her arms. “What? What did you hear?”

“He was talking to someone.”

“He who?” I demand.

“Sheridan. He told them to find Amy.”

“Who was he talking to?”

“I don’t know. It was a phone call he was on, and I didn’t answer his calls.”

“Are you sure it was on the business line, or was it a cell phone?”

“I don’t know that, either. I walked to his door and it was open a crack.”

“How long ago?”

“Last week.”

“Last week,” I repeat. “You’re sure it was last week?”

“Yes.” Her fingers curl around my shirt. “Chad. If he had her, he would have used her against you. That’s the kind of man he is. You know that.”

“If he didn’t have her, he would have used her against me, too. So why didn’t he?”