Rules of Survival(25)

Shit. I was staring. Heat rushed to my cheeks and my stomach roiled. “I—you had a bug on you.”

“A bug?” He moved closer. When he tilted his head to the side, the light from the street lamp caught his hazel eyes and made them look almost green. My favorite color. “What kind?”

“A bee,” I answered without thinking. “It was a bee. A big one. Huge.”

A smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “Really? A bee? At night?”

“Maybe it was something else,” I backpedaled. Shit-shit-shit. What else? A fuzzy?

He leaned even closer, now only inches away. “Or maybe you just can’t take your eyes off me?”

“Really?” I said, recovering and feigning annoyance. The truth, though, was that I was happy his mood seemed lighter. It wasn’t just that he seemed somewhat unstable when he got mad, but happy Shaun—even if he was irritating—was much better.

He made a move to get to his feet. “I could stand up if you want. Make it a little easier for you to survey the entire package…”

I tugged at the chain, bringing him back to the ground. “And anyway…” Shaun was nice to look at—really nice—but all it took was a few words from his oversize mouth to ruin the illusion. “If you help me get to the truth, I’ll deal with the cops. I’ll find out who killed her, get the proof I need to not only clear my name but put the bastard away, and be off the hook. Done deal.”

He didn’t answer right away.

“I’m finished with all this, Shaun.” This was the most truth I’d offered anyone aside from Mom my entire life. “I need to be done. I loved my mom. More than anything. But I’ve been on the run my entire life—and I don’t have the facts, but I’m sure whoever killed her is the reason. I get why she did it now. Running, I mean.” I remembered the small bits from the letter I’d managed to skim. “She was scared. She wanted to keep me safe…but I’m ready to give normal a try.” I needed to give normal a try. “No more running.”

His expression softened. “Even if I agreed, how would we even do that? Where are you going to find the proof you need?”

“I’ll start with what I do know. Mick. We start by finding out who he is—and where—and how he knew my mom.”

“Mick? You mean the guy your mom mentioned in that letter? So—what? You wanna look him up?”

“Without a last name that might be hard. Mom stopped pulling the big times when I was born—but she still dabbled. She had to, to keep us fed… Whoever he is, if he was important enough for her to name in the letter, one of her ‘friends’ has to know who he was…”

“And you’re suggesting we pay one of said ‘friends’ a visit,” he said, grudgingly.

“Do you have any other ideas?”

He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “I feel like this is backing us into a corner. Like we’re being herded. Trapped. I hate feeling trapped.”

I picked up his untouched burger and handed it to him. It was cold and smelled horrible—he’d ordered extra-extra pickles. Mom would have liked that about him. She’d loved pickles. I had to take that as a sign that trusting him was the right move. “Welcome to my world…”

…

I was feeling a little paranoid after everything that happened. After hitting the safe-deposit box, we had more than enough cash to rent a motel room for the night, but a familiar itch in my belly told me it would be a bad idea. Jaffe’s men—or whoever they were—were still out there and undoubtedly searching for us. Mom had several associates in the area, but I didn’t trust that the cops weren’t keeping an eye on them in case I made contact. We needed something low-profile. Shaun said he had it covered.

“Why are we sneaking around a Home Depot?” I asked as we crept along the side of the building. It was after ten and the employees were still trickling out the front door. There was a steady breeze now, and even though Shaun insisted I wear his jacket over my shoulders, I was still freezing.

“You said you didn’t want to stay at a hotel, so we need a place to crash for the night.”

“And you were thinking the garden center? Because I’m sure I could find a nice pile of dirt to stick you under…”

He clutched his chest and squeezed both eyes closed for a second. “You’ve wounded me!”

“And yet you’re still here,” I said, trying to hide my smile. Things between us seemed to have taken a turn, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It was easier. More casual. I found myself forgetting, for chunks at a time, that he was the enemy. “Seriously though, why here?”

He poked his head around the corner of the building and pointed across the lot to the row of sheds. “Free room and board.”

A line of twelve large wooden sheds—some made to look like miniature houses and others the definition of simple—sat a few hundred yards away. “Huh,” I said. This time I didn’t fight the smile. “That’s actually kind of brilliant.”

He winked. “Of course it is.”

We waited, hunkered down around the side of the building for what felt like hours. Finally the last people filtered out to their cars, followed several minutes later by the storefront lights shutting down. After the last car pulled from the lot, Shaun took my hand and started for the sheds.