Rules of Survival(69)

“Can’t hurt. I’m not really interested in waiting around to see what he’s got in mind for your family reunion.”

I leaned sideways as far as I could and hit something solid. “The wall. We can use it to sort of slide up. You ready?”

“Yeah. I think so. On three?”

“One…two…”

“Three,” we said together and pushed off the ground.

But as it turned out, my plan was better in theory than practice. We did manage to get off the ground, but the height difference between us, and the way Mick had us trussed, allowed Shaun to stand faster than me. Since we were cuffed to each other, he’d taped each of our hands together—then bound both pairs. The whole thing sent me off-balance and I tipped forward, taking Shaun with me. Without the use of my hands to help break my fall, I hit the ground face-first—and hard.

The entire right side of my face stung. I ran my tongue along the edge of my teeth, convinced for a moment I’d knocked several of them loose, but they all seemed to be in place.

“You okay?” Shaun asked, voice muffled. He managed himself back into a sitting position, which by default pulled me upright as well.

“I think so. Okay. So that didn’t work. Your turn.”

“You’re Plan Girl.” He laughed. “I, ah, got nothing.”

“Fantastic.”

“So, what do you want to do tomorrow? ’Cause I’m thinking if you haven’t got any plans, maybe we could try pissing off the Mafia. That’d be a fun change of pace.”

“Aren’t you a riot?”

He chuckled. The sound was oddly comforting. Something that in the short time I’d known him, I’d come to love. “I try.”

“Do you think he’s going to kill us?”

Shaun tilted his head back until it rested against mine. “I think he wants to. I don’t think we’ll give him the opportunity.”

“Feels like he’s got all the opportunity he needs—and then some.”

“Maybe. But we’ll think of a way out. I’m not worried.” He nudged me with his head before straightening and nodding to the door. “Besides, you’re forgetting about Patrick.”

“We left Patrick at the diner, along with the trace he had on you. He doesn’t know where we are,” I reminded him, even though a small seed of hope bloomed in my chest.

“But he knew that you wanted to hit up Mick. It would be the next logical place for him to check. Patrick will come for us,” he said, resolute. “I’m not worried at all.”

And he wasn’t. I could tell from the relaxed set of his shoulders and the easy tone in his voice. It bothered me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go for it.”

“What would it take for you to lose faith in Patrick? You just found out he lied to you about his past. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Don’t do that,” he said with a fierceness that caught me off guard. “Melissa kept things from you because she felt it was the right thing to do. She thought it would keep you safe. Don’t lose faith in her because she made a bad call.”

“I feel like she had this whole other life, and she hid it from me.”

“Of course she hid it from you. Kayla, you’re eighteen. No parent is going to tell their kid about the dark spots in their past.”

“Maybe—but not telling me about Mick was worse in the end. I could have been prepared. I could have stayed away.”

“It was a bad judgment call on her part. Cut her some slack, okay? She probably thought she’d always be around to keep you safe. Plus, you don’t know what the rest of that letter says. She might have come clean.”

That letter. That damned letter had started all this. If I’d never gone back for it, chances were I could have just kept running. “Guess I’ll never know now.”

“Sure you will. I’ll take you back to the cabin myself once this is all over.”

“What if—” The words caught in my throat. “What if she did kill that kid?”

I felt his shoulders lift with a shrug. “This is gonna sound harsh, but so what? I’ve listened to you talk about Melissa for days now. And I don’t agree with how she did things, but it sounds to me like she loved you.”

“She did,” I admitted. No matter what she did or what she’d neglected to tell me, there would never be any doubt in my mind about that.

“You knew her better than anyone—whether you realize it or not. The things she didn’t tell you about didn’t make her who she was. So ask yourself—do you really think she murdered anyone?”

Mom wasn’t a murderer. I knew it deep in my gut just as sure as I knew my own name. “If she did do it, she had to have had a reason. A good one. Or it was an accident.”

“There ya go. You have the only answer you need. The rest doesn’t matter. Not in the long run.”

I wanted to ask him when he’d gotten so smart, but there was a loud creak and a thin beam of light flooded the room from somewhere behind me. “Everyone comfy?”

Mick.

His shadow danced its way down the wall by the stairs, distorted and resembling more of a monster than a man. Fitting, I thought. Because that was what Mick was. A monster. I wanted one thing in that moment. To hit him. Over and over until he was lifeless and still. To make him feel all the years of fear and pain I’d lived. “It was you. You did it.”