Mind Games (Mind Games, #1)(50)

I knee him in the groin. “I’m nobody’s girl.”

He calls me a nasty name, and that annoys me because he has no right, and then one of the men grabs for my hair (I should have put it up). I duck, get low, kick at knees and elbow at noses. I want a knife. I have two down, three left, and now they are careful, wary. I have shown my hand.

I laugh. This is fun. This is what I wanted all along, I realize. This is better than the dancing. This is getting lost while doing something. I duck a rush, push the man so he careens forward and his head connects with the wall with a dull thud.

Someone grabs me around the waist and I slam my head back into his nose, hear it crack. He lets me go and I drop to the ground, sweep the feet of the only man left, propel myself to standing, and kick him in the face.

Rafael pushes himself up against the wall, and he does not think I’m beautiful anymore.

“You’re crazy,” he hisses.

“Too true.”

“Fia!”

I turn and there is James, and he’s furious. I’ve never seen him so angry. “What are you doing?”

“I was dancing.” I shrug.

“James, you owe—” Rafael starts, but James hits him in the stomach so hard Rafael collapses.

“We’re done here,” James says to him.

I walk past them down the dark, empty street. I think I’ll walk back to our house. It’s only a few miles and I like the night air.

James grabs my arm and I know I don’t have to elbow or kick, but I know where I need to if I want to. Want and need. Such a fine difference.

“What were you thinking?” he shouts.

“I wanted someone to dance with. He was a great dancer. Terrible kisser, though. And an even worse fighter.”

“Fia!” He yanks my arm so hard I twist to face him. “You can’t just—you have no idea who he is! He’s dangerous—he could have hurt you. You of all people should have known that! Why would you take that risk?”

I glare at his face, his face that I have wanted for so long. “Sometimes I pick things that aren’t good for me.”

“What if something had happened?”

“I’m sure Eden would have comforted you.”

His face freezes, then falls. “It’s not like that. She—I have to keep her happy. That’s all it is. I don’t feel anything for her. The feelings she picks up off me aren’t for her. Never for her. Let me explain.”

“No, let me explain. You’re right. I did know better than to go with Rafael. But I knew better about you, too. From the moment we met, you were wrong. You were always wrong. And I ignored it, and I pretended it wasn’t true. I’d like to go back to Chicago now. You don’t have to manipulate me, pretend to care, pretend to be my friend to get me to do what you want; I don’t have any other choices. But I’m done playing make-believe.”

He looks hurt. He looks like he wants to say something. He is a liar, liar, liar.

I will go home, and I will see Annie when they let me, and I will do whatever they say because I am not a person. Not anymore. James was my one hope for something more, but he was always, always a Keane.

Still, I will protect Annie. She is the only person in the world who loves me. She is the only person in the world who would never use me. She is my anchor, the chain around my ankle, the thing that means it doesn’t matter what James does or who he is—I will still be his because I will always be Annie’s.





ANNIE

Tuesday Afternoon


“WHO WAS THAT?” I ASK, POUNDING ON THE DOOR to my bedroom. How dare James lock me out of my own room to talk on the phone. I lean my ear close, trying to hear. “Was it Fia? Is she okay?”

He opens the door and I almost fall forward. He catches me, then leaves me standing there. I hear him opening and slamming drawers.

“What are you doing? Get out of my stuff!”

“You’re coming with us to get Fia.”

“She’s okay.” I slump against the doorframe with relief.

“For now. Either she already got away or she can at any time. Which you cannot tell anyone. The story is she’s escaping tomorrow and coming right back. No one can know she thought about leaving forever. If they think they can’t control her anymore through you, they have other plans. I won’t let them do those things to her. We have to make them think she never even considered not coming back.” He stops, swears. “You’re useless around Readers. I’ll have to leave Doris here and bring Eden. I’ll tell them I’m taking you in case you have any more visions.”

She’s okay. She’s okay. Then…why bring her back? “If she’s okay, can’t we—can’t we just not find her? Please.”

“That isn’t an option. She knows it. You should, too.”

Every part of me is heavy and tired. All the times I’ve tried to help Fia, protect her, I’ve failed. And the one time I went further than that, tried to protect more than us, all it did was backfire and push Fia further away. Adam is still alive and those women will still be found and destroyed. I thought I was doing something important for once, changing something for the better.

Maybe I can help in St. Louis. Maybe I’ll see something and be able to use it. Maybe this will finally be our chance, being together far from here.