“Okay. Cool. I’ll follow your lead.”
“No. Just pretend you don’t know me. Then we have double the chances. Just… don’t make it obvious. And if anything goes wrong… run.”
Harper nodded quickly.
Well, here goes nothing.
We walked into the store, Harper already looking around way too obviously. I sighed and pushed forward, headed to the first aisle we needed and grabbed a few protein bars, slipping them into my jacket pocket and keeping my head held high as I looked at something else. When I pulled my hands out of my pockets again, they were empty.
I grabbed a box of cereal to stare at the words on the back before putting it back where I’d found it and continuing onward.
When I ran out of pockets to fill, I carried a couple of essentials in my hands, just like anyone else, except when I was done, I walked briskly toward the entrance rather than the registers.
“Hey!” a voice called behind me, and I was about to run as fast as my fucking limp would carry me before another voice halted my escape.
“Let go of me!”
Fuck. I turned to see Harper, armsfullof items, wrist captured by a security guard.
There was only a moment to consider how to play this. The door was only a few long strides away, close enough that the breeze beckoned me, offering me freedom each time it opened. I had what I came for. I could walk out right now, and no one would even notice me. The security guard was reaching for his radio, his focus on Harper alone. What would happen to him if they called the police?
Fear told me to leave him behind.
I moved, my legs acting before my mind could think it through fully. My body slammed into a much bulkier body, knocking the security guard to the ground. “Run!”
Plastic packages slipped from Harper’s hoard, but we were moving, leaving them abandoned as we bolted out the entrance. Curses were being shouted behind us.
We weaved around buildings and alleys, taking an unpredictable path until we were far from the store and certain nobody was following us. My leg ached and had slowed me down, but Harper had kept pace with me this time. He hadn’t left me behind either, and as we both panted against a brick wall, I was suddenly so fucking grateful for that. I hadn’t had to watch the distance between us growing like I knew it could have, like it had before when he was running from Benny. Harper was faster than me, but he’d stayed by my side anyway.
He still had his arms full of items—snacks, bright-colored packages, and things that weren’t at all essential. I could have smacked him, but I found myself laughing.
Real genuine laughter pulled from the depths of me, and a moment later he followed, laughing just as loud. We would have looked foolish to anyone who peered down the alley and spotted us, but it didn’t fucking matter. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed like this, and fuck, it felt so good.
“Is—” I could hardly breathe. “Is that a whole fucking cake?”
Harper clutched the box closer, the package warped from holding onto it so tightly, its contents undoubtedly shaken into a complete mess. “I wanted cake.”
“Maybe I should have clarified. People usually just go for the essentials when they can’t afford them.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” he laughed, but then his smile turned. The edges of his lips dropped, the creases in the corners of his eyes smoothed out. “I thought I was fucked there for a moment. You saved me… again.”
“Yeah… well, we’re in this together, right?”
I expected the words to comfort him, but they seemed to have the opposite effect. His aura turned somber. “Why, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you helped me now, but also back in Hollow Creek… when Benny… You tried to follow us then too… tried to help. And then you brought me with you.”
“No offense, Harp, but you wouldn’t make it out here on your own.”
“Right,” he answered, sounding distant.
I’d been aiming for teasing, but it seemed like I’d struck a nerve. “Hey, I’m sorry. I’m just messing around. You just… you needed someone. So did I. And now we have each other, right?”
“Right.” He held his items closer to his chest, packages crinkling as he squished them.
“Let’s go back to the motel… have some of that cake. Okay?”
