River's other hand finds my waist, and he skims his finger along the sliver of flesh peeking out from between the hem of my shirt and the waistband of my jeans. It brings me a drop of comfort, but I remain on edge as we brink through the last of the crowd and hightail it toward the river.
Gravel crunches under our boots as we make our way down the shoreline with nothing but the glow of the moonlight to light up our way. The space between the edge of the river and the bushes beside us is narrow, and occasionally, my shoes end up in water.
River stays near me the entire way with his arm curled around my waist and his chest pressed against my back.
"Where are we going?" he finally whispers when we're far away enough from civilization that the only noise is from the swishing of the water flowing over the rocks.
Mud and water seep through my shoes as I accelerate my pace, swinging around the branches of trees.
"There's an overpass right up here," I explain, hoping that Will didn't see where River and I went. "Finn can pick us up from there. Just ping him our location."
"Okay, I'll give him a heads-up now. Plus, I want to make sure they made it to the car safely," he whispers as he removes his arm from my waist to get his phone out of his pocket.
We keep hiking up the shoreline as he sends Finn a message, and I cross my fingers that we're going the right way.
"He's already sent me like ten messages," River mumbles. "Wondering where the hell we are."
Branches snap under my feet as I climb up a shallow incline. "Are they okay?"
"Yeah, they made it to the car. He says he's parked in a grocery store parking lot." The glow of his phone is making me nervous that if someone is close by, we'll be seen.
Thankfully, he puts it away fairly quickly. "They're just waiting for us to send them the exact location."
"Okay, good." My foot slips in the mud, but River steadies me by placing my hands on my hips.
Once I make it up the incline, the trees and bushes thing and the glimmer of the city lights are bright enough that I can spot the overpass in the distance.
River and I jog toward it. Once we arrive, my nerves skyrocket.
"There's nowhere to hide," River notes my worry aloud.
"Hurry and ping Finn our location." I hug my arms around myself as I scan the sidewalk for shelter for us to duck behind.
A row of trash cans is across the street next to a dumpy motel. I take River's hand and pull him with me as I cross the street, clumps of mud falling off my shoes. It's like a trail rightto where we're hiding, but there's nothing I can do except hope Finn gets here quickly.
River and I hunker down behind the garbage cans and wait.
"Did he say how far away he is?" I whisper as I peer around.
A dog barks from somewhere, and someone shouts at it.
"He's only a few miles away.” River gives an edgy glance at the motel behind us.
We're crouched down low, facing each other, and the light of a lamppost is spotlighting down on us. It's not ideal, but the only alternative is to walk somewhere else, and that's too risky.
"Do you think Will and those guys are still looking for us?" He shifts and sits down.
I nod, sitting down on the gravel, too. "After what I told them, they definitely are."
"Was that true?"
"Could be. But I don't know for sure. I just knew if I said it, Will would go after me so he could get his street cred back. Speaking of which…" I lightly shove his shoulder. "Why did you come back for me? I could've handled it. And you're not even supposed to be running. What if you popped a stitch?"
His gaze is more intense than the beam of light above us. "Like I'd just leave you. I care about you. I'm not going to bail on you."
His words make me squirm. He's so nice, and I'm not used to it.
"And I didn't pop a stitch." He extends his hand toward me and brushes his thumb along my jawline. "How's your head?"
