“Thank fuck we got here.” He looked at Jeremy. “Are you okay?”
“Are you… mad at me?”
He blinked. “What? No. I’m mad at whoever that was. And I’m terrified about what could have happened to you. We were late because we were with Granny and had our phones in our pockets and on silent. We didn’t mean to be late. I am so sorry.”
“This is not your fault.” A thought dawned on me, and I tried to sit up. “I’m… I might be in shock, but I’m okay. But, you know what?”
Jer kept smoothing his hand over my forehead. “What? I… I can’t think right now, I’m sorry. I just almost lost you.”
“The second one who came out to grab me just as you got here, he stank. Like bourbon.”
They both stared at me and Barrett finally spoke in a low voice. “Anyone think that’s a coincidence?”
“No,” Jeremy and I answered together.
He looked up at his older brother. “We have to get out of here. They told us to leave. I can’t have Alatheia taken. I can’t. I just can’t.”
“You think I can?” Barrett looked at the street. “We’re always in twos. That’s how this is going to go. We can’t leave. The doctors are here. Granny can’t be moved. She really took a turn today, Sweetheart. Afterward, we’ll talk about leaving.”
I shook my head. “They came for Phoenix in the Hamptons. You think that there is anywhere we could go we wouldn’t be looking over our shoulders? We stay.” I was the one who had just almost been taken. I had to say this. “We must be making them very nervous by simply existing here.”
Barrett picked up his phone. “I’m calling Kit. Then I’m taking you two home and going back for Phoenix who is still at the clinic. None of us are walking anywhere.”
Jeremy nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head against mine. It seemed like he was taking a lot of deep breaths. Finally, he opened his eyes. “Barrett, teach me to drive this car.”
“You don’t have a license.” We all rose as Barrett spoke, heading toward his Jeep. That was when I noticed Jeremy’s hand. It was bleeding.
I took it in my hand. “You hurt yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess I did. I punched one of them. I don’t care that I don’t have a license. Teach me, and I’ll get a license later. I need to be able to get to her in a car if you’re not available.”
Barrett nodded. “Sure.”
“Good.” Jer looked me up and down. “I saw you kicking them hard. Good job. Really proud of you.”
Something they said finally hit me. Dina had taken a turn. “How bad is she?”
“It’s soon. That’s what the nurse told us. Soon. She was pretty much asleep the whole time we were with her.” Kit must have picked up because Barrett stopped talking to us and spoke to the phone. “Someone just tried to grab Alatheia off the street. No, I’m not kidding. Why would I be kidding?”
I leaned on Jeremy as he walked me to the Jeep. “You just saved my life.”
“I can’t think about it. I can’t even believe this just happened. We’re in this god-forsaken place so you can heal, so Phoenix can get support, and we’re supposed to be safe here. Safe from discovery. That’s what they always say.” He was shouting by the end. “You could be in this kind of trouble at home.”
Barrett jumped in the driver’s seat. “Come on. We’re going.”
I leaned against the back of the seat. My head started to pound. “I really don’t feel well. It’s been a long day.”
“It’s ten in the morning.” Barrett winced. I could see it in the rearview mirror from where I sat in the back with Jeremy. He hadn’t let go of me.
“Fuck,” Jer said again, banging his head into the back of the seat so hard it vibrated.
I looked over at him. “Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.”
He met my gaze, there was so much unexpressed rage in his stare I wasn’t sure how he didn’t explode. “You are covered in dirt and scraped up. Can you even feel it yet?”
I looked down at myself. Oh, I sure was. “I have fingernail marks on me.” They were going to hurt. “That’s gross.”
His phone rang which at least broke the tension in that moment. He grabbed it. “Jules? No, it’s real. What Kit is saying. Yes, almost home. I know.” He closed his eyes. “I know. Fuck. I know.”
