“As if that’s a shock,” I said. “They probably tracked you down using your phone. We need to leave here now.”
“And go where?” Lilly said. “I told you I’m trying to get to New York City. I’m not staying—”
“What, with me?” I said. “Lilly, I don’t care where you stay. But I care that you are safe. You are not safe here. You can come, yes, I suppose, to my place to ride it out. Leave in a couple hours, I don’t care.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but you broke my fucking phone.”
“I’ll get you a burner.”
Lilly looked like she was going to throw the remains of her phone at me, and who could blame her? I’d ruined her ability to communicate with anyone else. But, really, at the risk of sounding crass and flippant, who was she going to call besides her father? It sucked to say, but I didn’t get the impression she had a whole list of contacts she could reach out to that weren’t affiliated with her father.
“I fucking hate you so much,” Lilly said, even though I knew that wasn’t true. If anything... “Take me to your place.”
Yep. She’s going to stay with me right now.
“We’ll get you a burner and get you on the road,” I said. “I promise.”
“Just get me to safety,” she said. “I don’t fucking care how.”
She was too exhausted to be arguing further. I couldn’t blame her. I was on an adrenaline high myself.
Phoenix and Jess had reached some sort of conclusion, for their argument had ended, though neither party looked that satisfied.
“All good?” I asked.
“I’m going to get some more Gray Reapers and we’re going to be on standby,” Phoenix said. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“Good,” I said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we can afford to stay here. I think this war is coming to a head. We’ve gotta be prepared for the worst at all times.”
And may it be the impetus to get us to finish the job once and for all.
* * *
By the time I got Lilly to my place, it was just after five in the afternoon. We had but an hour or so before the stores closed.
But to my surprise, when we got inside, Lilly didn’t want to go to the phone store. She just collapsed on the couch, her face in her hands, and groaned so loud it was just a couple decibels away from being a scream. Everything since we’d eyed each other in the bar had felt like it had an edge of tension, but safe in my apartment—and with no trackable phone—I felt I could let my guard down.
“Lilly,” I said softly. “Do you want to talk about any of this shit?”
Lilly shook her head. I stood there for a few seconds, trying to radiate calm in the hope that it would help her chill some. But she didn’t say a word for what felt like five minutes.
“Do you want to go get a phone now?” I said. “The store will close in an hour. We need—”
“I’m sorry, Cole,” she said. “I just... I just need some space. We can go tomorrow. I know I’ll have to stay here. Just let me be, OK?”
It was the most vulnerable I’d heard her since I’d picked her up. She had never sounded so wounded. She didn’t sound like a Sartor then; she sounded like a broken woman.
“OK,” I said. “I’ll be in my room. Let me know if you need anything.”
There was, unfortunately, plenty that she needed.
I just didn’t know how much of it I could help her with.
