“I... I have a condition.” I stammered. “A heart condition. My prescription just got refilled and I... I need to pick it up.”
“You can pick it up when we’re done,” he said.
Yeah, right. If I left with him there’d be no coming back. I dug my heels in, “No. It’s past time for me to take it. I already feel all jittery and... it’sdangerous for me to go without.” I could not stop trembling, which only authenticated the lie. Hoping he was buying it, I nodded toward the store again. “It’ll only take me a minute.”
He swore.
Come on, Jake, be listening.
Jake had said to give as much information as I could, so I tried again. “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll come with you, I promise. You said you’d let me go if I tell you wherethe money is, and I will. But if you don’t let me get my heart medicine, my heart will probably explode before I talk. Then you’ll never find out what we did with the money.”
He seemed to consider my words for a few moments before jabbing me in the side again. “You know what this is?” he asked.
I nodded, knowing, but hoping I was wrong.
“Then what is it?”
I swallowed, trying to force moisturedown my throat so I could speak. “A gun, right?”
“Good. You’re smart. Prove it, and don’t do anything stupid. Stay close to me and make it quick, you hear?”
“Yes.”
He shoved me toward the store.
My heart pounded against my chest as we made our way through the doors and toward the pharmacy department. My mind drifted back to my conversation with Dad. Less than an hour after arguing with himthat the city was safe, someone was trying to kill me over imaginary money. If I died today, he’d probably engrave “I told you so” on my tombstone.
I wasn’t about to let that happen. Especially not now, after all Addison had gone through to clear my name. She’d be so pissed if some asshole shot me right before her big dinner. The dinner I was supposed to go to with Asher. Wearing that dress.I couldn’t die before he saw me in that dress. As much as I hated to admit it, I was looking forward to watching his eyes bug out of his head and his tongue roll out of his mouth to hit the floor like Roger Rabbit.
I prayed for a long line at the pharmacy counter.
Thankfully there was an elderly couple in front of me. They had to pick up a whole bag full of medications and apparently some werenew, because the pharmacist was called over to give a consultation.
Sweat was beading on my forehead. How would this goon react when he realized I didn’t have a prescription, much less a heart problem? Worried the authorities wouldn’t see us all the way in the back, my whole body was shaking when I glanced over my shoulder.
“Hey. What’s going on?” the gunman asked.
“I feel like I’m gonnapass out. I really need my medicine.”
That’s when the boys in blue showed up. I saw them in my peripheral, so I tugged away from my captor and hit the deck.
Gunfire erupted.
The last thing I thought of as I dropped to the floor was that damn green dress. Then everything went black.
* * *
Addison
Istared at Jake acrossthe table and smiled. We’d just received our lunch order and he wassharing a funny story about his brother... his father had caught them smoking when they were in their mid-teens and forced them to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. Well, at least, as many as they could smoke until they threw up.
As I giggled over the shenanigans the boys got into, an alarm went off on Jake’s phone. He tensed and studied the display.
“Where’s Dylan?” he asked. “Was she planningon going somewhere?”
I shrugged. “Not that I know of. Why? What’s wrong?”
He dropped forty dollars on the table. “We have to go. Now.”
