“Especially that Russian or Scottish dude,” Kenzo added. “I don’t know. There is just something really off about him, you know. No social media, no records, nothing? For heaven’s sake, why can’t you find it weird? You think he is being cool?”
I bit my lower lip nervously. He was indeed making a fair point. But maybe I was just too stupid that I couldn’t see the signs because truly, I didn’t see anything wrong with a man hating having his information on social media and his face onrandom people’s devices. If I had my way, I would go to that extent for myself too.
Honestly, being a ghost on the internet was really cool.
“Seriously, people who go that far to hide their existence usually have a damn good reason.” Kenzo didn’t seem to share my sentiment at all.
With quiet contemplation, I chewed on the inside of my cheek.
Then he leaned forward. “For once, run in the opposite of danger, Beth. Jesus.”
I acknowledged the painful truth in his words. But I couldn’t help the direction my heart kept steering. I couldn’t control it. It was like I was obsessed, infected with a venom that had made home in my veins, beneath my skin, never letting go. I wanted Callan so badly, it scared me. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since our last encounter. I kept going through our messages every night, smiling at nothing, dreaming about his warmth, his eyes, his voice.
“But,” he sighed, leaning back again. “I know you’re going to do whatever you want, no matter what I say.”
A small smile tugged at my lips. “The chances are quite high, to be honest.”
He rolled his eyes, scoffing. “Just…follow your heart.”
I nodded, the thought stirring inside me long after the conversation ended.
Just follow your heart.
20
BETH
Military zone. Trespassers will be shot on sight.
Kenzo huffed, his frown deepening as he raised his right leg, kicking the front tyre of his car as if that was enough to put the air back into it.
“I hate this,” he murmured bitterly, throwing his body against the car dramatically. “Fucking hell, why did I agree to this?”
I shot him a look even though I was greatly at fault and should be on my knees, apologising for the inconvenience I must have caused him.
I didn’t mean to be a pain in the ass. It was just that I woke up this morning and thought, how cool to go on a road trip? He didn’t protest. He had a nice car whose tank was always filled up. Road trip didn’t sound like a bad idea. Then we exited Braemont and I said, why not stop at Glenfallow?
This had really felt like a rather brilliant idea then. Kenzo said to follow my heart. And my heart had been gravitating toward Callan even before I told him to stop coming. So I followed my heart to Glenfallow.
Now standing by a rather lonely road in an unfamiliar town with two flat tyres, following my heart suddenly felt like a reckless, terrifying decision.
If we didn’t get kidnapped and killed here before we got to see Callan, Mother would do the honor if for some reason, I didn’t make it back to Braemont on time and she returned home before me.
“I still can’t believe I actually agreed to this.” Kenzo removed his sunshades, raking his fingers through his golden hair. “No, this is so fucked up.”
“For a second, just shut up and let me think, geez,” I hissed, forgetting again that I was in no place to be angry or irritated. I dragged us into this mess.
“What if we get stranded?” A look of horror flashed through his blue eyes.
“We won’t.” The words were sharp and defensive, a mask for the gnawing doubt in my gut. “Worst-case scenario, we crash at a motel or something. That was already our plan, right? To return home tomorrow.”
“People get killed in motels,” he mumbled under his breath and I pressed my lips together, dragging in a sharp breath. For Christ’s sake, this was the same boy that suggested we crashed at a motel if it got too dark to drive because he hated driving at night.
I wasn’t this terrified before. But his paranoia was beginning to seep into my mind, making my bravery waver. I had never been stranded in the past, not somewhere that wasn’t about a ten minute walk from home. We couldn’t find any means to change the tyre or pump air into it. The network was bad so wecouldn’t even contact anyone, not the person we drove all the way here to see.
But no matter what went down here, I must return Kenzo to his mother in one piece. Mrs. Takahashi would raise me from the dead just to kill me again if anything happened to her precious son.
We just needed to make one call. Our safety depended on just one call. There was a payphone across the street. But no coins. Just cash.
