I press my tongue against the inside of my cheek. He must not miss the irritated look contorting my face because he grins.
He’s lying. He must be.
Why the hell would his first guess be an IHOP?
Breakfast for dinner. I thought I was being clever because who in their right mind thinks of that first?
Unless—
My eyes widen. “The kid’s tablets! Are you tracking those?”
He shakes his head, and my heart plummets into my stomach.
He knew precisely where we were. In fact, he knewexactlywhere I was when I went out on my run that one morning. The same way that Cameron and Brennan knew my location in the orchard when I tried to escape…
My chest hollows, allowing recognition to flood the space. “Oh my—” The wicked grin on his lips boils the blood in my veins to a temperature that’s damn near about to burn me alive. I’m sure there’s steam billowing out of my ears.
“Did you microchip me?” I seethe.
He lifts his water—my water—to his lips and takes a sip. Then he crunches an ice cube between his teeth, ignoring me.
Answer the damn question, Colten.
I concentrate on the movement of his tongue, wetting his lips. His mouth quirks.
“That’s perverted and completely unfair!” I blurt louder than necessary, attracting the attention of a few patrons at nearby tables.
“A win is a win, Little Ghost.”
“You cheated!”
“And you didn’t ask for specifics on what tracking strategies I would use. That’s your fault, not mine.”
Ugh.
My mouth tugs downward, and I sulk as I press two fingers to the juncture of my inner elbow. Pressing firmly, I dig my fingers into my flesh, trying to locate anything that feels abnormal or foreign.
Where are you, you little bastard?
Colten side-eyes me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to find my microchip.”
“Why would you think it’s there?”
I don’t know,Colten, probably because that’s where they put them inThe Hunger Gameswhen they were tracking all the tributes. Another movie scene plays behind my eyes, and my hand flies to my neck.
His head lowers to mine. “I’ll give you a hint: it’s not in your upper body.”
My eyes narrow for a moment, then quickly expand unusually large. They enlarge to the size that encourages a twinge of pain behind my lids and urges a headache to form.
My head drops to my lap. Uh…is that even possible?
I mean, I guess IUDs are implanted, so it’s not…impossible. But that means they would’ve had to do that the night I was drugged, and usually, they are below the skin somewhere.
Hello, vagina, do you have an intruder in there?
He follows my gaze.
