How much longer could I continue like this? How long was it possible to run for?
I thought of Dex’s rabbit. He’d been running far longer than I had. Was he exhausted too? Did he also run because he was trying to keep others safe?
I’d been considering contacting Dex.
If Leon had been anyone else, maybe Dex would have been able to help me.
Then again, why would he? I still hadn’t repaid him for what he’d already done for me.
Maybe I could now. If Jonah was running too, maybe I could repay Dex and still keep Benny safe.
I’d never met Jonah, but maybe he was like me. Maybe he was alone too. Maybe he’d understand in a way no one else could.
I’d saved the important contacts into my new phone so I could access them if I needed to, even though I’d cut off any chance they had of contacting me.
It wasn’t fair. It was selfish. I knew that. But it would have been more selfish to stay with them.
Dex answered on my second call, told me where he was, close to Jonah but not too close, and I set off to meet him in West Virginia.
Hollow Creek was the smallest town I’d ever been to. Right in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Jonah’s tracker had put him here for the last three weeks. Why he’d chosen this place out of anywhere to slow down, I didn’t know. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to stick around here for too long with him.
Dex was one town over, close enough he could get to Jonah if he wanted to, but not close enough they’d accidentally bump into each other.
He’d seemed so tired, but all he cared about was sticking close to Jonah, so that whenever he was ready to stop running, Dex would be there to catch him.
Would Benny chase me that long if we were in the same situation? Was Benny looking for me now?
Dex had warned me about Jonah, told me he was wary around new people, and that the best method of getting close to him would be to make him feel protective of me.
I had no idea how to accomplish that.
“If he believes you’re running from someone because you’re scared, he’ll want to help you. He’sveryprotective,” he’d told me.
“I’m not an actor,” I’d argued.
“You don’t need to be emotional. Just tell him your ex hit you.”
“I’m not doing that.”
He rolled his eyes. “Then imply it. You don’t have to lie. Just let him make his own assumptions.”
I’d groaned. “Why would he justassumethat Benny’s abusive?”
“The black eye.”
“What black eye?” I’d asked. And then the bastard punched me.
I shivered as I stood across the road from the Rusty Nail. A terrible name for a bar, but I supposed it suited the establishment it belonged to.
“What’s he doing?” Dex asked on our call.
“Still serving drinks,” I informed him. Again.
The bar’s windows were cloudy, but I could make out only one person who matched Jonah’s description. Dex was making me keep watch while he searched Jonah’s motel room. I had no idea what he was looking for, and I didn’t care.
He was talking to some old guy who’d come up to me in the store this afternoon and asked a million questions about why I was here. I hadn’t missed the disgust on his face whenever his eyes flicked to my sweater. While pink wasn’t my color, Benny had picked this out for me, and I felt oddly protective over it.
