He's older than me, but not by much, maybe a year or two. But he's looking at his phone with the concentration and delight of a teen boy.
"Is Jack trained to protect?"
"Jack is Jack."
"You see my point?"
Lyndall holds out her hands and studies her short nails. "No."
"Enzo would send a trained guard and say it was a friend, and you know it."
"In love..." She looks disgusted.
If this was before the news that ripped apart not only her world but mine, it would have been with delight, not disgust.
But she would still be wrong.
This time, that thought falls flat.
I push it all away. I'm starting to feel like I'm being watched. And it's not Jack.
Horror creeps icy along my spine as I realize this is the first time since that man tried to take us that I've been out without a guard. And Jack doesn't count because he is definitelynota guard.
"We can debate this tonight, but...I think we should go, Lyndall."
"I'm not talking to him."
"You don't have to. I'll make sure he leaves you be until you're ready. I promise."
With a sigh, she nods, and we get up.
Jack notices and rises too.
"Hi, Lyndall." He gives her hair a mussing.
She growls at him and punches him lightly in the side.
"Ow. Gianna will think you've been beating me."
She sniffs, and he turns to me, holding out his hand. "I'm Cade's brother, Jack. You must be Lola."
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
He leads us out to a car, telling us all about the date he has tonight with someone named Gianna. He sounds completely smitten, which makes me smile.
I climb in the back, and Lyndall gets in the passenger seat in the front.
The two start discussing some space opera-type video game that flies over my head, but I'm okay with that.
I'm tired, and a wave of nausea hits me.
I didn't eat anything, so I might be hungry, and?—
Out of nowhere, a car careens toward us, running a stoplight.
I scream, and Jack swerves hard.
But it's too late.
