I fucking know that voice. I’ve been listening to it snap at me and argue with me and mutter sarcastic comments under its breath for the past week.
Jhene!
I’m sprinting before it even registers that I am, shoving past pedestrians and pivoting around the corner between two buildings.
Jhene’s in the mouth of an alley, her back against a brick wall and her knife clutched in her hand. A guy in a tattered jacket is looming over her, his grimy fingers wrappedaround the strap of her backpack as he tries to wrench it away from her.
“I said back off!” she screams again, slashing at him with the blade. “I’ll stab you; don’t think I won’t!”
The guy laughs in answer, the sound wet and phlegmy and mocking. He grins at her, flashing a mouth missing half its teeth. “Give me the bag, bitch, and maybe I won’t hurt you.”
She releases a squeal as he gives her a hard shove and her grip on the backpack slips. She goes tumbling backward, connecting with the brick wall and almost bouncing off it.
The guy clutches his prize and turns to run.
…right into my outstretched arm.
The clothesline catches him in the throat, and he goes down without even realizing what’s happened.
His legs fly out from under him as he crashes down and the back of his head hits the pavement. The backpack skids several feet out of his reach.
I’m on him before he can think about getting up, my fist connecting with his jaw. One of his few remaining teeth goes flying, and the consciousness goes out in his eyes.
He’s officially knocked out.
Good. Fucker deserves much worse.
I grab Jhene’s backpack and toss it to her, then turn to fully face her.
She’s still pressed against the wall, her chest heaving and eyes huge behind her crooked glasses. There’s a scrape on her cheek, and her curls are wild and loose, sticking out in every direction as if she’s been through a wind tunnel.
She looks terrified and exhausted.
A girl who’s been running for so long she’s forgotten how to stop.
You’d think I’d take pity on her, but there’s no pity to be found on my end—as promised, I’m fucking furious.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I roar. “Didn’t I tell you to behave yourself? Didn’t I fucking tell you what would happen if you pulled this shit?”
“You’re not the boss of me!” she fires back, clutching her backpack to her chest. “I can do whatever I want! You don’t get it, you just don’t?—”
“You’re right, I don’t get it!” I close the gap between us, getting right up in her face to chew her out. “I don’t get why you’re such a fucking headcase! I’m trying to keep you alive and you keep fighting it like you’ve got a death wish!”
“Leave me alone!”
“If I leave you alone, you’ll be dead within forty-eight hours! Is that what you want?”
“You think I care?!”
Her voice cracks in the middle, breaking off on the last syllable. The fight suddenly drains out of her, her shoulders slumping as even her large glasses can’t hide the tears glossing to the surface.
“I don’t care what happens to me,” she whispers. “All that matters isEva. I have to saveEva.”
I stare at her, my anger faltering in the face of her anguish. “Who the fuck is Eva?”
Jhene shakes her head, pulling off her glasses to swipe at her eyes. She’s so damn small and pitiful, so fucking vulnerable it instantly pulls at what little heart Idohave.
I grab her elbow and give her a light shake. “Tell me.”
