“That isn’t going to work, Jackass.”
“Then you can just drop us off at her Old Man’s, I guess.”
Reid hit his head against the steering wheel again and cursed. “Fine! But only because Ben wants this settled.”
We cruised up in front of the house and stumbled over each other climbing out of the car. Home didn’t look the same in the dark, lonesome and unburdened by people.
“I gotta get rid of this,” Reid said. “Meet at the spot.”
“Yeah, all right.” Charlie slammed the door behind him and followed me inside. His movements were concise and strangely controlled, making it slightly harder for me to concentrate as I plugged the phone line back in and dialed.
“Hi. Robbie.”
“Addie? Hey, what’s up?”
I laughed, where should I begin? “Have you guys gotten in yet?”
“Pulling up now, why?”
“Well, uh, listen—I won’t be there when you come back to the house.”
“Yeah? You find an all night book store?”
I laughed, tried to play it casual. “Well, remember when you said I could borrow your car anytime I wanted?”
“Uh, I never said that.”
“Okay, let’s pretend you did.”
“Addie, what the hell?”
I took a deep breath, better late than never, right? “There’s some trouble with my boyfriend and I—we have to borrow your car.”
“What?”
“I know you’re pissed, but it really is an emergency, so try to relax for a second.”
“If you think I’m pissed, just wait until Dad hears.”
“Cover for me?”
He mumbled something incoherent.
“Robbie? Please? This is important.”
“Addie, you’re like—the smartest person I know, but, whatever you’re really into, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
I looked at Charlie. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me since the atrium. “I do, Robbie. You can trust me on that.”
I was quick to grab clothes, taking a few essentials and throwing them into my lucky sling bag before borrowing a few of Robbie’s things.
Charlie followed me, every move I made, but his moves were careful, pronounced. He also kept his distance with his fingers extended at his side, almost as though he was ready to draw gunfire. I was reaching for Robbie’s keys when I finally addressed it.
“Charlie? A-are you sure you want me to go with you?”
He nodded. Grim but sure.
I reached for a pad of paper and a pen on the kitchen counter. “I’ll leave Dad and Robbie a note, but people will still assume the worst.”
“Even if I didn’t want you, you’d still be going with me.”
I stopped writing mid-sentence and stared back at him. “What do you mean?”
Charlie’s face was darkened by shadows of his own making and the solitary light lit above the sink. The lines in his brow looked deeper than I had ever seen them, and I realized that prison, maybe our time apart, had aged him.
“Reid is sure you betrayed us. If he’s got Ben sure of it, too…I don’t know what they’ll do.”
“I’d never—”
He smiled, but there was no Charlie there. “I know, Vicious. I know.”
Though I shouldn’t have been surprised, I was mildly hurt by this accusation. My feelings hurt that I could be accused of doing something so bluntly spiteful. Then I wanted to laugh at myself. Wouldn’t a normal person be more upset about people being out to kill them?
“D-do you really think I’m capable of that?”
“I don’t know much of anything other than that I love you, and that—that if you wanted someone else other than me, I’d pretend to live with it. I’d do anything to protect you.”
“I know that but—does that have something to do with why you turned yourself in? Is that why you lied about what happened in California?”
He smirked, coming up just close enough to me so that I could smell him. “Pretty smart for a dummy like me, huh?”
“You’re not a ‘dummy.’”
“I figured I’d give the fellas a different problem to focus on. If they thought I’d spill my guts to the cops, they’d go worrying ‘bout getting rid of me instead of you.”
I was awestruck. “What?”
“After I called that Fed the cops and reporters would be ‘round too much for anybody to make a move on you and Ben would be too worried about getting’ Elise and Ty somewhere untouchable.”
I nodded. “I went to the house—the safe in their bedroom was empty, but everything else was still there. T-the bedroom and hallway—”
“They probably left in a hurry.” He nodded. “Especially after what I did in there.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
I struggled to remain steady. “And my dorm?”
He looked back down, ashamed suddenly, that much was clear. “Reid showed me some e-mails between you and the Fed, showed me those earrings in the bathroom—”
“Earrings?”
“Yeah.” Charlie looked back at me, eyes narrowed, as if trying to read a lie in me. “You never wear that kinda stuff, but Elise said they weren’t hers and I thought—”
“They were a gift from a lover?” I grew hot with my own anger but when he saw it he only nodded.
“I didn’t wanna believe it, so we went there to find proof. I read some of those text messages you sent him, looked for letters…”
“You had no right to do that, no matter what you suspected.”
He said nothing.
I rebalanced myself on my other foot. If nothing else it did explain why the room had been trashed, nothing of substantial value taken. Though another question remained unanswered.
“Why did you take my roommate, Melinda’s laptop?”
He shrugged. “Thought she mighta been helpin’ you cover something up. Didn’t have time to look through everything, so we just took it with.”
I glared at the wall beyond. Charlie’s suspicion had caused a great deal of inconvenience for people in my life who were just trying to be my friends. I, by proxy, was responsible for that as well. But if Adam was right, then maybe I couldn’t take the blame for everything, either.
“You have to return it.”
He nodded.
We stared at each other. There was so much I wanted to ask but couldn’t. And every time his lip trembled I had the same feeling he wanted to ask me something in turn but also couldn’t.
“I still don’t understand,” I admitted. “You had to have known I’d tell the truth eventually. That I would tell everyone you were lying.”
He shrugged. “You’re smart. I thought you’d do the smart thing and let that Fed take you somewhere. Start new.”
I threw the bag at him, my own impatience getting the better of me yet again.
Only surprised, Charlie flinched back, catching the bag with one hand and trying to dodge my lame punches with the other. And while I was by no means trying to hurt him (not that I could even if I wanted to) my frustration had built past the breaking point and I couldn’t stop myself.
“Just who in the hell do you think you are?” I hit him in the chest again and again but his expression remained indifferent.
“For over two months I’ve been worrying about you, and crying for you, and you—and you—”
He pulled my wrist in his right hand and spun me around with the leverage from the cast on his left. It only took a second, but once he had me there, he pinned me to him with the cool plaster.
Seconds passed with us against each other, heart beat against heart beat. Even after I went limp, he never let me go. And honestly, I didn’t want him to. I was grateful as Charlie breathed into the nape of my neck, revealing emotions with each exhale that he hadn’t been allowed to express in months. I could feel his eyes boring into his favorite spot, wanting, wishing for things we both needed; yet he didn’t give in.
I hated his re
straint.
“It don’t make any sense for you to love me.”
I swallowed hard, breathed deep. “Did you know that long lasting connections are related with adrenaline and dopamine? Logically, it does make sense for me to love you.”
Charlie didn’t say anything, but he didn’t let me go, either. I didn’t know if I should take this as a good sign or not.
“If you thought I was cheating on you, you should have just asked.”
“I know. Believe me; I’ve relived that last night with you every hour since we’ve been apart.”
I didn’t exactly have any room to talk, either. I had let speculation come between us, when the truth would have been better off for us both. But it was better late than never. So I let the words out that I had been reciting in my head for the last weeks, releasing them to the one person that deserved and needed them the most.
“I love you, Charlie.”
“Don’t—”
“I love you, Charlie. I’ll love you until the day I die. Whether that’s tomorrow, an hour from now, or sixty years from now, and whether you feel the same or not.”
I heard his breath skip, his knuckles crack as he made a fist. Closing my eyes, I could have sworn I felt him tremble just a little bit.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Say it again.” His voice was husky against my shoulder, but I took hope from the playful undertones in it and smiled against him.
I said it again.
He swallowed hard. “I’ve missed you.”
“Not nearly as much as I missed you.”
I hesitated before bringing up the next subject. If the world was perfect, we would have just been able to stay there forever. Yet the world was far from perfect, and I knew we didn’t have much time.
Chapter 17
Despite our new happiness there was only a small amount of time before the world would know Charlie had escaped from the hospital and chaos would ensue. I wasn’t about to argue with Charlie when he said we should leave without Reid, though when I considered how he had—on a technical level—saved me from my myself; I did feel bad about it.
“This mess is his fault.”
I hesitated as I pulled out of the driveway. Charlie was only half right.
My heart wouldn’t stop pounding even as we drove down the street. Every second felt like a miniature grenade going off in my chest, the bumps in the road, the silent numbers I counted in my head, Charlie’s hand squeezing mine…they were all reminders that this could end at any second and we could die, or be thrown in jail, and worse yet, be separated from one another.
But then we passed the municipal building.
And the shopping center.
A stretch of lights in town…
Then we were on the freeway.
Huddled under a hat and desperately trying not to draw attention to myself or our car, I tried to imagine if illegal immigrants felt like this. If a local cop who had nothing better to do pulled us over, that was it, we were through. In the meantime, I tried to figure what time Charlie had escaped the hospital. It was an hour from Long Branch to Summit, we had spent maybe ten minutes at the atrium, another ten at the house, but Reid said Charlie was supposed to meet the guys somewhere first, wasn’t he?
“Charlie?”
“Hmm?”
I blushed when I realized he was still staring from the corner of his eye. “How did you get out of the hospital without anyone noticing?”
“A lotta money musta been dropped.” He sighed and moved to the back seat, struggling only a little with his cumbersome cast.
“Money? It can’t be that easy. You were under guard, right? And cameras…?”
From under his hat, I thought I saw him smile. “Hospitals are busy places. People coming in and out of there all the time. My guess is you throw a couple of delinquents in there, pay off some young doctors and nurse’s student loans, and patients, even the dangerous ones, can slip out a door pretty quick.”
I glanced at him through the rearview mirror, amazed. “But how is it no one knows you’ve escaped yet?”
“That,” he said, “I haven’t figured out yet.”
For minutes I watched him sleep through the rearview mirror, not unaware of the marks in browns and yellow along his collar. I watched those blemishes in particular as I drove, turning on the overhead light to get a better view. It took me a few minutes to realize what the pattern was, but once I did I had to look away, afraid my crying would wake him up.
Technically we weren’t on the road very long, but it felt like an eternity between morning traffic and the rising sun, dramatically increasing our chances of being seen. To try and deter this as much as possible, I kept it at the speed limit and continued to wear the ball cap and oversized sunglasses that I had grabbed on our way out. Charlie remained curled up in the backseat and nodded in and out, his appearance being slightly more conspicuous than mine.
I kept re-running what Charlie said through my mind about this mess being Reid’s fault. And while Reid may have set the problem in motion, the fact was that the fault was in Charlie and me. His jealousy and willingness to mistrust me was downright frightening, more frightening to me than his temper could ever be, and if I had to admit it, more damaging as well. But I wasn’t faultless either. I thought I could balance Charlie out like everyone and everything else, keep him at bay, like Dad and school and my minuscule social life, when I should have just been completely honest with him about everything. The half-truths had gotten us into this mess just as much as the jealousy had, just as much as Reid’s deceptions.
Would things be different if we had met under different circumstances? Charlie said I was on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, but obviously that wasn’t working for a multitude of reasons. I thought about compromises and ultimatums. I knew I didn’t want, couldn’t live without Charlie, but I couldn’t live without the truth anymore, either. Would he be willing to do the same?
On top of everything else, I had a growing concern about the wound on Charlie’s head. I had no idea how frequently the bandage was supposed to be changed, and he needed antibiotics, didn’t he? Every few seconds I looked in the rearview mirror just to make sure he was still okay.
Amazingly, he smiled in his sleep.
To keep myself focused on the road and appear as normal as possible, I turned on the radio. After fiddling with it for a second, static impaired voices came through. Judging from the goofy sound effects, it was probably a morning talk show.
DJ 1: “The nationwide manhunt has begun for this guy—ah, Charles Hays. Who, ah, I guess originally kidnapped this girl last year?”
DJ 2: “Yeah, but they found her safe and sound, so it wasn’t a big deal.”
DJ 3: “Right, but I guess she was going to finally tell the cops what she knew and this guy went to her house—”
DJ 2: “No, Bill, you have that wrong.”
DJ 3: “I do?”
DJ 2: “Yeah. Associated Press reported about twenty minutes ago that witness accounts have her being assaulted at a vacation house where the family was staying.”
DJ 1: “Police think she was coerced into writing a note and stealing her brother’s car.”
DJ 3: “What a mess.”
DJ 1: “I know, I know, but don’t laugh. It’s messed up because somehow he evaded the cops and took the girl again and he’s using her as a hostage.”
DJ 2: “They should just start searching the bus terminals and airports for him, and the Delaware River for her.” More laughing into the static.
I turned the station as quickly as my fingers could manage without swerving.
“…still investigating the daring breakout from Beth Israel Medical Center and the possible hostage situation…“
I tried to find another station.
When I finally found a station actually playing music, it only lasted for twenty-seven seconds before interrupting with a breaking news bulletin.
“Now believed to be mentally unstable, Ch
arles Hays has reportedly kidnapped the teenaged girl again. Authorities do want to stress that he is armed and dangerous, and anyone who comes into contact with him should not—”
I turned off the radio.
“You haven’t even asked where we’re going.”
I jumped when I heard his voice. He hadn’t been asleep long, but I was sure he’d been asleep by his slow breathing. I had to admit I was glad to see him awake. We were coming up to a toll. There were sure to be cameras there, if not some kind of police check point.
“It doesn’t much matter to me,” I admitted, “as long as you don’t get caught.”
Charlie sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. A wry smile played on his face. I tried to smile, too, but without guaranteed safety, it was hard not to feel anxious.
“You might not feel that way after a while.”
I sighed. “One step at a time. What’s next?”
He stretched out his arm and leaned back in the seat. How could he possibly be so casual? “What mile marker are we at?”
“Um, we’re still on the I-87.”
“Good. Merge at the 17 North going into Albany”
“Can I ask why?”
He glanced over and smiled at me. “Of course you can. If everybody was paying attention, then Yuri should be there—”
“Really?”
I turned to see his expression, but in my excitement I almost swerved again. Charlie automatically grabbed the wheel and straightened it before I could do any damage. It was eight in the morning and rush hour traffic was starting to thin, but there wasn’t any reason to bring anymore unwanted attention to us. For a second I thought he’d be annoyed with my display of childishness, my carelessness, but he laughed as I kissed his cheek and retook the wheel.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were happier to see him than me.”
“Oh, shut up.”
I waved him away and returned to the wheel. “I didn’t think I’d ever see any of you again and now I get to see not one, but two of you! In one day!” I did a little dance in my seat. “Best day ever!”
Charlie laughed. “You’re outta your head.”
I stuck my tongue out at him.
Conviction (Wated Series Book 2) Page 22
