“Listen to me and hear the fear in my voice. Everything I’ve said is true. A.I.R. is chasing me.” After everything I’d done to presereve my lies, admitting the truth felt surprisingly good.
There was a pause. A gasp. A whimper. She began to believe. There was terror in her voice as she yelled at me. The disappointment I’d anticipated came next as she cried.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling lower than I ever had before. “So very sorry, but it’s safer this way. For everyone. I have to go now.”
“Camille!” Her panic stayed my hand and I didn’t disconnect. “Don’t do this. Come home.” Desperation clung to every word, all the more potent because of the panic.
My stomach churned. How could I do this to her?
“We’ll sit down together and discuss this,” she said. “We’ll find a way to get you out of this situation. Everything will be okay. You’ll see. We’ll call the police. We’ll have your dad call the district attorney. They’re golf buddies. You don’t need to run or hide.”
“You didn’t see the way A.I.R. treated me.” And now that I’d escaped them, making me appear all the more guilty, they’d be even worse. “If the police were to give me back to them…. Tell Daddy to start looking for ways to change the Onadyn laws,” I said with a trembling breath. “If Outers aren’t predatory, they should be allowed to get the drug no matter who they’re related to. Kids are dying, Mom, and we have to do something.”
“Camille. Camille, sweetheart, listen to me. I need you—”
“I really have to go now. I love you, and I’m sorry. Stay safe.” I hung up before she could say another world. Before she could talk me into forgetting what needed to be done. A tremor rocked me from head to toe.
I couldn’t believe I’d just confessed such crimes to my mother. Things might never be the same between us again. But that was okay. I wasn’t the same girl I’d been.
Tossing the phone aside, I clumped from the bed. My legs were shaky, but not as bad as before. I changed into another of Erik’s shirts. Instead of boxers, however, I pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants and tied them at the waist. He’d also found me a pair of boots and had placed them by the door. I tugged them on—but not before I’d smothered the cuts and bruises with that numbing paste.
When I was done, a quick glance in the mirror showed that I didn’t look my best in the baggy clothes and the dark circles of fatigue hadn’t faded from under my eyes, but I didn’t look my worst, either. I looked fragile, delicate. And yet, I looked ready to take on the world. Determined. My cheeks were rosy, my lips slightly swollen.
I look kissed, I thought.
Smiling, I trudged from the room and managed to find the stairs without losing myself in the maze that was Silver’s house. My stomach growled in anticipation of a meal. I smacked my lips, only then realizing how dry my mouth was.
At the bottom of the stairs, I heard laughter and familiar voices and followed the sound, smile growing again at the thought of being with Er—uh, Shanel. Shanel! I quickened my steps and bypassed the very comfortable and expensive-looking living room with its overstuffed chairs and polished wood (real?) floors. As Erik promised, the kitchen was the first room on the right.
Erik, Silver, and Shanel were seated at the round table, drinking juice and nibbling on syn-eggs. My mouth watered. I inhaled deeply, savoring the mouth-watering scent. How long had it been since I’d eaten?
An alien woman—an older, beautiful Morevv—stood at the stove, frying something blue, I realized. With scales? Ugh. Okay, I wasn’t so hungry for that. Whatever it was. The woman herself was a pretty pink color from head to toe.
Sensing me, Erik glanced in my direction. He smiled. “Everything okay?”
I nodded. Yeah, it was. My parents now knew the truth, but I could live with their upset because I’d done the right thing.
Shanel faced me and squealed. She clapped her hands and jumped to her feet. “Camille! You’re here, you’re really here!”
We raced toward each other, meeting in the middle, and hugging. She still smelled like dirt, and in that moment it was the best smell ev-er. Her soft red curls tickled my cheek.
“Tell me everything!” she said. “Erik is being secretive.”
“Are you okay?” First things first. My gaze raked over her, noting that she appeared healthy and whole and glowed with rosy happiness. Sadly I had learned that appearances could often be deceiving.
“I’m better than okay.” A wicked twinkle sparkled in her emerald eyes. “When Silver and I left the club, we came here. He had to talk to some people about helping Erik—speaking of, I’m upset with you for not telling me good-bye at the club, but I’ll forgive you because Silver told me you got sick and—hey, are you all better?” She didn’t wait for my response, but continued, “Silver and I talked and laughed and played cards and Rose—” Shanel pointed to the Morevv at the stove. “—the housekeeper, made us cake and we ate it and it was so good.”
“Uh, babbling much?” I said with a laugh. But my laughter quickly faded and I gripped her forearms, holding her steady. “Your car,” I gulped, mentally fortifying myself to confess. “A.I.—”
“Cops,” Erik interjected. “Cops.”
Whoops. “The cops have it. I’m so, so sorry. They were chasing us and caught us and cuffed us and hauled us downtown.”
She paled, freckles standing out. “My dad is going to kill me.”
“Erik told me about the car last night,” Silver said. “My dad is already working on getting it back.”
Slowly the color returned to Shanel’s cheeks. “Thank God,” she muttered.
“I truly am sorry, Shanel.”
“It’ll be all right, Camille. Really. If I have to, I’ll tell my dad that that bitch Tawny stole it.”
My relief was so intense, I laughed. And I don’t know why, but my gaze sought Erik’s. He was watching me, his brown eyes warm. Everything inside me heated as I mentally replayed what we’d done earlier. The kiss, wandering hands, straining bodies.
“You little tramp,” Shanel whispered, watching me watch Erik. “Did you sleep with him?”
“Yeah,” I answered in that same whispered tone, tearing my eyes from Erik.
“I knew it! How was it? Tell me everything. I’m so jealous!”