Page 94 of Homestead

“I can’t leave you.” Tears are starting to spill out of my eyes. “They’ll kill you. Ican’t.”

“Yes, you can,” he says again, sounding almost fierce now. “You can do this. You can do it for me.”

“But I’m not strong en?—”

“Yes, you are!” He straightens up even more, leaning toward me. He’s breathing in fast, thick pants. “You’re stronger than you ever believed. Stronger than I ever gave you credit for. You can do this, Chloe. Youhaveto.”

My shoulders shake, and my face contorts in an attempt to hold back sobs. “But?—”

“Listen to me! I seen you tackle one hurdle after another since we got together. You lost everythin’ and you picked yourself right back up. You learned how to do all these tough jobs and do ’em all real good. You took care of me and kept me goin’ and made life worth livin’ for me again. You’ve been brave and sweet and generous and determined and resilient, and you been all that thinkin’ this was just a practical arrangement. Without even knowin’ how much I love you. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known, Chloe. You’re gonna be strong enough to do this too.”

I collapse into tears but only for a few seconds. I fight through the emotion to maintain control. “You love me?”

His face twists. There’s perspiration beaded on his forehead and streaming down his jaw. “Course I love you, girlie. I’ve loved you for ages. Just been too scared to tell you. Figured you musta known anyway.”

There’s too much going on inside me to even begin to process it all or sort it into understandable realities. I choke on tears and beam up at him. “I never knew.”

“Yeah. Figured that out this afternoon. That’s all my fault. Not yours. We don’t got time to work it all out right now. Don’t know how long before they get to where we’re goin’. So you ready to do this?”

I’m not ready for anything except collapsing into sobs on his chest. That’s out of the question, however, so instead, I sniff hard and nod.

“Okay. As soon as we slow down enough, you jump out and you run with everythin’ you got in you.” He points toward the back of the SUV. “You run in that direction. You don’t stop for anythin’. Foranythin’. No matter what they do to me. You got that?”

I don’t have that. I don’t have it at all.

“Okay,” I choke out.

“When you get back to our people, they’ll know what to do.”

“We’ll come back to get you.”

He doesn’t respond to that, and it feels significant.

Like he knows he’s not going to be around to rescue.

I can’t even begin to deal with that horrifying possibility, so I don’t let the thought penetrate my fear-clouded brain.

“Okay, girlie. You ready?”

I nod again. Try not to cry.

He leans over and gives me a hard kiss. It doesn’t last nearly long enough. Then he’s pulling away. Scooting close to the back hatch of the Jeep. Pulling out the small pistol from his ankle holster.

“Dummies didn’t even check for this one,” he mutters.

I move into a crouch, balancing myself on the side. As he’s aiming toward the lock, I say, “I love you too, Jimmy.”

He makes a weird, guttural sound as he fires.

It reverberates painfully in the enclosed space, and the hatch flies open.

I hold on against the rush of wind as Jimmy leans farther so he can extend his arm to shoot at one of the tires.

As soon as he does, the SUV jerks sharply, then slows down.

“Now!” Jimmy gives me a little push toward the open hatch, and I jump while the vehicle is still moving.

I fall. Tumble onto the grass. Hit my knee hard but ignore the pain as I jump to my feet and into a run.

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