Page 115 of A Captive Situation

Sawyer

“They might not be there.” That was my fear.

“They’ll be there.”

“What if they’re not?” I glanced in Blake’s direction, my voice all high and matching the anxiety that was tunneling in my chest.

She sighed and not for the first time, taking one of the last turns to where we were supposed to meet my family. “They’ll be there. They said they would.”

“What if they’re not?” And I was on repeat, not for the first time either.

If they weren’t there, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Find them? Hunt them? I’d have to go back to Jake, and that would not be a happy reunion. I was sure I’d get some punishing sex out of the deal, which—shiverin a good way. But I ran for a reason. And speaking of ... I looked in Blake’s direction. She played the cool and calm secret agent spy role the whole drive. It’d been her idea where to meet. Well, hers and my cousin’s, since Graham knew New York the best, but she proved to beadept at reading maps and shit. I was useless, which ... not surprising. I was a tourist.

Which, sigh. I missed the old days when I just wanted to be the best tourist I could be. Gone were those lists. Gone was the real-life bucket list. Now I had one main objective: survive.

Blake didn’t respond to me, but it didn’t matter. We pulled into a parking lot, and they were there.

I cried out in relief.

“Is that them?”

A minivan was parked in the back corner, but I could see Graham in the driver’s seat. Oliver was in the front passenger seat. There were others in the back. In fact, there were more than two more heads and two dogs.

“Who is with them?” My voice cracked. All the tightness in my chest exploded to happy flutters.

She drove over to them. Parked.

I was reaching for the door, bursting to physically be near my family again, when Blake’s hand caught my arm. “Wait,” she barked.

Tension fell over us.

She was watching the street, her eyes trained on a car that was driving past the lot at a slow pace. She kept scanning. A bunch of abandoned and broken-down homes were across the road. A lot of vehicles were parked up and down also, but ironically, not a lot of people.

She let go of my arm. “We’re good.”

I could tell she was going to wait in the car.

“Come with me.” I caught her hand.

She blinked at me. “Uh ...”

“Meet my family. Fair warning, they’ll try to adopt you.” I shoved out of the car. I hadn’t missed how she blinked rapidly, like I’d blinded her, but then I was running for the minivan.

The side door swished open and my family spilled out from inside.

Bess winced, stepping down. Her hand went to her knee.

Clara shoved at her from behind. “Scoot, woman. You’re holding me up from hugging my niece.”

Two dogs jumped out, hurrying around both of them.

The older Lab ran up to me, bouncing awkwardly with his mouth wide open, smiling. His big tongue hung lopsided out. He loped around me, dodging my hand, and he kept doing circles. Pooh, their little white rescue, ran up to me and expected me to pick her up, so I did just that, swooping her up and cradling her against my chest.

By that time, Bess had moved to the side, still grimacing from her leg.

Clara was almost to me, her arms up, when I saw who else had stumbled out of the minivan.

“Mom!”

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