Page 18 of A Captive Situation

I raised my chin. “I have a whole list of things to do. Got a third of it marked off.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s all on your list? Your tourist list.”

“Riding the subway. Getting food stolen by a rat. You know, things very New York Cityish. Going to a Broadway show.”

“What show did you see?”

Eh ... “I—I went to the place where you are in a zigzaggy line for the tickets, but next time, I’ll book online.” Next time.

“Sawyer,” he said again, more gently.

My heart folded over at hearing him say my name like that. He could make me preen and purr like a kitty cat. I cleared my throat, because no way could I let him know that either. I scrambled for what else to tell him. “I—uh—I came to meet my cousin.”

He frowned again, briefly. “Did you meet her?”

“Him. And, I found him.”

“You were looking for your cousin?”

Oh. That hadn’t come out how I intended. “Uh. Yeah. Kinda. It’s not like a big thing. It’s just—there’s a family rift.” I was back to my hands twisting around each other, and I glanced down, making sure I hadn’t drawn blood. I’d done that before. I lifted my chin back. “That’s where I was before, you know.”

I could feel his gaze on me. It was heavy.

This was embarrassing.

He asked, quietly, “What happened?”

“About the family?”

“About where you were before. That’s how you ended up at the station?”

I coughed, shifting on my seat, grateful I didn’t need to go into the family dynamics. Suddenly feeling flushed, I tugged at my shirt, but I knew it wasn’t the temperature. “I kinda ... Have you had a moment in your life when you were on a path, and it made sense? Like, you made a decision. You committed to it, and you made all these really stupid decisions to stay on that path, even though after a while, there started to be red flags on the sidelines, but you were on the path and you’d come so far, so ... It’s the path. It’s the one you put yourself on.”

He was suddenlyreallylooking at me. “I have an idea, yeah.”

I flushed again. I didn’t enjoy the feeling so I turned my head. “Something happened to me before I came here.”

“You were on the path and you got shoved off it?”

My gaze jerked back. I leaned forward. Did he understand?

I was feeling a little breathless. “Yeah.” Wait. He might not understand. I leaned back. “Anyways, I came here to meet my cousin. He’s the one cousin I’ve not met and since I’m here, I want to meet him. I want to see if he’ll help mend this rift in the family.”

“That’s a long trip you took to find him, meet him, and then end up in a police station.” He was back to watching me all intent-like. As if he knew I was bullshitting him.

The back of my neck was getting hot. I shrugged. “I mean, I might’ve needed to not be home right now. I’ve always wanted to come here, and he’s the cousin who lived the farthest away. So ...” I trailed off. The math was mathing to me. “You know what I mean?”

A hint of dark amusement flared in his eyes, but the side of his mouth lifted up in a wry grin. “Do you want to explain it to me?”

Another flush from me. I was hot all over. “I’d rather not. I needed to get away. Two stones. One bird. That sort of thing.”

“I don’t think that’s quite right, but okay.” The corner of his mouth curved higher up. The chill was totally gone, and his eyes were starting to warm.

They made my heart pitter-patter.

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