Page 17 of Liam James
He glanced at the screen, jaw tightening.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away. Just flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror, then the road ahead, like he was calculating every mile between here and the danger closing in behind us.
Finally, he said, “Forest has a lead. Your brother’s moving.”
My stomach dropped.
“Moving where?”
Liam didn’t look at me when he said, “Toward us.”
13
Jenny
The carnival smelled like popcorn and cotton candy, the kind of sugar and dust air that made you feel twelve again, no matter how old you were. Lights blinked in crooked rows above the rides, music blared from the carousel, and Poppy dragged me toward the Ferris wheel like she hadn’t smiled this big in months.
For a while, I let myself breathe.
No motel walls. No constantly checking the locks. No fear that every car behind us belonged to him.
Just Poppy laughing as she held a giant pink cloud of cotton candy, Liam shaking his head like he couldn’t believe he got talked into this, and me… feeling like I was part of something that wasn’t running for its life.
Liam
Poppy rode the bumper cars until she nearly knocked two kids sideways, grinning like she hadn’t seen the things she had. Jenny watched from the edge of the rink, her arms wrapped around herself, but for once she didn’t look haunted.
She caught me watching her and tried to hide her smile.
“You’re not going to ride?” I asked.
“Bumper cars?” she said dryly. “Do I look like I have a death wish?”
I grinned. “You survived the Tilt-a-Whirl.”
“Barely.”
She rolled her eyes when I handed her a lemonade, but her fingers brushed mine as she took it, and that simple touch shot straight through me like a live wire.
For the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel like the world was ending. I was glad my brother had married my fiancée while I was fighting a war. I could even breathe a sigh of relief. That still didn’t mean I would ever speak to my brother. Even though their marriage only lasted two years.
Jenny
The feeling hit me right after dark.
It wasn’t anything I saw. Not anyone staring too long or a car parked too close.
Just… a shift.
Like the air changed.
Poppy was in line for the ring toss with Liam, laughing when he missed the bottle for the third time, and I stood there with the hair on the back of my neck rising like static.
Something was wrong.
I scanned the crowd, every face a stranger, every laugh sounding too loud, too sharp.
