“I’ve got it,” I told him, putting my palm on his chest and trying to push past him, but the man was built like a brick wall. “All I want is something to eat. No trouble.”
He snorted, as if I looked like trouble to him.
Irritation flared in my chest. I shouldn’t expect him to understand, though. My own family saw me as nothing but trouble, because of the one time I dared to go against their will.
I started past him, and he touched my back, a small familiar gesture as if we were old friends. His hand pressed a bruise, though, and I winced.
It was Gray who saw, and he stopped suddenly. “Saoirse,” he said, and my name sounded sweeter on his lips than I would have expected. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” I lied. I didn’t even know why I lied. Maybe they’d feel sorry for me, and maybe… maybe I could find a chance to escape. The thought felt so reckless that I almost didn’t dare think to it.
Gray gave me a long look. Blue pulled away from me, almost flinching himself, as if it bothered him that he might’ve hurt me.
Together, the three of us crossed the dark parking lot and went into the diner. Inside, the place was almost empty; there were a few lone truckers scattered throughout the diner, and a waitress busy behind the counter filling a cup from the soda fountain. In one corner of the diner, a desert case revolved endlessly, showcasing pies and cakes, and my mouth instantly watered so much that my stomach felt sick.
Blue was watching me, with that intensity again, and I ducked my head to avoid his gaze before I followed Gray. Gray slid into one side of a booth, and Blue mockingly gestured to the other, as if he was inviting me to sit gallantly.
Once I slid into the booth, Blue slipped in beside me, blocking me in. His big shoulder bumped against mine, and my chest lifted at the feel of his warm, hard body against mine, no matter how foolish that was.
“Can I get you anything to drink while you look?” The waitress passed laminated menus to each of us. She was brisk, no-nonsense, disinterested. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would help a teenage runaway.
Blue’s warnings had gotten my mind turning with possibilities, though.
“Black coffee and ice water, please,” Blue said. He turned to me.
“Oh, just water is fine.” I felt stupid, startled. We never went to restaurants growing up. My pack didn’t like to spend much time around humans. And I wasn’t used to making any decisions for myself.
“I’m getting a milkshake,” Gray said, but I didn’t take his meaning until the waitress had left. He’d been inviting me to order one too.
“A milkshake,” Blue muttered. “You’re an overgrown child.”
“Mm. There are worse things.” Gray said. “Besides, I doubt the coffee here is any good.”
“Hipster werewolf,” Blue mouthed at him, so quietly that no one could have heard it outside our booth.
The two of them might mock each other, but it seemed like they had a deep bond. I wondered what that was like.
We ordered our food when the waitress came back with our drinks. Then Gray pushed his milkshake across the table toward me.
“She doesn’t need that,” Blue said, intercepting the glass with his palm and pushing it back toward Gray. “The sugar will make her sick after not eating.”
“He’s always like this, in case you were wondering,” Gray said to me, using that confidential tone that made me feel like we already knew each other well, even though it was an illusion.
I smiled, just faintly. Even though it wasn’t real, I liked the way Gray talked to me, as if we were friends. “I was, actually. Can I go to the bathroom?”
Blue sighed. “All right.”
He got up, and he went ahead of me to the women’s room. He pushed open the door, and I froze in horror as he glanced around. I imagined he was making sure the room was empty and looking for exits.
Then, satisfied that I was sufficiently trapped, he waved his arm in a grand gesture of invitation.
“I’ll be just outside,” he warned.
Thank Cain for that. I’d thought he was going to follow me in.
As I used the bathroom, I glanced around, trying to see an exit that he hadn’t. The truth was, I couldn’t imagine any way I could get far from these guys. I definitely needed food first; I was so weak I wasn’t sure I could even shift, and I was willing to bet they were fast. I couldn’t beat them in a footrace through unfamiliar territory.
Where the hell would I even go? I had to figure that out too. But now, at least, I could try to search the bathroom for anything that might help me. I left the toilet unflushed so the noise wouldn’t alert Blue to expect me to come out.
Then, moving as quietly as I could, I eased open the doors to the storage cabinet in one corner of the bathroom. It held extra rolls of paper towels and toilet paper, a few extra hand soaps, a bucket of cleaning supplies. A lot of miscellaneous stuff had been thrown in here, as if it was the lost-and-found for the women’s bathroom as well: on one shelf there were heaped a couple of sweaters and jackets, a handful of lipsticks, a small bag. I searched through it rapidly, and as I shifted the pile, I knocked a pair of wayward sunglasses off the shelf.
I froze as the sunglasses hit the floor with a thump.
Then, behind the other stuff, I caught a glimpse of metal. A two-inch knife, the blade tucked away in the handle.
My lucky day. My heart hammered as I shoved it into my pocket.
“You okay? You faint in there?” Blue asked.
I was already whirling to flush the toilet, then rushing to wash my hands. I closed the cabinet door while the flush would drown
