She nods slowly, like she’s moving through water or something and I have no idea what’s going on in her mind. She looks... off. “I left my bag with the dress upstairs.”
“Good. You should go get it.” Max keeps his voice careful and Cyra walks up the stairs, like she’s sleepwalking or something. As soon as she’s out of view, he turns to us. “This isn’t her. I think she’s in shock. Something really bad is going on in her head and she’ll just fight us if we try to go against her. It’s better to go along with it and keep her safe. Which is what I’ll be doing. While I’m with her, I need you three to find her a place where she can safely stay. If she gets that panicked by a call from her parents, there’s a good chance we want to keep her as far away from them as possible. We all need to lie low for a while.”
That makes much more sense than just letting her return home. “Okay.” I look at the other two, who both nod.
Max glances to the stairs. “I’ll help her pack some bags at her place. Clothes, stuff she’ll need for a week or two away. Then I’ll check in with you and we’ll meet up.” He meets my eyes. “I’ll take the less flashy car, you three use the other one to get out of here. Find a place to plan where we’re going to go next. We have to hide, all of us, until the worst of it is over.”
“Running away is not my style.” Zack pulls a face.
“Not even to protect your mate?” I look at him and he averts his eyes. Yeah, that’s what I thought. “Let’s do this. We’ll all leave at the same time, two cars. That way we can hopefully shake anyone trying to follow us. Should hopefully keep you two safe.”
How did tonight end up like this? Oh, yeah, because I wanted a fun evening. Well, next time I’ll have to be more precise in what I consider ‘fun’, because this... This is not what I think of when I think of fun, but it’s definitely not boring.
We’re the first car out of the garage, and I already spot the paparazzi even before we’ve left the driveway. Max and Cyra are going to wait until most of the paparazzi cars are following us before they drive out too, trying to mix in with the paparazzi cars.
I turn in the direction of the main road. We’re going to make a fun little trip through a maze of streets, hopefully losing as many of the paparazzi as possible. As soon as it’s safe, Max and Cyra will drive off to her apartment as we make our way to wherever we can find that we can sit down to come up with a plan.
It takes almost ten minutes, but then I spot Max’ car disappearing down a side street. No other cars seem to try to follow them, so that’s a relief. About five minutes later, I realise we’ve lost the paparazzi cars too. They were apparently not that interested in chasing us.
“Don’t cheer too soon.” Spence is sitting in the passenger seat, checking his phone. “The article keeps getting longer. I think they’ve gotten hold of Cyra’s parents, that’s why we’re not as interesting anymore. The article is starting to include information that we don’t even know about her, and some stuff that’s... odd.”
“Do they know about her type yet?” Because as soon as that becomes known, things could get dangerous for all of us. I’ve heard of people killing an Omega’s mate, or use illegal ways to break the mating bond, because they want an Omega for themselves.
“Not yet. They just keep saying ‘rare’ Omega, nothing else.” He sighs, then looks around. “Take a right at the next light. We can use my office to make a plan, we should be safe there for now.”
Zack leans forward from the back seat. “Can’t we use one of the company’s buildings to hide out in for a while?”
Spence glances back at him. “You think that our parents are going to appreciate that right now? No. We’re better off going somewhere nobody knows to look for us.”
“You have a plan?” I glance his way before looking back to the road.
“Yes. I think I’ve got a plan. We just... We just need to make sure that we can get there without anyone spotting us. I’ve...” He sighs. “I’ve hidden from my parents and the paparazzi before. I’ve found some places that won’t ask any questions, for the right price.”
“Okay.” I nod. It’s probably the best we can do.
It’s not like I can take them all camping out in the wild. It’s getting really cold at night and I don’t think any of them are used to going camping. Plus, it’s not like I’ve got enough gear for a whole group. Usually, I just go by myself. So we’ll have to find a more ‘civilised’ place to stay.
I’d hoped to make Cyra’s life easier, not harder. But my plans always seem to go wrong for some reason. Max says that I always get him and others in trouble, that I do it on purpose, but it just seems to follow me around. I never try to get anyone in trouble, and somehow it always ends up happening anyway. I never go looking for it, it always seems to find me.
“Here. Drive into the underground parking.” Spence points and I turn. The building is huge, gigantic, and I have to blink to really understand the size.
“The whole building is yours?”
From the back, Zack laughs. “No, just a couple of floors. The building is owned by my family, but we rent most of it out.” He holds a card out for me. “Here, use this to get inside.”
I stop in
