Page 17 of Healer’s Betrayal

I grin. “Yes, and then maybe we should get ice cream.”

His eyes widen. “Why?”

I shrug. “Because we can.”

“It’s Monday,” he points out.

“It is.” I pull out and start towards the library. “Let’s go get you some new adventure books. Did you like that mystery series we got last time?”

“Yeah, I read all the ones we got.”

“Are there more in the series?”

“There’s a new one coming out next month.”

“What else are you reading?” I ask.

He talks through what he’s currently reading until we get to the library and park. “Let’s go get some new books to read.”

Inside, I follow Noah over to the kids’ section. He stops suddenly and turns to me. “I left my books in the car.”

“I’ll get them; you start looking for books. I’ll be right back.” I turn around and start towards the door. I’m on my way to the front door when the two guys from the café step inside. The redhead immediately looks at me. When those electric blue eyes meet mine, I feel frozen in place for a moment. I fight through it and walk right up to him. He doesn’t look away as I approach him. “Are you following us?” I ask, my voice hushed.

“We just came to get books,” he says in a low, gritty voice.

I cross my arms over my chest. “You came to get books?” I repeat skeptically.

“Yes.”

“Name one.”

He frowns. “What?”

“Give me the name of what book you came to get.”

His frown increases, and his friend makes a sound that sounds suspiciously like a laugh. But when I look at him, his face is serious. “The Ten Lies We Tell Ourselves About Success.”

“Really?” I ask, and he nods. I realize that his friend is no longer with him, and I immediately think of Noah. Without another word, I turn around and walk as quickly as I can over to the kids’ area. I scan the area and don’t see him anywhere. Panic builds, and I walk past all the shelves near the kids’ area. When I still don’t see him, my heart squeezes tight; and I feel like I can’t breathe. I force myself to search each section of the library. I blow out the breathe I’ve been holding when I find him in the YA section. “Noah!” He turns to me in alarm, and I quickly force myself to lose the panic. I force a smile. “You scared me; I couldn't find you in the kids’ section.”

“Oh, sorry. I wanted to check out the YA section.”

“No worries.” I take a calming breath, forcing my heart to slow its frantic beat. I turn towards the shelf he’s looking at and take in the tall body sitting in a chair just a few feet away. I look at the book in his hands. Sure enough, the cover reads, The Ten Lies We Tell Ourselves About Success. He looks chill, sitting there; and yet, I get the feeling he’s anything but chill. “Keep looking; I’ll be right back,” I run a hand over his head, and he ducks away from me. I stride over to where the redhead sits reading. “Were you watching my brother?” I ask in a hushed voice.

He looks up at me. “I’m just sitting here reading.”

“Near the kids’ section?” I whisper hiss at him. “Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.” He points to the title hanging almost right above his head. Non-Fiction. “Well, that’s just convenient, isn’t it?”

I try to take a breath and relax. I’m just trying to recover from the panic I felt when I thought Noah was gone. For a few moments, I thought maybe they really did work for my uncle and while I had been talking to the redhead, the other guy had taken my brother. “Kayla?” I turn at the sound of Noah’s voice.

“You ready to check out?” I ask. He looks past me and sees the guy in the chair. I move so that I’m blocking his view. “Ready?” Noah looks up at me and nods. I ignore the questions in his eyes. After we check out, we walk towards the front door. I don’t look back, but I swear I can feel eyes on me. I keep Noah moving towards the car. As soon as we’re in the car, I start it and begin pulling out. “Did you find what you were looking for?” I ask.

“Why were those guys there?”

I sigh as I glance in the rearview mirror, knowing we’re going to have to talk about this sooner or later. “I don’t know.”

“Are you just saying that?” he asks, making me smile.

“No. I actually don’t know.” I glance over at him. “But I won’t let anything happen to you. Did either of them say anything to you?”