Page 36 of High

“You have fun?” Maddock drawled in that singsong way all true Southerners seemed to have when speaking. I nodded as he gently took Juniper from me and put him back into the playpen. I stood there and petted him for a few more minutes while Thio and Maddock spoke in a low way that meant I only caught every other word. Eventually Thio, apparently sensing I would have stood there forever, took my hand and tugged.

“Let’s go. The rest of our night is waiting for us.” He smiled, and there was heat in his eyes, which was probably the only thing on earth that could have convinced me to move.

“Okay. Bye, thanks,” I said to Maddock, and he gave me a tiny salute.

When we went outside, the streetlights were on and fighting off growing shadows, but the sky was still a deep indigo rather than black, and there were swatches of pink and inky purple clouds off to our left where the sun must be sinking into the ocean. I’d gotten turned around while we walked, so I glanced at Thio, who had apparently spent time around Pleasant Beach.

“Where to now?”

Thio smiled and my breath caught as he stepped closer and leaned down. I closed my eyes and waited for my kiss. His breath brushed my lips. A deafening crash and crunching at the end of the street had us both spinning that direction. Two men who were slightly ahead of us drew guns and took off at a run toward what I thought might have been an accident, and as they pounded the pavement away from us, I recognized them from the house earlier.

“I thought we were out alone!”

Thio winced but didn’t answer my question, and wasn’t looking at me; instead, he craned his neck and began to walk the same direction the armed men had gone. “Surely there wasn’t anyone in that accident who is here with us?” he murmured.

“Thio, I don’t like being lied to.”

“Wasn’t lying,” he said offhand. “They weren’t following us, they were in the area.”

A tall man dressed in black shot out from an alleyway between the pet store and what appeared to be a music shop the next building over.

“Look out!”

Thio turned, but my warning hadn’t helped because he took the body shot from the man directly to the chest and slammed backward to the ground. I rushed over, but when I kicked at the guy, he only rolled away, although that was enough to give Thio a chance to get to his feet. He came up swinging.

There was a brief scuffle, and I never thought I’d wish for the guards who never seemed to be farther than a few feet away, but of course, now that I needed them, they were off dealing with some car wreck.

Fuck, had that been a purposeful distraction? Thio and the man traded a few punches, but neither of them got in a good one because they were both fast on their feet and ducked and weaved. My heart jumped up into the back of my throat, and I tried to help by rushing over to push the man—he even wore a black mask over the bottom half of his face. He was fucking creepy, like a ninja. I got close and Thio shoved me away. I flailed and hit my ass on the ground. By the time I got back to my feet, the man in black had done something that had Thio falling to his knees with his hand over his nose, and the creepy asshole had a gun in his hand. I laughed semi-hysterically because it was silver. It didn’t match him; his gun should be black.

The men down the street shouted to one another about someone being dead in the car. Some were yelling in English, so I thought maybe there were bystanders involved. In the distance, ambulance sirens wailed.

The man in black turned the gun on me and clasped my hand, though I was surprised his grip wasn’t hard enough to really hurt. He dragged me into the small alleyway between the buildings until the noise from the street seemed too far away for the short distance we’d traveled. The gun on me was surreal, and a million different regrets thundered through my head: the biggest one being that I hadn’t told Thio how much I still loved him. Fear washed through me, but it seemed distant, like it was happening to a stranger.

Thio cursed and I recognized his voice. The man fired at the mouth of the alleyway, and there was more shouting from the sidewalk near the front of the stores. The man ripped down his mask and shock held me still for a few seconds. I knew that mean fucking face.

“Felix? What are you doing?”

“Are you hurt?” he asked, but he kept staring back the way we’d come, rather than at me.

“What? No, I’m not hurt. I mean, my butt is bruised.” I couldn’t get over the fact that it was Felix standing here. I’d never seen him anywhere except at my Papá’s house. He brushed the black hood from his head.

“I followed them when they took you. This was the first chance I’ve had. Let’s go. Run. Run.” He bared his teeth in a ferocious grimace and firmed up his footing.

“What?” I slapped my hands to the top of my head and tugged at my hair. “I’m not running. I’m fine, Felix! You should run. I don’t want you to die.”

His gun lowered toward the ground and he turned to stare at me, breathing heavily. “What are you talking about? Your father said they were going to ransom you and then kill you. You have to go, Manny!” He gestured behind us—away from Thio. Like hell I would do that.

“What? Thio would never hurt me. He’s the one I told you about. The man I….” I ducked my head and tugged my hair harder. This was a nightmare. I didn’t want Felix dead. “Why did you follow me?”

“Fuck.” Felix dropped the gun until it was pointing at the ground and some of the tension drained from me. “Please, just come home. Your father will kill me if I go back without you.” His voice wavered and that wasn’t right. Felix wasn’t a coward. I forced myself to look him in the eye.

“What does he have on you?”

Felix grimaced, his rough face softening as he checked me over. “You’re sure you haven’t been hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Get away from him,” Thio snarled, and I jerked my attention toward him.