Chapter Forty-Three
Sarah
Eightdays,thatshouldbe enough time. No signs of anyone having followed me. Or anyone sniffing around.
That didn’t keep me from peeking over my shoulder every fifteen seconds as I hurried down the bread aisle. I was cleaned out of food at the hotel room after eight days straight of sitting in there. It was snowing like crazy here and colder than the North Pole, but there was still some food on these shelves.
I’d stock up for five days and see how that went before I scoped out the town to see if there was a place here that’d hire me without asking questions.
“Hey Alice.” A female voice sliced through my mental planning session.
Oh yeah. That’s my name now.The girl I’d met on the bus hurried down the aisle, her eyes frantic. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I have about four minutes before my kid starts throwing a tantrum, so I’m hurrying. Nice to see you.”
How the heck did she remember me? I’d said only a handful of words to her, including my fake first name. Small towns sure were strange.
I kept on filling up my cart, thankful I had a heavy-duty backpack.
Once I was through the short line and my bag packed up tight along with another bag for each hand, I shuffled out the door. It was getting close to evening, so the heavy snow and darkness worked well for cover.
Just in case.
Keeping alert, I hustled up six blocks then to the right one block, then crossed back down and over to the hotel. I wasn’t an expert at this hiding out stuff, so I winged it. I’d stayed undetected for almost two years, so I was doing something right.
For the most part.
The only thing I did wrong was making friends. Falling for Drey. His world bled into mine with his past, his brother’s gang affiliation, and his mom.
My stomach clenched at the thought of his mom. And Damon. Was he okay? I didn’t dare get online and search anything affiliated with any of them. Too scared.
And I was sick and tired of being scared. I wanted to be free. To be with Drey. My bags suddenly felt like fifty-pound weights tugging me to the ground. Falling over into the snowbank to my side was pretty appealing. To sink in and never move again.
Drey was safer without me near. Everyone was. I needed to stay away. But what stung more than salt on an open wound was the idea of staying away from him forever. I mean, how would I know when and if it was ever safe to return to him? Surely if Nicco ever got busted it’d make the news. Hunter had connections with the FBI with his new stepdad, Marshal.
But if I ever testified, I’d have to go into witness protection, wouldn’t I? As far as I knew, Nicco was in charge of the operation, but if they got Nicco, would someone else jump in and come after me?
Witness protection. I couldn’t force that on Drey, ask him to leave his home. And if his brother survived, he had to deal with him. Or I could go into protection alone and hope the FBI could keep me safe.
Shit.Looked like I was up here on my own for a while, if not indefinitely.
I checked my surroundings before I turned up the short block to the hotel. It looked more like a big house. Only ten rooms on the two upper stories, and most seemed empty, which was nice. It was quiet.
I fished out my room key. The hotel still used normal keys instead of key cards, which was interesting. From what I’d seen and read, the town was about twenty years behind the times—but it was nice. Refreshing, actually, considering the shitstorm that was my life right now.
I stopped at the corner of the house and took in the lake view as I drew in a deep breath. With the snow coming down, I couldn’t see much, but I’d memorized the sunset, considering I’d seen it for over a week. It was one of the few things that made me smile these days.
The others were my fun memories of Drey. They kept me company pretty well.
“See ya tomorrow,” I whispered to the setting sun and stepped through the side entrance. I’d bought about three pounds of Sugar Babies, so I’d have a nice stock to bring with while I watched the sun set each night. It eased the ache of being away from Drey a little bit.
A little.
I trudged up the stairs and unlocked the door. Slipping my hand inside, I clicked on the light.
I peeked in to scope things out and found Drey sitting on the bed, holding Mr. Frog. “Hey, beautiful.”
Chapter Forty-Four