Chapter 22
Remi
If hope’s a lie, then let me lie once more,
And build a home from ruins on the floor.
“Don’t you get bored doing that?” I asked.
Mal didn’t look away from her notebook. I leaned back in my seat and let the sun pierce through my eyelids.
She hadn’t said much to me since the incident two days ago. Even though Amir had assured me I’d done nothing wrong, I couldn’t convince myself that was true. Otherwise, all of the progress we’d made wouldn’t have disappeared in an instant.
“Are you hungry?”
She nodded once, so I got to my feet and walked onto the field.
“Hey, Remi.” Jeffrey held up the hand with a missing finger.
I offered him a generic greeting and a half-hearted smile. Some of the other guys nodded at me, but they were too busy to say much. When I reached Amir, his eyes went to where Mal was sitting, and I saw the worry there.
“We’re both pretty hungry,” I said. “Will you be able to take a break soon?”
“Probably not. Shawn’s in a mood. Why don’t you grab something and bring it back here?”
“Are you sure? I could kidnap your child.”
He crossed his arms. “Are you going to kidnap my child, Remi?”
I clicked my tongue as I considered whether a joke would land the way I wanted it to. “Black market prices are up this month.”
“Just go,” he laughed.
“You want anything?”
“Surprise me.”
“Brussels sprout burrito coming right up.”
He made a disgusted sound, but he still yanked me closer. Cupping the side of his face, I kissed him in a way that made a soft sound come from his throat. The guys around us whistled and threw out some interesting jokes, and I found myself laughing against his mouth.
“You smell delicious, by the way.”
He snorted. “Yeah, all this sweat really adds to the appeal, huh?”
“It does.” I dropped my face to his neck and kissed his damp skin. When I pulled back, I licked my lips before I turned around.
After I grabbed his keys from the locker room, I returned to where Mal was writing in her notebook.
Without a word, I jerked my head. She jumped to her feet and followed along beside me, silent as death.
Once we were in the car, I asked her what she wanted to eat, but I didn’t get a response, so it seemed I’d have to surprise them both.
As I drove, I checked every sign, hoping something would stand out to me.
I hated fast food, so I drove on by those ones, which Mal didn’t seem to mind.
Movement from the backseat made me glance at her in the mirror. She’d sat up and was staring out the window with sudden interest. Following her gaze, I saw some sort of event going on. There was a banner with a muscle car on it, and judging by the crowd, I figured it was something exciting.
“Do you want to check it out?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine in the mirror, but they didn’t stay there. With her pinky, she rubbed across her lower lip while she no doubt thought about whether to answer.
Flipping on my blinker, I made a U-turn. She set her notebook on the seat and watched out the window as I searched for a place to park nearby. Once the car stopped, she unbuckled. I grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder.
“Stay with me,” I instructed when we were both on the sidewalk. She nodded and remained at my side, not close enough to touch but close enough for me to be confident that we wouldn’t get separated.
I paid for two tickets, then put my hand out when the woman tried to put a bracelet on Mal’s wrist. I took it from her, then held it out to Mal, who didn’t hesitate to pluck it from my fingers with the hint of a smile on her face. Once it was situated, we continued inside.
I looked around, a little overwhelmed by what I saw.
There were cars everywhere, from early 1900s open-bodied ones to steel-framed muscle.
The entire area was set up like an outdoor museum, with one lane that weaved between the rows of cars, allowing for people to walk through and admire them.
An engine revved in the distance, a sound that could never come from the coupe I used to drive.
Mal let out a sound, then took off. I ran after her, and my first instinct was to grab her arm, but I remembered the way she’d reacted the last time I touched her, so I made sure to stay close.
She stopped near a Mustang that looked a hell of a lot like the one she carried around, but it was blue instead of red.
“Is it the same one?” I asked.
She studied the body of it, her pinky tracing along her lip absently. After a second, she shook her head, but the excitement remained in her eyes.
I hummed. “Maybe they have it here. Let’s keep walking.”
There was an adorable pep in her step as she continued on. Pulling out my phone, I snapped a few pictures of her.
“Hey, Little Valkyrie.” She turned to look at me. “Strike a pose.”
Her lips thinned for a second, but then she moved closer to an open-bodied vehicle from another era.
Spreading her arms to the side diagonally, she bent one leg and kicked her heel back.
I laughed as I captured it. After the time I’d spent with her, I could track the slight tilt to her lips and the way her eyes betrayed the emotion most wouldn’t be able to see.
The car next to that one suddenly revved loudly, and she jumped. Immediately, her hands came up to her ears, and her shoulders curled inward. I rushed over to her, making sure not to touch her, but panic rose in my gut.
“Hold on,” I said, swinging my backpack in front of me. Someone bumped me from behind, and I stumbled to the side. My phone clattered on the asphalt, and I barely managed to swipe it before it got stepped on.
Gods, people were oblivious to their surroundings. All public spaces might as well have been labeled zoos.
When I looked up, my heart rammed against my chest. I glanced in every direction, then spun in a circle as I searched for her blue and pink tie-dye t-shirt. With how packed the crowd was, I could barely see through the gaps.
“Mal!” I called. A couple of people glanced at me as if I was disturbing their peace. I craned my neck and rose on my toes. “Mallory! God damnit. Move, people!” Spotting a boy about her age, I rushed over to him and pulled up the picture I’d just taken. “Have you seen her?”
He looked at me like I was a crazy person and turned around.
I could barely manage to breathe as I raced down the lane. For all I knew, she could’ve gone the other way. What if I was getting farther away from her?
Amir shouldn’t have trusted me. Sure, things had been great when we were together, but as soon as I went off script, it spiraled rapidly.
I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off of her.
I should’ve let the phone get trampled. I should have noticed when Clara showed up and tried to talk to her.
I always noticed people, especially ones that were dangerous.
What the hell was wrong with me that I’d missed something so important?
I pulled out my phone so that I could call Amir, but then I remembered that she had her own. He’d given me her number in case anything ever happened, so I hit call. It rang all the way through to her voicemail.
“It’s Mal. I’m not here, but I’ll come back soon. Bye.”
My eyes felt hot and my hand shook as I ended the call. Maybe she hadn’t heard it. Or she didn’t want to answer.
Instead of trying again, I sent her a text.
Me: Where are you?
Please answer.
The phone vibrated, and I saw a picture of the back of a vehicle. The logo was something I didn’t recognize, so I reverse-image searched it. Oldsmobile. It was a lot like half the cars here, but it was cyan, so that was distinct enough.
After shoving through the people around me, I made it to a vintage truck. I didn’t give a single fuck about it as I climbed onto the wheel well to get a better view. Someone shouted at me, but I ignored him.
There, around the bend.
I jumped down and took off at a sprint. This time, people moved for me. As soon as I reached the car, I leapt over the rope barrier and nearly fell as I skidded to a stop behind it.
Breathing heavily, I shoved both hands through my hair. “Mal, god damnit, you scared the hell out of me.”
She was on the ground, leaning against the back of the car. Her knees were up and her arms were around them. I noticed that her hair was messy as if she’d been tugging at it, and her eyes were a little dead.
With a sigh, I joined her on the ground and sat crisscross in front of her. My shoe bumped hers, and she drew her knees in tighter.
The noise around us was only slightly muted as we huddled between two rows of cars. There was no path between them and they were blocked off, so there was an odd sort of peace in the middle of it all.
“I’m sorry I brought you here, Mal.”
She grunted, but I didn’t know what that meant. If Amir was here, he probably would. Even when she said nothing, he heard something in her silence.
“When I was younger, there was a boy I lived with. We were orphans,” I explained. “We got put in houses with people we didn’t know, and a bunch of weirdos who make a lot of money have decided it’s better than living on the streets. Sometimes it was. Sometimes it wasn’t.
“Anyway, Aiden was sort of like you. He didn’t like cars, but he loved space. He used to draw the planets on his arms with Sharpie, and when they faded, he’d do it again. I would tease him and say he’d get along with the people who built the pyramids. Those are aligned with the stars, you know.”
I looked around to make sure nobody was on their way to kick us out.
“He was the first friend I made after my parents died. He got bullied at school, so I learned how to fight. Violence isn’t always the answer, but there’s this quote from the Hávamál that always stuck with me.
‘Where you recognize evil, call it evil, and give no truce to your enemies.’ I probably took that a bit too literally, but then again, my enemies never deserved an ounce of peace, so . . .” I shrugged.
“Aiden.”
“Hmm?”
Mal continued to stare at her lap. “Where’s Aiden?”