Lost Boy

“Again, convenient.”

“Back the hell off before you’re the one in the bed,” Jack growls in a warning.

“He’s just saying what we’re all thinking.” Charlotte folds her arms, eyeballing him.

“Guys?” No way. I’d know if he had that darkness inside him. I’d sense it, right?

“Come on, Liz. He has you brainwashed. We don’t even know who the hell he is,” Charlotte snaps. She looks exhausted, dry, makeup-streaked tears on her cheeks.

“You just don’t like him because I do. First Stephan and now Jack,” I argue.

“This is different, and you know it!”

“Is it? How? You don’t like it when men see past you to me. It’s why you’re such a bitch to Stephan,” I accuse, sick of this shit.

Running a hand through his hair, Stephan keeps looking at Charlotte, then the tiled floor.

With a mocking laugh, Charlotte sneers, “Stephan is an asshole who bangs me whenever you blow him off, so you got that one wrong. And you’re wrong about this one too, you just can’t see it yet. You will when he’s cutting you up and stuffing you in a duffle bag. But I won’t be around to become his next victim. I’m done.”

Her words wound, her tongue a whip lashing out and cutting deep.

Stephan makes a grab for her, but she pulls free, growling, “Don’t fucking touch me. I’ve worn enough of your bruises for one lifetime.”

My mouth is agape as I stare at Stephan in disbelief. They hate each other, how could he sleep with her?

“It was a mistake.” He shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck, red blotches coloring his cheeks.

“Charlotte, Stephan?” I hear the disgust in my own voice. She’s my best friend. What they did was thoughtless, a complete disregard of my feelings.

“It was a mistake,” he reiterates.

“I can’t deal with this now.” I close my eyes, my thoughts muddled. “Just go, Stephan.”

“Liz.” I sense his movement toward me, but he must think better of it.

“Just go,” I bark, the strain hurting my throat.

“I’ll be outside. I’m not letting her come between us over something that didn’t fucking matter,” he rages, kicking a chair across the room and storming out.

“Were you and him…?” Jack asks, a mirage of emotions dancing in his eyes.

“No, we’re friends—that’s it.”

“There was nobody,” Jack says, changing the subject, the pad of his thumb stroking down my cheek.

No. There had to be. “I saw it. I saw him.” I pull the covers from my body, yanking some sticky pads from my chest.

“Whoa, calm down. I know. There was blood on the ground, but there wasn’t a body.”

“He’s toying with me,” I croak, a strangled cry tearing from me.

“Who?”

“Willis. It has to be him, Jack. It has to be.” Tears burn a path down my cheeks. Grasping my face, he kisses away the sorrow and clutches me to his chest. I listen to the pounding of his heart.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

“It can’t be him, Lizzy.”

“Why? Maybe he outwitted you like he has the police all these years.”

“He didn’t.” He pulls me back, his green orbs penetrating mine. “It can’t be him. I refuse to believe it.”

Boom. Boom. Boom.

My head shakes uncontrollably. “That’s not a good enough reason.”

“Can’t you just trust me?”

Can I trust anyone? “We need to tell Hernandez who you are.” I gulp as fear settles in my chest.

“I can’t do that.” He backs away like my words burn him.

“Jack.”

“No!” he snaps, sitting, his head collapsing into his hands. “They’ll take me away from you again, make me relive things.” He’s back on his feet, grasping me into his arms, his hold so strong, it steals my breath.

“I can’t lose you again.” His voice hitches. “I refuse to ever let you go. Please, Liz.”

“Okay.”I scrape at the scars on my palm beneath the white sheet as Hernandez pins me with a confused gaze. “He didn’t speak to you?”

“No.” I try not to look at him, afraid he can see all the lies stacking up.

“Did you recognize him?”

“No.” I shake my head and reach for a tissue, wiping my nose. A smudge of blood soaking into the white quickens my breath. I’ve re-opened a scar.

“Sorry, I cut my hands on the ground.” I shrug, more lies coming with ease.

“We have something I didn’t want to tell you until it was proven.” He frowns. The grays through his dark hair are more prominent under this bright light.

“You found Willis?” I swallow, shock stiffening my body.

“A known location. Our officers are there now with Barnett.” He grips the railing at the end of my bed.

“Is Willis there?” my voice breaks off.

“We’ll know more soon. Until then, the store confirmed the clerk is missing.”

“I didn’t imagine it,” I snap. Everyone thinks I’m crazy.

“As soon as I have any information, I’ll let you know.” He nods.

“Thank you.”Twenty-SevenListening to the nurse as she tells me to take it easy for a few days makes me want to laugh. I can’t go one fucking day without a body dropping.