“I won’t make it.”
“Yes, you will.” Her grip on my arm tightens.
For the first time since she caught up to me, Cami looks back, and in an instant, I’m shoved forward as she’s tackled to the ground. I try to stop my fall, but it’s no use, and I smack face-first in a muddy patch of grass. My feet slip as I struggle to get up, desperate to help my sister. Rubbing the mud from my eyes, I find Cami thrashing under one of the boys, bucking and kicking, trying to get free, but he’s too big. Her glossy eyes connect with mine.
“Run.”
With a startle, I jolt up in bed. Hot, sweaty, and panting, I kick the covers off. With a hand pressed to my chest, as though it might calm the fierce gallop of my heart, I blink several times. As my eyes adjust to the rays of morning light shining through the window, they find Rex.
He’s sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room. His elbows rest on his knees, his hands hang down. His dark brown eyes are nearly black as he watches me.
“I was dreaming again.”
He nods.
“Did I wake you up?” I ask, noticing he’s still in his boxers.
He shakes his head, but continues to remain silent, and fear prickles my skin.
“What’s wrong?”
His head drops down. Running his hands over his face, he sighs and looks back up.
“Nothing’s wrong. I was just watching you sleep, thinking about some of the things we talked about last night.”
Part of me wants to ask him if I said anything while dreaming, but no one has ever told me I talk in my sleep, so I decide against it.
Grabbing for the sheet I just kicked off, I pull it up to cover my naked body. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
Rex’s lips lift in a tight smile, and I immediately know it’s fake. It doesn’t reach his eyes. I want to call him out on it, but then he speaks.
“Positive.”
I know he’s lying. The ghostly look in his eye tells me what his words won’t. But I decide not to push him. We rounded a corner last night, and I trust him to be honest with me.
“Then why are you sitting all the way over there?”
Rex’s eyes soften, the darkness fading into the milk chocolate color I love. With his hands on his knees, he pushes up from the chair. My mouth waters as he walks toward me, his muscular thighs flexing with each step, and I lick my lips, fully expecting him to crawl onto the bed and ravish me. In fact, I’m going to insist on it.
When he’s within arm’s reach, I hold out my hand, but he doesn’t take it. “Oh, no. I’m not crawling back into that bed with you.”
“Why not?” I pout, jutting out my bottom lip, but it has no effect on him.
“Because if I do, we’ll never get out of here, and I have a surprise planned for you today.”
“Another surprise?” I look around the room, for what I’m not sure. “What is it?”
Rex walks over and grabs a bag from the corner, which I instantly recognize as my gym bag.
My eyes narrow. “What are you doing with that?”
He grins. “What part of surprise don’t you understand?”
He holds the bag out, and I snatch it from his hand to look inside: a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and my chucks, along with clean underwear and a fresh bra.
“Where did you get all of this?”
“JJ brought it over.”