Page 15 of Saving Sophia

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Right-Time-Ethan,” Callie said, shaking his hand but looking at me. I couldn’t help smiling, just a little. We could be under attack from zombies, but if a man was in the room, her matchmaking instincts went into overdrive. She couldn’t help herself. “So, you’re not a cop?”

“No, my brother is the hero who broke your door.” He flashed a crooked smile. “Sorry about that.”

“Valero’s your brother? I thought you said your last name was Abbott?” Callie tipped her head, narrowed her eyes, and puckered her lips like she’d detected a hole in his alibi.

“Half-brother.” He tried to straighten my broken closet door. “We were talking about where you guys might stay tonight. It’s not safe here.”

“Hmm,” Callie hummed thoughtfully. “We can crash at TJ and Crystal’s place. A bunch of people from the club are there anyway, talking about the raid. They won’t even notice us.”

I froze. I didn’t want to see anyone from the club, and Crystal was a huge gossip. If Mr. Roscoe was looking for me, and she knew where I was, he would know before I could say ‘dead waitress.’ “You go ahead, Callie, I’m gonna … get some stuff and … I’ll call you later.”

She frowned, about to argue, then looked at Ethan and back at me. Her face lit up. “Sure thing, Soap. That’s just what Amber Jade would do.” Her red lips parted into a dazzling smile. “Be safe and call me with the details.” As she turned and headed to her messy room, she winked and called out, “See ya ‘round, Right-Time-Ethan.”

My cheeks were hot enough to start a fire at her assumption, but at least she wouldn’t expect me to show up at TJ and Crystal’s place.

“Who is Amber Jade?” Ethan asked, kneeling down to inspect the wreckage of my nightstand.

Just when I thought my cheeks might cool down, they flamed right back up again. “Oh, nobody. It’s stupid. It’s just … Amber Jade is my stage name. Which I don’t even need because I’m just a waitress, but Callie insisted, and she’s always telling me to make a persona … like Amber Jade is exotic and mysterious … she says I’d get better tips, and … I … don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

“Makes sense.” He rubbed his chin like the idea had merit. “An alter ego can help. As long as she doesn’t get you into trouble.”

“Like taking candy from strangers,” I blurted out, then cringed.

His smile lit up. “We aren’t strangers anymore, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” I relaxed slightly.

He stood up, his face serious. “I am concerned about where you’re going to stay tonight.”

He was concerned? About me?

“I don’t want to scare you, but that guy’s still out there.”

And he wanted me dead. My tummy turned queasy. “He was probably just … a burglar or something …” Somehow, it felt bad to lie to him.

“Probably,” he looked skeptical. “You should still be someplace safe. You’ve been through a lot tonight.”

He didn’t know the half of it, and I couldn’t tell him. I was running out of options. I reached my hand up to twist my necklace till it tightened like a tiny gold noose around my throat. Maybe I should call my parents, accept defeat, and resign myself to my fate. My jaw clenched to the point of pain at the not so silent I-told-you-so that waited for me in my parents’ cold, sterile house.

“Tell you what?” He reached out his hand and gently tipped my chin up. My jaw relaxed at his touch. “I can give you a lift to my hotel. You can get a room there and sort things out in the morning? If you need anything, I’ll be close by. And if you don’t, well then at least I’ll know you’re safe?” His eyes were so kind, deep gray with gold flecks like a cozy blanket by a warm fire in winter. And he literally saved my life.

But hotels cost money, and I was probably going to have to go on the run like in the movies. I didn’t even know how to do that. I only had forty-eight dollars in my wallet, and a little more than three hundred dollars in the bank. That wouldn’t last long.

I needed to think.

He gazed down at me, eyes warm, waiting for an answer.

Well, he was right, I had to go somewhere. I could make a plan and figure out how to break the news to Callie. She’d be hurt, but honestly, she’d be safer if I wasn’t around. This could work. How much could one night in a hotel possibly cost anyway?

* * *

Ethan’s car was really nice. Nicer than my father’s pre-owned, A-class Mercedes. The hotel looked really nice too, making me regret my casual assumption that it couldn’t cost that much.

“Umm …” I said when he pulled up to the valet. “This place looks … really nice.”

“Recently renovated,” he said. The twinkle in his eye said there was a joke I wasn’t getting, but I was too worried about the cost to sort it out.

“I’m more of a Motel Six kind of girl,” I said with a lame little laugh.

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