Page 50 of Guarded By Them

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I think Canada is our best choice.”

Ryan arched an eyebrow. “Think we can pull that off?”

“Is it worth the risk?” Dillon asked, looking between us. “What if we get caught trying to smuggle Rue across the border? We’ll end up locked up.”

“Locked up will be better than dead.”

Dillon clambered to his feet, clearly favoring the uninjured leg. “We’re not going to end up dead. We just have to be more careful about who we talk to.”

Kodee’s expression darkened. “I thought I was being careful. How the hell was I supposed to know Timmo was going to let it slip that we were staying with him?”

“You should have known. We’re trying to keep Rue safe, and instead you put us right in the middle of a shootout.”

The tension was rising between the two men, their shoulders squared and jaws locked. I hated to see them fighting. I scrambled to my feet, placing myself between the two men.

“Hey, stop it. This is no one’s fault, remember? That’s what we agreed.”

Kodee turned away again and paced back and forth, his thumb at his mouth as he chewed at a hangnail, a pent-up ball of nervous energy that was making the rest of us anxious. We watched him like a crowd following the ball at a game of tennis—back and forth, back and forth.

He suddenly stopped and turned to me. “What do you want to do, Rue?”

“Me?” I was surprised by the question. No one ever asked me what I wanted for my future.

“Do you want to go to Canada or stay in the States?”

I looked between them. “I want to be wherever is the safest for all of us.”

He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “So, Canada, then.”

“It’s only the safest option when we’re actually there,” Dillon interrupted. “We’ll be detained if we get caught.”

Ryan put up his hand. “Hang on. So, are we talking about hiding Rue in the trunk of the car or something, and just driving through?”

“That’s going to be high risk,” Kodee said. “They’ll be doing random checks, and it’s not as though the three of us don’t look suspicious.”

Dillon twisted his lips. “He’s right. We need a better plan than that.”

“Some vehicles get checked less than others,” Ryan said. “Regular commuters or truck drivers.”

Kodee’s forehead crumpled in a contemplative frown. “You think we could get Rue hidden on a truck to get over the border?”

Panic flared inside me. “I don’t want to be separated from you.”

“It wouldn’t be for long, Rue.”

The idea of being alone terrified me. What if something happened to the guys while I was hidden in a different vehicle, and I got across and they didn’t? I wouldn’t know what to do. I’d be in a strange country, with no friends or money. I’d end up having to survive on the street, and one thing I knew about Canada was that it got really cold. A panicky swirl of thoughts became a cyclone inside my head.

“Then maybe we should stay in America,” I said, defeated.

“We’ll always be looking over our shoulder here, Rue.” Kodee took my hand. “I know it’s frightening, but it would be for the best, long term.”

“I just don’t want to be without you.” I looked around at the others. “Any of you.”

Kodee squeezed my fingers. “You won’t be. We’ll do this right.”

Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away, not wanting them to see me like this. I wanted them to think of me as the woman I’d been only half an hour ago—sexy and confident, not vulnerable and afraid of being alone. Even I didn’t like that version of myself.

I exhaled a shaky sigh. “Say if we do make it through to Canada, what then? Do we just rent another apartment and try to find regular jobs?”

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