Page 38 of Wife Number One

Kyle nodded quickly, eager to please. “Of course.” He was filling the car up with one hand on the gas pump, but he braced his other on the doorframe, so he had eyes on my daughter.

I hesitated, not wanting to leave her alone with a man I didn’t know, even if that man did have love hearts for eyes when he was with my sister.

Alice rubbed my arm, soothing the spot she’d squeezed a moment earlier. “You can trust him. He’s a good guy. He and I have been talking about getting out of that shithole commune for months.”

I widened my eyes at her. “What?”

Alice nodded, tugging me toward the facilities. “Kyle only moved in a year ago. His parents got suckered in by all of Josiah’s bullshit—”

I shot her a look on autopilot. “Alice! Don’t talk like that.”

Alice groaned in frustration with me and tugged open the door marked with a dress-wearing stick figure. “We’re out now. You don’t have to play the part anymore. You’re free.”

I didn’t want to be free like this. I didn’t want to be out here, at a gas station in the middle of nowhere after kidnapping a child from the only home she remembered. I didn’t find any excitement in being on the run, knowing that at any minute, Josiah and his crew could pull up and take me and my daughter and my sister. If that happened…

I shot a worried glance back at the car, but nothing seemed amiss, and my bladder protested at traveling for so long without a break. I ducked inside the bathrooms, quickly relieving myself and washing my hands and was back outside, peering through the truck window to check on Hayley Jade before Alice had even finished in her stall.

Relief washed over me when the little girl was still in the same position I’d left her.

Kyle grimaced at me though. “She’s pretty scared, huh?”

I wanted to stroke her hair, but it was clear she didn’t want me touching her. “I imagine so. It’s been…a lot.”

He nodded. “Do you want anything from inside? Candy? A sandwich?”

I nodded before I could think about how greedy I was being. “Please. That sounds amazing.”

Kyle nodded, his gaze turning adoring as it switched to Alice climbing up into her seat. I followed, getting into the back seat behind her.

Oblivious to Kyle’s love-struck expression, Alice twisted to grumble at me. “You could have waited.”

Kyle walked away to go get supplies, and I bit down on my lip watching him. “He’s in love with you.”

Alice grinned, gaze straying to his retreating form then back at me. “I know. Isn’t it great?”

Surprised punched through me. That was about the last thing I’d expected her to say. “You love him too?”

She barked out a laugh. “Oh my God, no. He’s sweet but he’s…I don’t know. He kind of looks like a golden retriever. Or maybe it’s just his personality that makes me think that. He’s so eager to please, it’s sickening.”

I blinked, shaking my head. That was a horrible thing for her to say. The way she dismissed him was so unkind. “He’s so eager to please that he left his entire life and his family behind to go on the run with you. And you think that makes him the equivalent of a dog?”

She just shrugged.

When Kyle came back with his arms laden down with more snacks and sandwiches and drinks for all of us, I couldn’t help but feel like we were taking advantage of him. “Thank you,” I whispered, voice full of the gratitude I felt for the man, even if he was misguided to have placed his affections on my sister. “I really do appreciate this.”

“Me too,” Alice chirped from the front seat, kicking off her shoes and putting her feet up on the dash. She ripped open a package of potato chips and tossed a few of them into her mouth. She wiped her fingers off on her long skirt and then held her hand out to Kyle. “Can I play something on your phone?”

My mouth dropped open as Kyle fished the small device out of his pocket and handed it over to her without hesitation.

Alice pressed her fingertips to her lips and then onto Kyle’s smoothly shaven cheek. “Thank you! Four, seven, three, five. That’s the password still, right?”

Clearly this wasn’t the first time she’d used his cell.

“Where did you even get that?” I asked. “Josiah would never allow…”

Kyle shrugged. “My parents tried to take it away when we first moved to the commune, but I was sixteen. I had a life. Friends. I said I’d leave and go live with my best friend and his family if my parents didn’t let me keep it.

“Your parents knew about it?” I asked him incredulously. “Technology has been forbidden for such a long time, they could be kicked out if you’d been caught…”

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