Page 38 of Better Hide

He freezes, seeing Jo fighting on my shoulder, and for a second, I freeze, too.

Fuck.

I whirl before and dart through the kitchen, dodging employees. Someone shouts at me. I ignore all of them and pray that Cole is waiting in the back lot.

“Stop! Police!”

I don’t stop. I dart around a fryer and almost slip, headed to the back exit. Jo bounces on my shoulder, and I hold her steady.

“Jayden!”

“Police! Stop!”

Jo screams, burying her head into my shoulder. I slam into the exit door, bursting outside. There! The car is right there. I run up to it, yanking the door open.

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!”

Everything slows down. If he shoots me, he’ll hit Jo. Suddenly, I’m stuck. I’m stuck like I was on the steps when Pat looked at Cole and made him a target.

I’m staring at the inside of the car, the sounds of the world going fuzzy around me.

Something falls slowly across my vision. I watch it slowly. It’s Jo. She’s scrambling into the seat.

I cock my head. Why is she going so slow?

“Jay.” The voice sounds like it’s coming through water.

Pop!

Something loud cracks through the fuzz and explodes to my left.

I blink and look over. There’s a hole in the B pillar of the car.

Pop! Pop!

Two more holes appear near my head.

Fuck, he’s shooting at us.

My legs feel like they’re stuck in mud. I put one in the car. I feel something yanking on my shoulders. I move my other leg inside as Jo looks at me wide-eyed. She’s screaming something, but I’m not sure what.

It feels like it takes forever to turn around and pull the door closed. When I do, the car is already flying out of the lot.

Sound comes rushing back. Jo is panting, still holding onto my shoulders. “Fuck! He’s shooting! He’s shooting!”

“Get the fuck down!” I pounce on Jo, holding my body over her, waiting for the rest of the shots. Nothing comes.

“Are you hurt?” I pull back a little and run my hands up and down Jo’s body. My hands shake a little. My heart is racing. I still feel like things are moving so slowly. No blood. I don’t feel blood. Why don’t I feel blood?

“I’m fine, Jayden.” Jo shoves my hands off her.

“Jo!” I grab her chin and force her to look at me. “Are you hurt?” She can’t be okay.

Three shots. That’s how many I took when I killed that man in the line of duty. Two to the body, one to the head.

“Cole?” I turn to him, looking at his head. It’s not covered in blood. I lean over the console, shoving him back against the seat so I can look at his body.

“I’m fine, Jay.” Cole weaves in and out of traffic. He glances back at me. “You good?”

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