Page 79 of Shadow Dance

“New Year’s Eve, maybe,” he adds.

“Sure,” I say. “Sounds nice.”

After dance class,Jaime and I drive out to the gun range. It’s my fifth time, and while I’m no sharpshooting badass, I’m more confident and capable than I was before. In fact, I’m able to hit my target a lot of the time.

“If you’re ever in a bad situation,” Jaime says afterward, as we walk back to the car. “You’ll be able to do some damage.”

I detest fighting and violence. I understand that they are an integral part of this life, but I hate them. Knowing that I might one day have cause to inflict pain on someone else makes me ill.

But not as ill as being someone’s else’s victim.

My phone buzzes as I get into the car. I reach for it, my stomach dropping when I see Callum’s name.

Where are you?

I’ve been waiting for this, ever since Jaime told me he’d disabled the GPS Callum’s been using to keep tabs on me. Callum doesn’t know that I know, obviously, but he must be frustrated to actually text me and ask.

“He’s asking where I am,” I tell Jaime, pushing down the slight panic brewing in my stomach.

Jaime quickly pulls up his own tracking app. “He’s at the house. Tell him you had me take you to the grocery store after ballet.”

I give him a dubious look. “For two hours?”

“Tell him you needed … special ingredients for dinner.” He throws the car into drive and speeds out of the lot. “Tell him you’re making tamales.”

“I don’t know how to make tamales!”

He chuckles dryly. “Well, you’d better figure it out.”

By the time we pull into Mi Tierra a couple blocks away, I’ve found a tamale recipe online and responded to Callum.

What kind of recipe?

tamales

nice

I love tamales

I sag in relief. Crisis averted.

We grab everything we need, from the corn husks to a twenty-four pack of Mexican beer I’ve never heard of but Jaime assures me is the real deal, and then speed back to the Berkeley Hills.

“This was actually really smart,” I muse, gazing out the window. “He’ll think I wanted to make him something nice to make up.”

“That was the idea.”

“So, I never told you this, but he proposed to me on Thanksgiving,” I say quietly, pulling the ring out of my pocket and sliding it back on. I only wear it around Callum because he’s the only one who thinks it’s real. “In front of his whole family.”

Jaime huffs softly, glancing at the ring. “What did you say?”

“I said yes! I had no choice!” All of a sudden, the significance of it hits me really hard, and I close my eyes, swallowing back a sob. I might no longer be in love with Callum, but once upon a time I really wanted this. It makes me sick that the only reason he proposed was to lock me down.

“It’s just an engagement ring. It doesn’t have to mean anything you don’t want it to.” He reaches over to squeeze my hand. “It’s a promise to him, but to you, it’s just a prop. Okay?”

I wipe my eyes, watching the ring twinkle in the sunlight. “Okay.”

“We all play parts, Maeve,” he continues. “Just keep playing your part. You’ll be out of here soon.”

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