Page 14 of A Little Discovery

I see the moment he realizes I recognize him. The guilt is plain on his face.

“She was right,” I whisper. “I’ll never get away.”

I tear my wrists from his grip and pound down the stairs, my tears blinding me as I make my way to escape. I can’t stay here another second. This was all a set-up. I’ll never be free…

I ignore the men yelling at me. It doesn’t matter. They’ll never see me again anyways.

She’s right. I’ll never escape… not while I’m alive.

I grab my shoes and launch myself off the porch. I know I’m ruining my socks, but I can’t stop. My feet carry me forward, running for the woods. I’ll lose them in the trees. Gramps taught me all about how to hide my trail. I’ll just circle back after they give up to grab my bag and then Lucas Anthony Holloway will disappear completely.

SPENCER

I call after the boy who just ran from me. He’s really fast, too fast to catch up. By the time I reach the porch, he is already entering the woods. Eli and the others pour out of the house behind me, Jay in his pajamas. I guess he hasn’t gone to bed yet.

“What the fuck, Spence?” Jay asks, staring at the tree line. “What the fuck did you do?”

I can’t look away from the trees to say anything in response, but Shiloh takes it upon himself to take the blame.

“It’s my fault,” he whimpers before running back into the house. Toby shoots me a questioning glance before running after his friend. The others on the porch all look at me with varying levels of accusation, but Scott is the only one to speak up.

“When I left the room, he was calming down,” he says, moving into my direct line of sight and forcing me to look away from the woods. “What changed?”

I stagger backwards until my back makes contact with the pillar and glance back at the trees.

“He recognized me,” I say and fight to hold my emotions incheck.

“And that is a problem, why?” asks Eric, obviously grumpy now that his buzz is wearing off. “Why would that cutie pie recognizing you cause a reaction like this? I fucking ran because of you! You understand how pissed off I am right now that you made me run, right?”

Eli shakes his head in amusement at Eric’s remark, but levels me with a serious glare.

“We need the story, Spence,” he says to me. “If we’re going to be his safe haven, I need to know if there is an issue with him staying here. If I have to, I can call the landlord about one of the trailers. I can even try and set him up with a friend in another city. No matter what, there’s something here that isn’t making sense.”

“Toby said you met him at a Theta party last year?” Scott prompts to get the conversation started.

I nod my head and pick up the story. “It was the my sophomore year, so not this past year, but right before I moved in here.

“That’s where I met him, but I doubt that’s where he knows me from,” I say. “He was practically unconscious when I came across him. I basically carried him to my bedroom and tucked him in when that dumbass Adam started bleeding in front of him.”

The guys still out on the porch all nod their heads in understanding, having knowledge of Lucky’s response to blood. They don’t know the rest of the story though.

“But the real issue is from just a few months ago. Remember how I had to take a case kind of last minute to pay for the program?” I ask and again get a round of nods in affirmation.

“Well, Lucky was kind of that case.”

CHAPTER 10

SPENCER

“We are definitely going to need more than that,” Jay says before pushing Jace back toward the door. “But we are going to need coffee first. I have a feeling it is going to be a very long conversation, or very tense…Maybe both. Either way, coffee.”

With a chuckle, Eli follows. Scott heads inside right after Eli, but Eric stays to watch me.

“Did you know?” Eric asks me, and I just stare at him. That question is a loaded one and can refer to a lot. “Did you know he was your last case?”

Out of all of the housemates, only Eric knew how much it bothered me to take a case from Sabrina Carlisle. He was a year ahead of us in school, and part of a rich family, so he is familiar with her tactics. While I was working the case, we spent most of the time I was back here at the house coming up with ideas to help her husband get away from her. Never in a million years did I think I would have that man in my house, in my arms.

At my shrug, he snaps at me. “Either you knew or you didn’t Spencer! Did you know that Lucky Hollow was your last case?!”

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