Page 109 of Three for a Girl

Romeo’s own grin was slow to form, but when it did, it crinkled the skin around his eyes and lifted his cheeks. He full on beamed, and for a few seconds Chad’s mind completely wiped.

“What now?” Romeo asked.

“There’s somewhere else we’ve got to go.” Chad said, wrinkling his nose.

Romeo stayed between the seats. “Do you know who else he was after?”

“I have an idea—I don’t know, it can’t be…”

“Relax, go with your gut.”

Chad glanced at the mirror. Romeo’s eyebrows twitched, and he wore his studious expression. The same one in the farmhouse when he was picking Chad’s mind apart in his delirious state. Enraptured, entertained.Happy.

“It could be the final nail in my morality.”

“God, how I wanna know what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“If I’m right, I’ll … I’ll let you.”

Romeo’s eyes sparkled as he studied Chad. His chest rose and fell, and he mouthed his words before finally murmuring them. “Let me?”

“Yes. But I have to be absolutely certain.”

“Okay,” Romeo whispered. His lips parted, and air rushed in and out.

“I have to be certain.” Chad said again. “I have to find evidence.”

“Evidence?”

“My gut isn’t enough.”

He glanced at the scarf as he started the engine then turned back on to the road.

Chad headed further away from home, away from the city until they were surrounded by fields and rolling hills. His sat nav gave up all hope and lost his position. The unlit road was endless, and Chad feared he’d turned the wrong way, but then the start of the tall wire fence came in to view.

“What is this place?” Romeo asked.

“It’s a military base.”

“And why are we going towards it?”

Chad met Romeo’s eyes in the mirror. “I’ve been ignoring by suspicions, dismissing the prangs and itches. I could still be wrong but … I’ve got check.”

Romeo didn’t ask him to elaborate. Chad squinted, peering at the far away trees beyond the fence. He snorted at the outline of the building, half hidden by trees. It was only noticeable when searching for it, and if he hadn’t had been looking for Romeo the first time, he wouldn’t have seen it.

“I thought you might’ve been in there.” Chad said.

“I escaped a cage, there’s no way I’d climb back into one.”

Chad frowned, flexing his hands on the steering wheel. “But you did go back in the cage. You did for me.”

Romeo didn’t reply.

Chad spotted the tracks in the field from where his car came off the road, and pointed them out to Romeo.

“Why didn’t you tell me you crashed?”

“It wasn’t a crash, not really, it was a small detour into the farmer’s field.”

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