Page 54 of Second Chance Savior

There was a large duffel with a Denver Broncos logo. She unzipped it and looked at the contents. “Snacks and drinks. And more clothes and toiletries. Even socks! That man is an angel. I hope he didn’t clean out his sister’s room.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I held up the other item Hodge had brought over. It was a brunette wig inside a net bag. “He said he would’ve gotten some new ID papers for you, but there wasn’t time. This was the best he could manage.”

Charlie took the wig and carefully tugged the net away. “This is nice.” She went into the bathroom to use the mirror.

When she came out, her coppery blond was hidden except for a small tuft just below one ear. I reached out to tuck it under. She flinched a little, going still until I’d pulled my hand away.

“There. Looks good.” Different, but she was somehow just as beautiful. “Hodge left us a new vehicle as well. A clean one, so we don’t have to worry about a BOLO on the other, new plates or not.”

“Are you sure we can’t drop by his house? I feel like I should do something to say thanks. Like give Hodge a kiss. Or an almost-kiss.” She shrugged, fingering the fringe ofbangs now sweeping above her eyes. “Since that’s a normal gesture between acquaintances, right?”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry, I already gave him an extra kiss on your behalf. We’re all set.”

I could tell she was trying to stay annoyed at me, but a grin threatened to break out on her lips.

The sun was behind us as we made our way into the mountains, using smaller highways instead of the major routes. Stillwater could be watching any of them, not to mention the police. But they couldn’t cover every road.

“We’re heading toward Hartley?” she asked.

“Yep.” I would contact Trace when we got closer. Arrange for a safe meeting place. I’d already ruled out making it all the way to Last Refuge, because our facilities there weren’t intended to hide someone with a high profile. But we’d figure it out.

We were both quiet for the first half hour at least, watching our surroundings. But when the traffic thinned and we were out in the thick of the wilderness, mountain slopes rising in every direction, that tension eased.

Until Charlie spoke up again.

“River, I want to talk about what you said last night.”

I studied the view through the windshield. “I say a lot of things. Most of my friends ignore at least half of it.”

“Don’t gaslight me. That’s such an asshole move.”

The muscle in my jaw clenched in time with the beating of my heart.

Shit. She really wasn’t going to let me out of this.

“Which part?” I asked. A pathetic effort to buy time.

“You said that you weren’t pretending with the way you acted toward me at the fundraiser. Saying you’d missed me. And looking at me the way you were. Flirting. Don’t deny it.”

“I can’t deny it.” I wished I hadn’t opened my mouth andlet that slip last night. Too late now. “Last night, I admitted I wasn’t pretending because you keep accusing me of not caring about you. It’s no secret that we haven’t always gotten along.”

She snorted.

“But I have never been indifferent to you, Charlie. To hear you accuse me of that…” My thumbs drew circles on the edge of the steering wheel. “It got to me.”

“I thought nothing ever got to you.”

“Then you think way too highly of me. Or maybe too low. I do have feelings.”

“Feelings? In general?”

“Yeah,feelings. Like sneaky bugs in the code. They keep popping up and causing trouble no matter what I do.”

“Sure that’s not your conscience?”

“Nah, I don’t have one of those.”

Smirking, she reached out to play with the radio dial, but it was all static. “I’d love to hear more about these feelings of yours.”

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