Page 10 of Uncontrolled

Everything I own was bought with blood money.

My hair has come loose but I can’t rebind it while I’m holding the cash. “Take this,” I say.

Talia snatches the cash. I yank the elastic free and my bun spills loose. She watches in silence as I put my hair up.

“I have your mother’s casebook in the car,” she says. I left it at her place when Jamison stole us from there. “Do you want it?”

It’s not a simple question. She’s asking me to take over.

“Not yet,” I say.

Talia’s thumb draws a line up the center of her forehead as she squints in frustration. “We both went through trauma together. It’s taking you a little longer to bounce back.” The words have a practiced cadence, and I wonder exactly how many times she’s told herself this lie. “I need your head in the game. I need you with me on this. You better make some serious moves here real damn soon before we’re in deeper than I can dig us out. I’m sure as hell not letting anyone else in this cluster die because you and your whatever-he-is needed a vacation.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I drag my sweat-stained T-shirt over my head and drop it into my bag where I root around for the clean one I brought. I should head to the tiny curtained-off shower to rinse off, but if I stay much longer, Talia and I are both going to end up saying things we regret.

I slip the clean T-shirt on and stretch the hem to straighten it over my leggings. “Is that all?” I ask.

“Before you cut Ploy loose,” Talia says. Her start almost gives me hope she’s reconsidering. “Did he really only know Jamison? Did he interact with the other hunters like Jamison did?” She pauses, as if unsure how much to push me. “Can he get ahold of them?”

“I’m pretty sure he never met them,” I say, managing to sound put out.

She stares at me. “You haven’t asked?”

I snort, thinking of how easily she made him seem dispensable until she decided he’d be useful to her. “It never came up.”

Talia flinches. “You have to be delusional to think they’re not planning retaliation against us for killing Jamison and Corbin.” When she looks at me, I can see traces of the old Talia, my best friend, struggling under the surface of this hard shell crushing against me. “Are you delusional?”

“No.”

She raises a hand to the back of my neck and uses the hold to yank me closer. The force of her hug stumbles me into the bench. I hear my bag rustle and hope it doesn’t tumble off to the floor. “I know you, Allie,” she says as she moves to cradle my jaw, giving my chin a rough shake. The bruise there from her kick aches. “You’re a ruthless damn warrior.”

I’m not that girl anymore. Maybe I never was. Pretending is only going to get me and the few people I have left killed. When I don’t mimic her grin, Talia frowns.

“Ditch the deadweight and get your shit together,” she says.

Stripping off my leggings, I drop onto the bench and stab my legs into my jean shorts. Christopher isn’t deadweight, but Talia’s right. His past complicates things. “I need to think,” I say finally.

She gives me a beat as if I shouldn’t need more time than that, and then grabs her bag, sliding the strap over her shoulder. “Fine,” she grumbles. “Think on your long walk home.”

She snags her keys and pivots.

“Talia,” I sigh.

I wait for her to reconsider, breeze back ready to argue this out. Instead, she’s around the partition and crossing the gym. Shocked, I listen to the click of the front door and the snap of the lock engaging. She actually left me.

I don’t chase her.

Flopping against the wall, I reach beside me on the bench and tug the main zipper on my bag closed. It’s only then I notice one of the side pockets is gaping, open. I slide the tips of my fingers inside.

“Son of a bitch,” I whisper as I draw out the money Talia tucked there while she hugged me.

If I’m evicted and the landlord changes the locks, I’ll lose what little I own. That’s nothing compared to what’s coming from the resurrectionists if they discover Christopher’s past. And the hunters…

Talia’s right. Trouble’s edging in at me from every direction. She’s made it clear what she thinks I should do. Her words echo in my head. Snap out of this fantasy.

I’ve always known I wouldn’t be able to keep Christopher. I’ve always known for him to stay safe, I’d have to let him go.

I just didn’t think it’d come so soon.

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