Page 44 of Uncontrolled

“Stop,” I caution. Her attitude grinds through my bones until I’m gunpowder, a fuse, a sputtering spark. Grenade, Christopher’s voice whispers and my thoughts spiral out of focus.

“You can’t hide him forever. What happens when this goes bad?” Talia demands.

I channel every bit of calm I can before I answer. “No one will find out we lied,” I say. “Even if he and Jamison have random history together that comes to light, it will not come down on you. For all anyone knows, he came into the picture after the farmhouse. I’ll be the one that catches flack for not having him background checked and cleared immediately.”

“Flack?” Talia smacks the black vinyl covering of the bench in frustration.

The water fountain at the back of the gym cycles on, it’s droning the only sound until Talia breaks the silence.

“We lied about him!” she starts. “Our complicity snowballs every day we don’t admit we know what he is. And it’s not if they find something, it’s when. Keeping Ploy around is a death sentence for both of us!” Her voice rises to a jeer. “He’s not a good person, Allie! He lies! He scams and steals and wriggles info out of you he should never know!” She pauses, exasperated. “He is literally from the wrong side of the tracks!”

Layered over the noise in my head, a part of me argues there’s a way through this mess to the other side for me and him. I only have to find it. Christopher’s a survivor. We could make it, the two of us. A team, like he said.

He’s chosen me over and over, every time. Now, it’s my turn to choose him.

I meet her rage with determination. “You’re wrong about him, Talia.”

Her frustrated swear reverberates through the room. “You’re already convinced he’s hiding something!”

When I don’t react, she draws a breath to ramp up her argument but I hold up a hand.

“No, I’m done talking about this,” I say, struggling to keep from exploding. “Aren’t you tired? Because you’re exhausting to be around!” I rocket the bottle toward the cinderblock wall. It spirals until it smacks with a crackle of a thud and drops to the floor. “Just stop, okay!”

Movement at the corner of my eye draws me short. We’re not alone.

“Allie,” Talia starts. My fingers snag her arm to silence her.

CJ hovers in the doorway. He hikes the gym bag he’s carrying. “Sorry,” he says. “I promise I didn’t hear anything. My mom dropped me off.”

Time stretches. The water fountain clicks on again.

“Damn it,” Talia mumbles.

“Hey! Hi!” I say. My enthusiastic greeting only adds to the awkwardness. “No worries! We were just arguing about whether to go another round.”

CJ’s not buying it. He watches as Talia stands and stalks the space behind me, all coiled rage with no outlet.

“On the way home last night, you mentioned plans to be here. I was hoping,” he drawls as his attention slides to me. “If you have time, can we go over defense moves? That guy caught me off guard yesterday. I don’t want it to happen again.”

This is me stepping up, I think. This is me leading. “Absolutely. Set your stuff down.”

While he turns his back, I catch Talia’s eye and give her a nod loaded with unspoken apologies. Her frown digs deeper and then she nods once, heading toward the walled-off section that serves as a makeshift locker room. We’re not finished, but we’re okay for now.

“Don’t go easy on the kid,” she adds over her shoulder.

“You know I won’t,” I call before I round on CJ. “All right. First lesson. Each job you go on should teach you something new and improve your skills.” I give him a once over, his nerves blatant under my assessing gaze. “What’s one thing you learned yesterday?”

He tips his sneaker onto its toe. “Double knotted,” he offers.

“That’s my boy,” I say as I start us toward the mat.

Ploy

It’s almost two before a pre-paid cab drops me off at the same spot where I met Quinn earlier. My head’s a mess of exhaustion and adrenaline. All I want is Allie. After how I left this morning, I might not be welcome. It doesn’t matter.

“Thanks, man,” I say as I peel the lone five-dollar bill off the stack Nico gave me as a tip. I step onto the curb and watch the driver until he’s out of sight. I’m postponing the inevitable.

I’ve got to come clean, tell Allie what I learned today, how the hunters sold one of her people, how they’re searching for Corbin and Jamison.

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