Page 80 of Spooked

Add “brave” to her list of attributes. And “foolish.” Perhaps “pigheaded” too.

“Do you even speak Portuguese?”

“No, but I have three different translation apps.”

“And does anyone know where you’re going?”

“My friend Celeste. She lives in Paris, and I’m going to check in with her every day.”

Brax sighed, and when the light turned green, he made an illegal U-turn, ignoring the furious honks that followed. Indi didn’t much like that move either.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?”

“We’re going home.”

“No! You promised you’d take me to the airport.” She unclipped her seat belt. What was she planning to do? Jump out of a moving vehicle? “I’m going to miss my flight.”

“Yes, you absolutely are.”

“You know what? That tattoo on your ass is one hundred percent correct. It should be on your forehead.”

“It would be an interesting talking point at parties, don’t you think?”

A grocery store came up on the right, and Brax pulled into the parking lot, keeping a wary eye on Mee— Indi in case she tried to make a run for it. He was still trying to get used to the new name.

“How confident are you that your family will try something stupid?”

“Confident enough that I moved three thousand miles away and assumed a new identity.”

Okay, in hindsight, that had been a stupid question. Brax opened his wallet and slid out a credit card.

“When did you book the flight?”

“Right before I left my apartment.”

She hadn’t tried to escape, but her voice had turned sullen. Sulky. The pout was actually quite cute.

“Book another flight—now, this second. Not to Portugal. To South America, maybe. Or the Caribbean. And in two hours, book another flight. The same two hours after that. Rinse and repeat.”

“Why? I don’t want to go to South America.”

“Because if your family has six different places to look for you, they’re less likely to find you in Portugal.”

“But I can’t get to Portugal now. Thanks to you, I won’t make boarding. And I can’t afford to pay you back for six plane tickets either.”

“I’ll treat that second part of your comment with the contempt it deserves. And we’re going to fly to Portugal from a different airport where the staff understand the meaning of discretion.”

“We’regoing to fly?”

There was that naivety again. She really thought he’d let her do this alone? Brax tucked a stray lock of hair behind Indi’s ear, pleased when she leaned into his touch.

“You can run from me, my sweet, but I’ll always find you. Shit, that sounded creepier than I intended. Of course I’m coming.”

“You’d help me? Even after all the lies?”

“On one condition?”

“Which is? It doesn’t involve chopsticks, does it?”

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