She pulled back. “Adam’s wife and kids come back from their grandparents’ in two days. He always spends the first night with them. We’ll go then.” She brushed a strand of my dark hair from her face and smiled. “I even have some money.”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about that.”
“Two days, okay?” She gripped my shoulders. “Just tell me where to meet you.”
“In Yonkers,” I said automatically. “The Motel 6.” And then I couldn’t help it. It was too absurd, or I was too relieved. I laughed again.
Her mouth cracked into a smile. “I’m risking my life, and you couldn’t spring for a Hyatt?”
“Come on.” I tugged her from the tree, gripping her hand. “Fuck Dorsey.”
Nicole grinned. Together, we stepped out from behind the X-marked tree—and found the Chief, standing silent and still. Flanking him were the Lieutenant, the Disciple, and the Marquis.
“Surprise,” he said softly.
“Adam.” Nicole couldn’t shield her shock. “We were just—”
The Chief’s eyes swung in my direction, and he gave a start. “What are you doing here?”
“You know her?” The Lieutenant frowned. The other two men behind Dorsey circled tighter, leaving Nicole and me nowhere to go. They’d caught us. I had a knife hidden inside my bra, but there were four of them. It wouldn’t be enough.
Dorsey studied me, eyes lingering on my lips. If I hadn’t been frozen with terror, I would have flinched. “She came into the station asking questions about Laurel Hargrove weeks ago. Said they used to be friends.”
“Laurel Hargrove?” The Marquis turned to the Lieutenant, his chest puffing. “Don’t tell me you let in a reporter.”
Nicole turned to me, and for a second, I saw her surprise and betrayal. But then it was gone, her face smoothed into a conciliatory mask. “Adam.” Her tone was low and calming. “I don’t know what you think you heard—”
Dorsey’s face shone with sweat. “You’re planning to leave me.”
“No—”
“After everything I’ve done for you—you piece of trash—you were going to run away.”
She took a step back. “You were going to keep me from the Hilltop.”
“Nicole, don’t,” I said, but as soon as I spoke, the Disciple pointed at my face. “Shut the fuck up, whoever you are, or you’ll regret it.”
“I get to decide what happens to you.” The Chief’s voice was throttled. There was dirt smeared into the white wool of his tunic. He’d clearly pushed fast through the woods to find Nicole. “If I tell you you’re staying with me every goddamn day of your life, it’s your job to shut up and thank me for not getting tired of you. I tell you you’re mine, you don’t so much as breathe near another man, Philosopher or not.” His voice rose. “You know the rules. Every day, you get on your fucking hands and your knees and you worship me. You thank me for choosing you, you trailer park whore. How dare you humiliate me?”
“Don’t talk to her that way.” The words flew out. “You don’t own her.”
“Mouth closed.” The Disciple took a step forward. “Or you’ll need it wired shut.”
“But you don’t.” Nicole’s spine straightened, and there was that glint in her eye—the streak of subversiveness no amount of time with the Paters could snuff, the thing that kept drawing me to her. Now I wanted to scream at her to bury it, be docile enough to survive. “I was using you, Adam. You were a rung on a ladder, a stepping-stone to the Hilltop. We both know I can do better. I tried to wait it out, but you want the truth? Fucking you got too boring to wait.”