Fight or Flight (16 page)

“Look what I’ve got.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

Em

“Em, up. You gotta get up. Now. Come on.”

Em blinked sleepily up at Jay, who was standing over her, shaking her shoulder.

“Huh?” Her brain was still half asleep—maybe because it was still dark outside—and nothing was making much sense.

She remembered their trip to the park, and their
impromptu picnic lunch under the Oak tree, and then coming back to the squat. Jay had gone out to get them something for dinner and she’d fallen asleep not long after he returned. None of that explained why he was waking her so early, or why he looked so flustered.

“We gotta get out of here. They’re here. We have to go.”

“Who’s here?”

“The police, Em.
It’s a raid. Come on. Let’s move!”

Police?
Now she was fully awake. “What do we do?”

“We get out of here. If they catch us, we’ll be charged with vagrancy.”

Em jumped to her feet, sending a shock of pain from her ankle up to her knee, but she shook it off.

“Are you all right to make a run for it?” Jay looked skeptical, but she knew it wasn’t really a question.

“Yes.”

“Take these.” Jay tried to hand her the crutches, but she waved them off.

“They’ll slow me down. I can’t run on crutches.”

“But, your leg—”

“Will be fine. We’ve got bigger problems. Let’s get out of here.”

They stopped in the hall long enough to check Ace and Skunk’s room, but they were both gone. Just as they reached the top of the stairs, the front door burst open and two uniformed men stepped inside. Jay pressed Em against the wall beside him and they watched the officers from the shadows.

“What do we do now?” Em whispered.

One of the officers roamed the first floor rooms, while the second stood watch at the front door—blocking the
only way out.

“Take this.” Jay shoved a blanket he must have snatched from the room into her arms. “When they leave, you run for it.
Head toward Sam’s.”

“Where will you be?”

“I’m gonna draw them off.”

“You can’t. Jay, if they catch you—”

“They won’t. Listen to me, Em. We’re not getting out of here unless we run and right now I’m a hell of a lot faster than you . . . and them. So, quit worrying and get ready to move. I will meet you at Sam’s. Do you understand?”

“But, Jay—”

“Tell me you understand what I’m saying, Em.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now get ready. As soon as they follow me out of here, you go. And you don’t look back.”

“Jay—” Em tried and failed to keep the whine out of her voice. She didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want to be left alone. She couldn’t lose him. Not again.

Jay’s warm hand wrapped around hers and gave it a quick squeeze. “I’ll see you soon.”

He held her a moment longer and then turned and flew down the staircase. At the bottom, he didn’t hesitate to run straight through the
man at the front door, sending him to the ground on the front porch. The officer sent up a cry and the second joined him. In moments, they had both disappeared out of the house, chasing after Jay.

Hugging the blanket close to her chest, Em rushed downstairs and out onto the dark street. She broke into a jog as soon as her feet hit the sidewalk and didn’t stop until her leg threatened to give out. Hobbling into a dim alley, she leaned against the filthy wall and sucked in lungful’s of oxygen. She’d give herself five minutes to get it together. Who knew living on the street required the ability to run sporadic marathons in the middle of the night?

When her breathing finally returned to normal, she stepped back out onto the sidewalk and nearly stroked out when a hand closed around her arm.

“Whoa. Whoa. It’s me.” Jay grabbed her arm again to steady her and this time she didn’t fight him. “You okay?”

“Where are the police?”

“I lost them. I told you not to worry. It wasn’t even hard to do.”

Jay smirked, but Em’s still pounding heart kept her from finding the humor in the situation.

“What will they do?
About the squat?”

Jay sobered. “They’ll board it up. And they’ll watch it. We can’t go back there. Not for a while.”

“Then, what do we do? Where are we going to go?”

“Right now?
We go get some breakfast.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

Jay

He knew he hadn’t fooled her. The situation they’d just found themselves in was serious and she wasn’t an idiot. Still, he hated to make her worry. As they wandered the pre-dawn streets toward Sam’s, Jay wracked his brain for a solution. Losing your squat was just about the worst thing that could happen out here any time of year, but now—with winter just around the corner—it could be fatal.

Em didn’t say a word the entire way and he knew what that meant. She was worrying,
quietly. But for now, he appreciated it. He needed to think, and if she asked a question, he didn’t want to lie to her. She was walking so close to his side that he actually
felt
it when her body began to tremble. He didn’t know if it was from fear or the cold, and cursed himself for not being able to do much about either. Taking the blanket from her, he draped it around her shoulders. She silently snuggled into it and kept walking. She knew what he needed, and she was doing her best to give it to him. Time. Time to figure things out.

“Hey.” Em tugged him to a stop, dragging him from his thoughts, and pointed across the street. “There’s Ace.”

Jay followed her line of sight and sure enough, there were both Ace and Skunk, headed back to the squat after a long night of partying.
Shit
. This was going to be an annoying conversation, but he couldn’t just let them walk into trouble.

“Hey!
Guys!” Leaving Em on the sidewalk, he rushed out into the street, not even bothering to check for cars. A couple of horns honked at him, but he made it to the other side in one piece.

“Yo, Jay!
What’s up, man?” Skunk stumbled to a stop and Ace practically plowed into him, causing them both to laugh so hard they doubled over, slapping each other on the back and apologizing profusely. Oh yeah, definitely an annoying conversation. They were decent enough guys, but he did not have time for this right now.

“Listen, we got a problem. Cops raided the squat last night.”

“You’re shitting me.” Skunk was the first to recover.

“No, man.
Em and I had to make a run for it, but they’re sitting on the place. We can’t go back there.”

“Where is Em?” Ace scanned the sidewalk, but from the way his eyes were glazed over, Jay doubted he was seeing much. He liked Em, a little too much for Jay’s taste.

“She’s fine. She’s actually waiting for me, so I gotta run. Just wanted to give ya a heads up.”

“Right.
Thanks, man. Where you headed?” Skunk slapped him on the shoulder.

“Breakfast.”
And please do not come with us.

“Right.
Well, looks like we’re off to find a new damn squat. This sucks, man.” Skunk didn’t seem to really be talking to him anymore, so Jay took the chance to bail.

“Good luck with that. See ya around.” With a quick nod to each of them, he slipped back across the street.

When he reached Em, her face had gone pale and she was staring at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What? What happened?”

“
What happened?
” Jay cringed at her near screech level volume. He was obviously missing something. “You just ran out into the road! In front of all of those cars!” The blanket dipped off of her shoulder as she pulled her arm free. “You. Could. Have. Been. Killed.” She punctuated each word with, what he was sure she thought was, a tough punch to his arm. In reality, it felt more like being hit with a Nerf dart and he had to really work to conceal a smile.

She was right. It had been a stupid move. And she didn’t exactly have a great track record
with crossing streets, so he understood her fear. He’d just been in such a rush to get it over with so he could get back to worrying about what really mattered that he hadn’t really thought about it.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. From now on, I promise to look both ways before I cross any streets.” His smile slipped loose and a laugh came along with it. “I’ll even let you hold my hand.”

Em punched him once more for good measure, but she wasn’t having any better luck concealing her grin than he was.

“All right.
Come on, Rambo. I’m starving.”

***

Sam was just opening the doors when they arrived.

“You two are here early.
Rough night?” Sam ushered them inside and made sure they each got a cup of coffee.

“You could say that.” Jay didn’t elaborate, and just like always, Sam didn’t pry.

The shop was emptier than usual, so they lingered, eating their breakfast in a back corner and soaking in as much warmth as they could. It was going to be a long, cold day. But the longer they stood there, the more time Em had to think. And the more she thought, the quieter she got. All of the playfulness from earlier was gone, replaced with a look of distress so strong it strangled Jay to see on her. She was chewing her bottom lip hard enough that he was afraid she’d break the skin, and her fingers were practically knotted in her hair.

“Jay?” Em’s voice was
reluctant, like she needed an answer she wasn’t sure he could give her. “Where are we going to sleep tonight if we can’t go back to the squat?”

The truth was
, he couldn’t. He didn’t have an answer . . . yet. So, he went for the next best thing. Making her laugh. “I don’t know. What do you think, the Ritz or the Hilton? I hear they both have beautiful penthouses.”

A small smile crept onto Em’s face and she eased the death grip she had on the blanket.

“It’s going to be okay, Em. I’ll figure something out. I promise.” He wasn’t lying to her. He would figure something out. He had to.

***

Stop, after stop, after stop . . . The entire day was starting to feel like one long flashback to some of Jay’s not-so-greatest hits. He’d dragged Em across the city and back again, checking every last place he’d crashed over the past two years.

The final straw came when he revisited the mechanics shop he’d worked at his first few weeks out there. They’d taken him on as cheap labor. He’d put in long hours for little pay, but at least it was a job. They certainly hadn’t paid enough for him to afford his own place, so when he’d found the delivery door around back that led to a supply closet it felt like fate. Jay had crashed there for almost three months before they caught him. 

That had cost him both his job and the roof over his head when they tossed him out on his ass. But, it turned out, karma really was a bitch. It looked like the entire place had burned to the ground. Not that karma was doing him any damn favors.

And then, because the universe was clearly against them today—just like it had been every other damn day of their godforsaken lives—it started to rain. Big, fat, cold drops pelted them from above. As the wind shifted, they were hit in the face by stinging bits of ice. Within four blocks they were both soaked and shivering.

It was too much. Just too damn much. He must have been a pretty fucking horrible human being in a past life, for this life to make any sense at all. But what about Em? What had she done to deserve any of this?
Nothing
,
dammit
. Neither of them had done anything to deserved this crap, and now even Mother Nature was against them.

When his feet led them to the entrance of the park, he realized where he’d been heading. It wasn’t ideal—in fact, it sucked—but it was the best they were going to manage for tonight.

Chapter Thirty

Em

Jay looked haggard. Stress and exhaustion weighed his shoulders down. His hair was plastered to his face and his clothes sagged under their sopping wet weight. Em hated seeing it. But most of all she hated the look of defeat in his eyes. He’d done his absolute best, but sometimes there just weren’t any easy answers. She understood that better than anyone.

The bridge didn’t seem so bad. It kept the rain off of their heads and blocked at least some of the bitter wind. That was enough to be happy about. Several others seemed to have had the
same idea. A few people lingered here or there. A group of four older men had started a fire in an old metal trash can further down by the water. The heat would have drawn her in like a moth to a . . . well a flame, but Jay steered them clear of it.