The boys told me their favorite things on the menu, which ranged from grilled cheese to the burger. I ended up going with chicken fingers, Drew’s favorite. We ate and laughed, and it felt good. Normal.
Heat flared on the side of my face, and my skin felt itchy and too tight for my body. All telltale signs that someone was watching me.
I swallowed hard and glanced around the room. My gaze landed on a man sitting alone. The same one I’d practically run into at my motel—the one with the scruffy beard and the jumpy eyes. Only now, those eyes were fixed on me.
My fingers curled into my palms, nails pressing into my flesh. I spoke reassurances to myself over and over. I was safe. People were everywhere.
I should’ve gotten used to the staring. The fixation. My face had been plastered all over newspapers and TV screens. While five years had passed, there was a surge of specials every year around the anniversary, and now was that time. He’d probably seen someUnsolved Mysteriesepisode or read a true crime blog.
I focused on my breathing. In and out. In and out.
“Hallie?” Luke’s voice snapped me back to the present. Concern lined his face. “You ready to go?”
Heat hit my cheeks. “Sorry.” I forced a chuckle. “Lost in dreamland.”
I thought my voice sounded normal, but I felt the tremble in my vocal cords. Just a handful of minutes, and we’d be home. I could excuse myself to the bathroom and do my breathing exercises. Ground myself in the safety of Lawson’s house.
Grabbing my purse, I stood and clasped my hands in front of me so no one could see them shaking.
Charlie ran ahead, and Drew followed. But Luke stayed near me. I wove through tables toward the door. The bearded man’s seat was directly in our path. If I avoided him, it would be extremely obvious. Awkward, even.
I kept my focus on my breathing. In and out. Not too long, not too short.
As we neared his table, he stood. “It’s you. You’re here.”
I stumbled to the side as the man tried to get closer.
Luke was there in a flash, pushing the man back. “Dude. Not cool.”
Anger flashed in the man’s dark eyes. Eyes that sent me spiraling back to another time. Where a masked man tore me from sleep to send me into a sea of agony.
I hurried toward the door, tripping over my feet and struggling to breathe. As I stumbled outside into the cold, fresh air filled my lungs. It helped to ease the worst of the panic.
I squeezed my eyes closed, battling the memories and pushing them back. It was as if I fought a mental war every day, positioning my soldiers in places I thought there might be an assault. But, sometimes, there were sneak attacks. Ones I could never prepare for. Like now.
It took more than a few moments to get my breathing under control. When I opened my eyes, Luke’s worried face filled my vision.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Charlie and Drew?”
My voice was raspy, as if I’d just smoked a pack of cigarettes and chased it with a shot of whiskey.
“They ran to the car.”
Good. That was good. Then I hadn’t scared them with my freak-out. “I’m sorry, Luke, I—”
Luke shook his head. “That guy was being a creep. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
God, he had a good heart. It was just hidden beneath pounds of armor. “Thanks for your help.”
He nodded, and we started walking. But he still kept close, the silence wrapping around us.
“What happened to you?”
Luke’s question was so quiet I almost couldn’t hear it. But it was there all the same.
Blood pounded in my ears. I didn’t want to lie to Luke, not when the progress we’d made was tenuous at best. But even at sixteen, I didn’t want to fill his head with the darkness out there.
