Page 60 of Jump on Three
We made it out of the alley and onto the sidewalk without any fanfare. Bella started to rush, but my legs felt too heavy to move any faster, so she slowed down.
“I might be freaking out a little bit,” I admitted.
“Glad I’m not the only one.”
Sal was waiting for us exactly where we’d left her, chewing on the end of a pipe and waggling her eyebrows at us expectantly.
Bella explained. “We witnessed a man getting the living hell beat out of him.”
Sal glanced back and forth between us, then sighed and turned frontward. “Guess this puts an end to our undercover work. It was fun while it lasted.”
“Oh yeah,” Bella agreed. “I’m hangin’ up my hat. I’m no secret agent. One act of violence, and I folded like an accordion.”
I let my head fall back on the seat and closed my eyes. I didn’t say anything. In the cozy, warm back seat of Sal’s car, I wasn’t scared or upset. I wasn’t sure what I was, but I didn’t think I was done with this mission.
I just had to get better at sneaking out next time.
Chapter Nineteen
Ivan
It’d been a long, long night. I had homework to do. A paper to finish. Needed to get some training in too. No way I would be sleeping in tomorrow, even if it was Sunday. I had to crash as soon as I got back to Savage Academy so I could grab the few hours I was guaranteed to get.
Jay, stepping between me and my exit, had my hackles rising. I had an hour-long drive home. I intended to use that time to get a head start on my sleep and did not appreciate being blocked.
“Hey, Ivan. How’s the hand?” Jay asked.
I flexed my fingers automatically. “Stiff, but not broken.”
“Good, good.”
I raised my eyebrows, impatient. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah, sorry, that’s why I stopped you. I meant to tell you when you were here last time, but you cleared out before I could catch you.”
My eyebrows rose higher on my forehead. Jay wasn’t much of a conversationalist. He spoke with his immense girth and height, his presence being all he needed to convey most of his messages. Since he wasn’t trying to intimidate me, he needed words, and they were not his strong suit.
“Ah yeah.” He ran his big hand over his bald head. “There was a girl here looking for you.”
Nothing new. “All right. Is there a reason I need to know this?”
“We didn’t let her in. She was too young and wasn’t dressed the part. She said she goes to school with you.”
I froze, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “Her name?”
“She didn’t give it. Once she asked about you, we told her to get outta here, but I figured you’d want to know.”
“I need more information, Jay.”
“Right.” He nodded a few times. “She was kind of wack, but in a cute way. Told us about nuns slapping her hands when she’d acted up as a little kid. Drew was about to hunt down those nuns and slap their hands.”
What the fuck?
“What the fuck?”
His relaxed chuckle put me on edge. “Right?”
My jaw tightened. Jay was lucky I’d hit my quota for violence for the night and needed to baby my middle knuckle, or he would have felt my frustration at his storytelling in his gut.