Page 38 of Glass
“I don’t know, Poppy. But after the day we’ve had together, I think we’re better off being safe than sorry. Worst case scenario, we’ve pissed your brother off for no good reason. Best case scenario, we’ve managed to keep ourselves alive.” He sounds weary, and if we weren’t in such a hard spot, I would be tempted to say we should stop for the night. We just can’t afford to.
I look away and sniff back a wave of emotion. “I feel like all of this is my fault. If I had just taken the kids and left when I wanted—”
“That wasn’t an option,” Felix cuts me off with a sharp tone.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from saying anything that will only upset him more. I know the truth. Every move he’s made so far trying to change my mind about leaving has put us in potential danger. And worse, it put my siblings in danger too.
I came to save them, not hurt them.
Felix squeezes my hand before letting go. Seconds later, the ignition turns over and Felix slowly turns the car back in the direction of the main road. My phone starts ringing again, and I groan.
“It’s mine this time,” Felix corrects me. “Can you answer it?”
He grabs his phone from the side compartment of the door and hands it to me without checking the screen. “It’s Doc,” I tell him, assuming he’ll want to answer it himself.
“Good. Let’s see if he’s found anything.” Felix glances at me as he stops at the stop sign before turning on the main road. He glances at me as the street lights better illuminate the inside of the car. “You can answer my phone, Poppy. We’re in this together.”
I’m not sure why I’m so hesitant to do so. Maybe because it feels like an intimate gesture to be answering his phone for him, and despite the fact that the man gave me mind blowing orgasms in the middle of the night last night… That’s not what this is. Not so long as he’s Lost and I’m not.
“Just answer it, Poppy. It could be about the kids.”
That’s enough to spur me into action. “Hello?” I sound slightly breathy answering in my sudden panic, and I can hear Doc hesitate before speaking.
“Is everything okay?” Doc asks in concern.
“I was going to ask you that.” I let go of a wry half-laugh.
“Everything is good here,” he reassures me, his voice dropping to a more soothing level. “The kids are settled with Kiara; no one will get to them there. I was calling to let you two know I think I have a lead on Frank Moore.”
Hope blossoms in my chest. I jam my finger against the phone to put it on speaker so Felix can hear too as he follows the signs back onto the highway.
“You found Frank?” Felix asks.
“I found an apartment that he’s not paying for that has his name on the lease. It’s a place to start.” Doc sounds hopeful, which makes the hope expand in my own chest.
“Send me the address,” Felix says. “We’ll check it out as soon as we can. Thanks, Doc.”
Doc tells us he’ll check in again if he finds anything else before saying goodbye and hanging up. Felix’s phone buzzes with a message from Doc as expected. I put his phone next to mine in the cup holder just as mine starts vibrating again.
“He doesn’t give up, huh?” Felix sighs. “You have a good relationship with him?”
“With Gabe? Yeah, I always thought so.” As good as I had with any of my siblings, really. I would say Peter and I have always been the closest out of any of my siblings, but the only sibling I ever really had trouble with was Greg—and that was true for all of us.
Felix sounds grim as our tires hit the stretch of highway and he presses down on the gas. “I guess we’ll find out for sure when he tracks us down again. Here’s hoping we make it to Brooklyn first.”
Yeah, here’s hoping.