Payback by Kristen Simmons

Author:Kristen Simmons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

CHAPTER 18

Marcus agrees to take us back to the hotel, and soon I find myself standing on a crowded train, watching him teach Geri dance moves to the music coming from his cell phone. She hasn’t wanted to talk about her father, but seems all too happy with the present distraction.

Caleb’s side rocks against mine as we round a turn, and his hand settles beneath my coat on my hip. His eyes stayed glued to the small screen of his burner phone, though, his brows scrunched.

“What are you looking at?” I ask.

“I’m trying to find Tim Loki,” says Caleb. “It’s strange. There’s nothing public on him.”

I glance down at the screen with a frown. “You sure? Didn’t Damien say he owned a lot of companies?”

“Yes. Overseas,” says Caleb. “Maybe he uses a different name.”

“Maybe he’s been disappeared.”

Caleb snorts. “Couldn’t be much use to Dr. O, then.” He closes his phone. “I’ll have Sam look at it when we get back.” His chin tips to Geri and Marcus. “They’re getting along.”

So are we, I think. Who’d have thought Geri and I would ever end up on the same side?

Everyone will be as soon as they hear they aren’t getting the deals Dr. O promised.

Any fury is overrun by a growing anticipation. Tomorrow, we’re going home. I’m going to convince the others at school to join us, and together, we’re going to end this.

I’m sure of it now. He can’t touch all of us together. Once they know his promises are lies, they’ll rise against him. We’ll tell him if he harms another one of us, Damien will take everything he’s done straight to the press. The entire world will know how he’s blackmailed politicians and students, murdered Raf, and ordered the death of his own sister.

Dr. O will be scared, and even if banishment is better than he deserves, he’ll be gone before the end of the week.

“This is us,” Caleb says as the train shudders to a stop.

We smash through the door with the rest of the crowd, and I’m pinched with regret as Marcus lifts me off the ground in a giant hug.

“Don’t go,” he wails, loud enough that people nearby throw shady looks our way. “We can go get tacos, or sneak into the Orioles’ stadium, or throw ice cubes at the skaters at Inner Harbor.”

I’m about to tell him we can’t—things will move fast with Dr. O once we get back and we need to prepare—but Geri speaks first.

“Okay.”

Marcus sets me down, and we all turn to Geri, whose fingers are so twisted in the strap of her purse the tips are turning white. Her gaze bounces between Marcus and me, cheeks redder by the second.

“I mean, if they’re tired, I could stay out. If you wanted.”

Marcus slides beside Geri, and when his arm reaches around her shoulders, she giggles.

It’s a sound I’m not accustomed to her making.

I glance at Caleb. As much as I trust Marcus, leaving Geri alone with a guy she barely knows feels like a very not-friend thing to do.

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