the front door. Huck was bigger and faster than I was, but desperation often granted people supernatural-level powers. There was no telling how far I would get if I ran.
Hell, there was no guarantee he would even try to chase me.
Without thinking things through, or really thinking at all, I suddenly bolted.
I blasted past a startled Mr. Peters, and hit the front door with enough force to rattle my teeth. I jumped down the front steps and dashed across the immaculately maintained lawn like the hounds of Hell were after me.
I made it about two blocks before my only other fear caught up with me before Huck did.
With a deafening crack, thunder and lightning rapidly filled the sky as dark clouds rolled over the morning sun. It started to sprinkle lightly, but the sky sounded as angry as Huck had looked a minute ago as boom after boom echoed in my ears. I dropped down in a crouch on the sidewalk and covered my head with my arms to block out the sound. I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to stop myself from hyperventilating. I was still crying and shaking from the conversation that turned me inside out, and now I’d raced blindly into this storm that was going to be the end me.
I felt strong, warm arms wrap around me just as it started to really rain. I heard Huck swear as we instantly got drenched. He picked me up like I weighed nothing, his eyes not looking any calmer or kinder than they had in the old man’s house.
He took a few steps back toward our landlord’s house, but I stopped him by pointing in the direction of Mercer’s store. It was only a few blocks over, and I would settle down faster in the familiar back room. I didn’t take my keys when I left, but I knew the combination code to the electronic lock on the back door where deliveries came in. I barely managed to get half-assed directions out, and told Huck how to get inside before my shallow, raspy breathing ultimately caused me to pass out in his arms as he was yelling at me for being a fool.
Things went black quickly. For once, I didn’t worry about what was going to happen to me when I was unaware and out of control.
Because Huck was the one holding me.
Huck
I juggled Ollie’s limp body as she drifted in and out of awareness and my cell phone so I could let Mr. Peters know I had her and would take care of her. It was tricky. Add in the sudden deluge of rain, and I was lucky I didn’t drop either of the fragile things I had in my hands.
The onslaught of cold water also made the short trek to the quirky secondhand store take longer than it should’ve. By the time I got to the back door in a wide alleyway, I was soaked, and Ollie’s curly hair was clinging to her face and sticking to damp skin everywhere it could. I punched the code into the electronic lock, getting it wrong the first few tries because I was worried about dropping Ollie on her ass. She wasn’t a large person, but she was no lightweight either. She was built like a normal nineteen-year-old girl. Just like the rest of her, the curves she had were cute and just enough to be an interesting handful when she let me grab a hold of her.
I’d passed by the cutesy vintage store a hundred different times on my way to and from various places in town. I’d never been inside, but I knew many of the girls in my classes liked to go here for vintage designer clothes and handbags. I had no idea Ollie worked there, or that she had lived in the back room of the small store for the summer while she waited for me to relent and let her move into the Victorian. She’d been waiting right under my nose for a long time. I felt like a fool for not realizing it much sooner. It seemed like the earth should’ve shifted as if we were tectonic plates grinding against one another, creating a natural disaster when we were finally near each other after such a long time apart. I couldn’t fathom how her arrival had been so silent. Or how loud her attempt to leave was going to be.
The inside of the cozy shop was warm and smelled like vanilla and