Aimee Carter - Pawn

Knox stared at me. “You want to learn how to shoot?”

“Yes. Can you teach me?”

“No.”

“Then I’m sure Augusta would love to know what you do on your nights out.”

Several seconds passed. I half expected him to threaten me—or worse, take a swing—but instead he burst out laughing.

“I like you,” he said, reminding me so firmly of Daxton that I nearly recoiled. “Sure, I’ll teach you. Why do you think you need to learn?”

Instead of answering, I started toward the stairwell. It was a stupid question. He knew how much danger I was in. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to Lila, does it?” I said.

He fell into step beside me as we descended the stairs. “Why do you think it does?”

“You like answering questions with another question, don’t you?” I said, struggling to come up with a reason that didn’t include my knowing he’d been told about Lila’s assassination ahead of time. “Guns are for killing people or making them do what you want. You only have two hands, so there’s no reason for you to have so many guns. That means you were going to give them to other people, which means either you need money or you’re upset about something. Since you’re in no danger of starving, Lila’s the obvious answer.”

He eyed me. “Yes, it has to do with Lila.”

“What about her?” I said. “How she died, or—”

“The guns are for the people who supported her,” he said. “That’s all I’m telling you.”

I whirled around in the middle of the stairwell, and he grabbed the railing to stop from plowing into me. “You said you’d never seen the speeches before. Were you lying?”

“What? No.” He looked flustered, and a hint of satisfaction crept through me. “I had an idea of what she was doing, but I kept out of it. Celia filled me in after you were Masked.”

“Celia was using her to overthrow Daxton, wasn’t she? That’s why Lila was killed.”

Knox didn’t meet my eyes, and that was all the answer I needed.

“Is Daxton going to kill Celia, too?” I said, and Knox shook his head. “Why not?”

“It’s—complicated.” He frowned. “Daxton, he—”

Below us, the door clanged open, and I froze. Knox pressed me against the wall, and as footsteps thudded up the stairs, he kissed me hard.

“What’s going on here?” said a gruff voice, and Knox pulled away, looking annoyed.

“What does it look like?” he said, and the burly security guard below us paled.

“Miss Hart, Mr. Creed—my sincerest apologies. I didn’t realize—”

“That much is obvious,” said Knox, and he tucked me underneath his arm. “If you don’t mind, we’ll be going now.”

The guard stepped aside as Knox led me down the stairs. Once we were back in the corridor with the bathrooms, I slipped away from him and took a deep breath to clear my head. Pretend or not, he was a great kisser.

“You can’t just— do that whenever you feel like it,” I said, trying to sound angry, but it came out more like a whine.

“Is that so?” said Knox. “I’ll try to remember that next time we’re seconds away from being caught fifty feet from an illegal arms dealer.”

He waited, his eyes on me, and I had to turn away from him so I could refocus. I didn’t have time to care about the guns or the way he kissed me. My chances of having another opportunity to sneak away and find Benjy were all but nonexistent now, and making a break for it wouldn’t do me any good. Knox was taller than me, and I was sure he could outrun me.

That left the truth. I had no guarantee he wouldn’t try to stop me, but I did know about the weapons. If that’s what it would take to get him to bring me to Benjy, I would do it.

“I need to get to the Heights.”

“Why’s that?” he said, leaning against the opposite wall.

“Benjy’s taking his test tomorrow, and this is my last chance to find him before he disappears.”

Knox raised an eyebrow. “The Heights are fifteen miles away. What do you expect to do, walk the entire way?”

“If I have to.” I crossed my arms. “And unless you want everyone finding out about what happened tonight, you’re going to help me.”

“We’re already helping you,” he said. “You can’t try to take charge like this. It’ll derail everything we’ve been doing.”

“What have you been doing? You can’t just tell me everything’s being handled and not expect me to think you’re lying.”

“And why would I lie to you?”

“To get me to cooperate.”

“You’re already cooperating,” he pointed out. “We know what we’re doing, and you’re going to have to trust us.”

No, I didn’t. I could walk right out that door, and short of dragging me kicking and screaming back to Somerset, there was nothing Knox could do about it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the curtain aside and did exactly that.

Hundreds of people stared at me as I stormed over the bridge and out of the club, but I ignored them. Once I reached the street, I headed back toward the walkway, jumping onto one heading east.

“This is going to end eventually.”

I scowled. Knox could follow me all he wanted, but that wasn’t going to change a damn thing.

“What are you going to do then? Keep walking until your feet blister?”

He leaned up against the railing and directly into my line of sight. I looked away.

“Tell me, Lila,” he said. “How do you plan on finding him? He won’t be at the group home anymore. Are you going to walk the streets until you spot him?”

“If I have to,” I said through gritted teeth. Benjy would show up at the testing center in the Heights the next morning, and that would be as good a place as any to wait for him.

“And how are you going to explain to him who you are?”

“I’m going to tell him the truth. Despite what you and everyone else seem to think, usually that’s the best way to handle things.”

“Fair enough.” Knox cracked his knuckles. “How are you going to tell him that you’re marrying someone else?”

I glared at him. “You bring that up now?”

“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he? Won’t that bother him?”

Of course it would, and Knox knew it. It didn’t matter, though. Benjy would know the only reason I was marrying Knox was to stay alive. He would understand. But I would never forgive myself if something happened to Benjy because I didn’t reach him in time.

Eventually the walkway ended, and we set out on foot. The buildings became smaller, more run-down, and there were fewer lights. Knox tried to take my elbow, and even though I shrugged him off, he stayed close.

When the street ended, I stopped at the crossroad. We had to have walked at least three miles by then, and my feet were throbbing, but I couldn’t give up. “Which way?”

Knox shrugged. “You’re the one leading. You figure it out.”

I tried to imagine a map of the city in my head, but while I could picture the squiggly lines that indicated streets, I had no idea which one we were on. I squinted up at the sign, struggling to recognize the letters, but it was hopeless. I couldn’t do this without Knox’s help.

“Please,” I said tightly. “They could kill him.”

We were alone on the street now, but Knox kept glancing around nervously. I didn’t know why, since he was the one with the gun. “Trust me, okay? We’re not going to let anything happen to Benjy.” He set his hand on my arm, and when I tried to pull away, he tightened his grip. “Do you want to know a secret?”

“No. I want to find Benjy.”

He leaned in closer anyway. “You’re the most important person in the family right now. Daxton and Augusta need you to help undo the damage that Lila caused. Once lockdown is over, they’re going to ask you to make speeches that denounce everything Lila spent the past year building. They can’t do it on their own, and letting the news of Lila’s death become public will only prove that what she was saying was right. They can’t have that. They’re not going to kill Benjy to keep you in line, because as far as they know, he’s the only reason you agreed to go along with this in the first place.”