Sara Shepard - Burned

The articles described her as a “con woman,” capable of convincing people of anything and everything just to get her way. Other reporters called her a “sociopath,” a “girl Houdini,” and “a miscreant with no respect for private property.” Apparently, Jordan didn’t steal the vehicles because she had any use for them—it was all for the thrill.

It was crushing. Emily had felt reborn with Jordan. For a few blissful hours, there had been something good in her world again. But how could she have fallen for another liar? Did Jordan even like her at all, or was she exploiting Emily’s kindness and generosity to keep a low profile? What if Emily got in trouble just for associating with her? A knew about it, too—what if A told?

Sighing, she grabbed her bag from the ledge where she’d left it. “I’m going back to my room for a while. I’ll be ready for the performance tomorrow, though. I promise.”

She padded toward the elevator, glancing over her shoulder just once. Aria and Spencer were whispering, probably trying to decide whether or not to follow her. She was glad when they didn’t.

There was no one in the elevator for her ride to her floor, and the hallway to her room was empty. But when she saw a figure sitting at her door, she froze, her heart suddenly beating fast. It was Jordan.

Jordan glanced up at the same time. Her lips parted, and she started to stand. “Emily!”

Emily turned around and walked the other way, the grass skirt scratching against her legs.

“Emily!” Jordan called again, running after her. “Wait!”

Emily kept going, saying nothing. “I know you’re mad,” Jordan blurted. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I tried, a few times, but … I just didn’t know how.”

“Well, now it’s all out in the open, isn’t it?” Emily said brusquely, pulling open the heavy door to the stairs. She had no idea where she was going. She just knew she had to go somewhere .

“So that’s it?” Jordan’s voice cracked. “You’re just going to walk away from us?”

Emily pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and climbed the first set of stairs, the grass skirt swishing loudly against her legs.

“Emily, please,” Jordan said. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”

Emily paused mid-step. When she turned, Jordan’s face was stained with tears. Her pert nose was red-rimmed from crying, and her hands were worrying the hem of her T-shirt. A T-shirt, incidentally, she had borrowed from Emily’s closet—because Emily was so frickin’ nice and naive. The image of Jordan on TV flared in her mind. Walk away , a wounded voice inside her said.

But she also knew what Jordan meant. Something amazing had happened between them.

She swallowed hard. “You lied to me. I don’t know anything about you. I didn’t even know your real name!”

“I know. And I feel terrible about it. But it wasn’t because I wanted to hurt you. I wanted to protect you.”

Emily ran her fingers over a crack on the wall. “Did you really escape from jail?”

“Yes,” Jordan said in a quiet voice.

“Why weren’t you wearing that orange jumpsuit when I first saw you?”

“I was in my regular clothes in the holding cell.”

“And why did you pick the name Jordan?”

“It’s my middle name.” Jordan stared at her feet. “And Richards is my mom’s maiden name. I’ve always liked them both better.”

“Why did you steal planes? Cars?”

Jordan lowered her eyes. “It was something my best friend dared me to do. We were in it together.”

Emily scoffed. “Your best friend made you steal a plane ?”

“It was that girl Mackenzie I started talking about. She dared me to steal bigger things, do more dangerous stuff, basically because she loved the power over me. She promised she’d love me back if I did, but it didn’t work that way.”

Emily curled her toes. The story was awfully familiar—Ali had treated her like that, too.

“Mackenzie was the one who turned me in, actually,” Jordan went on. “I told her I didn’t want to steal things anymore, that it was getting too crazy. So she called the cops on me.”

Emily gasped. “Did she get in trouble?”

Jordan shook her head. “Nope.”

“Why not? Didn’t she steal stuff, too?”

Jordan’s lips twitched. “I didn’t tell the cops that.” She peeked at Emily sheepishly. “Really lame, right?”

Emily stared at the big number 6 painted on the wall next to the stairs. She’d covered for Ali, too. Hell, she’d even let her out of the Poconos house. “It’s not lame. But your relationship with your friend isn’t love. It’s not even friendship .”

“I know,” Jordan said quietly. “But once I realized it, it was too late. Only now do I really know what love is.”

Emily looked up; the air felt electrically charged. Jordan was looking so deeply into Emily’s eyes that Emily felt a magnetic pull toward her. She thought about how Jordan had held her close on the glass-bottomed boat, accepting everything about her. And how she’d kissed Emily out in the open at the elevators. And how they could talk about anything, and how much they laughed, and how right kissing her felt.

She walked slowly back down the stairs until she was by Jordan’s side. When she slipped her hand into Jordan’s, it felt as though she’d come home. But then terror struck her. “What if someone else knows where you are?” She thought of A’s note. Cute! You can room together in jail!

Jordan’s mouth made a line. “What do you mean?”

Emily swallowed hard. “What if someone recognizes you from the news … and tells?”

“I’ve kept a really low profile,” Jordan insisted. “I don’t think anyone on this ship is on the lookout for me, anyway. You shouldn’t worry.”

“But …” Emily trailed off, thinking of all the things A could do with the information. “What are you going to do when this cruise ends and we’re back on land? They’re going to catch you—you can’t run forever. What will happen to us? Will I ever see you again?”

Jordan pulled her close and rocked her back and forth. “Hey,” she said soothingly, rubbing a figure-eight pattern on Emily’s back. “Don’t worry.”

“But I have to worry!” Emily cried. “You need a plan! You need to figure out a way to stay safe!”

Jordan smiled placidly. “Em, I do have a plan.”

Emily blinked. “What is it?”

Slowly, Jordan led her out of the stairwell, past the busy arcade, and into one of the lounges, which had big velvet booths and long aquariums lining the walls. Other than Jeremy, who was leaning against the bar, talking to one of the bartenders, they were the only people in the room.

They sat down in a back booth near a glowing ATM machine. The second hand of the art deco clock on the wall made a full rotation before Jordan spoke again. “I’m never going back to the States,” she began. “You’re right—I’ll be arrested as soon as I set foot there. As long as I stay in another country, though, I’ll be safe. So when we dock in Bermuda, I’m getting on a plane. I was going to do it at our first stop in St. Martin, but then I met you, and I just … couldn’t.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “Where are you going?”

“Thailand. I have it all worked out. There’s a fake passport waiting for me in Bermuda, along with a plane ticket.”

Emily pictured a mental map of the world, trying to gauge the distance between Rosewood and Thailand. It felt like Jordan was going to the moon. “What are you going to do there?”

“Live an amazing life.” Jordan said wistfully, twisting a cloth napkin that had been set on the table in her hands. “It’s incredible there, Em—beautiful beaches, an amazing culture, and you can live like a king on nothing. I was thinking of teaching English to make money. And I want you to come with me.”