Momentum (21 page)

“Good! So everything’s fine now. Where’s Arizona? Let’s get this show on the road and contact her mother again.”

“No, everything is
not
okay! Far from it. I screwed up!” Simla sobbed.

“Simla, get a grip on yourself. What happened? Didn’t you get Arizona? I can help you.”

“I tried, Dad. But Kellan was holding her so tight that I couldn’t budge her.”

“So, we’ll go back, and I’ll help you.”

“It’s not as simple as that. I’m scared to go back.”

“Why?”

“I killed someone.”

I
woke up in Kellan’s arms. He was practically lying on top of me, his weight pinning me down into the cushions. We were still in the storage room at Abercrombie. I was totally stiff and needed to stretch, but sat as still as I could in order to not disturb Kellan. He smelled good despite us both probably needing a shower. Eventually, I had to move; I felt as though I was suffocating. I squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable. He moved. I could feel his muscles going taut as he slid his hands up and down my back sending shivers through my body. His heart thumped as he ran his lips up my neck toward my ear. Geez! Who was he dreaming about? “Kell! Wake up!” I pinched him.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry! Get off me. I need to move.”

He opened his eyes, looking confused.

“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re still at Abercrombie. Please, let me get up.”

“Uh? Yeah, sure.” He slid off of me.

“Don’t let go of my hand, though.”

I stood and stretched, and Kellan did the same. There was a soft knock at the door before it opened, and Harry entered.

“Are you done with your shift?”

“Yeah, I’ve been done for a while. I came to check on you before, but you were asleep, so I decided to go outside and investigate. I walked to the Wynn to see if Simla was still there.” He stopped.

“And?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I thought I saw Raj.”

“Raj? What the heck is he doing here?” Kellan asked.

“Maybe that’s the
help
Simla brought back.”

“Geez, what are we going to do? They’re probably going to keep looking for us until they find us,” I whispered. “We should go back to the Bellagio to see if Gramadea’s looking for us. She must be, or she might have sent someone else to find us.”

Harry shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know how much help Simla brought back with her. For all we know, she’s got the Bellagio–and every other hotel–covered. We need to get out of here, out of Vegas.”

“Where to?”

“We should try to get home. Maybe not to our house, but we could head to Morena or Mrs. Skoog’s house. We’ll be safe at one of those until we figure out what to do next.”

“And how are we going to get home? We don’t have any money,” I pointed out.

“I made some today, and I think it’ll be safe enough for us to go back to the motel we were at last night. Clara said she’d have some work for me, and I can ask to use her computer to figure out how to get home.”

“Sounds good.” Kellan yawned. “Let’s go.”

We tried to walk out of Abercrombie as casually as we could, though we did get some weird looks as we exited the storage room. I stayed sandwiched between Harry and Kellan, and we kept to the shadows as much as possible as we walked briskly toward the motel. I was relieved to see Clara at the reception desk. Harry went to speak to her while Kellan and I waited by the armchairs.

Harry came back and handed me the key. “Same room as last night. I’ll join you later. Here are some snacks.”

“Okay, don’t be too late.” I took the bag from him. That was nice of Clara. She must really like Harry. “What sort of work do you have to do?”

“I’m going to restock the supply room. They had a delivery today; the boxes are around the back. Then I’ll get to use the computer.”

I nodded and made my way to our room with Kellan attached to me.

I needed to take a shower, but I could hardly do that holding Kellan’s hand. “Kell, you’re going to have to let go, just for a while. I need to use the restroom.”

He looked unhappy. “I don’t know, Shrimp.”

I shot him the death glare. “Let go!”

He did, and I shut the bathroom door behind me, but left it unlocked. I didn’t take long, but managed to have a quick shower. I almost felt human again as I emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

“Feel free,” I said to Kellan, who was sitting by the door.

“I’ll wait for Harry. I didn’t like that at all. I know you had to, but I didn’t like it one bit.”

“I know; I’m sorry.”

He slipped his fingers through mine and pulled me to the bed. “It’s my job to keep you safe.”

“It’s not really. I mean, it’s really nice of you to be here and help out, but it’s not your job.”

“Promise you won’t let go of my hand for the rest of the evening, at least until Harry gets back.”

“Yep, pinkie swear.” Then, I remembered that I was still in my towel. I had to get dressed! That would be a challenge now. “Can I get dressed before the promise goes into effect?”

“No. I’ll turn around, and you’ll manage.”

I sighed and went to work on trying to squirm back into my clothes. Way awkward. Especially when there was a knock at the door. I didn’t want to scare our visitor with an eyeful that would embarrass me into a virtual tomato. I wondered who it was. We didn’t expect Harry back yet. Thankfully, I managed to get most of my clothes on before Kellan turned around. I pulled up my pants as he wrapped his arm around me, then dragged me toward the bathroom.

“Who is it?” he yelled.

“It’s me! David!”

David? I broke free from Kellan’s arms, ran to the door, and threw it open. I stood and stared at him for a moment, not believing that it was actually him. When his face broke into his usual killer smile, I launched myself into his arms.

“Get in,” Kellan said, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here? How did you find us? Were you able to track her?”

David let go of me and turned to Kellan, who immediately grabbed my hand.

“Yeah, I tracked her,” he confirmed. “So, what happened? What are you doing here? I thought I left you guys safe and sound with Amadea.”

I told him what happened, leaving out the boring details, and he nodded. “I felt something was really wrong, so I decided to come and find you.”

“It’s okay,
I
have it under control.” Kellan sounded a bit defensive. He slipped his arm around my waist from behind, drawing me close. “Besides, Harry’s here, too. Arizona is fine.”

“Hardly,” David scoffed. “Look around! Is this the sort of place Arizona should be at? And I’m not so sure she’s
fine
. You keep rubbing your shoulder, Poppet. Did Simla hurt you when she tried to wander you?”

I narrowed my eyes, not being the least bit happy that he’d brought it up. I had, in fact, not noticed it until I took a shower. Both my shoulders were black and blue, heavily bruised from Simla’s fingers. It was fine, though. It wasn’t like she’d dislocated anything. “It’s okay, really.” I pouted.

I could feel the daggered exchange between David and Kellan. Could it be that David was jealous that I was standing so close to Kellan? That would be silly. I’d rather David’s arm was around my waist. Kellan was just protecting me,
doing his job,
as he called it.

“Show me your shoulder.” David’s eyes narrowed and focused on Kellan’s.

I wasn’t feeling the least bit like complying, but if my shoulder could break the icy exchange between the two of them, it was worth it. I didn’t get a chance to bare them, though.

Kellan expertly pulled down my top, revealing my bruised shoulders. He grabbed my arms and turned me around. His eyes were blazing, and his face tightened into a dark scowl. “Why the heck didn’t you say anything? We need to get you to a doctor.”

“Stop it, Kellan. You’re scaring her.” David was by my side pulling me away from him.

His face softening, Kellan took a step back. “I’m sorry, Shrimp.” Then he took a few more steps back and sat down on the bed with his face in the palms of his hands.

“Kell, it’s okay. It really is. I just didn’t want to say anything because we’ve got enough problems right now. It’s just a bruise; that’s all.”

David slid his fingers over my shoulders and took a closer look. “It’s not just a bruise. There are scratch marks on your neck, and your skin is torn in places. Did you clean the cuts?”

“Not properly. Just sprayed them quickly when I was taking a shower.”

“We need a first-aid kit.”

Kellan nodded and picked up the hotel phone. “I’ll ask Harry to bring one up.”

“Come with me, Arizona,” David said. “I’ll clean them off properly with some water in the meantime.”

I followed him into the bathroom where he gingerly picked up a washcloth and soaked it in hot water. Then he gently patted my back and shoulders with it.

Once we were back in the room, he went on the offensive again. “That bathroom is filthy. I don’t know if washing the wounds with that washcloth did more harm than good. How long were you planning to stay here?”

“Not long. We figured it was best to hide out in a hole like this. Like you said, no one would expect to find us here,” Kellan explained. “Shrimp, come sit down.”

“What’s the plan?” David persisted.

Kellan grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. “I don’t know. We’ll know when Harry gets back. He’s looking into how we can get back home. How did you get here?”

“I flew in from New York, and then cabbed it to the strip. I tracked Arizona to the Wynn then, when I couldn’t find her, I tried again and found myself outside this motel. We should get to the airport and fly back home.”

“I’m pretty sure the airport is being watched. It’s the obvious place we’d go.” Kellan put his arm around my shoulder drawing me closer. “It’s way too dangerous. Besides, we don’t have any money for airfare.”

“Money’s not an issue,” David interjected. “I have plenty. However, you’re right about the airport not being secure. We don’t really know how many people are involved in this. It may just be Simla and Raj on their own, in which case, they’d be no match for us.”