“I didn’t say that.”
“Of course you’re my boyfriend…” Alix faltered, suddenly feeling presumptuous and unsure of what Moses really felt for her. “I mean, if you want…”
Maybe he doesn’t like you that way.
“I mean,” Alix stumbled, “if you think I’m your girlfriend…” She felt like she’d stepped off a cliff and found open air under her feet. She threw up her hands. “Will you help me out here? I’m dying! What do you think we are?” She could feel herself blushing horribly.
Moses burst out laughing and pulled her close. “I think you’re cute when you’re blushing,” he said.
“You’re a jerk,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.
“Good thing you like me, then.” He pulled her in tighter.
“So this is serious, right?”
“Boyfriend, girlfriend, going steady, whatever you want to call it, I’m good with it.”
It felt almost criminal how much she liked being wrapped inside his arms.
37
BY THE TIME SHE PICKED up Jonah at Sirius Comix, Alix was sweaty and happy, enjoying the fact of her secret life with Moses. She looked at her little brother affectionately. Life was good, the brother was good, all was good—
“You’re late,” Jonah complained.
“Sorry.” Alix grinned unrepentantly. “I got held up. You could have called.”
“I left my phone in your car,” he groused. He reached around on the floor and came up with it. He gave her another glare. “You used to be on time.”
Alix nodded absently and pulled out into traffic. “I said I was sorry already.”
“It’s okay.” He was fiddling with the phone, staring at it. “I know why you’re late. I get it.”
Alix glanced over at him, feeling a twinge of worry. She suppressed it. First rule of getting away with things was to deny deny deny. “Get what?”
“I know where you’re going,” Jonah said. “I know what you’re hiding from Mom and Dad.”
Deny deny deny. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do.” Jonah held up his phone and grinned. “I tracked you.”
“You… what?” Alix spluttered.
“I put a tracker app on my phone. See?” He showed her the screen. “It wasn’t even hard. Just left my phone in your car a couple times.” He started fiddling with the screen, tapping.
“At first, it was weird because you kept going to the river, and that didn’t make any sense because you never used to do that, but then I got you on the weekend, and I had you in Jersey.”
He held up the screen again for her, an aerial view of industrial buildings, train tracks, and roads. “It’s your factory, right? The one where 2.0 put you in that cage.”
Alix almost drove off the road. “No! That’s not what that is!”
“Watch the road, will you?” Jonah braced as Alix got the car straightened out.
“Get out of my private life!” She was trying not to panic, but she could feel herself starting to hyperventilate.
I need to warn Moses.
She tried to force herself to be calm. “That’s not what you think—”
“Oh come on, Alix! I know what you’re doing. You’re not going over to Sophie’s every weekend, and you’re not doing college-application prep or whatever the heck it is that you tell Mom and Dad you’re doing after school.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“This is me we’re talking about! I’ve been recording you. I’ll bet if I go through this last track a little, I’ll have you and your boyfriend sucking face.” He started fiddling with the screen. “Here let’s try this…”
Moses’s voice crackled from the phone’s speaker. “—here, just lean the seat back—”
“Who’s this talking, Alix? Sure doesn’t sound like Sophie.”
Alix stared straight ahead, keeping her eyes on the road, trying to keep her voice steady. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“Not even when the guy you’re hooking up with is wanted by the FBI?”
Alix tried not to show her panic, but inside, she was furiously working the angles, trying to figure out how she could warn Moses. Trying to figure out how quickly she could pack.
“It’s more complicated than that, Jonah.”
I’m leaving, she suddenly realized.
Alix was surprised at how certain she felt. Moses was going to have to leave, and she was going to run with him. There wasn’t any question.
Jonah intruded on her thoughts. “How is being wanted by the FBI complicated, exactly? I’m just trying to get this straight in my head.”
Alix glared at him. “They only want him because he kidnapped me.”
“Whoa.” Jonah shook his head pityingly. “You don’t make it sound any better when you admit you’re hooking up with your kidnapper.”
“You know what, Jonah? My love life isn’t your business. And he’s not my kidnapper. I stalked him this last time.”
“Aaaand still sounding crazypants.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you!”
“What about when you get arrested?”
Alix tried to keep her voice controlled. “Who did you tell about him?”
“I just don’t get it. What is it with this guy? He was totally stalking you, and then he kidnapped you, and now… what? You just decide you’ve got to hook up with him?”
“Who did you tell?” Alix pressed. Her heart was pounding with fear. “This is important.”
“I’m just saying you never used to lie. Now you do. All the time—”
“Who knows about this, Jonah?”
Jonah continued prattling, undeterred. “Not that you’re any good at it. You’re a total amateur. Actually, amateur’s too kind. I mean, it’s like, how can such a smart girl be such a dumb liar?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jonah gave her a self-satisfied smile. “Mom and Dad would’ve already caught you if I hadn’t been covering for you.”
Alix almost slammed on the brakes. “What?”
“I told you. You’re an amateur. They’ve been asking where you were, what you were up to. I promised I’d keep an eye on you. They were worried you were doing some kind of PTSD thing.” He shrugged. “I’ve been covering for you for weeks. They still think you’re their good girl.” He looked over at her. “I’m not a rat.”
Alix didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She was so relieved to hear that Jonah had kept the information to himself that she felt like she’d been given a death-sentence reprieve.
She pulled over to the curb and turned off the car, giving Jonah her full attention. He was smiling at her, like he knew just how much leverage he had. “Okay,” she said. “You got me. So why are pushing on me now?”
Jonah’s smile disappeared. “I want to know what you’re doing.”
“And I already told you it’s none of your business what I do with my boyfriend.”
“Not that!” Jonah waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve got, like, hours of audio already.”
“You little—”
“I want to know about the other stuff. You’re giving him something. I heard it on my recordings.”
“No.” Alix shook her head. “Just. No. This isn’t up for discussion.”
“You think you can Mom-voice me?” Jonah laughed. “I could call Williams & Crowe, you know. Your friend Death Barbie would be inside that factory of your boyfriend’s like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Williams & Crowe SWAT goons looked superbadass the last time. I bet they’d do a whole lot better if they were hitting the right place.”
“You wouldn’t.”