The Lies He Spoke

TWENTY EIGHT

OLIVIA

The man smirked.

Olivia shuddered.

He took a step forward and reached to grab her with his thick, ring clad hand.

No, not again -

Olivia shrieked and twisted out of his way, but he was already slipping where he stepped. His foot slid in the soap she spilled on the floor and she kicked him blindly when his leg slid and bent too far forwards into the soap.

The man cried out as his legs slid way too far apart.

The smoke detector finally caught a whiff of smoke and the fire alarm began to blare, loud and hard, from speakers. It echoed in the bathroom, forcing the man to cover his ears for three precious seconds.

As the gang member realized it wasn't a threat, he repositioned his hands against the floor to push himself up, only to slide again in the slick soap. Olivia jumped off the toilet seat right over him, and when he grabbed for her as he struggled to straighten his knees, she kicked him in between his outstretched legs.

His legs slid farther and he hunched over, hands clutching where she kicked him.

She grabbed Angel off the floor and pulled him out of the bathroom, leaving the man scrabbling to his feet.

Olivia kept her grip firm in Angel's clammy one, pulling him close behind her as they joined the throng of people exiting the gas station amid the wailing of the fire alarm.

The Sons of Solomon would be looking for two school age kids in uniform together, one tall boy with dark hair and one shorter girl with brown curls.

Olivia twisted her hair into a bun, snatched a cap off the nearest stand, and put it on her head. She wiggled off her blazer so if they were looking for the maroon color to spot her in the crowd, they would be disappointed.

"I'm pretty sure this is stealing," Angel whispered uneasily.

"I'm pretty sure they'll understand," she said, putting a grey hat over his head too. "Take off your blazer. And hunch over. Like you're an old man."

"What-"

"And walk next to that old lady. Like, super close so they think you're together. And no matter what, you have to walk slowly or they'll know who you are. I'll meet you outside." She took his blazer off his hands and tied it around her waist to conceal her loud plaid skirt. When Angel looked at her dumbfounded, she pushed him in the direction of the old woman. "Go!"

Olivia went the other way, dodging the few stragglers who were still in the gas station. The cashiers had thankfully already left so they weren't around to see the stolen hat on her head. She squeezed past two women talking excitedly to one another about the nonexistent fire and slipped out the door.

Outside, the tall man was still looking through the windows of Angel's car and checking underneath it. Olivia quickly turned around and grabbed Angel by the arm as he left the building, steering him in the opposite direction.

"We can't go there yet. There's a guy still by your car. He's looking in the back."

Angel tried to look back but Olivia socked him in the arm. He scowled. "Well, we can't stay here. There's not that many people that we can hide in them."

Olivia glanced around them. He was right. There was nowhere they could hide.

"Okay," she said. "Then the only way is up."

"Up?"

She turned to the wall of the gas station store, eyed an odd electrician's pipe running up the side of the white bricks, and jumped for it, her hand scraping against the wall but gaining purchase against the wall with her sneakers.