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She gave me a sad little smile “One mistake is too many in this world, Race This isn’t the Hill Remember that”

I watched her disappear into the office where I had left Nassir I wished everyone would stop bringing up where I was fro here even looked the sauess only time would tell if I had what it took to make the rest of the city see that

I walked to the Mustang and pulled my phone out of et off work Her laptop was a paperweight There was no salvaging it I pulled as much limited data as I could off the burned-up hard drive and transferred it to a new MacBook I bought for her I knew she wasn’t going to want to take it, but I didn’t plan on giving her a choice in the matter She needed it for school and Doviewith the Mac whether she liked it or not Plus, Imost of her Math Theory junk out of the wasteland, so I was hoping that would s her to accept it

She answered in a rush and told ht That was only half an hour away, so I told her I would just wait for her in the parking lot It would’ve been easier to go inside and have the shoith her in front of witnesses, but I wanted to see if she had actually listened to et an escort out of the restaurant to her car I didn’t like the idea of her alone in this part of town after dark Sure, my sister walked the same path, had even taken the bus to and from work, but Dovie had street smarts and could pick out a threat from a mile away Brysen looked like an ice princess from a fairy tale I didn’t think she was stupid, but I also didn’t think she had any kind of clue what really lurked in the shadows and the dark

The front door of the restaurant opened and Brysen’s superblond hair glinted off the glass doors She had on a tight T-shirt and a short skirt, and obviously hadn’t bothered to change after her shift A tall Latin guy alking next to her She was laughing at so he said and tossed her head back She really was the prettiest girl I had ever seen There was just so so easy about her, so effortless, that it made my heart thud heavy in my ears She put her hand on her escort’s aruy nodded at her, bent down to kiss her on the cheek, and turned around to walk back inside

Brysen started walking toward me, so I kicked open the car door and rose to hts ca in the parking lot, but the next thing I knew, there was a squeal of tires, the sht at her I saw her go still as I broke into a run There was too much space bethere she was and where I was and the car was headed right toward her I saw her throw her hands up as the engine revved up even higher She didn’t scream, didn’t make any kind of noise, so I called her name Her head snapped around to look at s

Right before the iht before I had to watch her end up splattered all over the windshield, the guy who had walked her out suddenly hit her fro hard to the asphalt I heard her shriek when she hit and turned to try and grab the license plate off of the fleeing sedan I frowned as I reached the huddled pair on the ground because the plates on the car werethis feel very deliberate and not like an accident at all I nudged the Spanish guy on the shoulder and he looked up at me

“Move”

He huffed at me and rolled off of Brysen She peeked up at ers she had cla to prevent her fro car I reached down to pull her to her feet and felt ether when I saw the bloody round

“Oh my God, Rauy He wrapped her up in a hug and shook his head

“That was crazy A drunk driver maybe?”

Raht at o—like yesterday

She took a step away from him and cradled her injured arm to her chest with her other hand “Thank you so much You just saved my life”

“Weird things are in your orbit, chica You need to keep your head up” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and looked at me pointedly “Find someone to watch your back”

We watched him walk away in silence, and she finally turned and looked at me I frowned down at her and she lifted up her pale eyebrows to almost her hairline