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“Hey,” Vaughn said, and then I felt his fingers under ain “You’re safe, Aleks Just take deep breaths and focus on hn had stopped the car again, this time on the side of the road beneath an overpass

I ed a nod “Did… did you ever play tricks like that?” I asked

“No… pranks didn’t go over real well in ed “But ardener that the laas possessed”

“What?” I asked with a laugh

Vaughn shrugged and said, “I was always mechanically inclined A few crossed wires and a few stories here and there about the previous gardener being horribly estion and all” He winked at me

Actually winked

My heart almost stopped

And I couldn’t stop staring at him

In case he did it again…

“Aleks,” Vaughn said softly, and I forced ue eye

“You have a brother?” I asked, hoping to stall

“I do,” was all he said, then he was grazing ers “You don’t remember what happened back there, but you knohat caused it, don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure what “it” was, but I did knohat the cause was I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t ainst the rules, I didn’t want to lie to him

I may not have trusted him, but God help me, I didn’t want to lie to him… I couldn’t

And just like with everything else when it cahn, that made absolutely no sense whatsoever

Chapter 7

Vaughn

I was relieved when he started talking, because I hadn’t expected hiht in front of me It’d been almost identical to the one he’d had the day before when I’d tried to remove the zip-ties from his hands