Free Wrong by Kelly Favor Page B

at her, tell her how horrible she was being, cry, scream—
    anything to break her mother out of the strange icy demeanor she’d decided to put on recently. But Caelyn knew that there was absolutely nothing she could say that would make a bit of difference, and if she carried on, her mother would use it as evidence that she was right about her daughter’s demented mental state.
    So Caelyn simply took a calming breath. “Take care of yourself, Mom,” was all she said.
    After the stunned silence, Caelyn hung up the phone.
    Elijah glanced at her. “You all right?”
    “I’d be a lot better if you slowed down,” she told him. “You’re starting to really scare me, Elijah.”
    “I’ve got something important to take care of. I don’t have time to drop you off at the apartment anymore.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “I can’t really get into it right now,” he said, staring at the road ahead as he maneuvered the car deftly through city traffic.
    “Is it dangerous?”
    “Not for you.”
    “I don’t want you putting yourself in danger. Do it for me, Elijah. Stop this.”
    “Listen,” he said, pulling the car over to the side of the road. “You need to get out here. There’s a Starbucks nearby. Go sit and wait—I’ll swing back when I’m done.”
    “I am not getting out of this car.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, defiantly staring at him.
    “Caelyn, I’m dead serious. I’ve got business to take care of. You won’t want to be around when I do it.”
    “Then don’t do it.”
    He laughed and shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t have time to argue with you. You need to get out of the car. Right now.”
    “No.” She didn’t budge.
    He glared at her for a long while. “So be it,” he said, and then pulled into traffic once more. His phone rang a second later and he answered it.
    “Yeah,” he said. And then he sat up straighter. “Okay, okay. Good. I’m almost there myself. Good job.”
    He turned down a side street, and they sped down the empty road, between buildings on either side. And then he turned down an alleyway and continued speeding, running over bits of trash, the buildings blurring as they passed by them.
    Finally, he stopped just behind a dumpster, as if to camouflage their location. He turned the car off and put the keys in his pocket. He looked at her. “You sit tight,” he told her.
    She watched him, took in his body language, the way his jaw was tense and his eyes so white. Something was wrong. She felt it in her bones.
    “Don’t do this. I have a terrible feeling,” she said.
    He smiled tightly. “No going back, kid. I’m doing it.”
    “Please. You can’t keep testing your luck. Eventually something terrible will happen—and next time, it’ll be permanent.” She reached out and grabbed his hand.
    “Please, listen to me. I just want you and me to be together, and to be okay. I don’t care if we’re poor, or if we live in a motel, or anything. Just don’t leave me again.”
    “I’m not leaving you,” he said softly. “I’ll be in and out.”
    “Does it have to do with Jake? Are you retaliating for what he did to you?”
    She could see by the look in Elijah’s eyes that she was right in her guess.
    “I have to go.” He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a gun. It was a different gun then what she’d seen previously—larger, metallic and shiny.
    “Please,” she gasped, and her voice hitched as the sob came unbidden from her throat.
    “Sit tight. I’ll be back before you know it.” And then he smiled and caressed her cheek one more time before throwing his door open and getting out.

    ***
    The car ticked quietly in the near silence.
    Caelyn sat in the passenger seat, trembling.
    She wondered what he could be doing. Nothing good, that much was certain.
    Was he going to kill someone? Or was he just bringing the gun along as a threat, a way to get what he needed or wanted?
    Either way,