Free Tribe (Tribe 1) by Audrina Cole

the floor of the car.
    “Ember? Are you there? Are you okay?” Alex sounded worried.
    “I’m fine, I should have known better than to pull out my phone when I’m driving.” And can’t check caller ID first, I finished in my head. “We’re pulled over now.”
    “Sorry about that. Listen…we need to talk.”
    If I’d been driving at that moment, we would have just crashed into a telephone pole.
    “Why?! Um…I mean, what did you want to talk about?” I tried to keep my emotions level, but River was on to me. Plus, I’m sure he could hear every word Alex said, no matter how tightly I pressed the phone to my ear. I thumbed the phone volume down with the rocker button.
    “I think you know what.”
    River’s jaw dropped, and I was beginning to panic.
    “Uh…no…I don’t.” I wasn’t a very convincing liar. My parents tried to stay out of our business most of the time, so I didn’t have a lot of practice at it. “Listen, River and I were just on our way somewhere. This isn’t a very good time—”
    “Ember.” He sighed. His voice sounded much stronger than it had the week before. “You need to come see me, right now. If you don’t, I’m driving out to your house and camping on your front steps.”
    “That’s a little creepy, don’t you think?” I tried to feign mild irritation, figuring that’s what an innocent person would be feeling. “You don’t even know where I live.”
    “I looked you up on the telephone listings website, remember? Address, too.”
    Damn! Why didn’t Dad pay a little extra each month to the phone company to keep our telephone number private? It’s not the 1970s any more—didn’t he know some kind of stalker weirdo could decide to track us down? Sometimes his frugality could be very inconvenient.
    I couldn’t think of what to say. River was waving signals at me that I didn’t understand, though I was sure they had something to do with me ditching the conversation with Alex.
    “Maybe I should just talk with your parents instead…” Alex hinted.
    “No!” I snapped, then continued in a friendlier tone. “No, no reason to bother them. I’m not sure what I can help you with, but if you want to talk, I’ll come right over.” I wrote down his address and said I’d be there in a half hour.
    I hung up, then stared at the phone, dumbfounded.
    “What are you going to do?” River’s anxiety radiated like a campfire. He looked around, as if there was some way for him to disentangle himself from the situation I’d gotten him into. I thought he might bolt from the car.
    “Calm down, you’re freaking me out and I’m trying to think.” I stared harder at the phone. I had to go meet him. I couldn’t risk Alex showing up at the house. But I didn’t know what he was going to say, and I didn’t think having River along was the best idea. Maybe I should drop River off. We weren’t that far from home. No, Mom will sense immediately that something is up. He was a worse liar than I was, and he wasn’t much better at trying to stifle his emotions. He’d have to come along, though I was risking him spilling the beans to Mom and Dad later.
    “Let’s go.” I stuck the phone in my purse and we drove to the address in Spokane Valley that Alex had given me.

     
    * * *

    Alex was standing out in front of his house when we arrived, wearing the same hoodie and baseball hat, with a black t-shirt and jeans. His skin was no longer as pale, and he looked like he’d gained a good ten pounds in the last week. I lowered the passenger window, but he opened the rear passenger-side door and got in.
    “Let’s go,” he slammed the car door, “before my mom finds out I’m gone.”
    “Why?” Reluctantly, I pulled away from the curb.
    “Because she’s gotten really over-protective the last few months. She won’t let me go anywhere. I told her all week I felt great, but I’m lucky if she lets me out on the back deck.” He glanced back as if to make sure no one had come running