Free Flutter by Amanda Hocking

said, and
I kept my voice low.
    “He’s just paranoid.” Ezra brushed it off. “But he
needs to stay here. They will kill him. Our best chance of getting
out of here alive is bartering with them. And they won’t hurt
me.”
    “How can you be so sure?” I asked.
    “I just am,” he said simply. “You’re just gonna have
to trust me.”
    I bit my lip and looked over at the bathroom door. If
I yelled for him, Peter would rush out and stop Ezra. But Ezra had
never given me any reason to doubt him. And I had to think about
more than just Ezra, Peter, and myself. We had a family back at
home that could be hurt if we didn’t put a stop to this.
    “Hurry. And be careful.”
    “I will.” Ezra smiled wanly at me. “I’ll be back as
soon as I can. But you both need to stay here until I get back.
Understood?”
    I nodded, and he disappeared out the door. I stood in
the middle of the hotel room with the comforter wrapped around me,
wondering if I did the right thing letting him go.
    When I heard the water shut off in the bathroom, I
winced. Peter came out of the bathroom, shirtless, and I tried not
to be wowed by the perfection of it. He wore drawstring sweats that
were a little too big and ran a towel through his long tangles of
dark hair. As soon as he looked over at me, still standing in the
middle of the room, he knew.
    “He left?” Peter growled.
    “He said everything’s going to be fine.”
    “Bullshit.” He tossed the towel aside and searched
for a shirt.
    “Okay, Peter, you can’t go!”
    “Watch me,” he said as he tore through one of Ezra’s
dresser drawers.
    I put my hand on his arm, attempting to physically
stop him. Some part of me still expected that electrical jolt I
always got from touching him, and when there wasn’t one, I felt
oddly lacking. His skin still felt warm and soft under my hand, but
it was nothing spectacular.
    “Alice.” Peter rolled his shoulder and pushed my hand
off.
    “You can’t go,” I repeated and let my hand fall to my
side.
    “You keep saying that but you’re not telling me
why.”
    “Because of me!” I shouted randomly.
    It got his attention, which is all I really wanted.
He held a shirt in his hands, but instead of putting it on, he
turned back to me. The shower, along with eating and sleeping, had
done wonders for him. He hadn’t shaved yet, but he actually looked
really good.
    “What do you have to do with anything?” Peter eyed me
dubiously.
    “If you go, they will kill him to
spite you,” I said as calmly as I could. “But by himself, he has a
shot at reasoning with them. This is the only chance we have of all three of
us getting home alive. But if you go after him, we’re all dead, and
you know it.”
    “But if they kill him, and I do nothing-”
    “If that happens, we’ll do something,” I cut him off,
ending that train of thought. “Okay? But we have to believe he can
do this.”
    Peter scoffed and sat back on the bed, tucking his
hair behind his ear. Unsure of what else to do, I leaned back
against the dresser and watched him. I was afraid that if I did or
said the wrong thing, I would accidentally change his mind, and
he’d rush out the door after Ezra.
    “It’s ridiculous how much influence you still have
over me,” Peter muttered.
    “What are you talking about?”“I shouldn’t even be
listening to you!” He said it like it should be incredibly obvious,
and he wouldn’t look at me.
    “Yeah, you should. Cause I’m right.”
    I wasn’t sure what he was insinuating, but it made me
feel strange inside. Like somehow after all of this, broken blood
and all, he managed to have feelings for me. And somehow, that
seemed to matter to me, when it most definitely should not.
    “Maybe.” Abruptly he pulled on the tee shirt and
stood up. “I should go after him.”
    “What? Why?” I asked. “
    “I don’t know!” He sounded exasperated and rubbed his
temples. “It just doesn’t feel right! Sitting here, with you, while
he’s out