Escape (Part Three) Read Online Free PDF Page B

she walked down the aisle,” he stopped for a moment. “Instead there was a feeling of dread. I thought, shit , I can’t be stuck with her anymore but I was just too much of a pussy to say anything, until she found my phone.”
    “MatchU,” I said.
    He nodded. “I deleted that app. I don’t remember doing it, but it’s gone.”
    Chace pressed his forehead against my stomach and I felt the truth well up in my throat. I wanted to tell him everything, starting with the two of us and MatchU. If he didn’t remember deleting it he surely didn’t remember the party, beads of sweat forming beneath his mask as he met me on the third floor. But I didn’t want to disrupt his memory.
    Slowly but surely it would all flood back to him and I didn’t want to rush his realization.
    I didn’t want to give him up yet.

Five
     
    Chace and I were having breakfast in the kitchen when Evie came back from her run. Dripping with sweat she stormed into the room, both hands on her hips as she said, “That’s it, I’m running around the house until all these assholes leave.”
    “What happened?” I asked, ripping off a piece of Chace’s bacon. He grinned at me, bumping his shoulder into mine.
    “They chased me,” she said, throwing open the refrigerator door. “I refused to answer their stupid questions and they ran me down.”
    “That’s why I refuse to go outside,” Chace said.
    Evie grabbed a bottle of water and took a long sip. “You know what, scratch everything I just said, I refuse to let them turn me into you.”
    Chace stretched out his arm and poked Evie’s stomach. “You’d benefit from my fast metabolism.”
    She smacked the back of his head, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Are you calling me fat?”
    “And what if I am?”
    From behind Evie looped her arm around Chace’s neck, tugging his head towards her chest until she had him in a choke hold. Chace threw himself back but Evie stood her ground, planting her feet on the wooden floor, her laughter dropping on the top of his head.
    “Take it back,” she said.
    Chace grinned. “No.”
    She tightened her arm and a choked laughter floated from Chace’s throat.
    “ Now ,” she said, his hair dancing across her mouth.
    The two of them laughed loud enough to fill the kitchen, the most joy the estate had seen in days. I allowed myself to smile at them, leaning my chin on the palm of my hand as my elbows rested against the island, watching the two of them act like unburdened children.
    It didn’t last long. Chace tugged on her arm and Evie let up, ruffling his hair in the process. She took another sip of her water as a pair of feet clamored down the stairs.
    “Upstairs,” Jonah said, red in the face. “All of you.”
    We followed Jonah up the stairs and around the corner, where chaos rung through Mr. Evans’s room. Bonnie was standing by his bed, her husband’s frail hand in hers as she stared down at him, long streaks of tears covering her cheeks. The nurses from before – the ones who lent me a pair of scrubs – rushed around her, pulling contraptions from beneath the bed, checking his vital signs, flipping through charts.
    The EKG machine, hooked near the window, released a sharp, unrelenting beep.
    “He’s crashing,” one of the nurses said, slapping on a pair of latex gloves.
    We were all frozen near the door, Evie and Chace in front of Jonah and me.
    “I’m calling Tyler,” Jonah said, heading down the hall with his phone in hand.
    Evie was the next to move. She crossed the carpet from the door to her mother, her hand on her shoulder. Bonnie’s head popped up. Eyes wide she looked at her daughter before leaning into her touch, another round of tears pricking the corners of her eyes.
    Chace remained at the door and I moved to stand next to him, my shoulder brushing against his arm. He was focused on his father, watching his mouth open and close to the beat of his crashing heart.
    “Do something,” Bonnie screeched.
    Evie