Page 163 of Hide And Seek

“No. I’m putting it in Zach’s pocket.” He winced slightly as he adjusted his grip on his arm. “The cops would get suspicious if they found it sitting in a drawer in here.”

I hurried into the main space of the cabin and yanked open the drawer with clumsy hands, grabbing the syringe before racing back into the bathroom.

Rhys was leaning against the sink now, a towel pressed tightly to his upper arm. Blood had already soaked through part of the fabric, and the sight of it made my stomach twist all over again.

“Are you sure that’s going to be okay?” I asked quietly.

He held out his free hand. “It’s fine,” he said, voice rougher now.

I handed the syringe over and watched as he crouched to slip it into Zach’s pocket. Then he looked back at me. “Are you ready for the next part?”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Should I go now?”

Rhys opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. For a second he just looked at me, eyes flicking over my face like he was memorizing it. Then he stepped forward and closed the distance between us.

His bloodstained hand slid lightly against my waist as he kissed me.

It wasn’t frantic or desperate like I would’ve expected after everything that had just happened. It was slow and deliberate, his mouth warm against mine despite the cold knot of adrenaline still twisting through my body. I could taste blood faintly in the air between us, could feel the tremor running through him from pain, and somehow it only made the whole thing feel more intense. More real.

Rhys pulled back just enough for his forehead to rest briefly against mine. “Now you can go,” he said softly.

For a second, neither of us moved. Then I forced myself to step away from him.

I slipped my shoes on with shaking hands and hurried out of the cabin.

The early morning air was cool and damp against my skin as I broke into a run down the trail leading toward the assembly hall. My pulse was still hammering from the gunshot, the blood, and the kiss; everything crashing together so violently in my head that I could barely separate one thought from another anymore.

By the time I reached the assembly hall, I was breathing hard. When I shoved open the doors, every head inside snapped toward me instantly.

For a split second, nobody moved.

Then chaos erupted.

“Oh my god!”

“Holy shit!”

“Alissa?”

People scrambled upright from sleeping bags and blankets scattered across the floor. Several of them looked genuinely stunned, like they thought they were hallucinating me standing there alive in the doorway.

Jasmine shot to her feet so fast she nearly tripped over someone’s legs. “What the fuck?” she gasped. “Alissa?”

Before I could answer, she was already racing toward me.

“I’m okay,” I said as she threw her arms around me.

“Oh my god,” she said breathlessly. “I thought you were dead.”

Wren, Tamsin, and Jesse crowded in a second later, all talking over each other at once. Someone grabbed my arm, and someone else touched my shoulder like they needed physical proof I was really standing there.

Then Jasmine suddenly stiffened and pulled back slightly, eyes dropping to my shirt. “Oh, fuck,” she whispered. “You’re hurt.”

I glanced down at the smeared blood across the fabric. Rhys’s blood.

“I’m okay,” I said. “It’s not mine.”

“What the hell happened?” Tamsin asked, staring at me with wide eyes.