Page 89 of Victorious

She straddled the bench, and scrolled through the contacts until she found what she was looking for.

A Friend.

Her thumb hovered over the entry, as it had half a dozen times since that first night, torn between calling the number and deleting it.

Now, she hit CALL.

It rang twice, and then a male voice said, “Well, hello.”

She didn’t recognize the voice, and yet, she heard June buried in it, her accent like a melting sweet.

“Something’s not right,” said Rios.

“No small talk, then?”

“Listen to me,” she hissed, scanning the locker room. “I don’t know what’s going on. And I can’t talk over the phone. But you told me to reach out. This is me reaching.” Rios frowned. She swore she could hear the wet gasp of someone struggling to breathe. “Did I interrupt something?”

“No,” said June, the word punctuated by the sound of a something sharp being buried in something soft. “Just finishing a job.”

Rios closed her eyes. “Can you meet or not?”

The voice on the phone shifted, became distinctly feminine. “Afraid I’m not in town right now. It’ll take me a few hours to get back.”

Rios swore under her breath. “Fine. Where?”

“The Iverly Hotel,” said June. “Room 601. Wait for me there.”

Rios nodded, grateful to have a concrete action. “Okay,” she said. Then, “Thank you.”

She could hear the smile in the other EO’s voice. “What are friends for?”

The line went dead.

Rios went to the sink and ran her head under the tap to make it look like she’d just showered.

Her EON-issued cell was buzzing again. She dropped it in the half-filled basin, watched it take on water until the screen flickered, died. She shook it off and shoved it back in her pocket. Then swung the duffel bag onto her shoulder and headed for the parking garage behind the gym. She forced herself to amble, as if she had nowhere else to be. She popped the trunk and tossed the duffel bag into the back of the car.

And that’s when she heard the footsteps coming up behind her.

Rios moved on instinct, sweeping up the crowbar from the trunk floor as she turned—

But it was just Noah.

“Jesus,” she said, sagging back against the open trunk, “you scared me.”

His mouth twitched. “Sorry, Rios.”

An hour earlier, she’d been hoping to run into Noah.

Now the sight of him set off warning bells. Maybe it was the fact they’d never seen each other outside of EON. Maybe it was the sunglasses perched on his nose, despite the fact the sun had gone down hours ago. Or maybe it was the van idling behind him.

“They need you back at base.”

Rios’s heart hammered. Her fingers twitched on the crowbar still in her hand. “Everything okay?”

“You didn’t answer when they called.”

“Dropped my phone in the shower,” she said, running a hand through her damp hair. “Hoping it dries out. What’s with the glasses?”