my mind was working hard to make sense of the fragments of information. suddenly my mouth went a little dry and sticky. "she still has feelings for you. maybe she wants me out of the picture."

our eyes locked. "it crossed my mind," patch said.

an icy, disturbing thought had been banging around inside my head the past few minutes, trying to get my attention. it practically shouted at me now, telling me dabria could be the guy in the ski mask. all along i thought the person i hit with the neon was male, just like vee thought her attacker was male. at this point, i wouldn't put it past dabria to deceive us both.

after a quick trip to the bathroom, patch emerged wearing his wet tee. "i'll go get the jeep," he said.

"i'll pull around to the back exit in twenty. stay in the motel until then."

chapter 25

after patch left, i put the chain on the door. i dragged the chair across the room and rammed it under the door handle. i checked to make sure the window locks were in place. i didn't know if locks would work against dabria-i didn't even know if she was after me-but i figured it was better to play it safe. after pacing around the room for a few minutes, i tried the phone on the nightstand. still no dial tone.

my mom was going to kill me.

i'd sneaked behind her back and gone to portland. and how was i supposed to explain the whole "i checked into a motel with patch" situation? i'd be lucky if she didn't ground me through the end of the year. no. i'd be lucky if she didn't quit her job and apply to substitute teach until she found a full