“Listen.” I said, looking at the almost-empty road. I kept my back pressed against the cold brick, briefly letting part of my face out of the alley. I couldn’t risk getting caught. “We have to run.”

“Why?” Logan asked. He sat on the pavement, unfazed by my clear distress.

“I can’t tell you.”

“You can never tell me anything, B.”

“I can tell you that’s for your own good.”

“What are you, a criminal or something?” Logan looked up at me, smiling.

“Something like that.” I muttered. I heard a car screech by, and jerked my head towards the sound.

“Get up.” I whispered to Logan. He obeyed, thankfully. “Just a few more seconds...”

“Now.” I took off, sprinting across the open road. I didn’t have time to look back, but I hoped Logan was following.

My legs burned as my sneakered feet pounded the pavement. I would have thought I’d be in shape after all the running I had to do, but no such luck.

Finally, I vaulted over the guard rail and tumbled onto a hill. Logan joined me a second later, making an undignified landing.

We sat for a few minutes, catching our breaths.

Logan twiddled his thumbs, looking like he wanted to say something.

I scanned the area, suspicious that they had seen us. I heard a car approaching the road above us. I threw my arm over Logan’s chest, pressing both of us against the hill. Then, I rolled over and clamped my other hand over his mouth. His green eyes settled on mine, and I could tell he was scared.

The car stopped. I heard a door open. I closed my eyes. “Crap.” I mouthed, hanging my head.

“She was spotted here!” A familiar voice shouted. It was Tate. I tensed, and Logan shifted uncomfortably.

I wiggled the arm pinning him down out from under me, then pressed my index finger to my lips.

Logan nodded, understanding he needed to be quiet.

Flashlight beams streamed overhead. “Do you think they went into the forest?” Another voice called.

“Maybe. Go check.”

Footsteps.

No.

Barely thinking, I climbed on top of Logan, moved my hand into his hair, and kissed him hard. He understood what I was doing, and kissed me back. He was a little more into it than he needed to be, but I guess he made the illusion work.

The footsteps came closer, and I tried to hide my fear. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵.

“Hey!” The person barked. I kept kissing Logan, making sure he ignored the agent. “Hey!” She said again. Logan slid his hand up my back, and I started to shrug my jacket off.

“Hey!” She yelled, louder. We continued to ignore her, pretending to get even more passionate.

The agent sighed, and began to walk away. Minutes later, when we could be sure the agents had gone, I came up for air.

“Alright, let’s keep going.” I stood up and untucked my hair from behind my ears. Logan didn’t need to see me blush.

“We aren’t going to talk about that?” Logan asked, throwing his hands out to the side.

“Talk about what?” I played dumb, putting my jacket back on.

“Oh, I don’t know. Sprinting across an open road in the middle of the night? The crazy people looking for you? You kissing me?”

“I don’t think any of that is really important, Logan.” I stifled a laugh.

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Mhm.” I started to walk down the hill.

“I’ve never met anyone like you before, B!” I couldn’t tell if Logan was serious or not.

“You should be grateful for that.” I said mockingly. “Now come on, we have to keep going.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Well then, I guess you’re stuck here.”

Logan faltered.

“If I kiss you again will you follow me?” I asked, teasing him. I tried to ignore the part of me that wanted him to say yes.

Logan looked like he was trying to decide.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” I kissed him again, quickly, then walked away.

I laughed as I heard his footsteps follow.

“The things I do to make sure you don’t die.” I said, shaking my head.

“What?!” Logan yelled. I could imagine his eyes bugging out of his head.

“We need to talk.” I said, turning towards him and waiting for him to catch up.