I Should Have Stayed

Chapter 19

***

"Are you okay?" I asked the man with the black hair.

He breathed in deeply before looking behind him quickly. I watched his eyes scan the lights around us. They illuminated his tan skin and put dots on his brown eyes. His gaze met mine and I found something in them. Something like determination.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little winded. Here hand me that." He pointed at the gun in my belt. I gave it to him without hesitation just to see what he would do. Almost immediately he pushed me against the wall and then got against it himself so that our backs were flat. The cold bricks pressed into my protruding shoulder blades.

I watched two figures stumble into the alley and in two shots the black haired boy took them down. "Damn, you're good." I said.

He flashed me a white smile. "Thanks. You're not half bad yourself." He said as he handed me the gun back. I stuck it back in place and saw something flicker on his jacket as he turned around.

"Hold on!" I grabbed him and flipped him around only to see exactly what I didn't want to. "Are you serious?"

"... Wh- what's wrong?" He asked. I carefully peeled a tiny microphone off his shoulder and inspected it in the dim lighting.

"This, is what's wrong." I showed him it and we both pointed out the little M engraved on the side. I snickered to myself. "Miller."

"Watch this." I said as I threw it on the ground and stepped on it. A faint crunch was heard.

"Is the government listening to us?"

"It seems so... sorry to drag you into this mess, man."

"I really don't mind one bit. Besides, I think you could use an extra hand getting through all of this mess you seem to have gotten yourself into." He motioned to the two dead men on the ground.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I do. Could you show me the ropes tough guy?"

He smirked and I saw a quick emotion flash across his eyes. "Yeah, of course Dakota."

"Thanks Eli."

"Um," He cleared his throat, "Rule number one: code names. Call me, Blank. And you are..." He thought for a moment as he looked around. I watched his eyes flicker to the graffiti on the walls of the alley. A huge "J" was on the wall in cursive. He smirked again. "Jessica Greenwick. Fitting." His white teeth flashed again.

I smirked back at him. "I like it."

"Well, Jessica Greenwick, nice to meet you."

I chuckled. "Nice to meet you too, Blank."

***

My eyes opened only to be met by the light of the sun shining through the window. I sighed as I remembered the moment from so long ago. I didn't understand why I had these memory dream things. They never made sense. There were too many puzzle pieces and not all of them could fit to make the picture.

I got up to take a shower and then brushed my teeth before going downstairs to meet Ava. She had a mug of coffee sitting on the counter just for me. I took it and sat down at the table with her and watched her read a book quietly. My eyes drifted over her face and hair. She really was attractive. Just like Lindsey. She was also extremely smart and I loved that about her. She seemed so special and some part of me wanted her by my side through all this mess. She would know what to do. She almost always did.

"Having fun staring?"

"Huh?" I asked. She smirked at me and rolled her eyes before putting down the book and looking at me closely.