Making the Grade (The Model Spy #2)

Chapter 15 - Déjà Vu

In my panic, my vision blurred and I took a step backwards, my backside colliding with the nightstand. My breathing was heavy, ragged, as Jayden took another step towards me, his combat boots stomping on the floor.

 I remembered Paris and being confronted in the catacombs. I gripped the edge of the nightstand.

 Max wasn’t talking anymore. It was as if seeing Jayden through my eyes paralyzed him with fear as well. Thick silence echoed over my earpiece.

 “What are you doing in my room?” He bared his teeth. He lifted his arms from his sides and lunged towards me. I raised my arms in defense, and I felt his tight grip around both of my wrists.

 “Your door was open!” I lied as I struggled to free myself. His grip grew even tighter, two claws crushing my bones. “And I came in and it closed behind me and I was looking for you!” My throat was closing and it was becoming harder to speak. It took nearly all of my strength to squeeze out the lies I wanted to say. I was going to faint. All those days ago, back at Langley, Zach never did tell me how to stop myself from fainting.

 “I was looking for you!” I said again. The pressure around my wrists subsided. I dropped my arms to my sides. “I-I-I,” I stuttered. I was never a good liar. The lies rolled off of Fred’s tongue easier than the truth did at times. But me, I couldn’t lie to save my life. And that was a shame, because right now my life really needed saving.

 “Pocket,” a voice whispered into my earpiece. “Check his back pocket.”

I had thought Max had abandoned me for good. It felt nice hearing his voice, yet it barely even sounded like him. The voice breaking the silence in my earpiece was so quiet, though, it was hard to hear. For a second I thought I was hearing voices, that I was going crazy as panic consumed me. But the voice was very real.

“Laura, the pocket.”

 Cautiously, I eyed the back pocket of Jayden’s black skinny jeans. The very top of his smartphone could be seen. If I could just get the phone…

 Zach would know what to do. He could tell a fib and pickpocket the phone. He was like Fred. Lying came so easily to him. He practically lied to me since we met, pretending to be my friend and all that. At least he never pretended to be my boyfriend, like he did at the hotel in Paris, when he made out with that older woman at the front desk just so I could sneak into the security office and…oh my goodness. I became a little dizzier when I stared at Jayden.

 No. No. No.

If Zach was here, he would find it so funny. How the tables have turned, he would remark.

“I wanted to take you up on your offer,” I said finally. I tried to make my voice low and husky, like the beautiful women in black-and-white movies. When Jayden cocked an eyebrow, I clarified. “You offered to show me around earlier.” I tried to giggle, but I swore some vomit had worked its way to the middle of my throat. I swallowed hard.

Without my noticing, Jayden had worked his way closer to me, so that he was looking down his pierced nose at me.

Gently, I rested my hand on his shoulder. My touch was so light and my hand nearly hovered above the fabric of his leather jacket. I felt like a twelve-year-old at a school dance, too afraid to even touch the boy I was dancing with.

“But let’s just skip the rest of the tour and get to what I really want to see.” Nothing. I want to see nothing, except that phone of yours in my hand, I thought.

“You’re a tease.” Jayden was so close, I was nearly crushed against the nightstand. I felt the knob of the drawer digging into the small of my back.