I looked around, my head swiveling, my heart racing. I heard a woman cry out three buses down and went in that direction.
“Where is she?”
The woman was on her ass—Rae must’ve knocked her down. She pointed, and I followed the direction of her finger.
Some of the buses had opened their doors. Shit. She could have climbed inside one. I would never find her. I had to think fast.
“Flash, are you looking?”
“Yeah, I’m looking.”
“Okay. Jax, bring it in through the back door. Slate, come in through the front. Keep an eye out for her. I want one of you at each end of the terminal. I want you to watch, see if she runs out anywhere. She’s wearing a blue backpack, purple t-shirt.”
I stood in the center of the room, turning in a slow circle. She couldn’t get far. No driver would leave with her on the bus if she didn’t have a valid ticket. I kept circling.
“Third row!” I hardly had time to register Flash’s warning before Rae darted out from between two buses around twenty feet down the row. I went from zero to a sprint in no time, following her. I didn’t take my eyes off her.
“I’m following!” I yelled, waving people out of my way as I went. “Move! Move!” They jumped aside, cursing at me. I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was stop her. I had to stop her.
She hung a quick right, and I kept yelling for everybody to get out of the way before I even rounded the corner. There, I found a beautiful sight. She ran straight into Flash, who took her by the arms.
“Hey, Rae,” he said, grinning. She screamed and squirmed, but the bus’s engine drowned her out.
“I have to get on a bus, you fucker! Let me go! Don’t touch me! Help!” She fought against Flash’s hands as I bent at the waist, huffing and puffing. I needed to get in better shape if I was gonna chase crazy junkies through bus stations.
Jax and Slate caught up to us. Rae’s eyes went wide when she figured out it was four against one.
“You’re not going anywhere, Rae, so you might as well start talking. Tell me why you’re running.”
She stared hatefully at me. I didn’t think she could hate me so much, especially since we hadn’t seen each other in so long. “Why should I tell you anything? You don’t know my life. You don’t know shit about me.”
“I know you had my daughter all these years without telling me. What was that all about? Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
She shrugged. “What did you care? You left me.”
“It didn’t matter. I should have known. You should’ve told me.” I looked her in the eye, wondering where the Rae I used to know went. She looked like a stranger. Like a caged animal. I half expected her to start clawing at Flash.
“I gotta go! I’m gonna miss my bus, damn it!”
“Tell me what I wanna know, then. We’ll let you go. Shit, I want you to go if it means Gigi never has to see you again. She’ll be better off without you.” I saw how my words stung her, and kept going. “You can get on the bus, but you have to tell me what I wanna know.” I got close to her and glanced up at Flash to let her go. He let go of her, but there was nowhere for her to run. I had her pinned against the bus, with Jax and Slate on either side. We boxed her in.
Her eyes darted back and forth, looking at one of us, then the other. Over and over. It was nauseating, watching her freak out like that. Her chest rose and fell like she was panting for breath. “I’m going to New York, okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know. How do you think I found you? Do you think I just hang out at the bus station every day?”
“How did you know?” She looked terrified. “Who told you?”
“Nobody had to tell me. I found the receipt at your house.”
“You broke into my house? You fucker!” She swung at me, but I blocked it easily. It was like swatting a fly.
“Come on, Rae. You’re stalling. Your bus is gonna leave any minute. Who are you running from? Why are you so scared?”
She trembled, looking from one of us to the other again.
I sighed. “Rae, it doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t wanna hurt you. I wanna know who’s trying to. I wouldn’t be treating you like this if you didn’t run from me. Don’t tell me you’re not running away, when you ran from me like that as soon as you saw me.”
She bit her lip, eyes wide. “I thought you were coming for me to punish me for leaving Gigi with you.”
“I wouldn’t punish you for that, Rae. Christ.”