Deception by Kelly Carrero Page B

bedside table. He stood up and went to the closet. “We’ll need to pack a few things to take with us, but don’t take too much. We can buy anything we forget to bring.”
    “Won’t he be able to find out where we are from the credit card transactions?” I asked, following him into the closet.
    “Yeah. That’s why we’ll need to pay with cash. Or I could always make the shopkeepers give us whatever we need,” he said with the wicked grin on his face that hadn’t made an appearance for way too long.
    I smiled. “Cash it is, then.”
    I picked out a few outfits I’d left the last time I’d stayed there and stuffed them into the bag. I grabbed a pair of ballet flats in case we ended up somewhere that my flip-flops would be inappropriate.
    Aiden zipped up the bag. “Now for the money.” He walked over to the set of shelves, picked up the folded t-shirts, and placed them on the shelf above.
    “Don’t tell me you have a safe full of money in there?”
    “Yep.” He pressed on what seemed to be the back wall until I heard a click. The back of the cupboard swung open, revealing a small safe with a digital screen.
    “You have got to be kidding,” I said, coming closer for a better look. “How could you not tell me about this?”
    He shrugged. “It never came up.” Aiden placed his hand on the screen and waited for it to scan. Without a beep, the door clicked open slightly, then Aiden pulled it the rest of the way.
    “Holy shit! How much money do you have in there?”
    He grabbed a few bundles of cash in various currencies and stuffed it into the bag. “Enough.”
    “I’ll say.”
    He closed the safe and returned the folded t-shirts into position. “You ready?” He turned to me and held out his hand.
    “What? We’re not using a car?” I asked. Aiden always wanted to use a car whenever we were on the Coast.
    “Well, there’s no need to keep up the appearances just for Chelsea anymore, is there?”
    “I guess not,” I said, lacing my fingers with his. “Lead the way.”
    We landed in a pitch-black room. My eyes took a moment to adjust, and when they did, I realised we were standing inside a janitor’s closet. “How did you know about this place?” I asked.
    “Someone was coming out of it the last time we were here.”
    “Oh.”
    Aiden put his ear to the door. “It’s clear.” He turned the handle and opened the door. I followed him out into the empty corridor. We were about twenty metres down the hall from Marie’s room.
    Both Chelsea and Lucas were already inside her room. “Hey,” I said quietly, so I didn’t wake up Marie when we walked into the room.
    “Hi,” Chelsea said, lifting her eyes to meet mine.
    Lucas quickly removed his arm from around her shoulder. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought something was going on, but all Chelsea was thinking about was removing the bandages. Were they going to stick to her wounds and have to be ripped off? Would that cause the old wound to become new again?
    I stood to the left of where she was sitting, with my back against the wall, and Aiden squished in on the seat beside Lucas. “Have the doctors told you what time they will be here?” I asked.
    She looked at her watch. “They should be here in five.”
    I nodded, not knowing what else to say. I couldn’t tell her that her fears were unnecessary, because there was probably a good chance of the bandages damaging the wound. But then again, what did I know about severe burn treatment? Not a damn thing.
    “So how was Disneyland?” Aiden asked, trying to lighten the mood.
    “Oh my God, it was so good,” Chelsea said, but she immediately felt bad for getting so excited when she was by her mother’s bedside.
    I put my hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to feel bad for being happy.”
    Chelsea looked at me strangely, wondering how I knew what she was feeling. But she decided she was probably just not doing as good a job as she thought she was at hiding how guilty she