“Okay,” I say softly. Something occurs to me. “You aren’t going to Holy Fire tonight, are you?”
“For the town meeting?” she scoffs. “You couldn’t pay me enough. Elijah and I are staying home and boardin’ up the windows.”
“Good.”
She narrows her eyes. “Why are you asking?”
This time I squeeze her shoulders. “Because I need you safe, too.”
“Why does it feel like you’re saying goodbye to me?”
I give in to my desire and lay my head back on her shoulder. “Thank you for being such a good friend.”
“Oh, honey.” Nissa strokes my hair. “Don’t thank me. Loving you’s easy.”
The bullet holes are the first thing I see when the Duncan house comes into view. They form a cluster in the front door, then sweep across the house in big sawdusted blasts, like someone let loose with a shotgun. Next is the graffiti, in dripping red:Murderer. Demon. God Hates You. Rot in Hell.The windows are all shattered—even the stained-glass pane is now a mess of jagged edges. The fence is busted, the garage door smashed in like the lid of an aluminum can. Catastrophic damage.
I race to the garage door and yank it up, finding the garage in ruins, chemicals dumped across the concrete, but no Ever. I sprint out and try the front door. Locked. I pound. “Everett!” With no answer, I fling myself into the lawn, round the corner of the house—
And halt right before impaling myself on a knife.
“Ruth—I didn’t know it was you.” Ever drops the knife and seizes me. “Are you okay?”
“AmIokay? What happened?”
He falls into the grass beside the knife, drawing his knees up. He looks exhausted. “I went to hide my car in the woods. When I came back, it looked like this.” He looks up at me and tries to smile. “Think the buyer’s still going to want it with a few extra holes?”
“The entire town is after you, Ever. This is as bad as it gets.”
He shifts in the grass, trying to appear nonchalant, but he’s biting his lip. “How are you…” He clears his throat. “After last night?”
There’s a manhunt after him, and this is what he’s nervous about? I crouch and take his hands, ignoring his busted knuckles. “It was perfect. EverythingTwilightpromised.”
Ever groans. I grin. “I knew you’d like that.”
He yanks me into his lap and cups my face, eyes on my mouth. Hetugs my bottom lip between his teeth and then kisses me, his tongue playful, teasing. I chase his mouth and stop his teasing, finding a rhythm that grows more and more intense, until I’m fisting my hands in his shirt, dragging my knuckles across the bare skin of his stomach. He is safety, comfort. It’s us against the world.
We pull apart, breathing heavily. I rest my forehead against his and whisper: “I figured out what our dads were doing those nights at Holy Fire.”
“You did?”
Secure in his lap, forehead to forehead, I tell him everything. When I’m done, his expression hasn’t changed.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.” His cool fingers grip my waist. “I wasn’t sure.”
“All along?”
“No. Only recently.”
I study him, feeling my heart rate pick up. “There’s one last thing I don’t understand.”
“Yeah?”
“I know why my dad worked with yours. He wanted Killian’s connection to the Sons. But why would your dad agree to help mine when he hated him?”
I recognize Ever’s brand of quiet: calculating.
