“I thought you were him,” I say quietly. “I thought he was going to walk into the yard and tell me he’d survived, and it was all a mistake.”
He searches my eyes. “I think that sometimes, too.”
I’m glad I’m not alone and that he doesn’t laugh at me,although the more I remember about Gable, the more surprised I am about that.
“Did you ever like me? Even a little?” I ask.
“Nope.”
My mouth drops open. “You couldn’t lie? We’re sharing a beautiful moment.”
“I can lie about a lot of things; liking you isn’t one of them,” he says, and I shove him. “Okay, that’s not totally true; I did like it when you called RoboCop a bro.”
I cover my smile. “I forgot I did that.”
“One of your rare likable moments.”
“Rare or only?”
He thinks for a moment. “Only.”
“Hey, I took care of your dog for six months!”
“Yeah, and he’s depressed as fuck,” he says. “Look at him. No sparkle. Youruinedmy dog.”
I scrunch up my nose. “He’s not ruined; he’s just … deflated. Aren’t you, boy? Such a good boy.”
Gable groans. “That’s why he’s depressed. I bet you’ve talked to him like a baby this whole time.”
I ruffle Motor’s head. “Not the whole time, have I? No, I haven’t. Maybe sixty percent.”
Motor sits up and gets off the bed.
Gable looks at me pointedly. “See what you’ve done?”
“He’s just tired of you already,” I say, pulling the blanket over my shoulders. “This is fun. It’s like a sleepover.”
“Yes, a sleepover with a wanted killer,” he says. “Remember that before you offer to braid my hair.”
“Your hair looks good.” I tug it again. “I did a great job.”
For the first time in such a long time, the knot in my stomach eases. I feel lighter, more at peace, like maybe I could actually sleep.
“So, are you going to finally tell me why you’re here?” I ask quietly. “There’s a reason you’ve suddenly appeared, right?” I saw it in his eyes when he walked out of the trees—the pain, the concern, the fear. Three things I’d only ever seen in Gable’s eyes once: the day we watched Asher die.
“You haven’t been safe, Ella. I’ve been keeping you safe.”
My eyebrows pinch together. “You mean … people have been trying to … kill me?”
“A lot of them. I kept them at bay for a while, but the bounty keeps getting higher, and I can only do so much by myself. That’s why Monty is here. She helped me, but I don’t know who will come next.”
The heaviness returns. I chew my lip. This whole time he’s been protecting me, and I had no idea. I’d gone about life as normally as I could, completely oblivious.
“What do we do?” I ask.
“I have to take you away from here,” he says. “I have somewhere safe we can go, and I can keep you there until I figure out a way to get them to lose interest in you.”
“Where?”
