I nod. “And what then?”
“What do you mean?”
“What are you going to do once this is all over?”
He’s quiet for a moment, his eyes locked on mine. When he finally looks away, I almost want to reach for him.
“I do what Asher and I planned to do after this job. Leave. No more killing. No more work. I get out.”
“Wait …” My heart lurches. “This was your last job? Why didn’t you just leave after you killed Barnaby?”
“The drive.”
“But … you stayed for weeks. Almost a month. Surely there was a point that you realized you’d never find it? Why …” Pain and grief and agony andeverythinghits me.Tears burn my eyes and the weight is back tenfold. Asher’s final words suddenly make sense—“You were worth waiting for.”“Did he stay for me?”
Gable looks almost lost for words, like he’s protecting me. Again.
“He wanted to stay,” Gable says. “He wanted more time.”
I sit up and run my fingers through my hair, panic and guilt gripping me, choking me until I’m sure no oxygen is left in my lungs. “He’s dead because of me. I knew it; I knew it was my fault.”
Gable sits up. I tremble, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that quickly fall. My throat feels thick with grief and regret, and I let out a sob.
“How can you even be here? How can you want to protect me when this is all my fault?”
“Because it isn’t your fault,” Gable says. “Asher wanted to stay with you. I’d never seen him that happy before, Gibson. He wanted more of that before we left.”
“But it’s my fault,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “I took him from you.”
“They took him from both of us. And we’ll make them pay. Okay?”
I nod tearfully and he pulls me to him, lying back down and holding me close. But the guilt still weighs heavy, because Asher should have left. He should have escaped while he still could instead of holding onto someone like me. I wasn’t worth him dying.
And I’d switch with him if I could.
Chapter 26
Gable
“Asher, please don’t leave me.”
I open my eyes to darkness. Ella is asleep against me, her head on my shoulder, arm across my chest, and I take a deep breath, running my hand down my face as I try to grab at the urge to fall back to sleep.
But being back with Ella has thoughts of Asher assaulting me.
We’d always looked after each other, and Hunter taught us everything we needed to know to maneuver through this life. We survived because we learned from the best, and after nearly twelve years and hundreds of lives taken, we were experts.
With Ella, it’s different.
She isn’t like us. She isn’t a killer. She’s a fighter, but not in the way that matters for a battle like this. I’ll protect her until my last breath, but I’m still scared.
I don’t want to fail Asher.
Motor is on my other side, head on my leg, asleep. I’mhot. Uncomfortably hot. I can get on board with Motor being this close—we used to sleep side by side every night before Asher died—but not Ella. She’s pressed into my side, breathing steadily, but at least she isn’t talking, so that’s a bonus.
I shift and she sighs softly, turning away from me. She’s using my bicep as a pillow, but at least my body heat will go down, thank fuck. Is she made of fire?
Somehow, for some ungodly reason given how goddamn warm she feels, she shivers. I sigh and pull the blanket over her, and she sighs again, nuzzling into my arm.
