“Stop fidgeting. You’re making me nervous, and I don’t get nervous,” I say. “You book a place online, anywhere that’s at least three hours away. You book it from today for one month. Your dad gets back; you tell him you’re going. I meet you at the place you’ve booked; we drive to wherewe’reactuallygoing, then we start work on trying to find the hard drive.”
She nods and looks away.
“Oh!” She raises her hand.
I groan. “Fuck me. Yes, Gibson?”
“What if we don’t find the drive? What if we find out what isonthe drive?”
“Congratulations, genius, you’ve got a brain,” I say. “What do you think I’ve been doing?”
“Wow.” She rolls her eyes. “Someone is crabby in the mornings.”
“Only when you’re jumping around like a fucking jack rabbit,” I say, eating more bacon.
She watches me quietly, chewing her thumb.
“My dad won’t be happy about me leaving.”
“Well, convince him. He’s gonna have to be.”
She nods. She’s quiet for a few minutes, thank God, and I shovel as much food into my mouth as I can.
“You really think I’m safest with you?”
I put down my fork. “Ella, would you like me to tell you how many people I’ve killed in the last six months to keep you alive?”
She shrinks back. “No.”
“Good. You’re safe with me.” I pick up my fork. “Twenty-seven, by the way.”
She presses her palms to her cheeks. “Oh God.” She pauses and then chews her lip. A few more minutes of glorious silence pass, and I make the most of it, because I know it won’t last long. “How do I know you won’t just kill me?”
“Are you kidding?”
“Well, I’ve got half a mil on my head! You kill me; youget on the bad guy's good side because you offed me, and you get a cool half mil!”
That isn’t a bad plan.
If I didn’t love Asher so much, I’d probably do just that.
“Ella, I spent all last night with you; if I was going to kill you, I’d have smothered you with a pillow and reveled in the goddamn silence for a night. By the way, I almost did. You’re like a fucking furnace.”
She smiles. “I know, Asher said the same thing. He liked it, though. I emit body heat; what can I say?”
“See a doctor,” I say, drinking more orange juice. “Okay, I need to go.”
She watches me stand. “Go?”
“I have to get things ready for when we leave.”
“Things?”
“Are you a fucking parrot?”
“‘Are you a fucking parrot?’” she mimics. “You’re really,reallyrude. Why are you so rude?” I scowl and head for the stairs to get my bag. I need to get away from her before protecting her quickly becomes killing her.
“Wait!” She follows me up the stairs. “Why don’t you just stay here for a while? I don’t want to be alone.”
