I roll my shoulder, my muscles suddenly tense. “Yes.”
Her gaze burns into the side of my face, but I remain focused on the road.
“That must have been tough.”
I shrug. “Son of a bitch got what was coming to him eventually.” She goes quiet, and I glance at her. “He got into a bar fight, and someone shot him.”
“Shit. How did your mom take that?”
“No clue. I haven’t seen her since she dumped me in foster care. Heard about my stepdad a few years after that.” My mom could be dead, and I’d have no idea. Hunter offered to find her, but I don’t see the point in dragging all that shit back up. She never cared about me, so I won’t waste my time with her. “What about your mom?”
“She died when I was nine. Cancer.”
I chew my lip. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago. My dad remarried like a decade after, but that didn’t last long. She wasn’t particularly nice.” She gazes out of the front window. “What’s your happiest memory of Asher?”
I immediately laugh, because I already know my answer.
“There was one time when we were with families only a few streets apart, so it meant we could hang out after school,” I say. “One night, we decided to see if we could sleep in the mall. We made it until midnight before we realized there was night security. We hauled ass across that mall, we somehow got split up, and I was hiding in some of these fake bushes.” I’m grinning so much my cheeks are hurting, and Ella is smiling as she watches me. “I could hear the security guard shouting, but I couldn’t hear Asher running. Then I spotted him.”
“Where?” she asks eagerly.
“The mall had these mannequins set up in the center, and he was standing between them, still as a fucking statue.”
Ella howls out a laugh. “You’re kidding!”
“Nope. He was pretending to be a fucking mannequin and I thought, shit. He is so going to get caught.”
“Did he?”
I grin at her. “Nope. The security guard ran right past him.” Ella laughs musically, her head dropping back. “We managed to get out through a service exit, and fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. He was always a lucky prick.”
It’s like it happened only yesterday, and I remember laughing so much it felt like something inside of me ruptured. We’d vowed to try to do it again someday, but Asher got sent away again and we weren’t together again for another year.
The night that everything changed.
My smile fades. “That’s my favorite memory of Asher. My favorite memory ever, really.”
“That’s nice. I liked that story.”
Me, too. I haven’t thought about it in far too long. Of a time before the killing, when life was far from perfect, but at least we weren’t always running.
“I’m gonna get some sleep,” Ella says. “Thanks for telling me that.”
I nod, focusing on the road and ignoring the ache in my chest once I’m plunged back into silence.
Chapter 29
Ella
I’m jolted awake as the car turns up a dirt road, and I blink, rubbing my eyes. For a good twenty seconds, I’m convinced Gable is driving me into the woods to kill me, but I’m so hungry I’d either welcome death or kill and eat him. But the trees part, and settled in a clearing is an enormous cabin. It’s all windows and wood, a huge, sloped roof over two stories. I’d imagined a shack in a forest with just enough heat and food to survive, but this is incredible. Maybe it does have a hot tub, after all.
I look at Gable. “This is where we’re staying?” He’s about to respond, definitely sarcastically, and I slap my hand over his mouth. “Actually, don’t bother answering; I’m too hungry for sass.”
We’ve been on the road for hours, taking detours and stopping occasionally after getting gas, trying to throw the scent off any other potential followers, so it’s night now. The surrounding trees shroud us in darkness, but the lights in the cabin are aglow. We stop, and I step out, the gravel path crunching beneath my sneakers. The sounds of rivers and singing birds echo from the line of trees that wraparound the property. Rich smells of clean air, soil and pine fill my nose, and I inhale deeply. Motor hops out, heading for the front door.
“You’ve stayed here before?” I ask.
