“We fix pillows. Arrange them like a body. Pull the blankets up. You keep the lights low before then so nobody expects much. We’re gone and back before anyone checks too closely.”
“How long?”
“I have you back by midnight.”
“That’s not long.”
“That’s generous. That’s me risking what little remains of my dignity, my patch, and my oxygen supply if your father finds out.” He leaned down until his face was close to mine. “And if we get caught, I’m giving you the slip and you’re taking the fall.”
I smiled.
It hurt my cheek.
“Deal.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth for one dangerous second.
Then he looked away first.
“Get some rest, Beautiful,” he said.
But after he left, I didn’t sleep.
I stared at the ceiling and thought about graves.
By ten-thirty, the ranch had gone unnaturally quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
Wounded quiet.
The kind that came after a house had screamed itself hoarse.
Dylan slipped in without knocking, dressed in black, because apparently subtlety had a uniform. “You sure about this?” he asked me.
“No,” I said honestly.
He nodded. “Good. Means you still have sense.” Then he helped me sit up. The room tilted for a second, and his arm came around my waist before I could fall.
“Easy,” he murmured.
“I’m fine.”
“You are many things. Fine is not one of them.”
He moved quickly, building a fake version of me beneath the blankets with pillows and shadows. It was disturbingly convincing once he tucked the comforter up high.
“That’s creepy,” I whispered.
“That’s useful,” Dylan replied.
Then he wrapped me in a dark jacket two sizes too big, and guided me through the back hallway like I was made of glass and gunpowder. Every creak sounded like a siren. Every shadow looked like Cal. Every shift of wind against the windows made my stomach twist.
But nobody stopped us.
Outside, the night waited cold and wide.
The desert didn’t feel empty after dark. It felt awake. The sky stretched black and endless above us, spilling stars so bright they looked impossible. The air smelled like sagebrush, dust, horses, and the faint metallic bite of coming winter.
