Chapter 28
Gable
Another flush of the chain, but I haven’t heard any puking for the last eight minutes, so that’s a good sign. Motor is dozing beside me, snoring softly, and I’ve been trying to process the last fifteen minutes or so.
We’re lucky it was Z and his brothers and no one else. I should have been more prepared for someone to follow us, but I thought I was careful enough with the route. Clearly not.
God, we’re not even a day into this and I’ve already put Ella in unnecessary danger.
This is why killing people is so much easier than protecting them.
“You alive, Gibson?” Silence. I sigh and get up, going over to the door and knocking.
“Knock once if you’re dead, twice if you’re alive.
” I expect her to laugh or give me a sassy response; instead I hear something else.
A sob. The sound tears into me, like it shreds through my heart, and I open the door slowly.
Ella is sitting on the bathroom floor, knees pulled to her chest, face wet with tears. She’s crying quietly, her eyes shining as she looks up at me.
“Fuck, Gibson.” I crouch in front of her. “Why are you crying?”
Her chin dimples. “They—they were going … they were going to kill me!”
“Well, yeah. That’s what happens when you have a bounty.”
She lets out a sob. “Don’t be mean to me right now!”
I sigh and groan as I sit beside her. “Come here.” I put my arm around her shoulders, and she cuddles into me, crying into my chest. “You didn’t die.”
“But I could have.”
“I’ve already told you, I won’t let anything happen to you.” She clings to my T-shirt, her sobs slowly subsiding.
She wipes her eyes. “I thought I was stronger than this. My dad is a cop, for Christ’s sake. I’ve heard and seen awful things.”
“It’s a bit different when those awful things are happening to you. And you are strong.”
She sniffs and angles her head to look up at me.
“I am?”
“I’ve personally witnessed you chasing down a mugger.” She laughs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, and I grimace, snatching for some toilet paper and handing it to her. “Almost dying isn’t an excuse to be gross, Gibson.”
She blows her nose and cuddles up to me again. I heave out a sigh, holding her close, despite the goddamn heat she emits.
“What was your deal with Z?” she asks.
I play with her hair absentmindedly, remembering the day the deal was struck. We were all filled with excitement for what lay ahead, for the cash and the drama, for the murdering and travel. Anything felt possible.
“We kind of learned this life together,” I say. “Hunter trained Asher and me before we worked for the agency, but—”
“The agency?” She tilts her head up to look at me again.
I nod. “It’s the company that accepts the jobs and sends them out.
Hunter worked for it for years, but now he owns it.
” She listens, blue eyes wide. “Before he was the owner, he trained Asher and me, so we’d be ahead of the competition, other bounty hunters.
But you still have to go through several trials before you’re accepted.
There were thirty of us in total; Z and his brothers were in the same induction as Asher and me.
There were no rules about turning on each other.
If anything, surviving each other was the biggest challenge.
One night, one of the other guys tried to kill Y.
Asher, being Asher, stopped it. Y’s strong, but he’s more brains than brawn.
Z said he owed Asher, but instead Asher said we should stick together.
Vow never to hurt each other or those we love.
So, we got close. We’re the only five that made it through. ”
Her lips part. “Out of thirty? What happened to the others?”
“What do you think, Gibson?”
Her shoulders soften. “Oh.”
Resting her head back on my chest, she falls quiet, and for a moment, a strange, bone-chilling moment, I wonder if I’ve frightened her. I tighten my hold on her, but instead of pulling away, she leans closer.
“Thank you,” she says quietly. “For looking after me.”
“You hear that, Asher?” I say to the ceiling. “I got Gibson to thank me.” She laughs into my chest, and I smile. “You’re an ugly crier, by the way.”
“Oh, I know. My dad said when I cried as a kid I looked like an alien.”
I bark out a laugh.
It’s the early hours of the morning, and with my adrenaline ebbing away, we decide to sleep for a few hours before setting off at daybreak. When my alarm goes off, I let Ella and Motor sleep a little longer and go outside.
Stretching my arms above my head, I breathe in the damp air. We’re closer to colder climates, and I can’t fucking wait. Leaving California behind is like shedding skin and memories.
Taking out my phone, I call Hunter.
“Have you arrived?” he asks.
I sit on the decking. “Not yet. We stopped for the night. Z picked up Ella’s bounty, but I managed to talk him out of it. Did you know she’s gone up to a million?”
“What the fuck?” Hunter says. “I’d never miss hearing about a bounty that high.”
“You think someone is deliberately keeping you out of the loop?”
He sighs. “Yes. Which likely means they know you’re together, or that you’re involved in keeping her safe.”
A door beside me closes, and I’m surprised to see Z on the decking. He gives me a nod, then takes out a cigarette.
“Can you listen out?” I ask Hunter.
“Already am, kid. I’ll keep you up to date. Let me know once you get to the cabin.”
We hang up, and Z sits next to me while he smokes.
“You stayed?”
He nods, blowing smoke through his lips. “X was bitching about his ribs hurting, and he’s our ride.” I arch a brow. “Please, you know I don’t drive myself anywhere. I’m a passenger prince.”
I snort a laugh and rest my forearms on my knees.
We’re quiet for a few minutes. Z smokes, and I look out at the rising sun, enjoying the cool air.
We’re around three hours from the cabin, but with the detours we’ll take, it’ll be late when we finally arrive.
That’s a long time to be in a car with an alert Gibson.
“I’m sorry about Asher.”
I glance at Z, swallowing the sudden thickness in my throat. “Thanks.”
He puts out his cigarette but remains seated. “He was my favorite Flynn.”
“Dick.”
He grins. We’re quiet again, and I think about the last time we were all together. It was five years ago, and we happened to be in Vegas at the same time. It was two different jobs in the same hotel. Kismet, really. We ended up staying the weekend.
“Are you still married?” I ask, remembering our first night when Z met a woman called Silence and had an Elvis marry them.
She was a waitress at the hotel we stayed at, and when Z had seen her, I’d almost clocked the moment he fell in love.
He struck up a conversation with her about how unusual her name is, and four hours later, they were drunk and saying their vows.
He wiggles his wedding finger at me, the band gleaming in the light. “Five years and going strong.”
“She know what you do?”
“Fuck no. She’d kill me. She doesn’t even know I smoke,” he says. “I’m waiting for the right time.”
I snort. “Your silver wedding anniversary?”
“I’m thinking of leaving a note before I kick it,” he suggests. “That way she can rage at me, and I’ll be safely in hell.” I laugh and glance over at the motel reception. I spotted a coffee machine in there last night. “I should probably wake up Gibson.”
“She and Asher were serious, then?”
“I’ve fallen for her.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Shit. That must suck for both of you,” he says, lighting another cigarette. It dangles between his lips as he lights it. “Grief is a powerful aphrodisiac, y’know.”
“I would have to be electrically charged to have sex with Ella Gibson,” I say, standing. “But thanks for the gross imagery.”
He gives me a thumbs up and I go to the reception desk. I fill up two cups of coffee, and Z is still smoking as I go back into the room. Ella is still sleeping, spooning Motor, her face half buried in his fur. The dog is snoring, tongue lolling out.
I place the coffee on the nightstand. “Time to get up, Gibson.”
She groans, pressing her face deeper into Motor’s fur. “No.”
“Yes.” I flick her cheek, and she growls at me. “We need to be on the road in ten minutes. Get up. Clean yourself. Do whatever it is you do to wake up and be your usual, frustrating self. You too, mutt.” Motor huffs, his lips vibrating as he does. “You’re both fucking lazy.”
Twenty minutes and two arguments later, we get into the car. Luckily, the brothers are already gone, so that saves Ella potentially freaking out again. She puts on Asher’s headphones and gazes out of the window as I drive. Motor sleeps in the back seat, and I enjoy the silence.
I glance at Ella occasionally, keeping an eye out for tears. She doesn’t cry, but she doesn’t smile much, either. Still, at least she’s being quiet, and I should be grateful for that, right?
Tapping my fingers against my leg, I check the navigation, but I already know where I am, so I don’t need it. I switch on a radio station, but the songs annoy me, so I quickly turn it off again.
“You okay back there, boy?” I ask Motor. He ignores me and keeps snoozing. I look at Ella again. “Hey.” She’s focused on the scenery, music blasting so loud through the headphones even I can hear it. “Gibson.”
She looks at me, tugging them off. “What?”
“You’re being rude.”
She blinks. “You always tell me to shut up.”
“Well, I’m bored.”
“Ah-ha!” She points at me. “You enjoy my company.”
I gesture at the road. “It’s a long-ass journey, I’d enjoy the company of Hannibal Lector right now.” She makes the Hannibal Lector hissing noise with her teeth, and I turn my face away, so she doesn’t see me laugh. “Just, say something entertaining.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. You’re always talking. Just talk.”
She shrugs. “Why don’t you talk? I know nothing about you.”
The idea of talking about myself for the next few hours turns my stomach. “Put your headphones back on.”
“Oh, come on. Tell me your story, Gable. I could put you into one of my books.”
I tap the steering wheel. “Really?”
“Yep.”
That doesn’t sound so bad. “I’d have to be tall.”
“You are tall.”
“But my character has to be tall, too. And handsome. And well-endowed.”
She cackles. “I’m not lying to my readers.”
I look at her. “I will show you right now.”
“No, thanks.” She shifts in her seat so she’s facing me. “Tell me something. Anything.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve told anyone about me. Asher knew everything, Hunter knows most things, and I never meet anyone new to let them see more of myself than I want them to. Ella Gibson is the third most consistent person in my life. I shudder at the thought.
“What you said at brunch about your stepdad,” she says gently. “Was that true?”
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.