Chapter 7
Aoife
“H appy birthday, baby brother,” I said softly, glancing over at Cian.
“Thanks,” he said with a sigh, his eyes on the road.
“Stop fidgeting, Ronan,” Saoirse ordered. “Why the hell aren’t you asleep?”
“I can’t sleep in the car,” Ronan grumbled.
“Since when?”
“Since always.”
“Bullshit.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Cian barked, turning to look at them. “Shut the fuck up already.”
“Cian,” I warned.
All of us were freaking exhausted. Aisling had slept for most of the drive so far, but the rest of the kids hadn’t. We’d been on the road all night, and it was so late that it was nearly morning. The sun was rising behind us, barely casting a shadow of my car out on the pavement in front of us.
“I’m hungry,” Ronan pouted.
“You’re not hungry,” I replied, looking at him in the mirror. “You’re tired. Close your eyes and try to sleep.”
He grumbled under his breath but listened.
Saoirse pulled his pillow over and set it against her side so he could lean on her while she leaned on the door.
For the millionth time since we’d started driving I checked to make sure all the doors were locked, and no one was going to fall out of them while they were sleeping.
“Three more exits before ours,” Cian said quietly, looking down at his phone.
“How long until we get there?” I asked, just as quietly.
“A couple more hours.”
“It went faster than I thought it would.”
“Me, too. Probably because we were driving through the night, and there’s barely any cars on the road.”
“Maybe. You better turn your phone off for a while.”
He set it aside and looked at me. “Where’s yours?”
“Left it behind.”
“Why?”
“Mine was on Mom’s plan. I don’t think she realized she was paying for it.”
“You really think they’d track your phone?” he asked doubtfully.
“I really think it wasn’t worth taking the chance,” I replied.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He sighed and leaned back against the seat. “From what I remember of Aunt Ashley, she’s pretty cool, right?”
“Yeah, she was super cool,” I agreed, keeping an eye on the semi that was barreling up beside us. I barely suppressed a shudder of dread. “But she stopped coming around after Dad died.”
“Mom probably wouldn’t let her.”
“Yeah, I always figured that was the case.”
“Do you think she’ll let us stay with her?”
“I really fucking hope so, at least until I can get a job and find us a place.”
Cian glanced at the back seat where everyone was asleep. “What if she’s only willing to take Ro and Ash?”
“No fucking way,” I replied instantly.
“Me and Saoirse can—”
“No.”
“We’re old enough to—”
“Not a chance in hell.” I shook my head, unwilling to let him finish the thought. “We stay together no matter what.”
“It would be better to know they’re somewhere safe,” he argued. “If we have to split up.”
“Cian Sean Kelly,” I said, looking him in the eye. “If the only option is splitting up, we’ll be on the road to Mexico before anyone knows we’re gone. Got it?”
“Got it,” he replied, his shoulders losing a little of the stiffness he’d had since we climbed in the car.
“This exit?”
“Yeah.”
I took the exit and listened as he gave me the next directions on his map. I’d never been so grateful that I’d gotten him a phone with data.
“What do you think Richie did when he came back?” Cian asked a while later as he put on my sunglasses.
“Those actually don’t look that bad,” I said thoughtfully.
“I look good in everything. Do you think he went to the store to see if he could catch us?”
“Maybe.” Another semi was closing in behind us.
I tightened my hands on the steering wheel and pressed harder on the gas pedal.
The kids teased that my car couldn’t go more than forty-five miles an hour, but I was doing a respectable sixty-five.
I ignored the loud humming coming from the engine.
“I told Jasmine to tell him that it was for the best.”
“Damn, Aoife. That’s cold.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You should’ve at least let him choose.”
“Not when he was making the wrong choice,” I replied stubbornly. I didn’t want to talk about Richie. With every mile I put between us, the burn in my belly grew stronger. I missed him already.
I hadn’t even let myself think about Mom yet. Getting to Aunt Ashley and keeping the kids safe with me was my only focus. It had to be. If I let myself think of anything else, I was afraid I’d completely lose it, and we’d end up in the ditch.
We kept driving, and when the sun was finally up and turning the car into an oven that my air conditioning couldn’t keep up with, one by one, the kids in the back woke up.
“I’m hungry,” Ronan mumbled.
“Check in the cooler,” Cian said, turning to deal with him. “There’s some yogurt in there.”
“I didn’t buy yogurt.”
“I ran in while you were at the pharmacy,” he said dismissively.
“Where the hell did you get money?”
“Took it out of Mom’s purse,” he replied defensively.
“She’s gonna be so mad,” Ronan said, pausing to look at Cian in horror.
Cian looked at me, and I shook my head. It wasn’t time yet. I didn’t want Ronan and Aisling finding out when we were in the car, and there was nothing I could do for them. We had plenty of time to tell them when we got to Aunt Ashley’s.
“Yogurt, bud,” Cian said, pointing. “There’s some plastic spoons in there, too.”
“Nice,” Ronan muttered. “Ash, you want some?”
“I do,” Saoirse said. “Did you get blackberry?”
“Got everyone’s favorites,” Cian confirmed.
“The orange kind?” Aisling asked, rubbing her ear.
“Yep.”
“Has that medicine started working yet?” I asked, looking at her in the mirror. Cian had given her the first dose as we left town the night before.
“No,” Aisling murmured as she took her yogurt from Ronan. “Still hurts.”
“It’ll stop soon.” I looked at Cian. “When did we give her the ibuprofen?”
“She’s due. I’ll get it.”
The kids ate as we took another exit and then another.
They were mostly quiet in the back seat, staring blearily out the windows.
I couldn’t remember the last time they’d slept anywhere but their own beds.
We hadn’t had money for trips or anything like that, and I’d never been comfortable with them sleeping at their friends’ houses.
Too many weird things happened behind closed doors.
Look at our family, no one on the outside had any idea that my mother was rarely home, or the fact that when she was there, she was usually hammered or hungover.
My thoughts must’ve done something to my expression because Cian was watching me curiously.
“What do you think Mom did for money?” he asked abruptly. “Whenever I asked she always talked in circles but never gave me a straight answer.”
“No idea.” I shook my head. “She’d never answer me either. She used to work as a property manager, but I have no clue how she would have kept that job with the drinking.”
“She didn’t have a set schedule, that’s for sure,” Cian said with a derisive laugh. “I never knew when she’d be home or gone.”
“I just know she had money coming in somehow,” I replied with a shrug. “She kept up on the utilities and the mortgage.”
“When was she sober enough to pay bills?” he asked under his breath.
“I gave up trying to figure it out a long time ago.”
“Turn here,” he said, pointing at the next intersection. “We’re less than an hour out.”
We were in the middle of nowhere and driving through a smattering of small towns at that point. The freeway had turned into a two-lane highway. My stomach cramped.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Aisling said from the back seat.
“Me too,” Saoirse grumbled.
“Can you hold it?” I asked. “We’re almost there.”
“I can,” Saoirse said instantly.
“I can’t,” Aisling whined.
“Stop at that gas station,” Cian said, pointing at a station down the road. “I bet they have restrooms.”
“Nasty ones.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” he replied.
“Easy for you to say,” Saoirse said, leaning up to poke the back of his neck. “You can pee standing up.”
“Hey, at least you’ll get a toilet and won’t be peeing on the side of the road,” Cian joked, slapping at her finger. “It could be worse.”
“I’ll pee on the side of the road,” Ronan chimed in excitedly.
“No one is peeing on the side of the road,” I replied, shaking my head.
We pulled into the station, and I gave Cian cash and sent him in to pay for gas and get the restroom key if they had one while I helped the kids out of the car.
While we were standing there, waiting for him to come back out, the roar of motorcycles filled the small parking lot, and a group of five or six of them pulled in behind me.
“Cool,” Ronan whispered, leaning around me. “Look how long that guy’s beard is.”
“Stop staring,” I snapped, pushing his head back.
“Mornin’,” one of the men called as he climbed off his bike.
I just nodded in reply. Dealing with a strange group of men was exactly what I didn’t need.
“Got it,” Cian called out, striding out of the little store with a key dangling from his hand.
I let out a breath of relief as he got near, his shoulders thrown back as he eyeballed the men parked behind us at the pumps.
“Thanks,” I said, taking the key from him.
“You take the girls and Ro to the bathroom,” he said quietly, still keeping an eye on the men. “I’ll stay here.”
“I don’t wanna go with the girls,” Ronan complained.
“Tough.”
“Let’s go, Ronan,” I ordered, gripping Aisling’s hand as we headed toward the building. “Or I’ll hold your hand, too.”
He huffed, but followed along, the threat of holding my hand too serious to ignore.
I cleaned the restroom as best I could—it was every bit as bad as I’d imagined—and each of us used it quickly. When we walked back out to the car, we found Cian leaning against my car, nodding along to whatever the biker closest to him was saying.
“You’re up,” I called out, tossing him the key.
“Gas is pumped,” he replied. “Get in.”
He waited until we were all safely inside the car before jogging around to the bathroom.
“Turn around, Ronan,” Saoirse hissed. “God, you’re so embarrassing!”