Chapter 60
RUE
Blue and red lights strobe against the side of the building. Doors slam. Shouted commands echo from the front parking lot.
Oh my God. Oh my God.
“Move,” Noah hisses, dragging me upright. “We have to fucking hurry!”
I’m lightheaded, my throat burning from the smoke, but the instinct to survive is a traitorous thing—it kicks in despite my resolve to just… die.
Noah keeps his arm locked around my waist, half-carrying, half-dragging me through the shadows of the neighboring dumpster. We crouch behind the F150 we parked hours ago, just as a cruiser screeches into the motel lot, missing us by seconds.
“We have to get on the road before they notice the back window.” Noah jerks me toward the truck, ripping the door open. He throws me into the passenger seat and slams the door, locking it before I can even reach for the handle.
He’s behind the wheel an instant later, the engine coming quietly to life. He doesn’t turn on the headlights. He rolls out of the shadows, navigating solely by the dim glow of the moon and the raging fire he started behind us.
Firetruck sirens wail, screaming past us in the opposite lane as Noah violently cuts the wheel, heading south.
I cling to the door handle, my lungs burning as I try to steady my frantic breathing. “Why the hell did you come back for me?” I turn to him, but his jaw is locked. He doesn’t say a freaking word.
“I will jump out of this moving truck,” I warn him, my voice shaking.
“No, you won’t.” He keeps his eyes on the road. As we hit the desolate stretch of highway, he flips the headlights on and pushes the truck harder, the speedometer climbing. “We have to make this meeting.”
I chew the inside of my cheek, tasting ash, and peer out the window. We’re deep into the black throat of the desert now, the highway a narrow ribbon of grey. The adrenaline that kept me fighting him begins to drain, leaving behind an exhausting heap of complex betrayal.
“You ruined it,” I whisper, staring down at my soot-stained hands. “I had a way out. I was going to give you your freedom, and you fucking burned it.”
“I burned a lie, Rue,” he grits out, his grip so tight on the steering wheel his knuckles are white.
“You think you would’ve been some sort of hero?
You think they would’ve just let me go?” He turns to look at me finally, meeting my gaze.
“You would’ve just turned into another Snapped episode, and they’d have written you off. ”
“I don’t care!” I shout, turning in the seat to face him. “You lied to me. You were going to leave me in that room like a piece of baggage you didn’t need anymore once you got where you needed to go. I get that I fucked up your life, but fuck, that’s what I am to you? An afterthought?”
“You were the only thought!” he roars. His eyes are raw, reflecting the dashboard's green glow. “Everything I did—all of it—it was because I thought you were too good for this. I thought if I pushed you away hard enough, you’d find a better life again. I thought you could go back to your family, and just…” His voice trails off, the anger suddenly bleeding out of him, leaving him looking hollowed out and exhausted. “I’m sorry, Rue.”
A heavy, suffocating silence fills the cab of the truck, broken only by the hum of the tires against the asphalt. I lean my head back against the headrest, my chest aching with every breath.
He hits the brakes, slowing the car as we approach a dirt turn-off, and then smashes the gas. I grip the side of the door as the truck fishtails, kicking up a massive cloud of dust before finding traction.
“I was wrong,” he continues, his voice dropping to a jagged whisper. “I thought you were just here because you felt guilty. I thought that’s all we were. I thought once I got away, I could move on. But…”
He takes his right hand off the wheel and reaches out. His thumb brushes a smudge of ash from my cheek, his touch so gentle it makes my throat instantly tighten.
“I can’t let you go, Rue. I’ll never be able to let you go.”
A fresh tear escapes, cutting a clean track through the dirt on my face. “I love you,” I choke out, unable to hold the truth back anymore.
He grips my hand, his fingers tangling desperately with mine. “I love you, too. And we’re gonna fucking do this together. No more secrets.”
I nod, a profound, terrifying relief flooding my body. “No more secrets.”
Noah shifts his gaze back to the dark, unpaved road stretching out ahead of us. His jaw sets, the protective, lethal edge returning to his profile. “Good. Because Elias is waiting, we have a major obstacle ahead, and we’re officially out of time to do anything but hope for the fucking best.”