I paused, when I heard my dad’s voice rise a bit, and I shook my head. I hoped they had moved on from the sanctuary talk, or it was going to be an extremely long night. “Yes.”
“That’s beautiful,” he said, unscrewing the top of the bottle and taking a large swig. He offered the bottle out to me, and I shook my head. “So that’s your daddy, I assume. Who is the other guy? Your boyfriend?”
“Oh, god no,” I said quickly. “Ash is…well, was my next door neighbor. He had nobody left, so he came along with us.”
“Oh, I see,” Liam said, his voice soft as he glanced over his shoulder at Ash, whose eyes were flipping back and forth between my dad and Memphis and myself and Liam. “Well, good.”
I blushed and ducked my head, embarrassed at my obvious pleasure in his interest. I immediately changed the subject. “So are you guys really headed for Colorado?”
He nodded. “Yes, definitely. Sanctuary is there. I know it’s there.”
“But how can you be sure?” I asked. His confidence was unnerving, while at the same time it was addicting. He had a plan, a solid plan. It sounded insane, but he believed in it and his confidence in it was solid. “It’s all just a rumor.”
“Sometimes you have to have faith, you know?” he said, looking down at me. I leaned up against the car, and he leaned next to me, surveying the scene around us.
“I guess,” I answered. “I’m not much one for faith.”
He chuckled light. “So where are you headed, Miss Zoey?” I eyed him suspiciously for a moment, and he laughed again. “It’s okay to tell me.”
“Nebraska,” I said, deliberately leaving out the specific town. “My mom lives there, on an inactive farm. It’s a safe place, or so we hope.”
“Sounds like you have to have a little faith in something too,” he pointed out.
“You could be right,” I admitted.
“Z?” Ash was suddenly in front of us, looking at Liam with distaste on his face. “Come back to the fire. It’s cold over here.” He met my eyes, and I felt myself sucked into those baby blues. I found myself nodding.
“Okay,” I agreed, looking up at Liam. “Are you coming?”
He smiled stretched across his face again, and he pushed himself off the car and started walking toward the fire. Ash grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. I collided with his chest from the harsh, quick movement and stepped backward.
“What?” I asked, looking back toward the fire, where the three strangers sat with my dad. He looked more relaxed, but he had shown no inclination to let go of his gun or to give them their weapons back.
“What were you guys talking about?” Ash asked, his voice casual.
I raised my eyebrow at him. “Nothing important,” I answered, trying to walk past him. He stepped to the side, blocking me again.
“Zoey, just…just be careful, okay?” he said, under his breath. “You can’t just trust anyone that walks into our camp just because they have a pretty face.”
“You think Liam has a pretty face?” I asked innocently, my eyes wide.
“I’m serious,” he said sternly. “Just be careful.”
I pushed past him. “I never pegged you as the jealous type, Ash Matthews.” I returned to the fire and sat down, exchanging a quick smile with Liam before turning my attention back to the conversation between my dad and Memphis.
It wasn’t long before I was asleep again, sharing a blanket with my dad and my gun tucked under my chest. Ash volunteered to take the first watch and set himself up against a tree. He still seemed very suspicious Liam and his family.
I had slept for a few hours before Ash woke me up, and we switched places. He smiled gratefully at me, and a rush of emotions went through me. It was getting harder and harder to ignore that I didn’t hate Ash as much as I pretended I did. I watched him for a moment, as he settled under the blanket on the hard ground and fell asleep almost immediately.
Shaking my head, I sighed and refocused my attention of the area surrounding us. The sun was just beginning to peek through the crack in the trees. We had spent so many hours talking with Memphis, Julia and Liam that we had fallen asleep late. I knew that even though the sun would be shining on us in no time, they would stay asleep. Every face around me was the picture of exhaustion.
I felt my eyelids get heavy after an hour or so and contemplated waking my dad up to take over. I pushed through it though; he hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep, and I had to stay awake for at least a couple hours. It was only fair to the rest of them. I shifted, propping myself against a tree trunk and focused on the sounds of the forest. There was a light chirping from a group of birds, and the crackle of leaves being blown by the slight wind that had picked up through the night. Every once in awhile, there would be the sound of quick feet that would cause my heart to pound faster before a squirrel would dart out. I came to one conclusion: keeping watch, when you are really tired, is extremely boring.