Mae stepped in front of me, her gaze burning with fire. “You have to. You can’t stay. As soon as it’s safe, we’ll be together again.”
The words ripped at my heart. Because when would that be? It could be weeks if the cops decided to put surveillance on them. What if they fingerprinted the cabin? They’d know I was there and that they were closer to finding me than ever. They wouldn’t just ease off the gas if they had a lead like that.
I stared down into Mae’s eyes, eyes that had become so familiar. Was I really going to leave her? How the hell was I going to wake up every day, knowing she wasn’t beside me?
I didn’t want to live a life without her.
Her eyes filled with tears, and like she could read my mind, she lifted up on her toes, putting her lips to mine. I gripped the side of her face with one hand, hauling her in with the other and crushing her to me, while I kissed her mouth for the last time.
“If they find you, they’ll shoot on sight.” Liam’s voice was strained.
I could feel an invisible clock counting down. It whispered a threat with every tick of the second hand, and I knew that out there somewhere in the darkness, the police were closing in. I glanced at Rowe.
His face said everything his mouth wasn’t. I hauled him in, pressing my lips to his before pulling Mae in tight, circling her with one arm. “I love you,” I whispered against the top of her head.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back, but then she was pushing me toward Liam’s car, tears streaming down her face, and I had no choice but to go.
“Ditch the car somewhere when you can. Once they get here, they’re gonna put two and two together pretty quick.” Liam was the voice of strength and reason. He clapped a hand on my shoulder as I nodded, a mutual understanding and respect between us, and then he slammed the door.
In the silence of the car, all that was left was the beating of my heart and the rushing of blood in my ears. I gunned the engine and put my foot down on the accelerator. I forced my eyes to stay on the road, knowing it was bumpy and unpredictable in the daylight and worse at night.
Looking into the rearview mirror would help no one.
But I did it anyway.
I watched the figures get smaller, the four of them huddled around each other while I drove away.
“Dammit!” I pounded the steering wheel, fighting off the lump in my throat.
A new determination finally bore down on me. I put my foot down harder, screeching around the last bend of the driveway. The road to freedom lay beyond, I just had to take it.
Barely tapping the brakes at the top, I spun out onto the road in a squeal of tires suddenly finding grip on the asphalt road. The engine roared, and a thrill of adrenaline shot through me, a battle cry of victory bursting from my lungs.
I could lay low somewhere for a few days. A few weeks if I had to. I could let this all blow over, and once it did, I’d get them back.
I just had to be patient. It would all work out if I stuck to the plan.
The flashing of police lights lit up the dark night sky.
The road was completely blocked with half a dozen cars parked side by side. Fear erupted at the sight of the officers, their guns all pointed directly at me while they sheltered behind their open doors.
I jumped on the brakes, shoving the gearshift into reverse. Panic shook my fingers, and I put my hand on the passenger seat, twisting to glance over my shoulder.
My foot fell away from the accelerator.
More blue and red lights closed in from behind, and I knew if I looked to the left or the right, I’d find more.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. We were supposed to find out who’d murdered Jayela and clear my name.
We were supposed to get our happily ever after.
And now we’d get none of it.
30
Mae
The four of us stood in the darkness after the taillights of Liam’s car disappeared. The roar of the engine filtered back until it faded into nothingness and all that was left was the night.
“We need to get Ripley inside,” Rowe murmured.
I nodded numbly. “I know.”
We trudged inside. Liam went to the kitchen, claiming he was going to make tea, while Rowe and I squeezed into the bathroom with Ripley. Rowe got the shower started, while I stripped Ripley’s clothes, wiping at his face as I went. He stared at me silently, his big blue eyes blank, his face streaked with Zye’s dried blood.
I wanted to let my tears fall, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t fall apart when he needed me. “Hey, sweetie. I know some really scary things happened tonight, but it’s all okay now. The bad man is gone and —”
“Is Heath a bad man?”
I shook my head, those tears threatening to fall. “No. He’s not. Heath is the best kind of man. The very best. Just like your daddy. Just like you’re going to be one day.”
“The shower is ready,” Rowe interrupted quietly.
I nodded and led Ripley over. I got down on my hands and knees, not caring that the water splashed back at me while I lathered up his hair with shampoo and washed off all traces of the trauma he’d witnessed.
He was going to live with that for the rest of his life. The guilt sat heavy on my shoulders, even though logic tried to reason that it was Zye at fault here and not us.
Guilt spoke loudly, though, and was hard to ignore.
Rowe began pulling off clothes, too, and when I looked up at him, he had Ripley’s clothes clutched in his hands. “We need to burn these.”
I swallowed and nodded. Ripley’s clothes were covered in blood, as were Rowe’s from where it had transferred when he’d picked him up. “We should probably burn mine and Liam’s, too. Just in case.”