Traitor (33 page)

Liam was inches away from Reese. “No one asked you to chime in, muscle head. You’re just the grunt Ashlyn has to have around now. Nothing else. If it weren’t for this stupid mess, you wouldn’t even be in the picture at all. She’s with me.”

“No, I’m not.”

Liam spun around and faced me. “What…what did you say?”

I shook my head slowly, willing the tears to remain inside. Liam was right, but he still didn’t have the right to speak to my family the way he currently was. “I’m not with you. Not if you’re going to act like this.”

“Ashlyn, you know this isn’t your fault.”

“It’s none of our faults! We work with the cards we’re dealt. That’s how life works.”

Liam’s eyes had lost the light I’d seen in them the past few days. “Ashlyn, don’t do this. That isn’t what I meant.”

“Then you should have thought it through before you went after my family. How are we supposed to be a team if you don’t even believe in what we’re doing.”

“I didn’t mean it like that – “

I held a hand up to stop him, and pushed his hands off of my waist. “I didn’t hear you complain when I made sure Aiden made it back home safely. I didn’t hear you complain when your family was reunited. I need to finish what I started. Our families need to be together, and Ankou needs to be stopped for good. That can’t happen if we don’t keep fighting.” I looked around the room at each stunned face, until I returned to Liam. “I love you, you know I do. It’s just right now this is too much.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “We’re not over, it’s not like that,” I promised as I tried to figure out what to say next. I took his hands in mine and kissed them apologetically. “I just need to get away from all of this. It’s eating away at all of us, at you and I. We need to step away from it and just take a breather.”

“I’ll come with you, then,” Liam said as he clutched my hand tightly.

“No,” I said sternly. My insides squirmed with guilt as he recoiled from my rejection. “It’s not that I don’t want you to come. I just need to get away. I need to clear my head.”

He stood there like stone, unmoving and speechless. For a moment I wavered in my decision. Before I could apologize for my outburst, I went over to Reese and took his hand. “Come on, Reese. We’re going.”

I would regret this decision, I was sure of it, but right now it seemed right. Reese didn’t say a word; he just followed me out of the living room.

As bad as I wanted to look back and check on Liam, I didn’t. I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t leave. I prayed that Liam would forgive me for being selfish and leaving right now. If he didn’t, well, I probably just walked out on the best thing I’d ever have in my life.

That’s when I realized how alone I’d forced myself to be.

This was all my fault.

I
ALWAYS KNEW
this faery crap would make someone go crazy; it just hadn’t occurred to me that it might be Ashlyn.

Ash was all but dragging me out of the living room with everyone watching us like we were escaped convicts. Kinda made me want to wave at everyone or crack a joke to diffuse the tension.

That is, until Ash practically pulled my arm out of its socket by yanking on it so hard.

She got us out of the house and to my Jeep where she turned around and shoved her hand out expectantly. “Keys? Where are your keys?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t think this one through, did you, MacGyver?”

She shook her head, all flustered. “Reese, just give me your keys.”

“Or what?”

Her eyes narrowed, and she got that dangerous woman look on her face. I may not have dated too many girls, but I’d seen my mom lay that look on my dad enough that I knew to take it seriously. I didn’t even argue; I just shoved my hand in the pocket of my jeans, pulled the keys out, and handed them over.

She didn’t look at me as she picked the lint out of them. “Thank you.”

I opened the door for her. “Any inclination as to where we’re going?”

“None at all. Is that going to be an issue for you?”

Like I was going to say otherwise. I ushered her into the car. “Nope. Lead the way.”

She rolled her eyes as she climbed in, but said nothing. The engine roared to life and revved way too many times before I could even get in. This girl was going to be the death of me.

***

We’d been driving for at least six hours and stopped just long enough to get gas. Ashlyn literally almost left me at the BP in Louisville when I went in to get a pop and go to the bathroom. It would have been funny if Ash was in any mood to joke at all. Instead, we’d been sitting in silence. Music played too low to truly hear the words, but it was mellow and right for the situation.

Finally, Ash broke the silence. “He’s right, you know. That’s the thing that pisses me off. I have no reason to be mad, and I’m going to be lucky if he wants anything to do with me when we get back.” Tears began to spill over as she continued to ramble on. “He’s the best thing I’ve ever had, Reese, and I’m such a bitch sometimes that I’ve probably scared him off. He’d have every right to be mad at me.”

“Huh?”

“Liam. He’s right.”

Of course the first thing she’d talk about was Liam. I nodded. “Ah. I see.”

She jerked her head toward me. “You think he’s wrong?”

Ash was on a tear, and I knew better than to purposely start a debate with her. That’d end in bloodshed, and it’d be me on the receiving end. Girls were crazy when they were mad. I shrugged my shoulders. “I dunno, Ash. It’s all kind of complicated, but it does feel like it all leads back to Memaw. But I do know this,” I stopped to mull over the words I wanted to say. “If Liam has half a brain, he’ll understand that you’re stressed out and he’ll forgive you. If he doesn’t, I’ll smack some sense into him. No one is ever perfect, and you’ve gotta accept the flaws along with the good things. You might have been a little overdramatic back there,”
or a lot,
I thought to myself, “but that doesn’t mean you’re not a good person. Liam knows that.”

Ash sat in silence, biting her lip. She always did that when she was thinking hard about something. One of these days she was gonna bite her lip right off if she wasn’t careful. I wanted to help, I just didn’t know how. “It’s not her fault. I know she didn’t mean to make all this crap to happen; no one ever does,” I said as I put a hand on her knee. “It’s not like she sat down one day and decided to turn everyone’s lives upside down. It’s like you said; we work with the cards we’re dealt. She did what she needed to do. Now we need to work with it, and handle what comes down the pike as best we can.”

She scrunched her eyebrows together. “That sounds like a really bad pep talk from a coach.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m trying.”

“That’s more than what Liam was doing,” she muttered.

God, how long had I wanted her to realize I was a better choice than Liam? Now she was here in my Jeep all but admitting Liam was a putz (even though I knew he was actually being a decent guy this time), and I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. It just seemed like such a jerk move. I sat silently.

She punched the wheel. “I just don’t know how to fix things! It’s all a mess.”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“You’re not helping.”

I laughed. “Look, Ash, there’s no way one person can save the world. There’s just not. I’m sorry. You’re gonna have to go for a goal a little less steep.”

“And what do you propose? Leaving my dad behind?”

“For starters, yeah.”

She sat in silence for a while, before she answered. “Well, you’re wrong.”

I shrugged. “Never said I was right. Just trying to give you a different look at things.”

She kept her eyes on the road. “MaKenna is bad.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Her fingers tightened around the wheel. “The witch that blew up the stadium? That was MaKenna.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

“No.”

“I was about to get another touchdown!”

Ash laughed. “I tell you my aunt is evil, and you’re worried about your failed touchdown.”

I smiled at her. “I thought you said I wasn’t helping anyway.”

She rolled her eyes. There was a moment of deliberation before she spoke quietly. It was almost like she was admitting defeat. “You know, we really do make sense.”

That caught me by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“You and I. My dad always asks when we’re going to get together.”

Oh crap. Here it was. I nodded slowly. “Really…”

“Really.”

The music filled the car once more, this time pounding in my ears, even though the volume was still low. Or maybe that was just the blood that seemed to have all rushed to my head.

Ashlyn slowed down and signaled to get off the highway. God only knew where we were. I put my hand on the dash to hold myself in one place when she got off the exit. “What are you doing?”

“Have you been to Adaire, Reese?”

“Of course I have. Rozz took me there to change me.”

“Have you ever really seen it?”

“No.”

“Neither have I. I want to really see it.”

Ash had finally cracked. There wasn’t anything in Adaire for her, except the crazy redhead. “Are we allowed to just show up there?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s better than staying where Ankou can get us.”

She had a point. It was also escaping, and Ash was stronger than that. Needed to be stronger than that. “You can’t run forever, Ash.”

“I know that.” She sighed as she parked the Jeep behind a mini-mall. “I just need to run tonight. With you.”

“With me?”

She nodded and stifled a laugh. “Well, is there anyone else with us, nerd? Just tonight. We’ll go home tomorrow evening. I just need twenty-four hours. Can we do that?”

I smiled. “We can do that. But Ash?”

She looked at me expectantly as she turned off the car and pulled the key from the ignition. “Yeah?”

“I’m driving on the way home. You scare the bejeezus out of me behind the wheel.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but I put a finger on her lips. I smiled. “Women drivers, no survivors. Something my dad taught me.”

Her eyes brightened at my horrible joke, and the corners of her mouth twitched. “Oh yeah? Your dad taught me something, too.”

“What’s that?”

“A right hook.”

She playfully punched my stomach, and jumped on my back. My feet crunched in the gravel as I swayed from the sudden weight of Ashlyn on my back, but I recovered quickly. Her hands squeezed my shoulders. “Let’s go, you brat.”

This was the Ashlyn I loved. “Hold on tight,” I said.

Her arms squeezed my neck and shoulders, and I focused on Adaire. This was probably going to be the only good twenty-four hours we had for a while.

***

I stood and brushed the multicolored autumn leaves off my jeans. “Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here?”

Ashlyn shrugged and looked around the clearing. “Last time I was here, there were flowers all over this clearing.”

“Seasons do change, you know.”

Ashlyn shook her head. “Not here. This side of Adaire has spring and fall, and the other side has summer and winter.”

“This would be classified under fall, genius.”

She didn’t say anything, but still looked worried. I put my hands on her shoulders and gently rocked her. “Hey, we’re in Adaire. We’re safe…for twenty-four hours, at least.”

Her smile slowly started to reemerge. “For twenty-four hours.”

“Finally going for a beau who fits your needs, I see, Ashlyn?”

We both looked down the path that disappeared into the woods to see the annoying guy with the accent that I’d met last time I was here. Ashlyn stomped toward him and poked a finger in his chest. “Who I spend my time with is none of your business, Antony. You should know that by now.”

Ashlyn seemed to get defensive awfully fast. I’d have to ask her about that later. Instead of pointing it out right now, I smiled at the guy and waved. “Long time no see.”

He lifted his head in acknowledgement, and smiled a smile that probably would make every girl in school pass out. It made me dislike the guy immediately. “Yes, yes, I’m sure it feels that way for you, young buck. You’ve got a lively one here. Be careful.”

He winked and turned to leave, but Ashlyn caught his arm. “Wait, do you know if it’s okay for us to be here?”

Antony looked genuinely shocked by the question. “Why on earth would it not be? You wouldn’t be able to make it here if it weren’t permissible for you to come. Whether or not you feel guilty for abandoning your family and other love interest isn’t any concern of ours, now is it?”

I couldn’t see her face, but Ash’s neck turned bright red, so I could only imagine the shade her face was. She stuttered and stammered out a response. “I – how did you – we’re here for – “

Antony waved her off. “I don’t care why you’re here or what you’re doing, truly. If you’d came to see me, that’d be a different story, but I see another man has your eye. You’re a coy one, Miss McVean. Not unlike your grandmother.”

Ashlyn shook her head. I wanted to bleach my brain after thinking of Memaw flirting with anyone, so I’m sure Ash didn’t like the comment the guy made, either. Antony went on. “You can come to the other side of the lake and take advantage of our more private premises. Your rooms are already laid out on the first floor in the left wing, directly across from our committee gathering room. First and second doors on the left. If you need anything, we’ll be around.”

I stood open-mouthed. Antony laughed. “Finally, a man after my own heart. I like him, Ash. I’m almost okay with you not being interested in me.”

He turned to go, but then quickly faced Ash and I once more, his model smile plastered on. “Ashlyn, for the record, Roslin tipped us off. We’re not mind readers.”

With that, he vanished into a wisp of blue smoke. The dude was weird.

Ashlyn turned to me. “I just don’t get him.”

I laughed. “That makes two of us. Where are going?”

“Might as well go to the other side and find our rooms.”

I bowed and gestured her forward. “Lead the way, fearless one.”

She rolled her eyes and took my hand in stride. We walked in silence along the well-trodden path in the woods until we got to a dock. A small boat sat floating gently in the water, where miniature waves barely broke when they hit the soft sand. “Wow,” was all I could say.