Forever.

What a terrifying word.

I walked out of the bedroom to see someone I’d wished to never see again. “Jace,” I whispered to myself, seeing Daniel’s brother standing with a group of kids, holding out a bag of pills. For every pill he handed out, he took one for himself.

My head grew dizzy. My face was hot.

His head rose in my direction, and our eyes locked. My heart tightened and I turned away, hurrying toward Ryan. I tossed his arms into his coat in a rush. “Time to go. Now.”

I might have been crazy, but I didn’t care. Ryan needed a place to stay. We sat in the car outside Daniel’s house. He hadn’t come home yet, but I figured he should have been pulling up soon. His show should’ve ended a while ago.

Ryan lay back in the passenger’s seat. “So, you and Mr. Daniels are…”

“Were.” I sighed.

“And the hickey was from…”

“Him.” I sighed again.

“And he broke up with…”

“Me.”

This time Ryan sighed. “What a f**king crazy ass**le. Has he seen your boobs?!”

I smirked at his comment.

Daniel’s Jeep pulled up to the house and his headlights shone on the car. I hopped out to make sure he saw that it was me. His car came to a quick stop and he jumped out, rushing to my side.

“Ashlyn, what…what’s wrong? Are you okay?” He saw my puffy eyes and his fingers touched them. I shivered from his touch. He wrapped his arms around me as if we’d never broken up in the first place. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “I…I need your help.” Ryan climbed out of the passenger’s seat of the car and I felt Daniel’s fear through his hold against me. He swayed in a sudden grip of anger.

“Ashlyn, what did you do?” His voice was low, panic-filled.

Ryan held his hands up in a surrendering stance. “Don’t worry, Mr. D. I mean no harm.” He then began to chuckle. “Holy shit, you’re sleeping with our teacher!”

“Ryan!” I hissed, giving him a stern look. He just kept laughing. I turned to Daniel. “He’s drunk.”

“Yeah, you don’t say? Jesus Christ! Are you trying to get us caught?”

“Oh whatever, Daniel. I told one person! You didn’t have a problem telling Randy! So call it even.”

“What are you talking about? How did you know I told Randy?” He narrowed his eyes on me. Those beautiful blue eyes. No. Wait. Don’t look into his eyes. I hated him still.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’re an us anymore anyway.” I paused. “Can Ryan stay here?”

“What?” he asked, confused at my sudden comment.

I had to admit that I almost smiled at his confusion until I remembered why Ryan needed a place to stay. I filled Daniel in on the situation and watched as his puzzlement slowly transformed to utter disbelief.

“What is he going to do?” he whispered, looking toward Ryan, who was now standing on his porch. I shrugged. “This isn’t fair, Ash…” He blinked his eyes, and when his blues looked into my greens, I wanted to cry. “Because you know I’ll do anything for you.”

“Except love me,” I giggled nervously. He opened his mouth to object, but I didn’t give him a chance. “Look, you can say no, okay? I know you can lose your job if you do this.”

“I think I’ll lose even more if I don’t.” Daniel headed for the porch and unlocked his front door. “Ryan, there’s a spare room down the hallway to the left. Go to bed.”

Ryan smiled and slugged Daniel in the arm. “I always liked you, Mr. D. No homo…” He paused and laughed at himself. He held his thumb and pointer finger very close to one another. “Well, maybe a little homo.”

With that, Ryan stumbled into the house. Daniel nodded toward the front door. “Come on. It’s freezing out.”

I didn’t move.

Daniel looked back to me, a perplexed look on his face. I looked up to the snow falling down over us. I took one small step in his direction. “This doesn’t mean I don’t hate you still, because I do. I hate you.”

“I know.”

Another small step. “But I like you a little for taking him in tonight.”

By ‘hate’ I’d meant love. And by ‘a little’ I’d meant a lot.

Chapter 27

Find a way to be better.

Or find a way to be okay.

Whatever you choose, I’ll stay out of your way.

~ Romeo’s Quest

Walking into the house, I couldn’t help but smile when Daniel and I checked on Ryan. “He went right instead of left,” Daniel whispered, staring at Ryan sleeping in his bedroom. “You can take the guest room.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” I offered.

Of course he refused. He went to get me a few extra blankets and pillows. I sank into the side of the bed for a moment. My whole body was sore, exhausted. I reached for my cell phone and texted Henry. He had already sent me quite a few messages, but this was the first time I really had a chance to reply.

Me: We’re safe. We’re sheltered. We’re okay.

Henry: Thank God. I’ll call you tomorrow. Goodnight, Ash.

Me: Night.

A few minutes later, I looked up to see Daniel reentering the bedroom. He placed the pillows and blankets on the dresser.

“Follow me real fast,” he said, his eyes glowing like blue coals. “I have something for you.”

I narrowed my eyes, but I followed him. He led me down the hallway and we stopped in front of his bathroom. He opened the door and stepped back.