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“Of course I didn’t know,” I quickly shot back, anger coursing through me. Then I put it together. “You thought I did it. You thought I hit Ash?” I didn’t know which was worse, Declan thinking I’d hit Ash or him thinking he could intimidate me. No, wait. The former was the worst, because I loved that girl, in my own way. “I would never hurt her, Declan. She’s everything to me.”
I wasn’t going to confess my love for her in front of him, but that was as close as I’d get.
He didn’t say outright that he believed me, but his posture relaxed somewhat. “She’s everything to me, too,” Declan whispered, his gaze falling to the concrete sidewalk below. “They won’t tell me her condition, because I’m not family, and they’ll only let me see her once she’s in her own room.” He let out a sigh. “Who the hell knows when that’s going to be.”
While he went on and on, I was lost in my own head.
Ash was hit by a car? Ash was hurt? I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew, just by what he said and how he said it—not to mention the way he was acting—it was true. This wasn’t some prank, a mean joke. This wasn’t Ash getting back at me for my attempt at punishing her. This was so much worse.
This was real.
This was really happening.
This was…my mind reeled, and I stumbled back, moving to a nearby bench, needing to sit down. I stared up at the sky, its color mostly blue now with the rising sun. I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night, but I wasn’t tired. I had the feeling I wouldn’t be tired for a long, long time.
Declan watched me for a moment, but within a minute, he was sitting down beside me, though there was at least a foot between us on the bench. “I have no idea if she’s going to be okay,” he muttered, his dejection obvious. “She could be fighting for her life in there, just like my brother, and I can’t be by her side.”
Declan might lose two people he cared about tonight. No wonder he put on a brave front. He had nothing left to lose at this point. Me? Ash was the only good thing in my life right now. If I lost her…what the hell would I do? What would I have? Would life even be worth living at that point?
“Do you think it was an accident?” I spoke, glancing at him. “Or do you think it was on purpose?” In this world, so close to Hillcrest, I knew most things didn’t happen accidentally—and really, you never knew what someone was capable of until you pushed them to their breaking point.
Declan’s breaking point was losing both Ash and his brother. Mine? Mine was Ash. My breaking point was already reached. Someone had hurt Ash, and whether or not it was done purposefully didn’t matter. I was going to find them, and I was going to make them rue the very day they were born.
I would be a loose cannon. I would be whatever I had to be to find out who’d hurt her, and I would take great pleasure in making their life miserable and much shorter than mother nature had intended.
Kill.
I would kill for Ash, to protect her, to give her injury retribution, without a doubt.
Declan said, “I don’t know.” He ran a hand over his forearm absentmindedly, lost in his own head. I remembered seeing a bandage on it when I’d tried to talk to Ash and Will intercepted me. “With everything else that’s happened…the attack on me, now Will…” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it was on purpose.”
I did not like hearing that. Not one fucking bit. The blood in my veins continued to boil, and I wondered how much more I could take before I broke. Someone needed payback; the only question right now was who?
Declan had called me, wanting to see me in person before he asked me about what happened to Ash, meaning he suspected me of doing it, at first. He’d wanted a reaction from me, but the one he got he wasn’t expecting. He probably thought I did it, and that he could turn me over to the cops who’d be questioning Ash, assuming she made it through this.
Made it through this.
Like she might die. Like, maybe, in twenty-four hours, she’d be nothing but a memory. If Ash left this world, there would truly be nothing left worth living for.A dramatic thought some people might laugh at, but me? For me that statement would hold true. I needed her.
“I’m going to find whoever did this,” I said, surprising myself by speaking out loud. “I’m going to find them and I’m going to…” I trailed off, knowing it was probably best to not go into specifics in front of Declan. He didn’t grow up in the family; he didn’t know the misery everyone in the family was capable of, what we were bred to do.
Declan, though, shocked me by saying, “If you do, let me know. I’ll help.”
I met his eyes, flabbergasted. Out of all the things I expected to come flying out of his mouth, saying he’d help me wasn’t one of them. Ash must’ve inspired something inside Declan, for he was never like this about Sabrina. When it came to his dead ex-girlfriend, he was always the meek one, the one who was more than content with standing on the sidelines.
It was then, after hearing him say that, after meeting his unapologetic, serious stare, that I realized something.
He loved her.
Declan loved Ash, and so did I. We would each do our best to protect her, but it was more than clear divided, we weren’t enough. I didn’t like the thought of Declan caring for Ash, but if I had to choose between him loving her and her dying, I would obviously choose the former. I wasn’t that selfish. I wasn’t one of the if-I-can’t-have-her-no-one-can types. I would much rather her live than lose her.
And if someone was out there, intent on hurting her, I’d flip the fucking tables and shove a whole lot of hurt their way.
Chapter Four – Ash
I stumbled over my feet, glancing down at myself, at my clothes, before heading into the gas station. It was the exact kind of gas station you’d expect to find in the middle of this thick, dense forest, the kind of gas station you saw in horror movies. The ones you shouted at the screen at the main character he’s in on it!
I, however, had no choice. And after what I’d seen at the cabin, after what Ray almost made me do… I needed a phone.
