Page 42 of Ash Fall

Her eyes catch mine.

"What?"

I shake my head, smiling. "Nothing, love."

She narrows her eyes, because she knows I'm full of shit, but she smiles back. For now, that's enough.

Chapter 20 - Luna

By the time the last of Julian's supplies are packed away, I'm ready to leave this neighborhood and never see another mansion again.

Briar spends most of the loading standing off to one side with a pinched expression. The rest of us haul boxes, bags, and enough expensive luggage to make Kara's collection look modest. Jules finally tells her that if she wants every suitcase to come with us, she can carry them herself. The argument that follows lasts long enough for Gage to quietly pick up two of the bags and load them just to make it stop. I catch him doing it and grin.

He points a thick finger at me. "Not one word."

"I didn't say anything."

"Didn’t have to."

"That is a completely unfair reading of my face."

"Sweetheart, your face has never once kept a secret in its life."

We finally sort ourselves into the vehicles, and I hesitate beside Torrin's truck when I see Kara heading toward the motorhome with Penny trotting happily beside her. Gage is already behind the wheel, checking mirrors and adjusting something on the dash. Torrin looks over at me from the driver's side of his truck, and for one brief second I almost climb in with him anyway.

Then I look back at Gage. He hasn't had a single minute alone with me since Mars told everyone about us. I saw his face after Mars said it. There was shock first, then something much harder to read, before he shoved all of it aside and took control of the situation, because that's what Gage always does. He takes whatever he's feeling, locks it down somewhere private, and gets everyone moving in the right direction. Which means if I don't give him an opening, he may decide we have more important things to deal with and never say anything at all.

"Kara?"

She pauses with one foot on the motorhome step. "What?"

"Want to switch?"

Her gaze moves from me to Gage through the windshield, then back to me. One corner of her mouth curls, and she doesn't say a single word, which is somehow worse.

"Don't."

"I would never." She turns on one heel and heads toward Torrin's truck. Penny looks between us, confused about the change in plans. "Come on, Penn."

Her ears perk, and she bolts up the motorhome steps ahead of me.

Gage watches me slide into the passenger seat. His eyes shift past me toward Kara climbing into Torrin's truck, then return to mine. "Change of plans?"

"Looks like it."

One side of his mouth moves. "Uh huh."

"Drive the bus, Strickland."

"Motorhome."

"It's the size of a bus."

"It's actually slightly smaller than a standard forty-five-foot coach."

I slowly turn my head toward him. He glances at me and shrugs. "Your dad made sure I knew everything about this thing before he let me drive it."

That quiets me for a second. Dad had loved this motorhome. He and Mom spent months choosing it, arguing about floorplans and storage, planning all the places they were going to visit once he retired. They barely got to use it.