Page 67 of Ash Fall

Kara grins at me. "Could be worse."

"How?"

"Well, they're all good looking. You could have five ugly men obsessed with you."

"Shut up." I groan.

She laughs and hooks her arm through mine. "Look, I'm personally all for you having your cake and eating it too."

"Kara!"

"What? Why should you have to choose?"

"Because that's how relationships work."

"Who says?"

"I don't know, society?"

She glances around the completely deserted truck stop. "Society seems to be having some attendance issues."

That gets a reluctant laugh out of me, and Kara squeezes my arm. "I'm serious. You have spent two years learning the hardest possible lesson about how fast people can be taken away. If you love them and they love you, then maybe stop worrying so much about what the correct shape of that love is supposed to be."

"I don't even know if I love them like that."

"Then figure it out before they start planning the wedding orgy."

My mouth falls open. "There will not be a wedding orgy."

"Fine. Reception orgy. More room once the tables get moved."

"Why did I come talk to you?"

"Because deep down you appreciate my wisdom."

I shake my head, but I'm smiling anyway, because this is too ridiculous not too.

Kara turns serious again. "You deserve all the love you can get, Luna. However much that ends up being and whoever it comes from. Take it. Take all of it."

The low growl of an engine cuts off whatever I might have said, and both of us turn toward the highway entrance. A large charter bus is pulling into the rest stop with two work trucks following close behind it, and every trace of humor drains away. Kara's arm slips free of mine as we straighten. Gigi comes up beside us with Briar trailing a few steps behind her, while Dana, Kim, Sheila, and the kids stay closer to their own vehicles. Gage, Torrin, Jules, and Reid converge on us without anyone needing to call them over.

"Well," Gigi murmurs. "Company."

The bus and trucks cross the empty lot and turn into the row opposite ours.

Mars shifts farther forward, putting himself between the new vehicles and the rest of us. Anders notices and heads his way immediately, with Stu and Gord falling in beside him.

The guys tense around me. I can feel the change in Gage without even looking at him, and Torrin comes closer to my other side while Reid watches the bus with suspicion. Jules takes off his sunglasses and folds them slowly before sliding them into the neck of his shirt. Nobody moves but every one of them is ready to if needed.

The charter bus door stays closed while the work trucks shut off. Silence settles over the whole lot and makes it feel too large, with two groups of strangers staring at each other across empty pavement.

One of the truck doors opens. A man in work boots and a reflective jacket climbs out, another gets out from the passenger side, and three more emerge from the second truck.

Gigi studies them. "Pass," she says quietly.

My head turns toward her. "What?"

Another man climbs down from the truck.