Page 105 of His to Burn

“But, Jack, your brother needs you. I can get to my uncle’s. You should find supplies and try to get to him,” she said.

She said the same thing before. More than once. Or even twice.

I let out a humorless laugh. “You that anxious to get rid of me?”

“Don’t be a brat, Jackson. I just want you to get to your brother.”

“And I will,” I said. “Once I get you to Tennessee.”

My voice didn’t allow room for doubt. But I was dealing with Asia Newman.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

In that question, I heard what wasn’t said.

And the truth was—I wasn’t sure.

Evan could be gone now. Gone or be lost in the time between.

But I refused to allow that thought.

Evan would be okay.

So would Asia.

It was as simple as that.

Failure wasn’t an option.

If I failed, Evan would be dead.

Asia would be dead.

That was a world I wouldn’t allow to exist.

“I found a map,” she said.

I sensed she wanted to argue more, so I was grateful when she changed the conversation.

“You know how to get to your uncle’s?” I said.

“Yeah, but that’s a straight shot down the highway. As experience has taught me, we won’t get that lucky,” she said.

“So what you got?” I asked, walking toward the map she’d spread on the restaurant counter.

“I traced out three separate routes,” she said.

“I would have done four.”

“Showoff,” she said, her luminous smile again kicking me in the chest. “Anyway, three is the best I could come up with. And one of them is a stretch,” she said.

“Why?”

“Once you get into the mountains, the trip can get tricky,” she said.

I nodded.

“So this is the plan,” I said, studying the map.