Page 23 of Say You'll Never Let Go

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything. This is athingnow with me and Luke. It’s not the first time he’s ignored it when I said I don’t want visitors. He thinks he’s helping, but he’s not.”

“Is he waiting on you? Missing you?” It’s a question spoken to his own kneecaps instead of her face.

There are so many gaps to fill in from their time apart, and she isn’t in the business of lying to him. “That’s not how it is. Not anymore. Maybe at first it could have been, but it only lasted a few weeks, and then it was done. Over before it was anything at all. That’s not going to change, even if he has a hard time accepting it.”

“Before or after you lived in the woods?”

“Before.”

“It’s not a bad idea to make sure you’re okay,” Wade replies. “Someone needs to.”

“No, they don’t. I’m fine here. Just fine.”

He’s clearly struggling with this information, and she has no way of knowing what exactly bothers him the most. Is it that he knows she dated Luke for all of a minute? Is it that he’s still worried about her safety here with him, in the only place she wants to be anymore? Getting into the details is something she isn’t prepared for at the moment, but she tries her best to put a band-aid over at least one thing.

“Wade? Everyone I’d be missing is already right here in this house.” He doesn’t reply, so she changes the subject, hoping thepivot is welcome. “There’s hot water in the bathroom if you still want to wash up.”

“Did you lock the doors again?” he asks, rising to his feet with a wince as his knees crack.

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Very sure.”

“And you still got your knife?”

“And the gun by the door. I’m still a good shot.”

He nods, slowly disappearing into the hall after a cursory check to make sure it’s clear.

She settles herself into the chair, grabs a book she can’t focus on enough to read, and waits.

* * *

“We gotta set some traps,” he says, returning ten minutes later with damp hair and shining skin that reminds her she needs to find him a shirt.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“Just because it wasn’t them this time doesn’t mean it won’t be the next. Gotta be ready.” He fluffs his hair with a towel, on the verge of pacing again.

She catches his eye, tilting her head toward the bed to silently ask him to sit, relieved when he does. “They’re not looking for you.”

“You don’t know that. They won’t give up. Dunno how I got away, but they ain’t gonna stop. Silas won’t stop.”

“I know how. You were dropped off on purpose with a note.”

He blinks in surprise, obviously not remembering much about how he went from being held captive to being dumped at the Paradise Falls gates. “What did it say?”

“That Silas thought it was time to…unload what I was looking for.He’s not out there trying to get you back. He returned you to get us off his ass.”

“Us?”

She’s quickly growing uncomfortable with how this is turning into a conversation about what she’s done in the past six years. “Well, maybeusis an exaggeration.”

“You? Just you?”