ButAspen, she had blood on her.She saw Bryn’s body.
Unless…
Unless Aspen lied?
My heart stutters. No.No fucking way.
I saw her. The way she broke. The sound of her when she said Bryn was gone. That wasn’t a lie. That wasn’t acting. Aspen doesn’t have that in her.
She couldn’t have lied to me.
Not her.
Not my little doll.
I struggle to keep my thoughts from spiraling, but I can’t...
I feel the darkness embracing me again…
Max
Three hours to go. The sun is high, and the weight of it all is sinking in. My heart is heaving; the thought of Bryn’s body lying somewhere doesn’t sit well with me. I wish Roman hadn’t killed Ethan. I want to ask why. What the hell did he do to her?
Ethan never felt like he belonged, and last year, things had gotten worse, especiallywith Ryker.
“Aspen?” Ryker’s whisper breaks me from my thoughts, and I look at him. Knox strides toward him.
“Aspen?!” Knox shakes her in panic. I push him away, then see her color almost drained from her face. Fuck!
“We need to move faster,” I grit out, trying to hide the urgency, but Knox can see it in my face. Dante’s the doctor of the group; at least, he’s the one with the most experience. But over the years, he made sure to teach me a lot in case something happened to him.
Fuck.
“I can patch her up. We need to get to the farm.”
We pick up the pace. Knox is carrying her now, and me and Ryker are on guard with our guns raised. Ryker takes the front, scanning the area, his movements calculated.
“She won’t make it,” Knox whispers behind us before he comes to a stop.
“Aspen, pet, please open your eyes.” His plea is raw, his desperation bleeding through. I can see it in his face; he’s about to break.
“Come on, Knox, we need to keep moving.” I pull him forward, but he won’t budge.
“Wait, let me try something.” Ryker pulls his backpack to the front, the only one of us who remembered to grab anything when we left after Aspen and Bryn.
He digs inside and pulls out a small package. I glance at it, recognition flickering in my mind, sugar. Ryker opens her lips gently, tipping the sugar onto her tongue. Her lips close immediately, and we watch, waiting for any sign, until we see herthroat bob as she swallows.
“Good girl, Aspen.” Ryker pours more sugar in, and she swallows it down.
“Her blood sugar’s probably tanked from the blood loss,” I murmur, and Ryker nods in agreement.
I push a strand of hair from her forehead. “Sweetheart, do you hear me?”
We fall into a heavy silence. The seconds stretch into what feels like hours, each one pulling at my nerves. Finally, her eyes flutter open.
“What’s wrong?” She murmurs.
“Fuck,” Knox breathes in relief.
