Page 28 of Broken Bonds

Right as I thought that, a small, potted plant came hurtling in my direction. Ace pulled me into his body and flattened us to the ground before it could hit me. “We need to get to that shelter, Celine,” he rasped, seeming as shaken as I was. I nodded, my voice stuck in my throat.

He stood slowly, fighting against the raging wind that pushed through the overhand above us, and stretched, lifting his arms above his head. His shirt rose up a bit, revealing a sliver of his flat stomach, and my belly swooped. His back cracked loud enough for me to hear it over the wind, and he sighed in relief. Looking away from him, I rummaged through the bag, looking for my phone.

Pulling it out, I saw I still had some battery life left, so I called my mom, hoping she was awake. “Celine?” she answered on the first ring, no trace of sleep in her voice.

“Mom, we’re okay,” I croaked, my throat dry. I needed water, but I could go a little longer. We needed to conserve what we had. We had no idea how much longer we’d be out in the elements, if we’d even reach proper shelter before the worst of the hurricane hit.

“I knew you would be, baby. I knew,” her voice was filled with relief, but there was a tinge of urgency to her tone, too. “You need to hurry and get to that shelter. The storm is going to be stronger today, and you won’t have a lot of time. Soon, the wind will be too strong for you to walk in. And the speed of the hurricane has slowed down, so it’s going to hang around the area for a few days, which isn’t good.”

My gut tightened, and I had to tighten my fingers around my phone. “Everything is going to be destroyed, Mom!” Ace’s eyes lingered on me, trying to figure out what had me so distressed.

“None of that matters as long as you make it to that shelter before the worst of the storm hits,” she told me firmly. “I wantyou to get going now and only stop if you’re in pain. You hear me?”

“Yes, I understand.” It was a miracle I could talk. My throat felt too tight. “Trust me, I want to get to the shelter, too.”

“Let me speak to Ace, baby.” I turned to hand the phone to him and almost hit him in the face with it. I was not expecting him to be so close. When had he moved?

“Good morning—” he started, but my mom interrupted him. He walked away from me and started to pace. “I understand,” he repeated a few times.

I took the time to stand and stretch, feeling my bones protest with every movement. My legs were still sore but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. I hoped they could carry me to the shelter. I knew I wasn’t supposed to do this much strenuous activity, that they could fail me if I did, but I didn’t have a choice.

Ace handed me the phone, his expression grim. I frowned up at him as I raised the phone to my ear. “Mom?”

“I love you, baby girl.”

I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat. “I love you, too, Mom. I love you so much.” I hung up, looking at Ace, waiting to hear his plan. He was bending down, picking up the bag. Then, he slung it onto his shoulders, adjusted the straps, and finally met my gaze. Fear lingered in his blue eyes. Something my mom told him wasn’t good.

He was scared. Why was he scared? What didn’t I know?

I watched him swallow, his throat muscles tense. “We have to get going, Celine, and we have to hurry. We don’t have a lot of time.”

I nodded. “Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and started walking. The cold rain lashed against my face as soon as we left the overhang, and I shivered. But I still kept moving forward. I didn’t have any othersafeoption. Ace silently walked beside me, and together, we became lost in our thoughts, fighting againstthe wind and forcing one foot in front of the other as we fought to make our way to the shelter.

“I heard you screaming the other night,” Ace said out of nowhere, walking slightly ahead of me now. I had slowed down a bit, my legs tired and aching from fighting the wind and enduring old injuries. Ace’s steps were now more in time with mine, taking smaller steps than usual so he didn’t leave me behind.

Why did he have to slow down? It just made me feel worse. I knew I was making us lag behind. And I hated even more that I couldn’t help it.

He didn’t look at me, only shoved his hands into his jean pockets. I looked down at my cold, discolored fingers, wishing I had pockets, too.

Why did Ace have to bring up my nightmarenow? How was I supposed to play it off?

“What are you talking about, Ace?” I asked, playing stupid, my gaze focused on the ground, trying to just put one foot in front of the other. “I don’t scream in my sleep. Maybe you were dreaming about me.”

I wanted to pretend I didn’t know what he was talking about. I didn’t want him to know any more details about me. I didn’t want to share any more secrets.

Looking away from the angry sea, whose waves were crashing harder and harder against the wall, I could see the BurgerFi sign, and I knew we were finally making it to the Ave. Finally.

We were closer to shelter. Each step was bringing us closer to warmth and safety.

And each step was a little more painful than the last. But I had to make it. Iwouldmake it. I refused to face any other option.

“Don’t try to blame it on a dream.” Ace scowled at me. “I heard you! You screamed the first night, which woke me, and the other night, too. If you hadn’t been screaming your head off, I wouldn’t have woken up and heard the water rushing in. You were screaming his name over and over.” He was walking faster again, leaving me behind him, trying to catch up, which was damn near impossible.

He knew Aidan still haunted my subconscious mind. He knew, and he wasn’t taking my bullshit answers. He wasn’t letting me take the easy way out. Didn’t I have enough to deal with right now? Couldn’t he just let this go?

“You must’ve misheard,” I muttered, getting aggravated. “It was probably just your inner voice waking you up to save yourself. You know—God? I don’t rememb?—”

“Cut the crap, Celine!” Ace barked at me, making me flinch. “I heard you screaming his name over and over. You were dreaming about the accident, weren’t you? You were reliving that nightmare. You don’t just recover from something like that overnight. It takesyearsto move on.” He stopped abruptly, and I slammed into his back. When he turned to me, I looked into his blue eyes, only to see pity.Ihated it.

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