Page 260 of Tangled up in You

With the cards fanned out before me, memories resurfaced, fragmented and sharp as shards of glass. Ruby, with her silver curls catching the firelight, the Eliasson brothers looming in the doorway. I was just a kid then, maybe sixteen or seventeen. Their shadows stretched long across our hearth, mixing with the smoke and murmurs of deals cloaked in darkness.

"Powerful friends you've got there," I teased Ruby once they left. She looked from the closed door the Eliasson brothers had just walked through, then straight over to me. There was no humor in her tone when she firmly put me in my place.

“They aren’t for you, Luna. You stay away from them. You hear?”

I had no idea at the time how deep those waters ran. Her tone had scared me a little. I remember asking, “Don’t you want me to make friends?”

It was obvious to both of us that they weren’t “friend” material. But Ruby gentled her response. She smiled that mysterious smile of hers. It was one that didn't quite reach her eyes. A kind of sad and wishful smile that said without words things might have been a little different in another life.

"Friends are like stars, Luna-love. Not all of them light the way."

I shook off the shiver crawling up my spine and snatched up the photo I’d kept tucked between the cards—a shot of me and Ruby at the town fair, faces flushed with laughter. That'swhat I needed—moments of joy, not the icy dread that came with thoughts of Rafe's piercing gaze or Marcel's wicked smirk. And Jude... well, he always seemed to wait and watch. Of all the brothers, I would say he was the most calculating.

"Enough," I said, trying to snap myself out of the past. I stuffed the photo back into the cards. My time was running out. One just didn’t ignore a summons from the Eliasson brothers. I either went and faced the music or I could run away, scared like a little girl.

I was of two minds about what to do. With the storm settled in for the night, it would be smartest to stay home and pretend I couldn’t make the appointment. But they would come after me. The truth was, I was as attracted to them as I was terrified of them.

I suppose the best thing to ask of myself: Was I more afraid of what they’ddoto me, or what I mightallowthem to do to me? Hell, of what I might do to them—with them. All kinds of taboo images filled my mind. Ruby was right to keep us apart. The chemistry was just too explosive, and where there was smoke, there was fire. I wasn’t sure I could survive the burns they’d leave behind.

I needed to get away. A new chance, a new town, a new anything would be welcomed with open arms. The summons from the Eliasson brothers loomed over me like a death shroud. Glancing out the window again, I noticed the storm had lessened a little.

Run, run, run… It was a mantra that had plagued me since I was little. I hadn’t truly known what a home was until Aunt Ruby had taken me in. But without her around, this place was only four walls. I felt imprisoned once again. The fight-or-flight instinct was so strong that I scarcely knew what I was doing.

I glanced at my phone. Great, but it had only 18% battery life. It was not optimal, but it was not the worst either. I shoved it into my pocket and decided to get the hell out of Finder’s Keep.

"New life, new Luna," I declared, going into my bedroom and throwing my belongings into the old military duffle bag that had once belonged to my dad. I never knew him, and this was all I had of either parent. It hardly made sense why I treasured it so much. I supposed even the idea of having something that belonged to them with me was better than being completely alone.

It didn’t take me long to pack the essentials. I didn’t know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to be away from here. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I glanced around the cottage. The corners were filled with shadows that seemed to taunt me with their fingers as if trying to hold on to what once was. With a last sweep of my gaze, I locked away those memories for good. Striding toward the door, I paused, hand hovering over the knob. I felt the weight of a thousand unspoken words and unsolved mysteries pressing against my back, egging me on.

"Goodbye, Aunt Ruby," I whispered, my voice thick with emotion. "Your chick is finally flying the coop."

Then I stepped out into the biting cold. The soft flurries of snow kissed my cheeks as if in benediction. "Here's to a fresh start," I said between chattering teeth. My breath formed clouds in the air. It was a new chapter—and for once, I was the one holding the pen.

CHAPTER 2

LUNA

Seven miles later, I found myself with white-knuckled hands gripping the steering wheel as all twenty-seven years of my life flashed before my eyes. The storm showed no signs of letting up; if anything, it had worsened. I was probably more buzzed from my half glass of wine than I should have been. Still grieving the loss of Ruby, there I was, barreling through a brutal snowstorm as if it were the apocalypse.

I clutched the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles ached for relief. My beat-up little car had already skidded a dozen times, struggling to stay on the road. What had I been thinking? The highway was a sheer sheet of ice, and my tires seemed to mock me, spinning round and round like a demonic carnival ride, taunting, "Good luck, sucker!"

"Come on, baby," I coaxed the ancient beast of a car, lovingly named Ethel the Excelsior by my late aunt, as if the name alone could bestow upon her the magical powers she so desperately needed. "You've got this!"

Ha! The joke was on me. Ethel was just as elderly as her name suggested, and twice as arthritic. I pressed down on the gas pedal, my heartbeat pounding in rhythm with the wipersswishing away the relentless snowflakes. Focus, Luna, focus. I couldn't afford to lose control now.

The GPS screen flickered, urging me to take the next exit, just as my phone blared another emergency weather alert, followed by a low battery warning. Of course, it would choose now to die, just when I needed it the most. What kind of idiot ventures out of town in the middle of a whiteout storm?

Luna Marlowe.

I was the fool who couldn't see two feet in front of me. Great! Just great. The headlights revealed a blur of white and darkness. Why did I always have to be so impulsive? Ruby had warned me time and time again to use my head, not my heart.

How was I supposed to make a rational decision when Ethel and I were on the brink of disaster? Were they kidding? I had always been terrible at decision-making, even in the best of circumstances, let alone in a blizzard straight out of a Stephen King novel.

"Think, Luna, think!" I muttered, my aunt's voice echoing in my head, reminding me to breathe. "Breathe, sweetie. The universe has a plan." Ugh, I adored her to the moon and back, but the last time I trusted the universe, I ended up stranded in this frozen wasteland.

No, thanks. I needed to take the reins of my own destiny.

Tires screeched, desperately seeking traction on the icy terrain. Ethel veered left, then right, then left again. All I could do was hold on for dear life as we slid as if in a twisted ice-skating routine. An unyielding wall of pines loomed closer, their branches clawing at the windshield as if hungry for fresh prey. The tree line approached too quickly. I slammed on the brakes once more, cursing the lack of response. I braced for impact, my lungs constricted as if by a boa constrictor. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and all I could think was, “I'm going to perish out here alone in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows my whereabouts.Nobody knows where to find me. I'm the biggest idiot on the planet.”

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