Page 39 of Outside The Wire

“Are you at least doing okay?”

I looked out the window at the snowstorm. “A little cold at the moment.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, it’s snowing, so there’s that. The last time I was this fucking cold, I was falling off the side of a mountain with you,” I chuckled.

“But you’re doing okay?”

“I’m good. Really good, actually.”

He choked out a laugh. “Holy shit. You’ve met a woman.”

I wasn’t even going to deny it. “Yeah, I did. And she’s amazing.”

“Yeah?”

“Cute as hell. Funny…She makes me smile.”

He was silent for a moment. “Then she must be something special.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Tell Patrick I said hi.”

“I will. Stay frosty.”

“Oh, you’re funny.”

“That would be a change.”

I hung up, still smiling, but the moment the line went dead, a weight settled in my chest that hadn’t been there in a long time. I avoided thinking about home at all costs, and talking to Chase had just brought it all roaring back to life.

“Goddamnit,” I muttered, shifting into drive and pulling back out onto the road. That call had just fucked with my head.

9

ASHER

“Asher.”

I ran through the fog, searching for Jade everywhere. Her voice echoed in the darkness, but I couldn’t find her. I stumbled with every step I took, desperate to find her before she did something she couldn’t take back. I knew what was coming.

What was always coming.

I was always too late. The fog would clear and I would hear the minivan, see it racing toward that tree. My heart would start pounding, but I would never reach her in time. The next time I would see her, she’d be lying on the ground, surrounded in blood.

Dead.

“Jade!”

“Asher, I needed your help,” her voice cried out. “You promised. You said you would always be there for me.”

I took a staggering breath as I scrambled to find her. Tears filled my eyes as branches tore at my clothes and scratched my skin. Blood pooled at the surface of my skin, but it was never enough punishment for what she went through. My sins would never be forgiven.

The fog started to lift, but relief didn’t fill me—not when I knew what was coming.

I waved off the last of the fog, finally able to see the graveyard, but something was different today. There was no one around. Where was everyone? And the minivan…

“Asher…”

---