Page 44 of Steadfast

“Thanks,” he said with a sigh, his eyes on the road.

“Stop fidgeting, Ronan,” Saoirse ordered. “Why the hell aren’t you asleep?”

“I can’t sleep in the car,” Ronan grumbled.

“Since when?”

“Since always.”

“Bullshit.”

“Stop it, both of you,” Cian barked, turning to look at them. “Shut the fuck up already.”

“Cian,” I warned.

All of us were freaking exhausted. Aisling had slept for most of the drive so far, but the rest of the kids hadn’t. We’d been on the road all night, and it was so late that it was nearly morning. The sun was rising behind us, barely casting a shadow of my car out on the pavement in front of us.

“I’m hungry,” Ronan pouted.

“You’re not hungry,” I replied, looking at him in the mirror. “You’re tired. Close your eyes and try to sleep.”

He grumbled under his breath but listened. Saoirse pulled his pillow over and set it against her side so he could lean on her while she leaned on the door. For the millionth time since we’d started driving I checked to make sure all the doors were locked, and no one was going to fall out of them while they were sleeping.

“Three more exits before ours,” Cian said quietly, looking down at his phone.

“How long until we get there?” I asked, just as quietly.

“A couple more hours.”

“It went faster than I thought it would.”

“Me, too. Probably because we were driving through the night, and there’s barely any cars on the road.”

“Maybe. You better turn your phone off for a while.”

He set it aside and looked at me. “Where’s yours?”

“Left it behind.”

“Why?”

“Mine was on Mom’s plan. I don’t think she realized she was paying for it.”

“You really think they’d track your phone?” he asked doubtfully.

“I really think it wasn’t worth taking the chance,” I replied.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He sighed and leaned back against the seat. “From what I remember of Aunt Ashley, she’s pretty cool, right?”

“Yeah, she was super cool,” I agreed, keeping an eye on the semi that was barreling up beside us. I barely suppressed a shudder of dread. “But she stopped coming around after Dad died.”

“Mom probably wouldn’t let her.”

“Yeah, I always figured that was the case.”

“Do you think she’ll let us stay with her?”

“I really fucking hope so, at least until I can get a job and find us a place.”

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