Page 67 of Saints & Sinners

Shaking away the oncoming thoughts, I reached into my pocket and took out a packet of skittles. “Here. I don’t want you dying from starvation while on the road.”

“Gee, thanks,” she mumbled, but there was a pause after she grabbed it off me and opened the packet.

“There’s only the green ones in here?”

I slid a glance her way before focusing on the road again. “They’re the only ones you eat.”

“Did you... did you eat the others or did you pick out all the other colors just so I was left with the green ones?”

I hadn’t eaten any skittles since I was five years old.

Regrettably, I looked over at her and saw she was smiling with a certain warmth and amusement in her eyes.

I huffed out a deep breath, not liking how that made me feel. “Don’t give me that look.”

She popped a skittle into her mouth. “What look?” she teased.

I shifted against the seat and swore under my breath. When she reached for another skittle, I said, “How can you even like that flavor?”

“What?” She said around a mouthful of skittles. “I like apple-flavored stuff. If you ever want to get on my good side? Just hand me anything apple-related, like apple pie or apple muffins. That’s a good one. What about you? What flavor do you like?”

I shrugged. “None of them.”

“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?”

I felt my lips hitch into a smile as I looked at the rearview mirror.

“To be honest, you’re probably the type to not even have a favorite color,” she went on, and I couldn’t help but glance her way again. She was an intoxicating sight, and it wasn’t helping the discomfort I felt right now.

“What’s yours?” I asked her.

She mulled it over, her eyes skimming the trees that passed usbefore she smiled. “Yellow... like sunflowers.”

Another smile tugged at my lips as I focused back on the road, letting her favorite color sink in. When Silas first asked mine years ago, I didn’t have one—I hadn’t really thought about it even before then. But when she told me hers, with that smile she always wore, her light brown eyes glinting, I thought, yeah, I do have a favorite color. Her.

Her rose-colored lips.

The color of her warm olive skin.

The hint of caramel that ran through her dark curls.

Her eyes.

My smile faded as I realized just how much trouble I was getting myself into.

Her brows drew together. “What’s wrong?”

Everything. “Nothing.”

She smiled, taking a deep breath. “We’ll find your brother, Hunter; I know we will. If not today, then someday soon. Trust me on it.”

It wasn’t that, that I was thinking about.

“I’m holding you to that,” I muttered instead.

Half an hour later, we’d finally reached the nearest town away from Celestia. I parked near a side street and led Grace through the winding roads until we found a small cafe in the corner of an alleyway. Inside, it was quiet and dim, with the smell of coffee and baked goods filling the air. She looked more relaxed now, sliding into a booth by the window as she watched the drizzle outside.

A waitress came by and asked us what we’d like. When Gracesaid she wasn’t hungry, I dismissed that after her stomach grumbled, and I ordered us both a fry-up.

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