Page 26 of Gatling
“Oh, I’ll still call you a hardass,” I replied lightly. “Where are we going anyway? You haven’t mentioned a destination.”
Noah smirked.
“Glad you asked, butterbean.”
Reaching behind his seat, he pulled out a giant paper atlas of the United States, with color-coded tabs, and pages covered in a network of highlighted passages.
“We have plenty of options,” he said. “I was thinking we could hit up the Grand Canyon. Or Yellowstone. Hell, we could even check out the Tetons for a few days. Then maybe we could visit the California coast—catch some waves, go surfing. I’ve always wanted to try that.”
“Did you do all this while I was at Ryker’s cabin for the night?”
He shrugged.
“It’s not like I could get any sleep. I thought I would make myself useful and gear up for our road trip. You know I like to be prepared.”
That damn tug of guilt between my ribs returned. Ever since the day I was born, it seemed as if I’d been turning my brother’s life upside down, making things complicated for him. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I still felt bad that he kept cleaning up after me.
“I’m sorry, Noah,” I said softly, studying the bag of candy in my lap.
He lifted his head with a frown.
“For what?”
I gestured at the map, the car.
“Dragging you into my drama.”
He huffed and waved me off.
“You didn’t drag me into anything, Kels. Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. You know that. Besides, look on the bright side. This stalker gave us the excuse to take a much needed vacation together. I can’t remember the last time we did something like this. Ever since you moved out, you’ve been too busy to pay your big brother a proper visit.”
He pouted theatrically. I groaned.
“You stop by my apartment every week with coffee and donuts.”
“So?” he objected. “It’s not the same thing.”
I tore open my bag of candy and selected a handful of the purple ones—his favorite. I deposited them into his waiting palm.
“I still wish it was under different circumstances.”
“Well, you won’t hear me complaining.” Noah popped the candy into his mouth all at once. “Now that I have you trapped in the car with no chance of escape, you can tell me every juicy detail about your love life.”
I sucked in a breath and nearly choked on my candy. The memory of Ryker buried between my thighs last night filled my head in a burst of panic.
“What?No. No, that’s totally not going to happen.”
He grinned and started the car, locking the doors again.
When Noah and I checked into a motel for the night—sharing a room for safety purposes, of course—his cheerful demeanor subsided and he became more watchful. Testing the lock on the door. Peeking out the window when he thought I wasn’t paying attention.
We ordered a greasy pizza from a crunchy little bar on the corner for dinner. I flopped onto one of the twin mattresses, stretching out my legs with a sigh.
“Noah?” I said, studying the water stains on the ceiling.
“Yeah?” he mumbled around a mouthful of food.
The words lodged in my throat. I never had the guts to ask this question, even though it had nagged at the back of my mind for years.
