* * *
It was a dream. It was a beautiful, wonderful dream. I couldn’t believe it. I wished I’d thought of Aunt Stephanie earlier. We wouldn’t have had to spend that terrible night in New York, sleeping on a pullout couch and running from the Sons. For the first time in my escape with Jason, I’d actually had a good idea. Finally.
The rest of the day, Jason and I lounged in Aunt Stephanie’s den on lush, overstuffed couches, watching television and eating snacks.
I felt so relieved. Everything was going to be okay now. I relaxed. I luxuriated in our surroundings and soaked up the atmosphere. During a commercial break, I looked over at Jason, who was sitting very close to me on the couch. We’d started off sitting far away from each other, unsure if our touching would be rude to Aunt Stephanie. But as the afternoon wore on, we’d gotten closer and closer. Now our heads were inches from each other, resting on the back of the couch.
“If you could live anywhere,” I asked, “where would you live?”
“The Sons wouldn’t be chasing me?” he asked.
“Of course not,” I said.
Jason considered. “I don’t know,” he said. “I never really thought about it.”
“Never?” I asked.
“Where would you live?” he asked.
“Um... by the ocean,” I said. “Somewhere warm.”
“Sounds nice,” he said. “I don’t know. All I’ve ever wanted is to be normal. I wanted to go to school and play video games and think about things like girls and sports. Now, I only ever think about one girl.”
I smiled, feeling my heart leap.
“So, I guess, if I could live anywhere, I’d want to live where you live,” he said.
I couldn’t help it. That was too sweet. My heart swelled, and I reached over and kissed him. “I want that too,” I said. “I want to be with you.”
He smiled and put his arm around me. He rested his chin on top of my head. “So, we’d live by the beach. In the evening, we’d walk on the sand barefoot, holding hands. And when we woke up, it wouldn’t be because something was after us, and we had to run.” Jason mused. “I could take you on dates. To the movies or to restaurants. Would you go on a date with me if I asked you?”
“Of course I would.” He had his arms wrapped around me, and he had to ask?
I moved out of his embrace for a second so I could look at him. “You know, Jason,” I said. “If things hadn’t worked out the way they did in Bramford, if everything hadn’t gone insane, I still would have ended up with you.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” he said. “It’s okay, you don’t have to—”
“No,” I said. “I mean it. When I kissed you at the dance, it was like everything lit up for the first time. Even if I’d never heard that conversation between Toby and Lilith, I never would have gone with him that night.”
“Really?” Jason asked.
“What I feel for you is so much different than what I felt for Toby,” I said. “I just feel... drawn to you.”
“Yeah,” he said, recognition in his voice. “Like I can’t look away, even if I want to.”
I nodded. “Yes. When you’re around, you’re all I think about.”
“When you’re not around, you’re all I think about,” he said.
I settled back into his arms. “Mmm,” I said. “I don’t like it when you’re not around.”
“I don’t like it either.”
“We’re together now,” I said. “That’s all that matters.”
Then, of course, Jason had to ruin everything.
“You know I can’t stay here, right?” he said.
I didn’t know that. I had thought that everything was fixed. I had thought that we could stay here forever and that the nightmare was over. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s only a matter of time before the Sons track me down,” he said. “I can’t stay anywhere.”
“But you said they’d never look for you here,” I said.
“Maybe not for a while. But even in Bramford, they found me.”
I remembered Hallam’s hand on my throat. Remembered his cruel voice telling me to run away. Oh. I really didn’t want to leave here. I liked it here. It was awesome here. “I don’t want to go.”
“You don’t have to,” he said. “You should stay. She’s your aunt. You’ve got family. You’ll be safe if I’m gone. I’ll know you’re all right. You should stay.”
I pushed myself away from him. I gaped at him. “After what I just said, how could you think that I could do that?”
Jason looked away. “Maybe...” he said, “...maybe if things ever changed, I could come back.”
“Jason, if you leave, I’m coming with you,” I said. “I won’t lose you. You don’t know what it was like for me when you ran away in Bramford. I couldn’t eat or think or concentrate. All I could think about was whether or not you were hurt or dead. You can’t do that to me again. I won’t let you.”
“It won’t be right away,” he said. “I can stay here for a while. Let’s not talk about it now.”
“I want you to take it back,” I said. “I want you to say you won’t leave me.”
“I can’t say that,” he said. “Azazel, I love you. I can’t put you in danger. Not when there’s some better alternative.”
He loved me? I was shocked. My mouth hung open. Everything else he’d said was blotted out for now. “I love you too,” I said. I knew it was true. Jason and I may not have had the longest courtship. We hadn’t been traditionally together for more than a day or two, really. But there was something between us that transcended all of that. There was something about what we had that was too big for traditions. We were something incredible. We belonged together.