“Good.” Truth be told, I was just so damn glad to see her that I didn’t want to fight with her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
I reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m glad.”
Silence fell over the car. After a few minutes, she said, “Mason, can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Why do you do it?” She turned and faced me. Her eyes were bloodshot and rimmed in red.
“Do what?” I asked absently, although I knew in my heart of hearts what she meant.
“Why didn’t you find a normal woman to fall in love with?”
“Oh, that,” I replied. “That’s easy. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You met Lynn and you just…knew? And even after meeting the rest of us, you still loved her?”
“Yes. I still loved her. Still do love her.”
“Even with all the drama.”
“Even with all the drama, yes.”
“I love you, Mason,” she said.
“I love you, too, Ash.” I squeezed her hand.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Before you, I didn’t know what love was,” Ash said quietly. “I’d never had any of my own.”
“Ash,” I whisper, shaking my head.
“I do have some of my own, right?” she asked, her voice so low I could barely hear it.
“That’s not an easy question to answer.”
“Would you pick me if she wasn’t around?”
“Pick you for what?” I pretended not to know what she was talking about, because honestly I didn’t know the answer.
“Never mind,” she said. She curled her knees up to her chest again and leaned the side of her head against the window.
There was no doubt in my mind that I loved Ash. But did I love her because she was Lynn’s friend? I didn’t know how to answer that question.
That first day I met her, I knew there were parts of her that I liked a lot. But there were also parts that scared me.
26
A bullet hit my forehead and I stumbled back, rubbing the paint from my visor.