The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

“No,” I growled.

“I’m sure Liam will know a place to go,” she continued. “I know he did it once, but it was a few years ago.”

“A few years ago?” I repeated in shock. “How old was he?”

“Sixteen.”

“His parent’s let him do that?” I was shocked. Mathias and Remy were crazy protective of Liam—even worse than Maddox was with Willow—so I couldn’t believe they’d let him do something like that.

“Are you kidding me?” Willow snorted, moving towards the next display. “He did it on his own. They still don’t know.”

“Between the two of you I don’t know how your parents’ haven’t suffered a heart attack.”

Willow stopped in front of a glass display where a doctor and what appeared to be a businessman were about to perform an autopsy on an alien.

Willow placed her hand on the glass and tugged her bottom lip between her teeth.

“That’s how I feel sometimes,” she whispered. “Like I’m being poked and prodded and people are trying to figure out what lies underneath the outside.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, and actions spoke louder than words, so I reached out and tugged her against my side so I could press my lips to her forehead.

She let out a breath and relaxed against me. Her arms wound around my torso and held tight.

“Don’t ever leave me,” she whispered. “Please, promise that even if things

don’t work out with us, you’ll always be in my life.”

I swallowed thickly. The thought of a life without Willow in it was far too bleak to even contemplate.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

It wasn’t a promise. It was simply the truth.

Willow

Dean and I had been hanging around the hotel room for a few hours, and dark had long since fallen, when he suddenly jumped from the bed and held his hand out for me. “Come on.”

My brows narrowed in puzzlement. “Why?”

He clucked his tongue. “Willow Wade, since when do you ask the question why?”

I made a face. “Okay.” I put my hand in his, letting him take control.

We left behind our hotel room and he led me down the hallway to the elevator.

“What are we doing?” I asked him.

I was used to being the one to get an idea and drag him along, not the other way around.

The elevator doors opened and he made a sweeping motion with his arm for me to go first.

He followed me inside and pressed the button for the lobby. He refused to look at me and instead fiddled with the sleeves of his plaid shirt, rolling them up to his elbows.

The elevator dinged cheerily before opening into the lobby.

Dean took my hand once more, dragging me around the columns and to a door that led outside.

“Where are we going?” I giggled, trying to keep up with his long-legged stride. He was on a mission and I was along for the ride.