The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

“Why are we out here?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Dunno, really. I just wanted to get out of the room.” Pointing to the sky, he said, “Maybe we’ll see some UFO’s and get abducted.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and turned to bury my face against his shoulder to muffle the sound.

Rolling onto my back and staring up at the clear star-filled sky, I said, “I’ve been thinking.”

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You thinking is never a good thing.”

“I don’t want to pick a random place on the map anymore…at least not until we’re headed home.”

“Okay.” He drew out the word and turned his head to look at me. I could feel the weight of his stare like it was a physical thing. “What do you want to do then?”

“I want to go to the Grand Canyon.”

I glanced to see him nod at this. “Excellent choice.”

“And then I want to go from there to Liam’s.”

“He still doesn’t know we’re coming, does he?” Dean raised a brow and plucked a piece of grass from the ground while he waited for my answer.

I wrinkled my nose. “No, but he’ll be happy, you’ll see.”

Dean made this noise in the back of his throat and I wasn’t quite sure if he was agreeing with me or not.

“So…the Grand Canyon,” he clucked his tongue, “you’re not going to try to jump are you?”

I had a thing for jumping off cliffs into water and it drove Dean nuts. I liked the free fall—that few seconds moment of feeling like I could fly. I lived for that.

“No, Dean. I hate to disappoint you, but that’s too big of a jump for even me. I’m an adrenaline junkie, not suicidal.”

“You haven’t tried anything crazy while we’ve been gone,” he commented.

I poked him in the cheek. “Yet.”

The fact of the matter was, I’d been having so much fun with Dean being silly that I hadn’t felt that urge I sometimes got to do something stupid and reckless. Maybe I was outgrowing it. I laughed out loud at that thought. There was no way.

“Yet,” he repeated with a groan, and scrubbed both hands down the sides of his face. “Great.”

I laughed and rolled over onto my side, scooting closer to him.

Already knowing what I wanted, he opened his arms and gathered me against his chest.

I sank into him and felt his fingers tangle into my hair. He rubbed my scalp and I let out a long moan.

“You keep that up and I’m gonna fall asleep,” I warned him, stifling a yawn as my eyes fell closed.

“S’okay. Go to sleep if you want.” He applied more pressure and I wanted to roll to my back so I could stretch all my limbs into the air like a happy cat.

“But then I can’t watch for the UFO’s.” I smiled at my own words.

He chuckled and the rumble in his chest echoed against my ear.

He brushed the hair off my cheek and his cool fingertips tickled my skin.

Whispering, he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll watch for the UFO’s.”

I nodded against his chest. “Wake me if the aliens come. I want to greet your friends.”