Read Online Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) by Lindsey Fairleigh, Lindsey Pogue - Free Book Online Page B

him the night
she’d bled out in his arms coalesced in his mind, and he wanted so badly to
know something. “You told me, that night—the last night I saw you—that I would
save her, but that I would also kill her.” He paused. “Do you have any idea why
you said that or what it meant?” Every time Jake thought the moment Becca had
warned him of had come and gone and that Zoe would finally be safe, something
would happen that would make him doubt the danger had past.
    Becca closed her eyes and shook
her head. “No, I am sorry.”
    Appetite waning, Jake set the
half-eaten bowl in his lap. “You don’t have to be sorry, Becca. You—”
    “The way you look at her,” Becca
interrupted him again. “You keep your distance when you should not.”
    Jake collected himself, a little
stunned by Becca’s adamancy, then his gaze darted to Zoe once again. Like
before, her eyes drifted to his. “I don’t want to scare her,” he admitted.
    “Why would she be scared?”
    “She’s not the same, I can see it
in her eyes. She won’t understand what she sees…what she feels.”
    When Becca said nothing, he met
his sister’s confused stare. “You mean, your feelings for her? Why should that
scare her?”
    “Wouldn’t you be?”
    “Scared?”
    He nodded.
    “I am scared right now. I know no
one, just as she does not. But I am still curious. I still want to
remember. I want to understand the truth…to understand who I am.”
    Jake closed his gaping mouth. “You
do?”
    Becca nearly smiled again. “It is
hard to predict another person’s feelings, is it not?” She frowned
infinitesimally. “You cannot protect her from what is. You can only help her
understand. If I said such a thing to you…before”—Becca glanced quickly to
Zoe—“then there was a reason, I am certain of it, but it could very well
already have come to pass.”
    Jake gave Becca a quizzical look.
“Won’t it be overwhelming for her to learn about us if she doesn’t even
remember me ? I’m a complete stranger to her.”
    Becca’s eyes brightened with
understanding, and she smiled sympathetically. “You are assuming she will
reject you.”
    “Hell yeah, I am.”
    His sister tilted her head. “And
what if she doesn’t? What if she accepts you instead?” she asked fluidly
without her stilted, formal inflection. “Shouldn’t she get to decide how she
feels?”
    Jake frowned this time. When he realized his sister’s eyes were gleaming with an
emotion he couldn’t quite place, he couldn’t help but think she knew something
he didn’t, and the hope that swelled inside him scared him shitless. Sighing, he leaned forward, knowing that allowing Zoe to
see his memories could create an irreparable fissure between them.
    “I should go,” Becca said abruptly
and rose, taking his bowl.
    Surprised, Jake straightened and
glanced up at her. He was about to ask her to stay when he noticed Zoe slowly
approaching from the other side of the fire. Her hands tapped at her sides, and
her gaze fixed on the ground. Her face was relaxed, unmarred by the worry lines
he was so used to. She smiled at Becca as they passed one another. Jake watched
her approach with bated breath.
    “Hey,” Zoe said, exactly as she
had the day she’d walked into the auto shop at Fort Knox, the same uncertain,
beautifully curious and awkward look on her face. But when she finally made eye
contact with him, Jake couldn’t help but notice that the usual, mischievous
gleam was gone.
    Jake smoothed his palms over his
thighs and moved to stand.
    Zoe held up her hand to stop him.
“Please, don’t get up.” She shook her head, causing her hair to fall in front
of her eyes. She let it hang around her face like it was a shield and stared
down at the camping chair beside his. “This is
so silly, isn’t it?” she said and finally met his gaze. There was something about the look on her face that
prevented him from speaking.
    Automatically, she started to
lower herself into the chair