“Ash, can I ask you something?”

“Sure…yeah. What’s up?”

“This thing with Aiden…”

“Are you worried I’m going to do something…I don’t know. Illegal?”

“Are you?”

“No.”

“Then what did you mean when you said you were going to make him wish he’d never been born? Because usually that means someone’s ready to get illegal,” I said, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Spencer, you have to know that I would never jeopardize my future with you or Maggie for that asshole, ok? Do I have a bit of ammunition against him? Yes. Is it going to somehow send me to prison? No. You have nothing to worry about.”

I nodded, “Ok, I just wanted to make sure. I appreciate that you feel protective of me or whatever, but you have to know that I can take care of myself too.”

“I know. But this one is my fault. And so it’s my responsibility to take care of it.”

“No way. No way this is your fault. You don’t really think that, do you?”

“All I mean is that it’s me that Aiden’s mad at. But he knows he can get to me by hurting you and so…he did. And while I know I’m not the one who physically hurt you, I can’t deny my role in it either. So you have to let me do what I can to make it up to you. You just…you have to.”

“I’m not going to punish you. If that’s what you’re asking me to do, then I’m telling you right now that I can’t.”

She shook her head, “That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking you to let me make him pay for what he did. And I promise you I won’t do anything stupid, ok? I promise.”

“Fine,” I say, shrugging.

“Good. Now can we go?” she asks, smiling sweetly as she stares down at my bulging suitcase.

“Let’s.”

A few short hours later we were ready to say goodbye forever to the Dennison House. My room looked as though I had never lived in it at all and since Ashley had never been one for personal touches (at least not in this sense), hers looked as it always had—sterile.

“I booked us a hotel, but they can only do a week at a time so after that we can find somewhere else. I mean, it shouldn’t be hard but maybe we should start looking now just in case, you know? And if we can’t then…”