I wound my limbs around Darby's to keep myself from climbing under the motel bed again and drifted in and out of sleep, if you could even call that sleep. Mostly I gnashed my teeth together while I tried to block the night from my mind but filter through why I had crawled under the bed. When the first rays of sunlight sliced through the paisley curtains, I still didn't have an answer.

I untangled myself from Darby, got up, and slid the curtains to the side. Spears of golden ...