Chapter 11: No Favors

Erin's POV

I woke at four in the morning with the quilt around my shoulders and the smell of coffee in the van.

The yellow lights were off.

A single lamp glowed over the counter, and Dustin sat on an upturned crate with a mug between his hands.

He wasn't drinking it.

"You didn't sleep," I said.

"I slept some."

"You're a bad liar."

"I'm a good cook." The corner of his mouth moved, but his eyes didn't. "Do you want coffee?"

"Yes."

He poured it.

I sat up on the cot with my knees under the quilt and took the cup, and our fingers touched at the handle.

He looked away first.

He had looked away a lot since we left the dorm, and I didn't know why.

I told myself he was tired.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"Your father's men go to the dorm at eight, and they find the bag."

"And you?"

"I'm there with my phone, and proof of when it arrived."

"And Caleb?"

"Caleb finds out he can't win by hiding things in dorm rooms."

"You think that'll be enough?"

"I don't know." His voice dropped. "I know you're cold."

I was.

The heater had gone off an hour ago, and my toes ached.

I hadn't said so.

He got up and knelt in front of the cot without a word and took my feet into his lap.

I stiffened.

"They're ice," he said. "Let me."

He wrapped them in his hands and began to rub, slow and firm, from the heel to the arch.

I watched his hands.

They were scarred along the knuckles from years of kitchen burns, and they were very gentle.