“He was obviously deeply affected by her passing.”

She took a quick swallow of beer. “He loved her so much that I’m pretty sure the only reason he loves me is because I’m a part of her.”

Eban reached out and took her fingers in his. Then he slipped their joined hands under the water and shifted closer. “He seemed pretty shaken when I spoke to him after your abduction.”

“I think it’s the first time he realized I meant something to him.”

His fingers tightened.

“I know I sound pathetic but for so long after Mom died it was like Dad was dead inside too. My kidnapping gave him a jolt. Made him realize he could lose me too, and that he might care if that happened.” Her throat grew thick with emotion. “It’s another good thing to come out of last summer.”

He nodded like he understood. She doubted anything surprised him anymore.

She forced the emotion away and asked something she’d been dying to know to since she’d met him. “What about your family? Where did you grow up?”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Darby watched one side of Eban’s gorgeous mouth twitch into a humorless smile. “Stone Creek, Montana. It’s also a hard place to survive, especially for outsiders.”

“You weren’t from there originally?”

He shook his head and took a drink of beer. Steam clung to his hair, making the black shine like onyx. It was at this point that he usually changed the subject and started asking questions about her background instead of talking about himself.

“My mom followed some guy there when I was eight. I don’t even remember where we were before that. Ohio maybe? Michigan? Anyway, she was always uprooting me to trail after some guy she’d hooked up with and Stone Creek was no different. We were there a little over a year when she found some other loser to attach herself to, but this time when she wanted to leave, I refused to go with her.”

“What happened?” Darby asked.

“I ran away. Hid in some guy’s stable.” Eban laughed and drank another sip of beer. “Looking back, I’m lucky he didn’t shoot me.” He looked up, a vulnerable light in the inky depths of his eyes. “I hid for about ten days. I’d taken a sleeping bag and some food with me. Stole some apples from a nearby orchard and collected water from a stream. Then school started, and I figured it would be safe to show my face again. When I turned up to class, I caused quite the ruckus and not only because I hadn’t washed in more than a week. Apparently, my mother had reported me missing and the local sheriff had arrested her on suspicion of having done something nasty to me.”

Darby’s eyes widened. “They thought she’d hurt you?”

He nodded, clearly amused by the memory. “The cops were constantly at our door. She was either too loud or too drunk or too high to care most of the time. I knew to disappear when the cops came around as there was no way I was going into Child Protective Services. Even my mom was better than that.”