Stone Cold by Stassi Evers Page B

for as long as she needed him to. When she pulled away he kept his arm around her waist and they climbed the stairs together to get some much needed sleep.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
    It was noon when Conall awoke the next day. His first thought was that maybe he’d dreamt it all. The slight knock on the door from his father told him otherwise.
    “Conall, it’s noon. Time to get up so we can make some plans.”
    Not a dream.
    “Okay dad. Be right there.”
    He rolled onto his back for a few minutes and attempted to clear the sleep from his brain. That’s when he realized he’d been so preoccupied with everything that had happened the night before that he hadn’t even thought about Hannah since his arrest.
    In his wakeful state Conall’s memory started to flood his brain with everything at once. Waiting in the dark alley for Jack to exit the building. Bobby and Shawn knocking Jack to the ground. Him picking up Jack’s cell phone and running home. Eden coming to his room and telling him his friends had gotten caught. Him getting arrested. He also remembered his urgent plea to Eden.
    Conall had begged her to get into Jack’s phone and remove any data about Hannah, after she wrote it down for him of course. Community service or not, he had to find out if she’d been successful. Jack was sure to have bought another phone by now and he may’ve been able to recover his contact list. He’d stop by her room to find out if she’d been successful on his way down to talk to his parents.
    “ Eden. Eden, open up. Need to ask you something,” commanded Conall as he knocked on her door.
    Without warning, the door swung open and she pulled him inside by his arm.
    “Finally! What took you so long? I’ve been dying to find out what happened! ”
    “Mom and dad want to talk to me so I’ll have to tell you about it later but I have to know if you were able to retrieve and destroy that information I asked you to.”
    Eden was sitting on the edge of her bed and looked like she was about ready to burst.
    “I was able to get that information because his password must have either been lost when the phone hit the ground or he never had it password protected. All of Hannah’s information is on this piece of paper and I deleted it from his phone like you asked me to along with a picture of the letter.”
    Conall felt his knees start to buc kle. For the first time since all of this started he was finally able to feel some relief that Hannah was going to be safe. It also meant that he was possibly going to get to meet her all over again.
    “Thank you thank you thank you thank you Eden! Have I ever told you you’re my favorite sister?”
    “Yeah, every time you say the same thing to Kylie.”
    Eden pretended to hand him the paper with Hannah’s information on it but pulled it back when he went to take it. The more he tried to get it the more she teased until he tickled her sides at which point she collapsed onto the floor in a fit of laughter. Her grip became weak and sensing this, Conall grabbed the paper from her hand.
    “ Works every time. Come on, let me help you get up,” he said as he grabbed her wrist.
    When they were both standing again Conall reached over and put both arms around her.
    “Thank you Eden for always being there for me. I’ll be back later to tell you what happened.”
    “I’m just glad you’re alright and not in jail.”
    “Me too,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.
    He let go of Eden and started toward the door.
    “Conall. I, I hope she’s worth it – this girl Hannah.”
    He paused for a moment and grinned, “So do I.”
    On his way out the door, Conall looked at the piece of paper in his hand. He finally had what he wanted and tucked it away safely into his pocket for later as he headed down the stairs.
    His parents were sitting in the living room and he guessed they must’ve