Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“Because I came after you without them.”
That’s when I remember Seth was alone when he found me. Thorin and Khalil must have caught up with us after I passed out in his arms, which I don’t even remember doing.
“Well, maybe all the hot air they blow around when they return will warm us up.” Seth laughs, but it sounds forced. My suspicions are confirmed when he sits up and lifts me off his lap to set me down on the sleeping bag next to his. Okay… His green eyes are piercing as he props his arms on his bent knees and studies me like he’s figuring out what to make of me. “What…” Looking away, Seth drops his head to stare at the ground between his bent knees. “Oh, God,” I say when realization slams into me. “You’re mad at me, too, aren’t you?”
“Nah.”
“Seth, don’t lie to me.” His face is pinched as if he’s debating whether he wants to have it out with me or let me get away with putting us all in danger. “It’s okay. You can tell me. I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
“It’s just…” He shoves his fingers through his dark hair, blows out a breath, and then stares at me through hurt eyes that weirdly make me want to die. “I don’t get you, Sunshine. Even less than I did before. You agreed to be my girlfriend, and then you ran. What am I missing? Were you serious, or was it another lie?”
“I…”
Seth squints when I take entirely too long to answer. “Okay, I understand.”
He gently pushes me aside and then tries to leave the snow cave. I should let him go, but for whatever reason, I grab his arm.
“Seth…you assaulted me.” He flinches, but I dig in. I won’t let him run from this any more than they let me run from them. “And you’ve done nothing but count the hours until you can do it again. Don’t you dare try to make me feel guilty for a little white lie when you know it wouldn’t have made a difference. You’d still hurt me even if it were true.”
“It wasn’t a little white lie to me.”
“And you hurting me is no small thing to me!”
“Stop fighting us, and we won’t have to,” he says tightly.
“And they say romance is dead. Besides, I thought you said you like it when I fight back?”
“You know what the hell I mean, Aurelia. Fight us, but don’t fight us. Just stop running. What the hell do you have to go back to anyway? There’s nothing real waiting for you back home, and know you it.”
Seth’s words, while true, are a punch to the gut.
He hasn’t known me long and already he’s guessed that I’ve been nothing to no one for a very long time. There’s hasn’t been anyone in my corner since my parents died. No one to truly miss me now that I’m “gone.” I’m sure even my fans have already moved on.
Heat flames my cheeks and neck, and before I know it, my mouth is moving, and I can’t stop the vitriol. Poison, after all, is my weapon of choice whenever people get too close. “Wow. Thanks. That’s some judgment coming from the weirdo with voices in his head.”
It’s my turn to crawl out of the cave and away from this discussion, and Seth doesn’t stop me. Although he’s slow to follow, he does follow.
I’m shivering almost immediately with my arms wrapped around myself in the early morning light, but I’m too stubborn to go back inside the shelter that looks like an igloo, so when he finally emerges and drapes Harrison’s coat over my shoulders, I’m grateful.
I don’t speak or look at him as I stick my arms in the sleeves—partly because I’m pissed at him for what he said, but mostly because I’m pissed at me for what I said.
“I’m sorry,” I offer as soon I’m burrowed inside the warmth of the coat. It’s the extent of the regret he’ll get from me because even though he risked his life to save mine, he still holds it in the palm of his hand. I force myself to meet his gaze. “That was low even for me.”
“I forgave you when you said it, Sunshine. Can you forgive me?”
“I’ll think about it.” Peeking up at him, I tuck my lips into my mouth to keep from laughing, but Seth has no problem letting his free.
“Oh, Sunshine. If you want me to stop being obsessed, you’re going to have to start making this easy.” Taking my arms as he pivots to stand in front of me, Seth pushes me against the side wall of the quinzee.
“Won’t it collapse?” I ask with a gasp when I feel the cold against my back.
“No. Thorin and Khalil know what they’re doing.” It’s all the explanation he offers before he leans down and kisses me.