Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
And I don’t chase after Eliot. Instinct isn’t to fall behind and plunge into the water. Instinct shoves me toward certain safety, and I’m sliding toward the dock. Catching my balance, I’m inches away. Then my left foot dips into the bone-freezing cold water. I grip the wooden edge and pull my body onto the sturdy surface.
Eliot is still running and trying not to fall on the slippery surface. I sprint down the dock, my legs shrieking at the biting air, but I’m not slowing my aggressive stride. I watch him while I run.
He must’ve stepped on a pressure point in the ice—because the entire surface of the lake is collapsing behind him. The thunderous noise booms against my eardrums, and as my wet slippers touch the earth, I aim straight for the snowy bank where Eliot is trying to reach.
Fifteen feet from land, the ice gives out, and he drops into waist-deep water. “Fuck,” Eliot curses, his teeth clanking. He walks forward in the slushy, melting mixture, and I carefully approach, the ice thicker near the bank.
Close enough, I clasp his hand and help him out of the lake. I have an arm around his back, and we’re stumbling forward. Safely standing on the snow. No one is rushing out of the house. Seems like everyone is still fast asleep, but that relief is drowned beneath my concern for him.
Eliot tries to laugh through his chattering teeth. “There’s a-a first time for everything.” He casts a glance at the chunks of floating ice. Looks like dynamite exploded in our wake. “Never fe-fell through it before.”
“Ditto,” I shiver, wetness creeping up my pant leg from the soaked ankle. Eliot’s bottoms are drenched, and he hasn’t stopped trembling. “Let’s get inside.” There’s a high chance I gave a Cobalt hypothermia.
Rose might try to kill me before Christmas.
But I don’t give a shit about that, really. I’m worried about Eliot. Good thing there’s a doctor in the house named Farrow. Bad thing I didn’t think to sleepwalk with my phone. But hey, I grabbed slippers. So at least I tried to protect my toes.
As we climb the wooden stairs to the back deck, Eliot is checking on me with several side-glances. Then he stops me midway.
“What…was that back there?” His body rattles, but he manages to gesture to the lake.
I don’t follow his finger. “Testing out my penguin skills. Think I’m more of a dirt and grass mammal.” I wish he wouldn’t stall for this. “Come on, man. You’re gonna freeze your nuts off. You need to protect your future progeny and whatnot.” I ascend one step.
Eliot isn’t following. He stays one stair below me.
Fuck. Fuck. I rotate back to him. “You don’t want to procreate. I respect that. Luna might name your first kid Comet. Which is cute but probably not y—”
“You were sleepwalking,” Eliot says with measured breath, keeping his teeth still. “You were…unresponsive for four minutes before you even made eye contact with me. I would say…you were acting, but then I’d be saying…you’re a better actor than me. And I…I don’t believe that’s it.”
The cold ices my lungs. Each breath is blistering, frigid hell. I scared him. I can tell I scared him, and who wouldn’t be freaked out finding a sleepwalker in a hazardous spot? I never wanted to put Eliot in one too.
“I’m sorry,” I say, throat closing. “Thanks for that.” I motion to the lake, wanting to set it so far behind me. “Next time, you can just leave me. I’ll find a way back.”
“Ah, funny,” he says with a weak grin, “we’re just two court jesters…freezing to death on the stairs.” He shivers. “The tragedies of us.”
Yeah. Feel that. I tell him, “We could freeze inside—”
“This is a common occurrence then? The sleepwalking?”
I don’t say yes. I’m rubbing my arms. “It won’t hurt Luna—I won’t hurt Luna.”
“Never thought…you would.” He fights through the agonizing cold to say, “Just concerned about you.”
I don’t want him to be. It’s a sudden, slamming thought, and I can’t halt its impact. It crushes me. “I’m good,” I say, ribs constricting around my lungs. “Let’s go.” Another step up. He catches my arm this time. “Eliot—”
“There are backdoor cameras.”
I didn’t forget those. As security personnel, I have access to all the passcodes, but typically, the family will shut off the cameras linked to the back deck because of the amount of traffic in and out. This holiday season, every camera has been active. After the assault and kidnapping, they want to be extra safe, and I don’t blame them.
But this also means… “The cameras caught me leaving the house.” I didn’t want to spend Christmas talking about my sleep problems with her family, and I sure as hell don’t want my new boss to know I have them.
“Follow my lead,” Eliot says, and this time, he sprints ahead of me. I’m fast and catch up to him as he reaches the backdoor. The red beady camera light is blinking as Eliot crouches to the lens.