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I hurry downstairs to get my things before I say or do something that I’ll regret. Because I want this man and I know, I know, that I’ll regret acting on those wants.
Remember why you hate him.
Remember how he’s treated you.
Don’t forget that you’re nothing to him.
This is all just a game.
Don’t lose.
We get my stuff moved upstairs and Ethan insists on carrying my suitcase. My cheeks are still burning because of that stupid assumption about Ethan’s bed. This place is huge; of course I’d have my own room. He gets me set up in a guest room that’s a few doors down from his own bedroom and leaves me alone so I can freshen up.
After I’m done, I shuffle through the house looking for him. I shouldn’t feel so awkward, I know this house inside and out, but I can’t help it. There’s something different between Ethan and I now that the truth is out in the open.
He knew I was here.
He was the one who canceled my ferry ticket, apparently because he wanted me to stay back at the house rather than going to Boston without a plan. It’s what he meant when he had me cornered in that little bathroom and told me there was an obvious answer to my problem.
And then he flew out here because he thought I was going to ride out the hurricane and wanted to make sure I didn’t do that alone.
Actually, he could’ve made sure I got off the island but instead he got me to stay in the house with him.
He wants me here.
And he wants to be here with me.
I can’t trust him, I know that, but this whole situation has me twisting into knots.
Why is he suddenly acting like he wants to be around me when all summer he treated me like a pariah? Is it different now that Cooper is gone? Now that his friends have left? That his father isn’t involved? I want to demand answers but what if I don’t like what I hear? Or worse, what if I do?
I’m starting to rethink everything about the man.
I find him outside, walking the perimeter of the house. The sun is setting but the clouds are so heavy that there’s nothing pretty about it. It’s ominous, sending a shiver of fear through me at what’s to come. “What are you doing out here? It’s going to start raining soon.”
“I’m just checking on things. Making sure the contractors got all the glass boarded over like they were supposed to.”
He shakes the boards covering the back patio glass and it doesn’t move a centimeter. That would satisfy me, but he’s got an annoyed scowl on his face.
“Looks like they did a good job,” I point out.
“They forgot to bring the patio furniture inside.” He nods to the lounge chairs lined up alongside the pool. “Any one of these could blow into the house or who knows.”
“Well, come on then.” I roll my eyes and together we begin moving everything into the nearby pool house for safekeeping.
By the time we’re done, I’m sweating like a pig and needing a shower. The sun is long gone and the wind is already picking up. It wraps around our limbs like tightropes. Enough pull and it will carry us away.
We need to get inside, but a strange sense of calm takes over me.
I don’t want to go inside yet.
I want to see what’s coming. Want to feel it. Face it.
I don’t let myself overthink, I just act, my feet carrying me down the pathway toward the cliff’s edge. I know the way by heart, even in the dark. Ethan chases after me with a cellphone light anyway, his voice calling something that gets lost in the wind.
“Put that away,” I demand when he’s close enough to hear me. I cover the light with my palm and squeeze until my hand glows. “We don’t need that.”
He pulls it away and points at me, practically blinding me in the process. “What the hell are you doing? We have to get back to the house.”
