“You can’t.” I stuck out my tongue. “I’m too adorable.”
Twenty minutes later,we were pulling out of the parking garage. It had been a while since I’d driven last. I only used my car if I was headed out of the city, given how expensive parking was and how good our public transportation system was. I thought about selling the car a few times, but then I would have to ask someone else to come with me to the cottage. A place I wasn’t ready to share until now.
Because it had been a while since I was behind the wheel, I asked that Austin keep quiet until we were out of the city. It wasn’t the worst place to drive in, but I was still stressed until we cleared city limits. Once Mount Veecy was nothing but a blip inmy rear-view mirror, I snuck a glance at him. He was watching me with a small smile on his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I think it’s cute. You’re white-knuckling your steering wheel, but the second we’re out of the city you’re going fifty over the speed limit.”
I looked down to see I was, in fact, going nearly a buck thirty in an eighty zone. I eased off the gas, instead of slamming on the breaks.
“Oops. Mum always said I had a lead foot.”
“Tell me about her.”
“What?”
“You wanted to talk with no distractions. I think this is a good place to start.”
“Good point.”
So we spent the whole two-and-a-half-hour drive chatting. I told him about my parents, what it was like growing up, old friends, fun stories from high school. He didn’t talk about his dad—fair enough, I didn’t know if I could stomach hearing more about that abusive piece of shit.
He mostly talked about Eva, what it was like growing up with her. The more he talked, the more I felt his pain, his confusion, the battle he was warring with himself.
“You should follow her. When we get back, I mean.”
“I have been. Well, my shadows have been. They’ve been bring me reports since yesterday. So far nothing but she spent most of yesterday with you.”
I tried not to gape at him. Last time I was enamoured with his powers, he’d gotten all pouty. How was I supposed to help it? They were amazing.
“I can’t believe you have two super cool powers and I got nothing.”
“It’s possible you did. The cold and the ice came right away but my shadows came later. Nearly two years after. You might have powers that are just waiting to be triggered.”
“Really?” He nodded. “How did you trigger them?”
“I was going after someone, a scientist on the development team forthe incident. She was particularly paranoid and had managed to put together that the list of my victims was the same as the list of people involved inthe incident. I kept thinkingman I wish I had a way of learning her schedule. I wish I had a way to get closer.After a few weeks of getting nowhere, I was ready to give up until I heard this voice. It was like a hiss that told me exactly where she was and what she was doing. It freaked me out immensely because I thought I was losing my mind. Eventually, my shadows started to form, coil around me, talk to me. It took me awhile to learn how to work with them.”
“How come it took you two weeks to notice me following you? If your shadows are always watching?”
I caught him shrugging out of the corner of my eye.
“I have absolutely no idea. It’s possible they knew you weren’t a threat, so they didn’t feel like warning me. Maybe they thought it was funny that I was being stalked instead of the one doing the stalking. Who knows? They have a mind of their own. And they’re a little obsessed with you. They like to follow you around and bring back reports of what you’re doing. It’s… It’s why I sent you those flowers before your date. They showed me when you received those awful pink and purple ones. I was hoping you’d cancel your date if you received something better.”
“I knew you were a liar.” I shook my head with a chuckle. “I would have cancelled, had you confessed.”
“If I’d known you were going to wear that fucking dress, I might confessed to save myself from the hangover.” He reached across the centre console, resting his hand on my thigh.
I grinned. “You like that dress?”
“Not anymore,” he mumbled.
“Too bad, I packed the red version, but if you don’t like it then I suppose I’ll have to leave it in the bag.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Red, you say?”
I laughed, nodding my head.
