Page 36 of Play Dirty

This wasn’t the kind of cold you could ignore, either. Not the kind that faded if you tucked your hands under your arms and dove deeper into your blankets.

This was tougher. Sharper. The kind of biting cold that was absolutely relentless.

At the moment, my teeth actually chattered. I wondered absently if that’s what woke me up. I forced my eyes open and saw how utterly dark it was. All blackness, except for the window.

Frost had crept along the edges, feathered and white. It was working its way inward, turning everything opaque.

Fuuuuuuck…

I exhaled, and I could see my breath. Not just a little bit, either. I could see it a lot.

“Unreal,” I muttered, my voice barely carrying.

This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t cool. This wasn’t something I should have to endure; job or no job.

Pushing myself upright, I winced against an all new rush of cold air. Somehow I summoned the courage to swing my legs over, and set my feet on the floor. It was like standing on a block of ice.

I stood, thinking that maybe it would help to move around. Do some jumping jacks. Get myself warmed up.

In the cold, freezing room.

Stupid.

I pulled on some socks and exhaled, watching my breath flow outward and slowly dissipate. That’s when Sebastian’s words came back to me, uninvited:

If you can ever see your breath… come in here and warm up.

I hesitated. Just for a second. Then I threw open the door, and a new blast of frozen air hit me.

The hallway was just as bad. Maybe worse. The cold clung there, settling into every corner. It crawled along the floor, like a frozen carpet of ice. I crossed it quickly, not letting myself think too much about what I was about to do, and knocked once on his door. I didn’t wait more than two seconds before I pushed it open.

“Sebastian?”

He stirred immediately. Not fully awake, but close.

… “Haven?”

“It’s freezing,” I said, not bothering to soften it. “I can’t sleep.”

He pushed himself to one elbow, glancing past me and into the hallway. Like the cold was behind me, and he was giving it the once-over.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I figured.”

And holy shit, his room was warmer. Not by a little. By a lot.

Even standing there, not fully in the room yet, I could feel the difference on my skin. Sebastian shifted, reached back, and pulled the blanket open slightly.

“Come here.”

I shook my head immediately. “I’m not—”

“Well, the floor’s freezing,” he said, his voice rough with sleep. “And I’m not chivalrous enough to take it.”

That almost got a laugh out of me. Almost.

I hesitated again, as the cold pressed in harder. My brain screamed for me to throw my body forward.

“I’ll just…” I gestured vaguely. “I’ll stay on top of the blankets.”