Page 25 of Escape from the Green

It wasn't supposed to be cold and clinical.

But that was what I got.

Even as the sensation overtook me, so did a crippling sensation of loss and an unshakable embarrassment.

I hadn't been able to meet his eyes afterward, as weak as that may have made me sound.

He'd been able to move on, move past it, act like it was no big deal.

But it had been a big deal for me, and it was proving hard to reduce it to nothing.

Taking a careful breath, I shifted my fingers slightly, my entire body stiffening, feeling for any possible movement on his part.

Feeling nothing, I carefully pulled them further, freeing them entirely, balling my fist to rest on his thigh, not wanting to fully pull away all at once.

It was then that I felt the weight on my lower back.

An arm.

Drake's arm.

As I became more aware of it, I felt his fingers, the way they were curled into my hip in a way that, again, felt intimate, felt almost possessive.

Felt way too good, I admitted to myself.

Outside our little shelter, the wind still gave the occasional gust, but nothing compared to the night before.

We had to get going.

As soon as possible.

It was morning.

If we set a steady pace, I was sure we could reach the human realm by nightfall.

I knew exactly how far it was from my parents' compound, less than a day's walk. But we had gone in the other direction. I had no actual idea how far we were away.

"You're up."

It wasn't a question.

It was an observation, making me wonder if he had actually been awake the whole time, if he had felt my fingers touching him, if he had been conscious of my careful extraction of my hand - something that may seem silly to him.

"You were right," I said, sitting suddenly upright, wiping at my eyes in an attempt to avoid eye-contact without it being obvious I was doing so. "It's warmer when we are closer," I added, rolling a crick out of my neck.

The air settled between us, making everything several degrees cooler.

"Do you want to eat, or are you ready to get going?"

"I'm ready," I said, ignoring a little grumble in my belly. There would be time to eat later. I needed some space right then.

Drake made some noise, making his way over toward the door, climbing out.

It was barely a few seconds before I saw him rip off the top row.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking out the hole he had created above me.

"We don't want to leave any traces of us, first of all," he told me as he went to work on the second row, making it possible for me to stand and step right over the bottom one.