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Her deep brown eyes shift to me, the firelight caressing her soft dark skin. The same dark tan shade as Kai’s. “What did you say to me? I don’t even know who you are, and you’re going to speak to me like that.”
A part of me wants to cower, the part of me that’s been hiding for months waiting to get better, waiting to be a little less broken, a little more me. But I’m starting to think it doesn’t work that way. “He said no. You should leave it alone if you want to stay, or better yet, maybe you should go.”
She narrows her eyes and slides to the edge of the couch like she might get up and do something, except she doesn’t. I keep my eyes on her, and Kai is tense beside me in the chair. “Don’t presume to know anything about me or my business. Even more so, don’t presume you know anything about my brother I don’t already know.”
Kai cuts in before I can respond. “It doesn’t matter what that woman says. I’m basically on parole. Adrian and Valentina vouched for me, and as far as she is concerned until the hearing comes back around, I’m a free man.”
Selena tuts, actually tuts, at her brother and rises on her black stiletto boots. “Well, she doesn’t see it that way. According to her, you left your city, which violates your so-called parole. You’re still a wanted man.”
She edges by me toward the door and opens it. A cold chill blasts me, and I huddle into myself before she slips out into the midmorning sun.
It takes a minute to shake off the cold, and when I focus on Kai again, he’s standing by the fireplace. I didn’t even hear him move.
“What’s wrong?”
He stares into the flames, not looking at me. “You shouldn’t have stood up to her. Now she’s going to hold a grudge.”
“So? Not like I’ll see her again anytime soon.”
He frowns deeper and whispers, “You never know. It’s not a good idea to burn bridges when you don’t even know which way you’re headed.”
I stand, anger burning my gut now. “Well, thanks for that, Yoda. I’ll remember it for next time when a woman is pushing you to your limits.”
This time, he does look at me. “Sisters always push you to your limits. That’s their job.”
I head toward the stairs, but he crosses through the living room to stop me from going up to my room. He presses his hand to my stomach, and I can’t help but look down at how his big strong fingers curl around me. “We have to pack to leave. Now that she knows where we are, she might come back, or she could have been followed.”
I jolt, the idea of leaving this place sinking in. “No, I don’t want to go anywhere, and not because I don’t like people, but because I love it here.”
He steps in closer. “It’s my job to keep you safe, and if I say we need to leave, then we need to leave.”
I grit my teeth and pull away to go upstairs. If he wants me to leave, then he can come pack my shit himself. As far as I’m concerned, they can bury me in this cabin.
Once I’m settled in my warm bed, watching the snow, a book perched against my upturned knees, I realize…I’m happy. Not run around grinning happy but content. For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel closed in and confined, like usual.
I stare at the pages a little longer, then close the book, pressing a piece of paper I’d found in a drawer to mark my place between the pages.
The snow is falling faster now, and soon, it’ll be a whiteout. There’s no way we can go anywhere if we can’t see the road in front of us.
Kai bursts into my room, scaring the shit out of me. He’s changed into a pair of jeans, an olive-green turtleneck sweater, and heavy boots. “Get dressed. We have to go.”
I wave at the window. “You really want to try to leave in that?”
His eyes shift to the door, and he pauses. “Fuck. I forgot it was snowing.”
“Which means people are unlikely to follow us up here.”
He sits on the side of my bed, his heavy weight pulling me toward him as the bed mattress curves. “If not now, then when the snow lets up, or in the morning, whichever is first.”
I swallow an argument. At this point, it seems useless since he won’t listen anyway.
“Why do we have to leave? I like it here.”
He looks me in the eye this time, his jaw tense. “You’ll like somewhere better, especially if you get to see it alive.”
Is there a point in arguing with him anymore? Not like he’s going to suddenly change his mind and see my side of things.
I settle in the bed, knowing I only have a few more hours to enjoy this snowy paradise.
