“We could watch a movie. I could start a fire,” I suggest, and she straightens her shoulders.
“Sebastian, I think you should leave.”
Knowing she’s already let me stay twice and I’m not likely to get a third, I slowly get my shoes on again and slip into my jacket. I try to think of any reason to get her to let me stay longer, but I can’t think of a single one that she’ll actually give in to.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” I say, and she nods.
I pull open the door, and my eyes go wide as I thank the universe, because someone has my back out there. It’s no longer just snowing, it’s blizzarding, and there’s no way I’m going to be able to get out of here, even with four-wheel drive. I’m stuck here, and I couldn’t be happier.
“Um, Lise, I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” I say and immediately feel her at my side.
She swears under her breath and tips her head back. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Of course, I’m snowed in with you.” The way she saysyouhas my spine stiffening, and I close the door, turning to face her as I lean against it.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
She throws her arms out to her sides. “It means that, of course, with all the shit going on right now, I’m snowed in here with the last person I want to be with. I wanted to be here alone to enjoy my favourite place before I completely lose it.”
Her words hurt, but I know why she feels that way, and it has to do with me choosing my friendship with her brother over her all those years ago. But she doesn’t know that Walker is the reason everything happened that night. I need to warm her up to the idea of having me here before I start dropping bombs like that on her, though.
“Would you be less pissed if I told you I had s’more supplies in my truck?” I ask, and she pauses, running her hands through her hair to stare at me.
“You better not be fucking with me, because if you just dangled that in front of me only to rip it away, I just might strangle you, or lock you out in the cold.”
I roll my lips at her antics, because it’s so fucking her, and I love it. “Not fucking with you. I may have packed supplies before I came out here.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and tilts her head, assessing the situation. “Bring in the supplies and then we’ll see how pissed I still am.”
I nod, smiling, and say, “Of course.”
I head out to my car, thanking whoever turned this into a snowstorm so I could be snowed in with Annalise Reid.
FIVE
ANNALISE
Afucking snowstorm. Of course.
Why should I expect anything different, as though my life doesn’t already feel like it’s in shambles as it is? I just broke up with my boyfriend, and while it was amicable, us both just wanting different things in life, that was three years of my life. I knew a while ago that things weren’t what they should be, especially with how long we’d been together, but adjusting to a life without him is still weird. Then I find out my parents are selling the cabin, and it was as though the last seam holding me together snapped and I just wanted to get away and be by myself.
Enter fucking Sebastian Hayes to ruin that all, and of course, the universe is still out to get me because they sent a snowstorm, stranding us here. Sebastian is the last person I want to be alone with in this cabin. He crushed me as a teenager. I swore he was giving me all the signals, and when he never made a move, I did, only for it to crash and burn. I was left spending the rest of our trip here after being rejected.
Not fun.
Now we’re here again, and I can’t escape him. As much as I may not want to see or be around him, I’m not a total bitch who’s going to make him sleep in his truck. I will make him either takethe small-as-shit couch or sleep on the floor, though. The bunk beds in Walker's and my old room were taken apart and donated the last time we were here. Walker and I complained so much about how the beds were too small that Dad finally had enough and gave them to a new family down the road and said we’d get new beds the next time we came. The thing is, we never came as a family again.
I sit on the couch wrapped in a blanket, staring out the front window while Sebastian runs to his truck to gather whatever supplies he brought. I don’t know what to expect him to have with him. There’s no way he had a ton of time to plan this trip, because Walker would have only called him after we spoke last night.
I watch as the snow falls fast and in big chunks, clinging to every surface it can. As I stare out the window, all I can see is the fence on the edge of the property line and trees. We’re so isolated out here, and I love it. There’s no neighbours for kilometers on either side. I watch as snow builds on a branch until it finally bends, sending the snow to the ground before it starts to accumulate again.
I should grab my camera, but I’m loving just taking it all in for myself.
Just as another branch gives, piles of snow falling, Sebastian walks in the front door. He stomps his boots outside before taking them off and setting them beside the door. I watch him, waiting for him to show me what he brought. He rounds the back of the couch into the living room, and he’s carrying two large totes. I raise a brow, and he sets them down in front of me, opening the lid of the top one. I spot the marshmallows and chocolate right on top.
“See, I told you I brought them.”
I bite my lip and nod, encouraging him to keep going. He pulls out two things of popcorn to be done on the fire, all myfavourite snacks, boxes of KD, and not the knock off stuff, actual Kraft Dinner.
Next, he opens the bottom tote. There’s a cooler taking up one side, and on the other there’s games. He’s brought both card games and board games as though he was hoping I’d let him stay, and something about that thought has those damn butterflies trying to take flight again, but I smother them. I’m not letting myself get sucked into Sebastian Hayes again only to get completely crushed. I’m smarter than that.
