“Where the hell is your jacket?” I growl.
I shrug off my coat and drape it over her shoulders. Then I step forward, closing the distance between us. She’s breathing hard, blinking rapidly against the falling snow.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demands.
“This.” I throw her over my shoulder, ignoring her protests, and toss her into the passenger seat. I shut the door and round the hood, part of me worried she’s already out and running before I can climb in. But when I do, she’s still there.
“What’re you even doing here?”
“Watering my kids’ seedlings,” she chatters. “I didn’t want them to come back to shriveled leaves.”
“During a blizzard?”
She tugs my coat closed around her. “It wasn’t snowing when I got here. I lost track of time reading.”
“And your jacket?”
At that, she looks sheepish, ducking her head and looking out the window. “I freaked out when I saw the snow. Got out of there so fast I forgot my jacket and keys.”
“And the school doors are on a timer,” I finish for her.
They would have automatically locked an hour ago. That’s why she was at the road. No car keys, and no way to get back indoors. She really was trying to run for it.
“Are you hurt?” I ask.
“Just my dignity.”
“You could’ve frozen to death!” I don’t mean to shout, but my body is vibrating with adrenaline.
“Running generates body heat!” she yells back.
Bracing myself on her seat, I lean toward her. “Is that why your teeth are chattering? All that body heat?”
She lifts her chin, but doesn’t retort. The sound of the wipers squeaking over my windshield fills the cab. She smells like pear and citrus and snow. Her face is maybe three inches from mine. I’m so fucking grateful I found her.
I reach over to tug on her seatbelt and click it in place. I do the same with mine, then I look straight ahead and start driving.
There go my plans to stay as far away from Brie as possible.
CHAPTER 24
BRIE
Being rescuedby Sawyer during a storm—again—isn’t ideal. I can forgive my eighteen-year-old self for not knowing the future, but my current self has the benefit of hindsight, and I know this won’t end well.
Now that I’m out of the cold, I notice the sharp pain emanating from my hip. The back of my hip, really. Almost, but not quite, my ass.
Even if I didn’t fall just as I started my mad dash to safety, there’s at least a forty-percent chance my plan to run back to Gia’s would have ended with me frozen to death. I would’ve been found a block and a half away, blue with a half-broken ass. And when they finally found me, my ghost would die all over again from embarrassment.
At least Sawyer has the heat cranked up in his truck. The first thing I’m going to do when I get back to Gia’s is?—
“Hey!” I chatter. “Goright!”
“No can do, honey.” He’s driving slower than I can limp. “Even if I made it to Gia’s on the other side of town, I wouldn’t make it back to my place.”
“That’s fine! Your dad’s houseis two blocks away!”
He lets out a loud, humorless laugh. “I’d rather freeze to death.”
