When I turn down the long stretch of the mountain, I see him huddled under a tree, his hands tucked into his armpits. His eyes grow wide when he sees me, but he makes no move to meet me halfway.
I wade through the snow, keeping my eyes on him to make sure he doesn’t bolt again. When I’m close, I wrap the jacket around his shoulders and tip up his chin. His cheeks are red from the wind, but his lips are turning blue.
“Shit, Remi. Come on, let me get you back in front of the fire.” I wrap my arm around his shoulder and pull him back towards the cabin.
Remi drags his feet for a while, but finally gives up when snow accumulates so high in front of him that he can’t take another step forward. He looks miserable as he lifts his legs over the large patch of snow, then walks in his previous path back up to the cabin.
When we’re back inside, I hurriedly strip him out of his wet clothes and build a fire. The heat is on, but the door was left wide open—it’ll take a while for the fire to warm the entire cabin again.
I plant Remi on the couch and hurry to the room, grabbing the blankets off the bed.
Kneeling in front of him, I wrap one blanket around his shoulders and place the other on his lap.
Remi looks at me with almost dead eyes, his expression blank.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, rubbing his calves through the material on his lap to get some warmth into them.
“I heard you.” Remi’s voice sounds hollow.
“You heard me calling you? I was waiting for you to come back and?—”
“No,” he murmurs, a tear tracking down his cheek. “On the phone. I heard you. Your friend… he’s going to… take care of me.” He closes his eyes, but more tears leak from them.
I blow out a long breath, sitting back on my heels. Putting Camden on speaker probably wasn’t the smartest idea. He’s the friend that you make surenevergets put on speakerphone, since I never know what he’s going to say.
“Remi, look at me,” I say, taking one of his hands in mine. He shakes his head. “Come on, Hummingbird. Look at me.” He sighs and opens his eyes, blinking away tears. “I told Camden that wasn’t necessary,” I say gently. “That no one was taking you away from me. Did you miss that part?”
Remi opens and closes his mouth, his eyes wide and that dead look leaving his face. “You told him…”
Sliding closer to him, I grab him by the back of his neck and drag him forward until our foreheads touch. “I told Camden that you belonged to me. I would fucking kill him if he tried, you get that? You’re mine now, Hummingbird. No one fucking touches you but me.”
“So you’re not going to kill me?” He sounds… happy. Full of something close to hope.
I huff a laugh. “No, Remi. I’m not going to kill you. I’m gonna do something worse. I’m gonna make you love me.”
18
REMI
Miscommunication trope.
Had I really just made my very own miscommunication trope?
If I had, it was the most short-lived one I’d ever seen—I was shivering from the cold, but the heat pooling in my stomach at Streeter’s words made me completely forget about the temperature.
“You’re… w-what?” I know I sound shocked, but I can’t help it. I’ve been quietly fantasizing about what things could be like if Streeter still wanted to see me once the snow melted, but…
“Did you really think all of this was just because I wanted to stay warm, Hummingbird?”
All of this…
He’s looking behind him at the fireplace, at the blankets on my body. At his hand still holding my calves as he shifts closer, forcing my legs apart so he can come up on his knees and fill my world with the golden color of his eyes.
“I don’t know, I…” I trail off, lost in the way he’s looking at me.
Wow. Miscommunication trope is ridiculous, isn’t it?
“If I could kill that asshole again for making you doubt yourself, I would in a fucking heartbeat. I’d kill him over and over, each way more brutal than the last if it made you realize that you’reworthkeeping safe, Hummingbird. No one will ever hurt you again, Rem. Do you hear me? No one. You’re stuck with me. If you try to run…” Streeter leans in, brushing his lips slowly along mine with a smirk. “I’m a serial killer. It’ll take a lot to get rid of me.”
