“What does it mean, Abby?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Oh, I think I do.” He sounded angry, but could she blame him? Lord, none of this had turned out the way she’d have wished. This wasn’t how her new life was supposed to go.
Abby bent forward to stop the pressure against her back and let her face fall into her hands. She wanted to weep, wanted to scream and curse.
“Tell me a curse word,” she said. “The worst one you can think of.”
“Enculé,” he said, his voice vicious but the sound so lovely on his lips.
“What’s that mean?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s very dirty.”
“Good. Tell me.”
“Fucked in the ass,” he said, shocking her. She blinked at theasspart, not ready to even think of the possibility, and concentrated instead onthatword again—theFone. That was the one she wanted.
“Fuck,” Abby spat. Then again, “Fuck,” and again.Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, until it didn’t sound like a word anymore. It lost its meaning, turned into nothing but curt, harsh sounds in her mouth, on her tongue.
Beside her, Luc said nothing.
“It also means…what we did last night, right?” Some things you picked up, no matter how protected you were.
“Yes. Not in a nice way, though.”
“Is it mean?”
“It can be. Insulting or…dirty.”
“Dirty?” she slurred. Why was it so hard to talk?
“Like…” He breathed out hard, looking reticent, like this was the last discussion he wanted to have with her. “Like if you’re talking dirty to someone. Not dirty, but…sexy. If you’re talking to someone about what you would like to do to them.” Was he blushing? Hewas. He was getting red. “If you were trying to seduce someone, you might say fuck.”
“Oh. You said it.” She blushed at the memories. “Last night.”
Through narrowed, bleary eyes, Abby watched his lips puff out into that pout he had when he said French words, almost smiling as he expelled a breath. He looked at her, pupils pinpricks, irises bluer than blue, reflecting the bright wonderland of snow.
“Do you regret it, Luc?”
“Regret what?”
“What we did last night. Me.”
He slowed the truck to barely a crawl and took his eyes off the road again to meet hers. “Never.” There wasn’t a hint of doubt in those two syllables. “Never,” he said again, almost a whisper, and a wave of happiness swelled up inside of Abby, as bright as the snowy landscape around them. His hand left the steering wheel in search of hers. For several long minutes, he held her tight like that, until they got to the main road into Blackwood, and he had to pull away to downshift.
And now, as they entered civilization, everything was different. The distance between them seemed to stretch, their intimacy left behind as surely as the threat of the Church.
“No hospitals, right? You promised.”
“No hospitals, Abby.”
After another few seconds, she went on. “I need to get Sammy out. Soon. I can’t leave him there.”
