“He has a stressful job,” I tell her.“And he has to answer to your father.”
“Don’t we all?”She moves over to the door.“Come on, this snow isn’t going to shovel itself.”
* * *
Hayami wipes her forehead,pushing her woolly hat up and squinting at me.
“Fuck me, this is hard work.”She pulls a strand of hair from her face and tucks it into her coat.“I can’t see shit because of the snow, my back is killing me, and my hands are red raw even under my gloves.”
We’ve been clearing the path for just over an hour.It’s one of those jobs where you feel like you’re getting nowhere, like trying to clear sand from the desert.
“Go inside.I’ll finish up,” I tell her as I heave another mound of snow to the side.
“I’m not quitting.I’m just saying that this is no fun.”
“There aren’t many things in life that are fun.”
“No, I guess not.”She leans on her shovel.“You ever had a snowball fight?”
I stop and look at her.Her eyes are narrow, and there’s a hint of a smirk at the corners of her mouth.My heart rate spikes.
“Not since I was a kid.”
She lays down her shovel and picks up some snow.
“Don’t even think about it,” I tell her, but she just grins.“This won’t end well.”
“I don’t doubt that,” she says, rolling the snow into a smooth ball.
“You throw that at me, and I’ll come for you.”There’s a growl to my voice that isn’t intentional, and I can imagine that neither is the flush that works its way up Hayami’s cheeks.I wonder if she’s thinking the same thing as me, about how much I’d love to chase her.
* * *
HAYAMI
I gulp.
This wouldn’t be the first time Fenrir has chased me.
The last time I ran from him was at the fair, when he stopped me from going on the ghost train with a guy I’d met at university.I’d been trying to run away from my problems.When he’d caught me, I asked him how I could escape my life.
He never answered me, as we were disturbed by Bastian.But here, now, with a snowball cupped in my hand, I wonder if I can outrun him this time.
With a shriek, I launch the snowball right at his face.As soon as it leaves my hand, the adrenaline pumps down into my legs and sets me off running.
But the snow is so deep that I barely move.I try to wade through it, but it’s up past my knees, and my boots aren’t the best for quick movements.
When I reach the edge of the drive, that’s when I feel the snowball hit the back of my head.Ice slithers down my neck.
“Shit, that’s cold,” I say as I turn.He’s right behind me, balling the snow casually, just striding up with a devilish look in his eyes that makes my knees go weak.
I bend to pick up some snow, but he’s too close.I try to run again, but just as I pick up my pace, another snowball hits the back of my coat, and I scream and laugh.
As I turn, I hold my hands up in mock defence, and just before he reaches me, I say, “I surrender.You got me.”
But he’s already got me, already has his arms around me.I hold on to his forearms, and his smile disappears.
Dropping my arms, I step back.What’s happening here?Why do I feel this attraction to him?And does he feel it too, or am I just a job to him?
