“And, Ness, I left you some salve for your arm. It’ll help with thescars.”
When the door snicked shut, more water spilled out of my glass. I set it down, then ripped paper towels off the roll to blot my skin, the countertop, and thefloor.
“Ness—”
“I’m so mad at you,” Ihissed.
“I got that, but it’s done now, and I didn’t drop dead,so—”
“So that’s supposed to make me feel better?” I yelled, spinning around. “Greg just mentioned seizures.Seizures!”
He snorted. “You do realize this could’ve beenyou?”
“Idorealize!” I breathed hard. “But if this hurt me, it would’ve been my fault. If this hurts you . . .” My voice broke. “I’ll never forgive myself if this hurtsyou.”
“Shh. It’ll be all right. I’ll phone up Cole. Get him to spend the night at myplace.”
“No, I’ll do it. There’s no need to drag yet another person into my harebrained schemes.” After the ice, I now felt filled with fire. I bet smoke was wafting from mynostrils.
“You don’t haveto—”
“After what you just did, you don’t get to tell me what to do. I’m spending the night at your place or you’ll spend the night at my place. Yourchoice.”
One side of his mouth tipped up with a smile. “If I’d known that was all it took to get you to spend another night with me, I might’ve injected myselfsooner.”
I glared at him. Not because I was mad at what he’d just said, but because I was furious with what he’d justdone.
His smile vanished. “Pack a bag. I’ll call acab.”
31
“Have you seen thismovie?”
“What’s the title?” Since leaving my apartment, I hadn’t taken my eyes off August, not even to glance at his enormous televisionscreen.
He sighed and set the remote control on the arm of the couch. We were sitting on either end of it—me with my legs curled beneath me, and him with his ankle perched on his oppositeknee.
“Please stop looking at me as though you want to throttle me.” His leg had been bobbing restlessly since he’d sat down. “It’s done. Let itgo.”
“Let it go? Really?” I narrowed my eyes. “Until you shift—fullyshift—I’m not going to let thisgo.”
He wrapped his arm around the back of the couch. “You’re going to stay mad at me forweeks?”
“Possibly evenmonths.”
He winced so suddenly that my heart all butstopped.
When his fingers came up to his temples, I sprang toward him, almost landing in his lap, and palmed his forehead. “What is it? What’swrong?”
His forehead smoothed out, and a smile overtook his lush lips. “You were sitting too faraway.”
I blinked, and then I smacked his chest hard. “That wassonot funny, AugustWatt.”
When I tried to crawl back to my side, he wrapped his fingers around my wrist and held me in place. His expression was gentle but serious. “I don’t want you to be mad at me even anotherminute.”
“I’m not mad. I’mscared.”
“I know, Dimples, but put your anger on hold for a second and look at me. I’mfine.”
