I blushed, hoping he didn’t notice.
He winked. “Blushing suits you too.”
“Fuck off,” I whispered, turning my attention back to the loch. “What did you mean before… about the noise?”
He huffed. “You mean when you insulted me?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Although, if my opinion of you is wrong, it’s because you’ve done a really good job at spinning that lie.”
“Man whore, I hold my hands up to and party king. But I don’t have people other than Archer and Fox in my home.”
“Oh,” I let out, not sure where this was going. “Shall we keep walking? It’s too cold to stand still for long.”
We followed the curve of the loch, the lapping of the water on the shore offering a quiet instrumental to our conversation.
“My parents got divorced when I was four. Dad used his money and power to prove that Mum was unfit and won full custody of me. He didn’t really want me. Winning was just his thing. She wasn’t allowed to see me. I didn’t have any contact with her until I was twenty-one. My dad threatened her with all sorts to keep her away from me. He has no idea that she’s back in my life.”
“And what would he do if he knew?”
“Who knows? He’s a powerful man. She has her own business. I have two little brothers. He could ruin her, I guess. And knowing the sperm donor, he’d do it just because he could.”
“Shit. That’s messed up.”
“This is the man who won custody of me and then sent me to boarding school when I was five. He used to tell me it wouldmake me a man and teach me what I needed to win in the world. What it actually taught me was insomnia, how to fight, where to score the best drugs, and that I have a noisy head that struggles to switch off. That’s what I meant about how loud it is being me.”
I stopped, turning to look at him. “And I was a complete bitch.”
“Pretty much,” he murmured with a small curl of a smile.
I started walking again, thinking he was beside me, but then I heard my name. Turning, there was a whoosh of air before a powdery snowball hit me in the face, disintegrating on impact.
“Hey,” I squealed. “Not fair!”
“Why not?” he questioned, bending to pound more snow into another ball
“You’re supposed to give me notice if you’re going to throw snowballs.”
“What the fuck? That is the opposite of what you’re meant to do. Let me guess. That’s your family’s stupid rule?”
I chewed my bottom lip. “Maybe.”
“Well,” he paused. “That's not the point of a snowball fight.” Raising his arm, he threw it, hitting me straight in the face.
“You asked for this,” I cried, bending down to make my own snowy weapons, hurling them at him until we were both laughing, red faced and covered in snow.
It was only the sound of my phone alarm screeching into the chilly wilderness that stopped our fun.
“Aw, fuck. It can’t be that time already. We have to go back for Christmas dinner,” I let out with a sigh.
“Fine,” he said, brushing the snow from his hair. “But if you put a pencil skirt on or a face full of make up, I’m building an igloo and living out here until we’re due to leave.”
I laughed. “How about we piss them off and do the matching leisure wear Neo sent in our trunks of goodies?”
“Now that sounds like a plan I can get down with. Come on.”
Charlie held out his arm and I linked mine with his, feeling like something had shifted between us and I was getting a new friend.
Chapter 8
