“What is this place?”
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
Crouching down in the small space, I held up my hands, palms facing towards her. “I’m not gonna touch you, Nova.”
There was a flash of something in her eyes, somethinghot and savage. “Too bad you couldn’t do the same the last time we were alone in the same place.”
Fuck. The woods. The chase. The night I’d completely lost control and done the most completely fucking inadvisable thing. A secret that I’d never shared with anyone.
We’d never been properly alone together since then.
I gritted my teeth. “I said, I’m not gonna touch you. Will you answer my question?”
She stared at me silently, her mouth set in a flat line, but eventually, she exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “It’s a barrow.” At my raised brows, she added, “Neolithic burial chamber. I think.”
Tearing my gaze away from her, I studied the small, candlelit space. “Interesting place to spend your time. The haunted Victorian prison wasn’t macabre enough? Had to go for something even creepier?”
A tiny, reluctant smile curved over her lips, and I wanted to kiss it. “The prison isn’t haunted. And this is…cosy. It’s not the burial chamber, anyway. Just the entrance. The interior is sealed.”
“Still creepy.”
She shrugged. “It’s alsoprivate.”
Her emphasis on the word “private” didn’t go unnoticed. My gaze swept the space again, taking in new details. As well as a stock of battery-powered candles, there were blankets and cushions, and a small metal box with a sketchpad and charcoal on top of it. And a book. A book of?—
“Is that Byron?”
Her eyes widened. “You—you know Byron?”
“Do I know one of the most famous British poets in history? The one we all had to do a term-long project on inyear ten?” At the reminder of the school project, she rolled her eyes, and for some reason, my mouth kept talking. “My gran—my dad’s mum—loved him.” My mind flashed back to my childhood, of the nights when my parents had worked late, and my gran had come over to take care of me and my sister, reading to us to pass the time. “She walks in beauty, like the night.” One of the lines from her favourite poem came to me, and I spoke it aloud before my brain even registered how fucking weird it was to be quoting poetry at the girl I’d been antagonising for years. Someone whose private space I’d just invaded.
“Oh. Um. Wow.” Nova gaped at me, and I had no fucking response, because I didn’t even know how or why I’d ended up here. “This has to be a dream,” she mumbled to herself.
I found my voice. “It’s not. I’ll go.”
“You can stay.”
We stared at each other, both shocked by her words. “You want me to stay?”
Her mouth twisted. “I don’twantyou to. If anyone catches you here—either of us here?—”
“No one followed me.” Before she could take back her reluctant offer, I sprawled out on the blanket next to her, propping myself up with a pile of cushions.
“Make yourself at home.” She rolled her eyes. Fucking hell, I couldn’t believe I was here, and she wasn’t kicking me out.
10
NOVA
My small, cosy space suddenly seemed suffocating with Jay’s presence taking up all the room, stiflingly warm. He was stretched out like he belonged here—which he absolutely didn’t—his raven hair falling over his forehead as he tilted his head to study the ancient, weathered stone that braced the entrance to the barrow.
My heart beat faster. My palms were clammy, and I didn’t want to admit to myself why that was. This was our first time properly alone together since the night he’d kissed me, and the first time he’d been anything less than hostile to me.
But this was Jay, the man who hated me. So he probably had an ulterior motive, and that meant I couldn’t let my guard down.
I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. “Jay.”
He turned his gaze on me, his eyes dark and intent in the candlelight. My breath caught in my throat as he tilted his head to study me. “Yeah?”
