“Are you snooping on me, Winter?” she said, mouth dropping when she looked at the documents on the floor. Then she looked back up to her, smiling now. “You’re so predictable.”
What was she doing here…? How did she knew where Winter was?
Layla then stepped into the room, letting the door slam shut behind her, and she leaned on the wall, smiling sadistically. “I knew you’d snoop on me,” she said honestly, “I was worried Cameron would come with you, but he’s not.” She looked around the room, chuckling. “How did you manage to escape him, huh?”
Winter just stared, preventing herself from thinking any thoughts of Cameron, just replacing them with a fake sentence, I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared…
Just in case Layla could read minds.
“So…” she said then, eyeing Winter up and down thoughtfully, “what got you curious?”
“You’re not human,” Winter said, speaking slowly.
“Nope.”
“You’re immortal.”
“Yep.”
She stared for a moment, stepping backwards. “What are you?”
Layla snorted. “Is that supposed to be a question?”
Winter was silent.
The brown-haired girl chuckled then. “I’m a fallen angel, Winter. Haven’t you guessed?”
No, because she didn’t even know that Layla wasn’t human in the first place!
“I’m also Cameron’s ex,” she said, yawning as if this encounter made her bored, but looked into Winter’s wide eyes. “Ex-girlfriend.”
Cameron had an ex…? And she was a psycho?
Well, what did Winter expect? He couldn’t have been a loner all those years, right?
“But then he broke up with me,” she said, eyes dulling in anger. “Said I was, ‘too much.’ That I needed to ‘get a life.’ But I loved him, you know. More than you could ever understand.”
Winter did understand, though… she loved him dearly…
“That’s when he met you,” Layla said, jaw locking. “He saw something in you that I didn’t have… And I don’t know what the hell he wants from you. You’re pathetic, crazy, and stupid.”
Anger burned inside her, but she managed to keep her mouth shut.
“He loved you more than he loved me,” Layla growled, eyes burning with rage. “And I want to see him hurt as much as I did. For the pain he endured on me when he broke my heart.” She paused then, looking to Winter then. “And what better way to do that… then to kill his beloved?”
Her heart stopped when Layla stepped to her.
Cameron! she called to his mind, stepping backwards when Layla made her way to her. Cameron, help!
“There’s no point,” Layla growled, stopping a couple of feet away. “He can’t get to you even if he was here. I blocked all the stairways.”
How the hell did she block the open stairways?
Was she bluffing?
“What should I do?” she said then, tilting her head to the side as if studying Winter from another angle. “Burn you? Cut you? Slit your throat?”
She stared, lungs clamping as Layla continued.
“Throw you off the roof? Run you over with a car? Oh… I know…” she smiled again, “let’s play hide and seek, huh? If I find you, then you’re dead, alright? So you better run.”
Winter stayed still, sliding her hand down to the holster to her side while Layla’s smile widened.
“Don’t bother,” she said then, raising Winter’s dagger in her hand. “This game wouldn’t be fun if you had a way to kill me, would it?”
How did she…?
“I’m counting down in my head, you know,” she said, “you have twenty seconds to run, Winter. You better start or it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.”
She backed away from Layla then, eyes burning with tears but she blinked them away.
“Ten seconds,” she said.
Winter launched out of the room then, throwing open the door and sprinting out into the dark hallways… hearing Layla’s laughter echo through the school.
She didn’t even bother touching the walls, she went straight to the staircase.
But she slid along the floors, stopping inches from the top stair…
Her breaths became shallow, heart throbbing against her chest.
There was a layer of fire blocking her exit… clearly Layla had poured gasoline along the top stair and set it aflame.
Winter looked up, hoping to find something she could cling onto and climb up on so she could go around the fire.
But the flames nearly reached the ceiling, blocking her escape…
And this was the only staircase nearby…
She either had to jump off the balcony or try to find another way…
She decided to call for Cameron instead, screaming his name so loud it echoed through the entire school…
“He can’t hear you,” Layla mocked from behind her, making her spin around, heart pounding. “The fire’s too loud, and he’s downstairs, isn’t he?”
Hold on… she set the entire school on fire?
How else would it be loud enough to drown out her cries?
“So…” Layla said, hopping closer like a child playing hopscotch, “do you want me to torture you before you die?”
Winter backed away, shaking her head as tears welled up in her eyes.
Layla shrugged then. “Alright.”
Wait… she just accepted it…?
But she suddenly vanished from the room, making Winter’s eyes shoot around before she felt a presence behind her.
Before she could turn, an object smashed into the side of her head, black slamming into her vision, and she fell…
But before she hit the ground, she heard someone screaming her name…
Cameron… she thought, help me… please…
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*****
“Get the HELL AWAY FROM HER!” Cameron screamed, seeing Layla look up at him, shocked.
She held a fire-extinguisher in her hand, dented and stained a hideous red… and Winter lay beneath her, unconscious…
He swallowed down burning rage when he saw blood pooling under her… a river or red making its way toward him.
He looked up to Layla again, who also looked partly stunned. “How did you…?”
“You’re dead,” he growled. “You’re going to feel the pain you’ve caused her, and I’m going to enjoy giving it to you.”
“But, Cameron…” she said, dropping the extinguisher, “I just did all this because I love you….”
“No,” he said, fangs extending from his lips, “you did it because you’re jealous. And I’m going to show you how it feels to die… do you want to see, Layla?”
She stared.
“I can tear your throat out,” he suggested, smiling with his teeth piercing his bottom lip, the stream of blood only making him look more menacing, “I can slam your head in with an iron rod, or… if you’d prefer… I could set you on fire.”
Her eyes widened.
“How would you like to die, Layla?” he said, tilting his head to the side. “You know… I was going to leave you alone, but the moment you set your hands on her,” he nodded to Winter, “you sealed your fate. Now you better run, Layla. Let’s play hide and seek, huh? Like you did with her?”
She sprung away then, darting down the halls, screaming, and after Cameron looked to Winter, he went after her.
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*****
Winter’s head pounded against her skull when her eyes opened.
Her sight was slightly blurry, but she could still see…
For the most part…
She sat up on the cold floor that lay beneath her, pressing her hand to her throbbing head.
After rubbing her temples to ease a little of the pain, she looked around where she was…
She was on the floor in her school still… the fire roaring in front of her but it hadn’t spread to the walls or carpet yet…
She blinked a couple times, her sight adjusting.
Layla wasn’t anywhere near her… nor was Cameron…
Maybe he did find her after all… maybe it was his voice she heard calling her name before she passed out…
She closed her eyes and listened for screaming or yelling, but ended up finding none…
Maybe Cameron chased Layla away.
Winter looked to the fire at the staircase, seeing only half of it on fire now…
But when she looked to the balcony, she noticed there was a fire extinguisher next to it…
Maybe Cameron found it and doused the fire to get to her…
Then what knocked her out…?
She looked to her right, seeing another fire extinguisher on the ground beside her, though this one was dented and covered in blood.
Winter lightly felt the side of her head, wincing when the wound burned with her touch.
Layla must’ve knocked her out…
Winter probably had a concussion… a bad one…
But she shook her head, looking out the windows in the hallway…
The sky was pitch black outside… the stars glowing in the darkness…
What time was it…? It looked like midnight…
A sudden thought rattled her…
Oh, God… her mom…
Winter shot up then, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head and darted down the staircase, heart racing.
Cameron left her alone… she had to at least try to escape him…
She’d find her mom… she had an entire day to search…
As she left the building, she heard her name echo through the school…
Cameron was looking for her…
I’m sorry, she thought. I can’t let you stop me.
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*****
After thirty minutes of running, Winter made it to her house, knowing it was the best place to look for clues…
She went inside after checking the perimeter for threats…
Mainly because of that time she came back here and that rogue attacked her…
Well… now she would be ready…
She ripped away some crime scene tape the police left and opened the front door then, stepping inside and closing it, wincing as the screech from the door burned her ears.
She didn’t remember it being this loud, though it could’ve been the concussion…
She stepped into her house, looking left and right in the living room, then made a b-line straight for the kitchen.
She caught a chef knife—the largest one—and pulled it out of the knife block, sliding it into her empty holster.
After, she opened her fridge that was somehow still running, and tugged out an ice pack, wincing when she pressed it to her head, but also went to the med cabinet, shuffling through the bottles until she found some pain-meds and downed two with a glass of tap water.
And then she got to searching.
She opened all kitchen appliances, looking for anything that hinted her mother’s whereabouts, but ended up finding nothing except for the note she left Winter a couple weeks ago…
The one that said she’d be home at five…
It made sense… her mom did occasionally have surprise meetings downtown, though it seemed as if Dante or his minions were waiting for her to get home…
Though, Winter questioned why they didn’t kidnap her instead… it was her they wanted, right…?
Then it hit her.
Maybe that was their original plan… but Cameron purposely ruined it by making her curious so she’d meet him…
It would make sense… he always was two steps ahead… thinking things over a thousand times in a second…
She shook her head, knowing she had to get Cameron out of her mind…
He’d find her eventually… and she had to prevent herself from going back to him… Right now… she had to find her mom…
She went to Sam’s bedroom then, searching under her mom’s bed, finding nothing, then went to her closet.
Still nothing.
So then she shuffled through her mother’s dresser, trying to find papers, receipts, anything that hinted her whereabouts…
But her hands caught on something crinkly in her sock drawer… and she pulled it out, staring down at the papers she found…
It wasn’t what she was looking for, but it was something that hit her hard in the chest…
It was a picture of her, Amelia, and her step-father… they were standing in the nearby park, eating ice cream her mom bought them…
Winter had some ice cream on her nose, her step-father was trying to clean it off, and Amelia was laughing her ass off in the corner…
Her mom wasn’t in the picture, though… and she knew by this that she was taking the picture…
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she pulled out something else under the photo, eyes widening when she saw an envelope.
It had her mother’s handwriting on it, saying,
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSA2riek2q7
Happy birthday, Pumpkin. I hope these tickets will help you through tomorrow…
-Mom
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Winter opened the envelope, sliding out two tickets out of the paper.
Movie tickets…
Ones at her local theater… to her favorite movie she loved watching when she was little, Scarlett.
Her mom bought these tickets a while ago… she kept them stored in here until her birthday…
Winter looked at the movie time…
Thursday, November 3rd, 11:00 pm.
She looked to the wall clock across the room.
10:11 pm.
She could still make it if she ran… and she was done searching anyway…
So Winter stepped out of her house, looking at the broken windows for a moment before exhaling a silent, shaky breath.
Thank you, mom… she thought.
And she darted down the street, turning right and made her way to the city.
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*****
“One ticket to ‘Scarlett?’” the worker said, ripping off the barcode and handing Winter back the rest. “Theater five. Turn left, down the hall, on your right.”
“Thanks,” Winter said, walking past her.
She was glad her hair absorbed the blood from her head so no one could see it, otherwise she would’ve been sent to the ER. And she didn’t have time for that.
She also didn’t have enough time to watch the whole movie, but she desperately needed a distraction from this horrid world… She needed to enter the light of her childhood for a couple minutes…
After entering the theater, she went all the way to the back, settling in a seat as the movie started.
She couldn’t buy snacks, drinks, or anything…
She had no money.
And the volume of the movie would probably make her concussion worse. Let alone the blue light… but she didn’t really care…
Not even when her head was throbbing.
The movie started playing, the scene with the children in school flashing before her eyes…
Winter smiled, watching the girl named Scarlett look around worriedly as her younger brother left the school with their mother.
He got in trouble again.
Winter watched with a smile as their mother scolded him for using his super-speed in public.
But then the scent of hot dogs filled her nose, and she questioned how bad her concussion was.
People passed out hot dogs at games… Like football or baseball… Not in theaters…
Was she hallucinating smells?
Was that even a thing?
But all the sudden a familiar voice echoed through her ears:
“Hungry?” Cameron said.
She froze.
“I warned you,” he stated, not sounding particularly happy. “I said I’d find you, didn’t I?”
How did he find her…?
“You are going to stand up,” he said, “and walk out of this room.”
“No,” she said, testing him.
“Oh?” he said, anger catching in his tone. “We’re playing that game?”
“You can’t control me anymore,” she stated.
“I can, and I will.”
She was silent.
“Get up,” he said into her ear, “and walk out of this theater, right now, Winter.”
“Or what?” she retorted.
“Or I’ll pick you up and throw you over my shoulder,” he said. “I don’t care how loud you scream, I won’t let you go.”
“I’m sure,” she stated sarcastically. “It’s not like people will stop you from kidnapping me. Again.”
“They won’t,” he said. “Because you don’t want them to end up dead, do you?”
She froze again, heart pounding. “You’re scaring me….”
“Then follow my instructions,” he snapped. “Get up, and walk out.”
Oh, God… he was pissed…
She only wanted to save her mom… did he have to be this angry…?
She stood then, whole body trembling when she walked out numbly. No one was in the room… only her… and Cameron…
Why did they play a whole movie when only her mom bought the tickets…?
When she made it out of the room, Cameron scooped her up and darted out of the theater, through the streets, until two seconds later, they made it to their hotel room.
She stared down at his chest the entire time, avoiding eye contact even after he was sprinting.
The moment both of them entered the hotel room, he dropped her slammed the door shut, sending her a menacing glare.
“Why did you run?” he questioned angrily.
She was silent.
“Winter, answer.”
She didn’t respond.
“Are you playing the silent game now?” he said, eyes glowing in anger.
“Is that what this is?” she whispered, rage boiling inside. “You think all the things I do are games, right? Everything I do? Everything is just a game….”
He was quiet, watching her clench her fist.
She looked to him then, cheeks glowing in anger. “NOT EVERYTHING IS A GAME, CAMERON! NOT EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND YOU! I CAN MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS WITHOUT YOU BUTTING IN! I’M MY OWN, INDEPENDENT PERSON! I DON’T NEED YOU TO CODDLE ME LIKE I’M A DEFENSELESS CHILD!”
She stormed away from him before he could respond and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her, pressing her back to the wood as a single tear slipped down her cheek.
The cold pain was back… sinking into her lungs… suffocating her… but it was also replaced with a heat that burned her inside like acid…
And now that she was alone… she wanted to ball up on her bed and scream into her pillow, but she knew once she gave into the pain she would start crying…
And she wasn’t sure if she could stop…
The last thing she needed was Cameron to come barging in and scold her for sobbing after she just told him she wasn’t a child…
She just wanted to find her mom… her mom that was God knows where… and she’d be dead soon…
Why couldn’t he understand…?
The cold inside her climbed up to her neck… chilling her skin like they were hands made of ice…
She walked over to the bed then, crawling onto it and curled up, holding herself as the icy hands held onto her throat…
She was afraid they’d squeeze her… and she’d start choking…
She pulled the photo of her, Amelia, and her step-father out, feeling tears burn her eyes at the sight of the happiness emanating from all three of them…
She’d lose everything… She’d lose everything and end up lost herself…
Who would she be…? Where would she go…?
Cameron probably hated her now… After she just lashed out at him and basically told him that she didn’t need him…
I’M MY OWN INDEPENDENT PERSON!
She wasn’t, though… She needed her sister to keep her happy… she needed her step-father to lighten the mood… and she needed her mother to care for her…
Who was she without them…?
Who was she now…? She was always the one who was quiet at school… she could control her behavior when she was made fun of… She could remain quiet when Jett walked up to her and antagonized her…
But now… she was this ball of anger and despair… holding onto herself because she was afraid of losing what she had… and she had nothing…
Who was she…? Who was she now…?
She didn’t recognize herself… She didn’t recognize the cold, distant person she was now… and it hurt so much…
It felt like she was becoming cold-hearted… falling deep into darkness without a way to escape…
And Cameron was her way to escape before… he’d joke with her, play with her, mess with her… and when she acted angry at his jokes, she really was happy… though she didn’t want to admit it… even to herself…
And today… he made this whole day about her… He spent probably thousands of dollars on her today just to make her happy…
And this was how she repaid him…?
Running away? Screaming at him?
Why was she so cold now…? What was wrong with her…?
She curled up then, hugging herself as the icy hands closed around her throat, and she just waited to feel the pain of death… the demise that lay above her like a sword dangling off the ceiling by a thread…
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*****
It was twelve in the morning when Cameron entered Winter’s room, watching her back rise and fall slowly while she slept…
He was angry at first… but he heard her thought processes while he was sulking in his room…
Even though he was pissed for another thirty minutes, he knew he couldn’t stay mad at her forever…
It was impossible…
So he got up from his bed and made his way over here…
He closed the door behind him, about to step over to the bed when he heard her voice:
“What did you do?”
She was awake…? Why didn’t he know that…?
The silence spread along them for a moment.
“What?” he said then, momentarily stunned.
“Did you kill her…?” she whispered.
Cameron stopped for a moment, the words settling in his chest, squeezing his heart.
She was talking about Layla… what he did with her…
“Yes…” he responded softly.
She was silent then, but he could tell by her stance that she wasn’t pissed anymore despite her back facing him…
Her muscles were eased… back bent into the mattress, though she was curled up into a little ball…
She looked… emotionally exhausted…
And—he knew after half an hour of thinking—he wasn’t angry anymore either…
He was more content with his emotions now… He knew how much she loved her mother, he just got so pissed when she escaped because he was scared…
He wasn’t used to the feeling… so he just displayed it as anger…
He walked over to the bed then, sitting on the mattress while she remained in the same position, unmoving.
“What’s that?” he wondered, gesturing to the picture she held despite her not seeing him.
She knew what he was talking about, and she hugged the photo tighter. “Don’t take it…” she whispered. “It’s all I have left….”
He rolled his eyes at this sudden reaction. “I’m not going to take them, Winter.”
She was quiet after, but he noticed she curled up tighter.
She probably still thought he was angry…
“Can I…” he said, “lay with you?”
She was quiet for a moment, clearly questioning his mood but nodded softly.
He lay down beside her then, curling up with her.
He fit his knees in the crook of her own… positioned his body so it curved with hers, tucked her head under his chin and wrapped his arms around her.
She seemed to ease into him then, clearly feeling a little assurance.
“Can you show me?” he said then, gesturing to the picture.
She pulled the photo from her chest, pressing her thumbs into the bottom corners and tipped the photo back so he could see.
His heart wrenched at her happy face in the picture, wondering when he could see her beautiful smile again…
“I didn’t know Kit was my brother…” she murmured, voice quiet, “but for his sake… I wish that he was dead….”
Cameron snuggled up closer, seeing her pull the photo back to her chest. “I know, Snowflake….”
He did, though… She probably knew by now that the spell that was used to revive him corrupted his brain… That was the reason why he went insane… Dante corrupted him… for his own gain…
They were silent for a moment, Winter just staring off into space while Cameron felt her back rise and fall gently against his…
She was so tired… She was so sick of this…
“Winter…” he whispered.
“Yes?”
“Can I… kiss you…?”
She looked up to him then. “Okay…?”
“Yes or no?” he wondered.
She nodded softly. “Yeah.”
He rolled her over then, watching her dulled expression as she stared back up at him, watching him through dark eyes.
But he leaned down to her, pressing his lips to hers.
She didn’t resist, but she didn’t give in either, just laid there like a rag-doll…
It made his chest cave in.
He rolled on top her then, desperate for her to feel him… to feel his skin… to give in at least a little…
She moved her head away when he brushed his lips down her neck, giving him room to kiss her gently.
That’s the reaction he wanted…
He started brushing his lips along her shoulder, down her arm, and pressed one to her wrist, and looked up to her face to see her eyes…
They weren’t dark anymore…
No… they were burning…
They were burning with something he hadn’t seen in a while.
“More…?” he wondered.
A small nod.
He smiled then, a barely-there smirk, and moved up the opposite direction, moving the kisses up her arm, to her neck and making her gasp softly.
“More?”
Another nod.
So he brushed her hair to the side, looking deeply in her eyes before pressing his mouth to her neck and nibbling the skin softly.
She let out little moans, catching his shoulders at the burning sensation.
He let go then, staring softly into her eyes as he panted slightly, the same fire in her gaze forming in his.
“Did you think it through yet?”
She nodded, knowing what he meant.
“You’re sure you want this?”
Another nod.
“You better not yell at me in the morning,” he muttered. “I’ll ask you one more time, Winter. Are you okay with this?”
A fast nod.
He exhaled again. “Alright….”
And he slipped his hands under her shirt, looking up at her carefully.
She nodded again.
So he lifted her anime t-shirt off her head, leaving her in a cotton bra, leggings, and a skirt.
But despite the undergarment not being lingerie, he stared down at her like she was some kind of beautiful Goddess…
He stared at her for a full thirty seconds before his eyes moved to hers, and he leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to her neck before sitting back up.
And he pulled off his shirt, looking down to Winter who stared at him wide-eyed.
His pale skin glowed softly in the moonlight… like a silver lamp… and the shadows of the room only accentuated his muscles, making them look sharper and stronger…
And she looked up to him, seeing him smiling again.
But he moved to her leggings, gently pulling them off along with her skirt, and now she was only in her undergarments.
He did the same to himself after looking at her again, and she responded by dropping her mouth.
He closed it with a finger. “You okay?”
She nodded, unable to find words other than the thoughts that flew by:
Oh, God… it was happening… This was happening… The moment both of them have been waiting for… The one she’d been stalling for so long…
He slid her bra strap down, making her inhale sharply.
But when he looked to her, she nodded softly, indicating for him to go on.
And he took off both of their clothing slowly, looking at her to make sure she wasn’t afraid…
Until they were bare against the other… every inch of their skin uncovered, and Cameron could finally look at her… every mark, every freckle now exposed… and he ran his thumb along the scar on her navel…
But despite knowing where the mark came from… she didn’t feel repulsed by the act at all, just watching him curiously as he stared down at her…
“You’re so beautiful…” he whispered, eyes moving to her face along with his hand, and he cupped her cheek gently. “Every part of you is gorgeous….”
And she hitched a breath as if in pain, nodding again when he looked to her, eyes full of concern.
“It’s okay…” she managed to let out.
He intertwined his fingers with hers, holding her hands tightly when she held onto him back, afraid for this moment to pass…
She didn’t want it to… because she’d been waiting forever…
And they couldn’t get closer than this… it was impossible…
The only way was to rip out their hearts and hold them in their hands…
This moment… showed more than desire…
It showed trust, devotion, and passion…
And she never wanted it to end…
She could feel his emotions bleeding into her… Guilt… shame, but most of all… love…
He loved her…
He waited this long because he loved her…
Who she was… what she looked like…
No one ever looked at her the way he did…
She was a light in his eyes… in a world full of darkness…
And she felt herself going mad with his kisses… his light touches… and she clung onto him for dear life when she flinched…
But she urged him on, letting him continue when he lowered himself onto her while he flinched.
And his teeth sank into her neck before she could even process what was happening…
She cried out… though it wasn’t painful… She didn’t know what was happening… but she didn’t necessarily regret it either…
And she relaxed into the bed, looking up at him when he pressed his forehead to hers, panting heavily.
There was no blood on his lips… no sign of skin on them either…
And she knew from the tingles forming on the nape of her neck…
That he marked her.
And she wasn’t even slightly angry about it.
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*****
Winter currently slept in Cameron chest, huddled up with him while he stroked her cheek softly.
She fell asleep moments after he bit her, though she seemed relaxed more than fearful…
When he saw her sleeping so blissfully under him, he couldn’t help but realize something that’d been edging at his mind for ages…
When they first met… she wouldn’t have agreed to this… When he first kissed her, she wouldn’t have let him move down her neck…
But after she fell asleep under him—leaving herself vulnerable—he knew now that she trusted him…
An unbreakable trust…
He stared down at her for a while before lying beside her and cuddling up with her, draping the blankets over her chilled form until she was comfy…
This was a big change for her… a really big one… and she let it happen…
She trusted him enough to let it happen…
Cameron buried his face in her hair, hearing her murmur something at the feeling, though he knew she was still asleep.
She smelled like fruit and soap… so clean and fresh… He never wanted to move… it was calming in a way…
“I’m sorry for being such an ass…” he whispered even though she couldn’t hear him. “I didn’t realize how much you trusted me until now… I thought you just ran away because you wanted to be away from me, and it honestly hurt, but I understand now…
“You trust me… you love me… you don’t want me to leave you… You were afraid of me not allowing you to save your mom, and I thought it was because you didn’t trust me… but really you were planning on coming back, weren’t you…? You just wanted out for a couple hours… to get info… I know how much you love your mom… and I realize how selfish it was of me to keep you from saving her, I’m just scared, that’s all….”
He pulled closer to her. “I promise, Winter, that I’ll protect you, alright? But I have more promises that I haven’t already told you… I’ll listen… and I’ll care… I know I haven’t really been the best listener, but now I know how much you want to confide in me… and it really makes me happy… I feel stupid that I didn’t see it before… I know you didn’t understand your feelings at the beach, but you actually let me carry on… and you fell asleep under me, knowing that I’d keep you safe… You trust me now… and I’ve failed to see it… I’m sorry…” he kissed her forehead, “but I promise, the next clue we find tomorrow, we’ll look for her, okay? But I need you to know that I have to make sure you’re safe… so I’ll be right next to you as your bodyguard…
“Forever, my love.”
A sudden ring rattled his eardrums, making Winter gasp, startling awake.
He grabbed his phone off his nightstand, cursing at whoever interrupted her peaceful sleep.
It was an unknown caller, but he swiped the screen impatiently, pressing his phone to his ear while Winter looked at him quizzically.
“Hello?” he said, sounding a bit agitated.
There was static on the other line. “I swear, if this is a prank call….”
“Oh, hi, Cameron,” a voice echoed from the other line.
It was a guy, though he didn’t know who his voice belonged to, but it sounded familiar. “Who is this?”
“Just a little black-haired boy,” he said, chuckling. “Say, is Winter with you?”
Cameron stared off into space for a moment. “Who is this and how did you get this number?”
“Oh, a friend tipped you off,” he stated honestly, “gave me your cell. The friend being the cell-phone guy I held a gun to.”
Cameron froze.
“What’s wrong?” Winter questioned.
“Who is this?” Cam said slowly.
“You guys met me at a restaurant,” he said, chuckling. “And your girlfriend called me an airhead. It was kinda rude, honestly.”
Cameron was silent, staring off into space in horror. “It’s you.”
“Who?” Winter whispered.
“The one and only,” Jett said. “And, oh yeah, Dante says, ‘bring Winter to the alley on the right of the supermarket before two in the morning, or I’ll murder her mother and put her on your doorstep.’”
Is that all? Cameron thought sarcastically.
“What does he want?” he said, groping for answers.
But the line clicked, the dial tone burning his eardrums.
He lowered the phone, looking to Winter who seemed genuinely fearful. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “but I’m feeling like a fairy Godmother today, and I’m granting you a wish.”
“What wish?” she whispered.
“We’re saving your mother,” he said, smirking when her eyes lit, “but,” he added, “we’re doing it my way, alright?”
She nodded fast, a smile spreading across her face.
“Put on some black clothes,” he instructed. “And be out in two minutes, alright?”
She shot off the bed then, starting straight toward the clothes piled on the floor and picked up her black leggings, then looked to Cameron. “I don’t have a t-shirt….”
“You can wear one of mine,” he said, getting off the bed. “Cover yourself with the sheets while we walk out, alright?”
He threw a flat sheet to her and she caught it, knowing he wanted her to cover herself because there was a giant window in the living room.
After tugging on her pants and her bra, she wrapped the sheets over herself and followed Cameron after he tugged on his usual dark clothes, and they made it to his room, him shuffling through his closet until he pulled out a long-sleeved shirt that happened to be black…
Shockingly.
And he stepped over to Winter, kicking the door closed behind her. “Alright, drop it.”
She dropped the sheets, and he pulled the collar over her head, guiding her arms through the sleeves seconds later.
His shirt dwarfed her… the ends of the sleeves passed her fingers, and it looked sort of baggy, too.
“You look cute,” he said, smiling now. “But let’s make it so you can use your hands….”
She let him shuffle the sleeves up, folding it over and over until her hands were visible, and he left the shirt alone then.
“Alright,” he said, nodding to the door, “let’s get you one of my jackets, and we’ll head out.”
She followed him out of the room, feeling slightly dorky in his large shirt.
But he pulled his leather jacket off the rack, guiding her arms through it and zipped it up…
She inhaled its scent… loving how it smelled like him… earthy and minty… Like a waterfall falling into leaves…
“Still cute,” he said, brushing some hair away from her eyes. “All right, are you ready, Snowflake?”
She nodded, and he caught her hand, making her cheeks flush. “Let’s go save your mother.”
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