“That was Finn,” he says. Blue eyes glimmering.
“You played a part, Iceman.”
“I don’t see any proof.”
My eyes widen. “The proof was my car getting turned into a habitat for the fish.”
He stares a long moment like he was trying to figure me out before surprising me with a deep-throated laugh.
I swear I didn’t know what beauty had sounded like until this moment. That noise was a punch straight to my gut, like the most mesmerizing lyric to a song. A dazzling sonnet. I wanted to record and keep it forever. Never wanting it to end.
Cole was all sharp boundaries and rigid hostility but tonight he shows he had another side. A side few are fortunate enough to see. This place brought him ease. It made him so light, genuine…boyish. It was intoxicatingly contagious.
“I know you were the mastermind behind it.”
Cole and Finn were consistent equals growing up, but it was clear that Cole was the one always calling the shots. Cole is the planner, Finn the executor.
“I only suggested where your car might have been.”
“How’d you know I’d drive,” I shoot out.
He angles his head, giving me a look. My stomach doing a little flip. Cole knew me too well.
“I also may have reminded him of the mound of dirt next to the house. He’s the one who went all nuclear and jumped over the fire like a maddened daredevil.”
“Okay fine.” The edges of my mouth crinkling. “But what about the time you lit my book on fire and made me watch as it burned?” Regarding him curiously with a memory from our past.
“Again, Finn lit the match.”
“He may have lit the match but you’re the one who held it over the flame.”
Cole doesn’t say anything, quietly examining me with sober eyes. He knew I was right.
I stretch my shoulders, feeling at ease. “You’re lucky Eli wasn’t mad. It washisbook.”
I was so scared to tell him what happened and when I did all he did was shrug and hand me another like it was no big deal. He’d always been kind to me.
“How did you become friends with Eli?” Asking the question that’s been running through my head since I first arrived.
Cole tucks his chin down, a sad chuckle leaving his lips. “You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
His face contorted, almost in regret. The silence grew thicker as I watched, waiting for him to respond. His riled stare pinning me to the spot.
“You,” he says simply.
“I need a little bit more explanation, Iceman.”
Cole’s eyes slid shut briefly. Penetrating when they land back on me. “Why do you call me that?”
I’m taken aback by how serious he’s looking at me. I swallow, feeling a pulse beating in the back of my throat.
Wasn’t it obvious? His eyes were the most striking shade of blue I have ever seen in my life, like clear shards of ice. So cold and foreboding they’ve sent shivers down my spine even in the darkest of rooms.
And when they landed on me, like right now. I swallow roughly. Cole looking at me, like looking, looking at me, they… thaw.
“You first,” I choke out.