I try again. “Why are you up here, Iceman?”
He was lurking in the shadows—his favorite place to be it would seem. Right outside my room.
He kicks his foot off where it settled on the wall, crossing it at the ankle instead. Wordlessly staring at my face like he was looking for something.
I’m not sure if he ever finds what he’s looking for or if he gives up, extending his hand, he speaks. “Thought you might want this.”
My nose scrunches at its bridge. “A hoodie?”
“Myhoodie,” he growls, correcting me. “I saw you go outside and thought you could use it.”
Was this Cole’s twisted way of telling me he’s worried? For me? Concerned enough for my well-being that he was going to give me his jacket so that I didn’t get cold.
“First your shirt from gym and now this?” I tease, arching a brow. “Gaining quite a collection.”
“What if I like you in my clothes.”
My stomach flips. Butterflies taking off like a kaleidoscope underneath my rib cage. Cole’s words are like the nectar I need to survive.
A deeper spot forming in my chest for him, the more he did things like this. Things so un-Cole-like.
“Did you follow me up here?”
“More like chase.” His eyes darken but it’s cheerless in nature. “I’m surprised you saw anything with how hard you were trying to escape.”
He takes a step toward me, and I stay stuck where I am. My feet like dried cement along the floor. His shoulders are tense, wound tight. Steeled over in determination.
Whatever answers he was after he was going to be stubborn in finding them.
“What did Corn Pop say to you, to get you to run off like Rory.”
A sullen grumble of noise leaving his throat when I don’t respond right away. I couldn’t, not able to admit, stomaching the words out loud to myself.
I swallow, stalling. Deciding to cover the emotions that threaten to fall again with snark. “Spying on me?”
He doesn’t buy it. The corners of his eyes narrowing. It was irritating how well he could read me. A big fat pain in the ass when I didn’t feel like sharing. It was my business to dish out when I was ready. If I ever got there.
If not, then my—what happened to me—would be my choice to never talk about it out loud. This topic nonnegotiable.For anyone.
“I like to consider it being observant.”
I snort. “More like nosy.”
“Persistent.”
“Stalker.”
“Hunter.”
His pupils dance, lighting up while my teeth clench. A gleam shining as he fought back in his element. We could go back and forth all night like this going nowhere.
Something telling me he wouldn’t hate the idea of that.
While he was in his element, I was only trying to keep my head above water. Treading in an open sea.
“Such a smart mouth, princess.”
“Smart enough to know you don’t take gifts from the devil,” I say as he shoves the dark hoodie into my hand anyway.