She stood there, naked. The quilts and blankets from earlier, now lay in a pool around her feet. I didn’t think she’d showered.
My body stiffened. “Faith?”
The windows were open. Snow fell on her and dropped to the carpet. Had she opened the windows herself? Why would she have done that?
If this was all her being crazy, maybe she opened the windows, climbed down, moved the snowman, and came up, waiting for me to see.
“Faith?”
She just stood there with her arms open wide. “He came.”
“He did?” I closed the distance between me and her so fast, I didn’t even remember getting there. “He was in here?”
I pulled her away from the fallen snow and shut the windows, sliding the curtains over them.
She stared off at the curtains. “I told him not to come back.”
Fuck. I can’t believe I’m going to ask, but I can’t help it.
“And what did he say?”
“He laughed.”
Edge laced my voice. “Laughed?”
“Yes, and it didn’t sound like a nice one.”
“What do you mean?” It was hard to talk with her as she stood in the nude. All day she’d sat around me naked and cuddled up in those blankets. Every damn hour I pictured myself pulling them away and touching every inch of her skin.
Now, I had to focus.
I lowered, grabbed a blanket, and wrapped it around her body. “We have to get you out of here.”
“He said that if I leave, he’ll come into my dreams and fuck the shit out of me.” Tears fell from her eyes.
I dropped the blanket and formed my hands into fists. “Say what?”
Not trying to shield her nudity, she brought shaking fingers to her face and wiped those tears. “Were you able to get in contact with my mom?”
“No, she wouldn’t answer her phone. I was going to drop you off at my place and then run over there to her house.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed my shirt with both hands. Her body trembled against mine. “No, don’t leave me. We’ll go over there together.”
“Okay.” I wrapped my arms around her.
She was cold and shivering against me. Rage coursed through my veins.
I wanted to end her pain and kill this Remy. As soon as I could, I would get in touch with Addie Mae and help that woman whip this ice sculpture’s ass. I just hoped the story didn’t go deeper than what we knew. It was too much of a coincidence that he died around the time I lost Faith. Or maybe it was the fact that being around her, made me think about the past too much and finding meaning to things that probably weren’t significant.
“I’m so scared,” she whispered.
“Don’t be. I’m going to stay with you the whole time. We’ll get you warm again, and then dressed and—”
She lifted her head and kissed me.
Shock barreled into me as if someone had jabbed my midsection. I’d expected her to cry more and maybe even pass out. I didn’t bet on the kiss or how much she could unbalance me.
Everything fell away when those soft lips touched mine.