Chapter Six — Alex
Fuck. My body starts screaming at me the second we step in the water. It takes a few seconds and then the pain sets in. It’s like knives going into my skin. I start panicking. I can’t breathe.
“Breathe,” the lady who’s walking around tells me.
I shoot her a death glare. I look over at Callum and he’s smiling serenely, just relaxing in the ice plunge like it’s a warm bath.
I swear, you could put a rubber duck in front of him and it wouldn’t look out of place.
That’s how content he looks. It makes me want to strangle him.
“Having fun?” he asks, smirking. Somehow, I want to strangle him even more.
“You know, you can get out any time,” he says.
“No way,” I say.
I close my eyes, trying to count to ten. After about five, I lose track.
“How long has it been?” I say when the lady walks near us again.
“Twenty-eight seconds,” she replies.
“Twenty-eight seconds? What the fuck?” I ask.
“How long is this gonna last?” I ask out loud. The lady answers, “As long as you want.”
I look at Callum. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says. I look at him to see if he’s bluffing, but I don’t think he is.
Meanwhile, my entire body is screaming in pain. I don’t think I have a chance of winning this, but I can’t get out yet. That would just be embarrassing.
So I sit.
“One minute,” the woman says, walking past. I try to smile, but it’s hard. My teeth are chattering, my entire body is chattering. At least I’ve gone numb. I close my eyes and try to imagine a better time.
I start thinking about a campfire, and then a hot tub, and then blankets. And then the water moves slightly, and I’m reminded of the pain. Then that’s all I can think about.
Pain.
I open my eyes. “How long?”
“A minute and forty-one seconds,” she says.
I look at Callum. “I could stay here all day,” he says. I believe him.
Two minutes, I tell myself. I can do two minutes.
“How long?” I ask when the lady walks by again.
“Two minutes and ten seconds.”
Okay, I tell myself. Let’s do two and a half minutes. I look at Callum and we lock eyes. My teeth are chattering. I bet my lips are blue. And he looks like the happiest person alive, like he’s the fucking Dalai Lama or something.
“Are you high or something?” I whisper.
“Just high on life,” he says. Yet again, I want to murder him.
“Two forty-three,” the woman says. “You’re doing awesome.”
I feel myself getting slightly lightheaded. I’m reaching my limit. I know I am. Three minutes, I decide. That’s my cutoff.
The woman walks by again. “Time?” I ask her.
“Two fifty-seven,” she replies.
I count down in my head: three, two, one. I look at Callum one last time.
“Not a chance,” he says, answering the question I didn’t even have to ask.
I nod and get up. I immediately start to sway. He’s up in a flash, helping me, steadying me. I get out, and my legs are weak. He grabs a blanket, wraps me up in it, and promptly escorts me to the sauna.
He places one of his hands on my thigh possessively. Thankfully, he dried it on the towel before, so it’s not super cold. After he’s warmed up, he envelops my body in his. I sink into him as I warm up.
“I’m proud of you,” he whispers in my ear.
“But I lost,” I say.
“Yeah, but what you did was fucking impressive,” he says. “I think the longest any other girl lasted was two minutes.”
“Really?” I ask.
He nods. “You’re a tough cookie. One of the many things I like about you.”
My heart warms a bit.
After a few more seconds, though, he adds, “Doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about that little stunt you pulled, though.”
I snuggle up into him, and he laughs. “Alright then, we’ll talk about that later,” he says.
I look up and notice that the two blonde Swedish men have returned. They look over at me, and Callum shoots them a death glare. They scamper away. I laugh.
“Not on my watch,” he says.