Chapter 3
Chapter three
Noelle
I hate being wrong. Especially when it means that I am so absolutely fucked.
By four P.M. the snow just dumped, forcing me to close down the café and send everyone home for their own safety.
I scurried to my apartment upstairs only to find the first snowflakes falling through that hole in the roof, the icy winds howling through a sliver of broken glass in one of the window panes.
I’m not one to give up, so I gathered as many coats and blankets as I could find and blasted the heating to insane levels. And that worked, for a bit.
Until the power cut off.
I’m a stubborn piece of work, though, so I grit my teeth and add more blankets. It’ll be a dark, cold day when I accept defeat, and a bit of snow won’t be enough to get me even close to that limit.
Shadows creep along the walls while the hours drag on, the temperature plummeting bad enough for my ceiling to glisten with beautiful flowers of ice. I watch them spread, the ice growing thicker by the minute, the feeling in my limbs fading.
I’m no expert, but I think the correct term for what situation I’m in is screwed.
Between the broken window and the hole in the roof, would there be enough airflow to safely start a fire?
I was never much of a girl scout, and starting fires isn’t something I’ve done before.
But with every passing minute the air gets colder and the risk of hypothermia increases, and my desperation for warmth turns into a need for survival over a creature comfort.
I try looking it up on the Internet—surely someone’s weighed in—but it refuses to load anything even with data.
Typical.
There’s only one option left, and I can’t deny the little voice in my head that says freezing to death would be less painful than making this call. But that would make him mad at me for sure.
It rings only once before he picks up. “Hey. Do you know a safe way to start a fire indoors?”
For a moment, all I hear is the wind howling through the gap in my window.
Cole sighs. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Well, you might not have noticed this sitting in that ivory tower of yours, but the power’s out across town,” I say.
It’s so easy to imagine his face right now, that little amused smirk of his that he wears whenever I make fun of his wealth.
“Also, there’s a blizzard, and I think it would be really neat if I don’t freeze to death in my sleep tonight. ”
“A blizzard you say? I’ll be on the lookout,” Cole says, and the dry tone makes me laugh. “Carbon monoxide poisoning isn’t a better way for you to go, probably even worse honestly, and that’s guaranteed if you start that fire. Is it really that cold?”
“No, I just love sitting under thirteen blankets for fun. Remember that leak in the roof I was supposed to have fixed? Yeah, I didn’t.
And it’s letting everything in. Snow and icicles everywhere.
” I let myself fall backward onto the couch, pulling my collection of blankets tighter around me.
It doesn’t help. “So it’s a definitive no on the fire? ”
“What happened to the emergency pack I gave you?” Cole presses, and though he can’t see me I fight the urge to cover my eyes.
For one glorious moment I had hope he wouldn’t ask—I sure as hell don’t want to tell him, though I know he won’t stop until I do.
With it being this cold, it might be better to get it over with and save that energy.
“The space heater was a victim of the great kitchen flood last summer, so I had to throw it out. It wouldn’t work with the power out, anyway. The blankets, even with others piled on top and sweaters, are not doing much, and I mistook the dry meat stuff for midnight snacks and ate them.”
Cole sighs again, longer this time, like he’s regretting ever becoming my friend. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s thought that. “Stay put. I’ll fix this.”
He can’t see me, but I shake my head just the same. “I just called for advice, you don’t have to—”
“I will fix this,” he says firmly, but his voice softens as he adds, “It’s dangerously cold out there, Honey. Let me do this for you.”
I fiddle with the frayed edges of my sweater—his sweater. A strange feeling bubbles up in the lower part of my stomach as my brain tries to justify his words, his softness. I can’t. “Okay.”
The line goes dead.
A loud pounding on the door cuts through the deadly silence.
My heart hammers in my throat. I wish Cole was here so he could face whoever is on the other side of that door, as I’m sure it’s nothing good. Who in their right mind would go outside in a storm like this?
Cole said he would fix this, that he’d save me from freezing, but it’s been an hour and I haven’t heard a peep. Maybe the cell towers went down, too. Or he finally realized it would be easier to give up on me.
Slowly, I make my way down the narrow steps in the pitch-black darkness, not a single sliver of light streaming in from the stained-glass window above the door.
Am I about to get robbed? Murdered? It would be my own damn fault for opening this door.
Can’t even blame the other person for taking advantage of my stupidity.
It’s probably just the wind blowing things against my door, though. Only the village idiot would go outside in this visibility, and most days, that idiot is me.
The door swings open to reveal Cole leaning against the frame, his broad shoulders pushing the limit of the fabric of his coat. “Get your stuff. You’re coming with me.”
I can just make out his red truck roaring in the background, the headlights the only light in the square. He can’t have been at my door for more than a minute or two, yet he’s already covered in a layer of snow.
He’s here. How is he here right now? What the actual fuck is wrong with this man that he would drive down a mountain in a snowstorm to get to me?
“You drove all this way in a fucking blizzard? What is wrong with you?” I yell, my words holding more of a bite than I intended them to. He’s such a fucking prince, willing to die for me. It’s a shame it only makes me love him more, even if it terrifies me.
“You needed my help. What did you expect me to do?” Cole says calmly. “Now hurry up before the roads get worse. I’ve got clothes for you to borrow back home, so just grab the essentials and let’s go before you get us both killed.”
I grab his arm and pull him into the tiny hallway, our bodies nearly pressed together in the small space. He shakes like a dog to get the snow off him, rifling a hand through his hair for good measure. To my credit, I stare for only a moment before scurrying back up the stairs.
Grabbing a bag, I throw in some underthings along with a toothbrush and other essentials I might need before hurrying back down, nearly slipping on the ice that formed on the boards. Cole takes my bag before helping me into my coat and pulling a hat down my ears, his fingers lingering on my cheeks.
With my coat on, it becomes real. I sway on my feet, fighting my heart rate to come down. The air is sucked out of the hallway, though only I seem to notice. I’m about to go home with Cole, so he can take care of me. I’m no better than my mother. I’m just like her.
My thoughts must show on my face, as Cole swipes his thumb across my cheek, wiping a tear I didn’t know fell from my lid. “You’re not her, you know. Accepting help to survive is not the same as depending on someone to take care of you because you refuse to take care of yourself.”
“But what if it is?” I say.
Cole smiles softly. “If it is, then you’re still not your mother. Because there is more love between you and me in this moment than she’s ever known in her life. If I want to take care of you, I fucking will. That doesn’t mean you depend on me. It means I love you.”
I love you. I know he doesn’t mean it romantically, but my heart skips a beat just the same. It would be easy, so easy to kiss him right now. His lips all dark and pink from the cold, those blue eyes blazing with confidence. His eyes flit to my mouth, and for a moment I think he might lean in.
“We should go. Visibility is getting worse,” he says, dashing my hopes of a kiss, and drops his hands to take mine. “Don’t let go of my hand until you’re in the truck, got it?”
Like I’d ever let go of it in the first place. “Yes, sir.”
Cole shoots me a look, though he doesn’t say a word. He picks my bag up off the floor and slings it over his shoulder, interlocking our fingers in a tight grip that doesn’t loosen until my palm hits the side of his car.
It’s not until he closes the door behind me and gets into the driver’s seat that it dawns on me what we’re about to do.
We can’t see more than a few inches ahead, yet are about to drive up into the mountains, with its winding roads and steep cliffs.
There is no way this could end well, Cole must know that.
And still he came to get me, because he had to at least try.
I stare ahead, fighting the urge to grab his hand for comfort. “I can’t believe you risked your life to come get me.”
He meets my gaze, all softness and smiles, no hint of the tension I felt from him when I opened my front door.
“I’d go to the ends of the earth for you,” Cole says quietly. “I hoped you knew that by now.”
What the fuck does that mean?
I hold his gaze, his eyes saying something I can’t understand, a language I never learned to speak. But I don’t need to know what he’s saying to know that he’s right; Cole Martin has proved himself to me time and time again, and I don’t give him nearly enough credit for it.
Fuck it. We could be flat out dead thirty minutes from now—what’s the harm?
I lean over and press a kiss to his cheek, his skin warm despite the cold. “Thank you.”
Maybe…maybe depending on him in this moment wouldn’t be so bad.
I didn’t ask him for anything, after all.
It was his own stupid choice to come and get me.
And it’s not like I’m at his place indefinitely.
There’s a clear deadline for this arrangement to end, when the storm dies down.
I guess, if I look at it like that, it’s not the same thing my mother does.
Maybe I can even convince him to let me leave some money for food when I leave.
A surprised smile crosses Cole’s lips, and for a moment I think he might crack a joke. The ignition roars to life, the lights reaching barely a few feet ahead.
“Anything for you, Honey.”