by Brenda Drake
Her eyes on him was unnerving. It caused a storm of reactions within him. Excitement, want, desire—and disappointment that he couldn’t react to any of them. He wanted to kiss her, to explore her body and soul. To be only hers and to have her only be his.
She smirked again. “That would be friends with benefits. You seriously need a slang dictionary.”
“What kind of benefits?”
Her head titled back as she laughed. He liked when she was happy like that. “I think we should change the subject,” she said, amusement in her voice.
“About us,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you wish. I do understand that you don’t want to hurt Grace. I can wait. I’ll settle for whatever benefits our friendship allows.”
Juice sprayed out of her mouth, and she broke out in a series of laughs, again. He worried about what he had said and why it was so funny to her. Mortals’ words and their meanings were so confusing at times.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I’m not laughing at you, really. Benefits mean sex. You know, making love.”
“Oh.” He wiped some white sauce from the corner of his mouth with his napkin. “Why do all of your words secretly mean sex? It’s confusing.”
“Yes, it can be.” She took a sip from her can. “You never know what will turn into a slang word.” Dark clouds rolled overhead and the temperature suddenly turned colder. Stevie shivered. “Great. That was short-lived. There’s another storm coming.”
“I’ll grab our jackets.” He placed his half-eaten sandwich on the empty bag.
Before he jogged off, she looked up at him with those large, dark eyes that held so much warmth and caring that he could get lost in their depths. The wind blew her hair away from her pale face and kissed her cheeks pink, and her simple beauty paused him.
“Thanks,” she said, breaking the trance she had on him.
The sky grew darker, until it felt like twilight. A cold sprinkling of rain hit the back of Blake’s neck, and he sped up his pace. A sheet of water rushed across him and disappeared just as quickly as it had fallen. He opened the door and grabbed Stevie’s and his hoodies. A crackling noise sounded behind him and he turned.
Ice overtook the waterway.
fjórtán
Blake’s shoulder muscles rose and fell as he trotted back to the Jeep. Stevie had never really checked him out from behind, but damn he looked good. A mist of freezing rain coated her arm, followed by a sheet of rain. She yelped, covered her head with her arms, and was about to run after Blake when it suddenly stopped and the sun broke through the clouds.
There was a loud crackling sound coming from the waterway, and she turned to see what it was. The water rapidly froze, seemingly starting in the middle and rushing in her direction. The grass at her feet stiffened, then frosted. Dazzling flakes of ice fell around her. The hairs on her arms stood up and she shivered.
In front of her a shimmering sheet of ice formed. The sun reflecting against it revealed varying symmetrical shapes like a million snowflakes had been sewed together to make a frozen blanket. There was a humming, a sound much like a lightsaber, and she stepped closer to the icy curtain.
Stevie had never seen anything like it before. She reached out to touch it, and the closer her hand got, the cold snapped at her fingertips. Within the shapes, a face formed—eyes and mouth closed as if in a frozen death.
She could barely make out the owner of the face behind the glistening ice. It wasn’t a man and not quite a monster. It had high cheekbones and thin lips, a bald head with veins like roots under white snow, and two sharp teeth that pushed out of its mouth.
She was unable to look away, it was a beautiful evil.
“Stevie, no!” Blake yelled, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. “Don’t touch it!”
Her hand was almost there, and cold bit across her arm and down her side.
The monster’s lids flipped open and she wanted to scream, but no words came out. The eyes were hauntingly white with a thin frosty-blue rim, and the blackest irises she’d ever seen.
A shock of pain stabbed across her body. Blake pushed her aside, and she tripped, falling back and hitting her head hard against the frozen ground. Lights flashed around her vision. Through the blur, she could make out Blake as he swung a fat, metal hammer against the sheet of ice, the shattered pieces raining over Stevie.
Lightning flashed overhead. A heavy downpour dumped from the sky. Blake lifted her into his arms and she rocked back and forth as he carried her up the incline of the park.
She closed her eyes, slipping into darkness.
Stevie awoke to a series of beeping sounds and a bright overhead light.
“You’re up,” Amira said from somewhere in the room.
“Where am I?” Stevie raised her head and flinched at the pain. “I have a horrible headache.”
Amira came to her side and pushed a button on the bed. It hummed as the mattress rose at Stevie’s head. “You hit your head and blacked out. They did a thorough examination and everything checks out. Just a slight concussion. Can’t get a hold of your parents.”
“My parents?”
“They’re the worst with technology, aren’t they?” She sat on the vinyl-covered chair beside Stevie. “I called the warehouse. Some guy said your dad went to Portland for a delivery. He’s probably on that stretch of road where there’s no service. And your mom hasn’t responded to my calls.”
“How long have I been here?” Stevie’s voice sounded croaky.
“An hour-ish.”
A nurse with a cap of cropped black hair pulled across the curtain and came to Stevie’s side. “How you feeling, sweetie?” the woman asked.
“Fine. Other than a headache.”
The nurse examined her eyes. “I’m going to check your vitals, and we’ll see about getting you out of here soon. We’ve been trying to get a hold of your mother.”
“Did you try the veterinarian hospital?” Stevie asked.
“I didn’t know the number,” Amira said.
“You didn’t look it up?”
Amira wringed her hands. “I forgot the name of it.”
The nurse picked up a clipboard on the counter near the bed and clicked her pen. “What’s the number and I’ll call her?”
After Stevie gave it to her, the nurse left the room to call her mom passing Blake and Grace as they came through the curtain.
“He’s all stitched up.”
Stevie sat up at the sight of Blake. “Oh hell, your face. How did that happen?”
Blake had a cracked lip, black eye, and cut on his head. “Slipped on the ice and I rolled down the waterway embankment.”
That can’t be right. He’s lying. Stevie concentrated on Blake’s face. He had carried her across the grass to the Jeep.
“It was concrete,” Grace added, rubbing his back. “My poor baby. May reached your mom. She’s giving them your insurance and emailing a release.” She handed Stevie her phone. “You might want to call her and tell you’re okay.”
Stevie felt a tinge of jealousy burn inside her chest watching Grace tend to Blake.
Since it was late by the time the hospital discharged Stevie, the group decided to stay one more night and leave for home in the morning. A few hours after they returned to their hotel, a delivery guy dropped off two large pizzas.
“Did you kids hear about the ice storm,” the guy said in the doorway, making change for Kyle. “It’s all over the news. A freak meteorological phenomenon, that’s what the weathermen are saying. The cosplayers say it was Frost Giants. Always fantasizing, huh?”
Frost Giants? Stevie remembered the sheet of ice at the park. It had formed quickly in front of her. There were beautiful shapes inside it. One looked like a face. That face. That horrible, scary face.
Kyle handed the guy a tip.
“Thanks, man,” the pizza guy said and treaded down the hall as the door shut, his heavy boots clomping across the carpet.
Amira aimed the remote at the flat screen
and flipped through the channels, stopping on the news. They munched on slices while watching the newswoman talk about the recent crime in the city. Then an image of the Thea Foss Waterway flashed onto the screen. The water had frozen all the way to Commencement Bay.
“That is some crazy shit,” Grace said. “I’m no expert, but that water never freezes, right?”
Just as Grace said that, so did the newswoman. The woman went on to say it had melted within minutes after it had frozen. The only records of the phenomenon were those captured on cell phone cameras.
When the guys had gone to their room, Stevie went to the vending machine at the end of the hallway. She kept the door open by blocking it with the bar to the lock. The noises in the hotel made her flinch and she quickly fed the money slot two dollars and pressed the button. Her flavored water dropped and she retrieved it.
A bang came from the stairwell and she sprinted back to her door. Amira’s and Grace’s voices stopped her from entering the room.
“What is the matter with you?” Amira snapped.
“Just leave me alone,” Grace said. “I didn’t mean it.”
A hand slapped against what sounded like a mattress. “You can’t get away with that excuse anymore.”
A sniffle echoed against the tiled walls. “I can’t help it. I know I’m doing mean things, but I can’t stop. I’m a horrible person.”
“Oh, now don’t do that.” Amira’s voice softened. “You have control. Just don’t do it. Besides, you raised money for Stevie’s first surgery. I know you have a heart.”
“It wasn’t me.” She sniffled again. “It was entirely my mom’s doing. Dr. Hompluem helped, too. I did everything I could to get out of the fundraising.”
“You let me tell Stevie a lie.” The frustration sounded in Amira’s voice. “I told her you raised the money, because you said it was your idea to hold the fundraiser. How can you be so cruel?”
She didn’t want to help me. Anger heated her face. Grace wasn’t really her friend. She only thought about herself. All this time Stevie could have been with Blake. Building something she knew would be special.
Stevie had had enough. No more catering to Grace and her wants. It was time for Stevie to take what she wanted. When she went inside, Grace had buried herself under her covers. Stevie climbed into the bed she shared with Amira then closed her eyes, but couldn’t sleep. Grace’s lies mixed in with the images of that face in the ice wouldn’t get out of her head.
“Your feet are cold,” Amira groaned.
Stevie cuddled up next to her. “I can’t seem to get warm.”
Amira pushed her away. “You’re like a breathing, talking Popsicle.”
“Come on, I’m injured,” Stevie whined.
“Go put on some socks.” She rolled over to her other side.
The outside lights of the hotel peeked through the crack of the heavy curtains. Stevie dashed to her suitcase, grabbed her favorite Harley Quinn socks, and slipped them on. A shadow moved across the space between the curtains, and Stevie gasped.
Amira’s head popped up. “What’s wrong?”
Stevie straightened and took a few unsteady steps to the window. She pushed the drapes aside and a moth flew out at her.
She screeched and Amira followed with a scream.
Grace tossed the covers off her head. “What the hell are you two screaming about?”
“Um…” Stevie felt silly. “A moth.”
“Oh for Pete’s sakes.” Grace fell back on her pillows and covered her head again. “Go to bed,” she said, her response muffled against the comforter.
A knock game from the door, and Stevie hurried over and opened it.
“What happened?” The concern on Blake’s face with all its bruises and cuts was endearing.
She slipped out and eased the door shut behind her, leaving it open a crack so she wouldn’t be locked out. “It was just a moth,” she whispered.
“I see,” he said. “I’ll let you get back to sleep, then.”
“Oh, I can’t sleep.”
“Want to take a walk with me?”
“In the hotel?” She wasn’t in the mood to go outside. The events of the day still haunted her.
Blake looked like a boxer with all the bruises and cuts on his face. He smiled and winced, probably because of the crack in his fat lip. Even still, he looked pretty fine in his tight T-shirt and loose shorts. His sandy-blond hair was messy as if he’d been rolling around in his bed. “Yes. I think we need a break from the outside world,” he said.
He dragged his feet down the hall and Stevie padded across the carpet in her socks. Her mom would be so angry she wasn’t wearing shoes in a hotel, but she didn’t care. She was too tired to get her flip-flops and she didn’t want to have Amira and Grace ask where she was going.
There was an awkward silence between them. And Stevie wasn’t one for not talking. “It sure is strange how that waterway and bay froze like that, don’t you think?” she asked, sneaking glances at him. He had an amazing profile. Everything about him was perfect. Like he was some sort of god dropped on Earth.
“Must be what Mr. Maez says is global warming,” he said, looking at everything else but her.
“I doubt that. It would be rising sea levels, melting of glaciers, the ocean surface will warm and stuff like that, not an entire body of water that has never frozen before.” She took a deep breath and released it. “And that wall of ice. How did that form?”
“I’m not a scientist,” he said. “I have no idea what happened. Maybe it’s as simple as what the newswoman said—a phenomenon.”
She didn’t remember the details of anything but that face, but she could tell Blake didn’t want to talk about it any longer, so she dropped the subject. “So, how’s rooming with Kyle? You boys getting along?”
He laughed, and it looked good on him. “Kyle spends close to two hours getting ready in the morning. He makes certain every strand of hair is perfectly placed.”
“That makes sense,” she said. “He does have good hair.”
Blake pushed the button to the elevator. Even his hands were strong. She liked that on guys.
“He gets it from his mother.” Blake stepped inside the elevator.
The doors slid shut, and the elevator dropped along with Stevie’s stomach. “You’ve met his mother?” The small talk was driving her nuts.
Tell him how you feel, Stevie. Tell him to stop seeing Grace.
Her nerves were draining the life out of any possible relationship she could have with Blake.
The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and he followed her out. They walked down a long hallway to two double, glass doors. He slid his keycard into the slot and opened the door. The lights in the pool sent blue waves illuminating across the walls and ceilings.
“It says ‘no swimming after ten,’” she said, trailing him inside.
“I have an in with the desk attendant.”
“Really? How did that happen?” She did not want to hear that he got with the attendant. She’d seen the girl behind the desk tonight. She was cute, tiny, and had great curls.
Blake chuckled and pulled a chaise lounge over to another one. “I came in dressed as Thor the first night. She loves Thor.” He winked at her.
That tells me nothing.
She frowned at him. “You didn’t…hook up with her for a pool key, did you? Because that’s just trashy.”
A devious smile stretched across his lips.
He has to be teasing me, right?
“There were no benefits exchanged,” he said, a slight chuckle in his voice. “Unless, getting into the pool room counts as one.”
“No. That definitely does not count.” She sat on the edge of the chaise.
He took off his T-shirt exposing so many packs in his abs she lost count. “What are you doing?” she said.
“Going for a swim.” He dropped his shorts. And his boxer briefs revealed a lot about him. “Come on. Join me.”
“Uh-huh.” She shook her
head. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“You have your undergarments,” he argued.
She wrapped her arms around her chest. “I’m not wearing a bra.”
“Suit yourself,” he said and dived in—his body perfectly aligned, his arms stretched out, and his feet pointed—all exposing the beautiful muscles under his smooth skin. It suddenly felt like a sauna in there. He disappeared under the water and shot across the pool as if he were an undersea missile. His head popped up at the other side. “It’s refreshing. Come on.”
Two things happened in pools late at night with no one around—drowning or make-out sessions. She heaved a sigh and stood, removing her pajama bottoms and left her cami on. Good thing she was wearing her panties that covered her ass. She stretched her arms out in front of her, aiming them at the pool. And, because only guys who look like a living god dived in like Blake, she belly flopped into the water.
“Ow, ow, ow, OW,” she cried. “That was a very bad idea.”
He swam over to her. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” She bobbed in front of him. “I think I hurt my ego more than anything.”
He moved closer to her, using his arms to stay afloat. “You look beautiful in this light with your hair slicked back.”
Her body inched closer to his, water rippling from her hand movements.
“What’s going on here,” he said with his lips just barely above the water.
“I like you, Blake.”
“I like you, too.”
A nervous chuckled slipped from her mouth. “I mean. Like like.”
His eyebrows pushed together. “I don’t get it.”
Yeah, you don’t.
She stared into his eyes, treading water and wanting so badly to kiss him. And the nerves hit her again. “Never mind. You know, there’s a shallow end,” she said.
“I like the feeling of nothingness underneath me—the sensation of suspending in water.” He leaned back and floated on top of the surface. “Join me.”
He was pushing her comfort level. Stevie leaned back, her heart protesting against her chest. She felt vulnerable, suspended over nothing but water. His hand grasped hers, and she instantly felt safe.
