Page 9 of The Edge of Never

“Am yer partner on the course noo and am more experienced than ye. Ye’d dae well tae listen tae me.”

Digging my crampon out of the snow, I started on my progress up the slope. He kept pace with me, which annoyed the fuck out of me.

“I thought you were my babysitter,” I muttered.

“If ye wannae think of me like that, ye can.”

My ice axe dug into the snow with a thud as I came to a stop. This guy was getting on my last fucking nerve. I was going to wipe that damn smug look off his face if it was the last thing I did.

While forgetting entirely that I was precariously balanced on my crampons, I turned half of my body to face him and pointed a finger at his chest.

“Listen here, I don’t know what your problem with me is, but I would appreciate less of the smug, judgy attitude, thank you very much… oh!”

My feet slammed back into the ice. That wouldn’t have been a problem if I was still holding onto my axe. But I wasn’t. My arms waved around as I tried to regain my balance. And I realised I was about to fall backwards right when I was trying to be taken seriously by the very infuriatingly attractive man next to me.

Why the fuck is this my life?

Four

Thane

As Kit flailed next to me, almost falling backwards in their attempt to stay upright, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had done to deserve this hell. Maybe I should let them fall over. Would serve them right for calling me smug and judgy. However, I wasn’t that kind of person, regardless of how much I wanted to see Kit grow red with annoyance.

You want what? Absolutely not. I don’t have any interest in them.

Reaching out with one hand, I gripped their arm. I dug my ice axe into the snow to free up my other hand to reach around their pack to hold them steady.

It took Kit a few seconds to realise they weren’t going to topple over. They wrapped a hand around my arm. The fear in their icy blue eyes made my heart twist.

What the fuck? Why the hell is their expression affecting me like this?

“It’s okay, I’ve got ye,” I murmured. “Noo, twist yer feet around like am daeing.”

I dug my crampons out of the snow and turned my feet towards them, sticking them back in the snow.

Kit followed my lead. Only then did they let out a breath and bowed their head. Their hair fell down, curtaining their face. I couldn’t see their expression any longer. That was probably a good thing.

Their hand tightened around my arm, leading me to believe they weren’t okay, or maybe they were reassuring themselves. I couldn’t be sure.

“Ye okay?”

“Give me a sec,” they said in a hushed voice.

Kit took several deep breaths before they looked up at me through their glasses. The round shape of them and the angle made their eyes look larger than they were. Or maybe it was because they were wide with dilated pupils. The ring of ice around them made me swallow. Why the fuck did they have to have such beautiful eyes? And since when did I start noticing that kind of thing? It made me even more frustrated with them for merely existing and looking the way they did.

“Are people staring?”

Of all the things I expected to come out of their mouth that wasn’t it. My gaze darted about. Except for Callan, no one was paying attention to us. Most of them were further up the slope. My friend was looking at me with a smirk, which I really didn’t fucking appreciate. Whatever he was thinking, I was pretty sure it could be nothing good.

“No. They’re no paying attention tae us.”

Callan kept staring. I didn’t want to tell Kit about it. For some reason, I wanted to save them the embarrassment. Why I cared was a question I didn’t want to look too closely at.

“Thank fuck. If I fell over again, I would’ve never lived it down.”

Dragging my gaze away from Callan and back to Kit took effort.

“Ye guid noo?”

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