Page 113 of The Heat of Us

“Why the beach? It’s almost winter, it’ll be cold as fuck. Not to mention windy.” She averted her gaze, forcing out a laugh. Trying not to show how affected she was.

“Not for swimming or sunbathing.” The fragile tension between us balanced on a knife edge. “I think we should go and see the ocean.”

Her eyes were luminous. “Aleks,” she pleaded.

“We can go west.”

Not north. Not towards August Bay.

I could feel her spiralling come to a slow stop.

“Ok,” she finally whispered.

Ben let me borrow his car. I was glad he and Remy settled their alphas.

It felt right to have him as our prime.

I had all her snack favourites ready to go. Peppermint chocolate and the little creamy milk candies, obviously. Plus a giant bag of hot Cheetos that she ate with chopsticks for some reason. I didn’t question it and just packed them along with everything else.

Hazel nervously chewed through about fifteen of her candies during the drive and I didn’t stop her. I just laid my hand on her thigh to remind her that I was here.

I didn’t have a destination in mind. I drove and let the city fade. The expensive houses hugging the coastline eventually dripped away. Forest rose majestically from flat land and the drop to the rough sand grew craggy and steep. We curved past coastal towns and ignored them all. We didn’t need the cacophony of civilisation.

Just sea and sky and a single stripe of asphalt.

After about two and a half hours, I pulled into a nondescript car park. It was small, with only one other car space filled. No surf-lifesaving club, no toilet or shower facilities. Just a rickety looking wooden staircase leading down to a beach that was more rock than sand.

A weatherbeaten sign declared the beach Maren Cove. We pushed aside dense, overgrown scrub so it didn’t scrape our heads halfway down.

Hazel stood on the last step, staring down at the greyish sand.

I held my hand out for her to take whenever she was ready.

“Come on.”

After a brief, fractured moment, her foot hit the sand.

We traversed the uneven, rocky terrain. The wind chill was intense and her fingers were icy in mine.

It felt right to stop at a small outcrop, watching the dark water crash white and frothy against the nearby cliffside.

It was rhythmic. Hypnotic. In and out.

A soft inhale and a loud exhale.

“I haven’t been back to the beach since Adrian.”

There was such a deep well of sadness in her.

“I know.”

“I thought it would be hard and it is.”

I let the sea breeze fill the space between us and waited.

“But it’s also beautiful here.”

I enfolded her in my arms, resting my forehead against hers. Our red, wind-blown noses almost touched.

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