Page 116 of Stone Cold Touch

She stared at me as though...as though she didn’t know what she was looking at, and maybe her brain was refusing to put two and two together, but it would eventually. And I couldn’t deal with seeing her look at me like that. Closing my eyes, I kept them that way until we arrived at Stacey’s house.

The pain deep in my core was just as bad as what was firing off across my skin. I didn’t say anything as Stacey led the way upstairs and to the bathroom she used. Sam stayed downstairs, no doubt to research how holy water could burn a person. He’d been remarkably quiet through all of this.

“No one should be home for at least two hours.” Her voice was garbled. “Can I...can I help?”

“Do you have anything she can wear?” She must’ve nodded, because Zayne said, “Leave it outside the door.”

“But—”

“We’ll explain everything.” He opened the door, ushering me in. “I promise.”

Stacey caught the door before he could close it. “Are you okay, Layla?”

“Yes,” I croaked out, keeping my back to where she stood. “I’ll...be okay.”

Zayne managed to get the door shut then. He moved around me, turning on the shower. A second later, I was under an icy stream of water, gasping for breath. Drops pelted my face, ruining all the hard work with the mascara and eyeliner.

“The clothes have to come off,” he said.

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I turned sideways, nodding my agreement. Neither of us spoke and there was nothing sexual about the fact that I was standing in the shower, being drowned by a steady stream of cold water as Zayne stripped me down to my undies. Gone were the skintight jeans, the thin braided belt and my bra. Everything that had been touched by holy water had to come off.

Bambi had made her way to my lower back, where she was curled into a small, protective ball as Zayne kept turning me around and around, his arms getting soaked as he made sure all the holy water was rinsed away.

After about five years of circling the drain on the fifth circle of Hell, the burning eased off and tiny little bumps spread across my stomach as shivers coursed up and down my back. Blinking the water off my lashes, I could see that my arms, currently folded over my chest, were a lovely shade of ouch.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t stop him,” Zayne said finally, turning me around. “I should’ve stopped him. I could’ve stopped him.”

“It’s not your fault. Who knew he...was going to throw holy water on me.”

He looked up. “I should’ve expected something.”

I shook my head, shivering. “It’s n-not your f-fault.”

A look of doubt settled onto his face, making him appear older. “You’re not burning anymore.”

“N-no.”

When Zayne turned the water off, I couldn’t feel my face or my toes, which was probably a good thing. My skin was the kind of cold only a snowy February day could rival.

He quickly wrapped a large fluffy towel around me, tucking it under my arms.

“Hold this,” he said, and I grabbed the edges, knotting them together. He picked me up out of the tub and twisted. Sitting down on the rim, he pulled me into his lap and grabbed another towel, immediately soaking up the water from my icy hair. “God, you feel like an ice cube.”

“Why did he do it there, where it was just Stacey and Sam who’d hear and see, instead of in front of a large crowd of people?” I asked, teeth chattering.

“It was personal. It’s the only reason.” Zayne rubbed the other towel up and down my arms, chasing the chill. “How are you feeling?”

“B-better.” I stared at the buttercup-yellow wall as Zayne got the blood going in my chilled skin. I don’t know how much time had passed before I spoke again. “What are w-we going to tell them?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gently rubbed the towel over my cheeks. “The truth, I guess.”

“What about the r-rules?”

He curled the towel around my bare shoulders. “Well, technically they’ve already been broken and an Alpha hasn’t landed on our heads, right? And they’re your best friends. You trust them.” He paused. “I also have no idea how to come up with a lie that’s going to make them believe anything else.”

I tried to smile, but failed. “What if S-Stacey hates me now or is a-afraid of me?”

“Oh, Layla, she’s not going to hate you.” He lowered his head and pressed his lips against my forehead. “She’s not going to be afraid of you and she’s not going to think of you differently.”

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