Page 37 of A Very Addicted Christmas

It’s too cold to talk. Farrow has a black scarf over his mouth, and my jacket is zipped high over my lips.

An hour into the hike, we have to stop. I grab the tube to his water bladder and blow into the spigot so it won’t freeze, then I blow into mine. We drink some.

Needles are poking into my eyeballs. I didn’t realize they hurt until we stopped moving. He notices me blinking way too much.

Farrow clutches my jaw and inspects my eyes. He motions to his pack and pulls down his scarf to whisper against my ear, “Goggles.”

I nod.

We find them (I packed a few pairs), and we put on ski goggles.

Our break is less than three minutes and we’re moving again. Two hours in, and his hand is in my hand.

I think about how in an alternate universe, I’m alone.

Some other bodyguard is here, and they trek silently behind me. Like a shadow. And every step I take is cumbersome with weight I was born to carry.

I could survive in that universe, but I don’t want to.

I want my future husband. Who makes every step I take feel unburdened.

The sun begins to rise, and three hours in, the rental car comes into view, buried in snow. My pulse spikes.

We run.

“Jane?! Thatcher?!” I shout.

“Moffy!” Jane responds. “We’re here!”

She’s alive.

Relief doesn’t come close to what I feel.

EIGHT

CHRISTMAS EVE SNOWED IN

DECEMBER 2038

AFTER CHAPTER 32 IN SINFUL LIKE US

We listened to "The Heart is a Muscle" Gang of Youths while writing this scene.

Character List:

Beckett Cobalt - 21

Luna Hale - 19

Bodyguards:

O’Malley - 27 Epsilon(Current Client: Beckett Cobalt)

Paul Donnelly - 27 Omega(Current Client: Xander Hale)

PAUL DONNELLY

I LIGHT A CANDLESTICK in the kitchen, cupping my hand around the flame as it catches the wick. Wind whistles throughout this old Scotland house, and nearly everyone has dispersed to sleep. Or pretend to.

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