Page 10 of Oh No, My Best Friend Hates Christmas!

All the air exits my body when Baz’s arm hits my midsection, stopping me from lunging after Archie. His other arm reaches up and pulls my own hat down over my eyes. Sufficiently blinded, I’m let go. There are no words that could accurately describe the noise of frustration that escapes my body.

By the time I’m steady on my feet with my hat out of my face and a frown pulling my mouth down, Archie is out the door, and Baz is gesturing for me to follow after the menace into the crisp winter snow.

I go, but not graciously.

“You’re an ogre sometimes, you know that?” I snip at him as I pass through the doorway.

Baz’s gorgeous, gruff laughter follows me out.

Chapter Three

“He’s gone? What do you mean, gone?Gonegone?” I ask Bazzy twenty minutes later.

We’re at the top of the highest, least woody hill at the compound. Baz and I rode here on one of his snowmobiles, barely managing to follow Archie’s speeding ATV up the snow-covered trail. I spent the entire ride with my face buried in Baz’s back and my arms squeezing his waist. The wind in your hair when it’s negative degrees outside? Not so nice.

Baz sweeps his arm out toward the bottom of the hill and beyond. I point my eyes in the direction he gestures and see the speck of a tiny, infuriating little man hauling our snowmobile – along with all our stuff – after him as he strands us on what I’ve been calling a hill but is truly a small mountain.

“I’m going to kill him,” I say. Baz shrugs, and I turn on him.

“Seriously? We’re stuck up here! Even if we sled all the way to the bottom of the hill, we’ll still have to–” I shudder. “–hikethe rest of the way home.”

Yeah, I’m definitely going to kill him.

“I hope he crashes and gets hypothermia! I hope a bear comes out of the woods and eats him! I ho–”

Baz’s hand lands on top of my head, then shakes it side to side. He does it gently, but the “shut up” comes through crystal clear anyway. I huff.

“No, Bazzy. No.” I shake off his hand. “It’s not cool. The bottom of the hill is a mile away from the houses. We have no phones, no water, and no snacks – and it’shiking.” I shudder again. Dramatic? I think not.

“I’ll carry you.”

My eyes bug out.

“Since when are you so talkative?”

He only shrugs, then climbs onto the purple sled at his feet. He pats the spot in front of him, and I bite my lip.

I look out toward where I know the houses are – where I know Archie has gone – then back at the sled. Baz waits patiently, watching me. I groan.

“Fine. Fine! But I’m downloading every virus I can find onto his computer. He’snotgetting away with this!”

Baz smiles, and I pause, heart rate spiking. It’s big. It’s glorious.

It’s evil.

I like when you get vicious,it says.

I gulp.

His smile widens.

I sit down in front of him on the sled before my heart decides to give out.

Without a word, Baz pushes us forward until gravity takes over, and he wraps his arms around my marshmallow waist. We fly down the mountain, gaining speed as we go and moving together to dodge trees and, strangely, a little squirrel who did not get the memo that she should have been asleep this late into the season.

Wind whips through my hair as we go, and I throw my hands up with a joyful scream. Bazzy’s arms wrap tighter around me, and his legs press into mine. My laughter gets lost in the snow-dusted air behind us as we zip faster and faster down the mountain. Baz’s arms feel like snakes around me, constricting nearly to the point of crushing.

This is scary.

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