Page 58 of Hate Me (Badger Creek Duet)

When she’s done, she walks over to the mattress, slipping in beside me when I open my arms to her. Wrapping them around her, I pull her close, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

“Thank you.”

She nods, looking up at me. “You’re welcome. You feeling okay?”

I lean down and kiss her lips this time. “Yeah, I’m okay, Laney,” I say, even though it’s not exactly the truth. “It’s just a cold, I’m sure.”

It’s amazing how shit I feel though and how quickly it seems to have come on. Yesterday, I felt fine, but sometime during the night, I woke up with a pounding headache and my whole body shaking. I felt like I was freezing, even though the fire was still burning, the cabin was warm, and Laney was curled around me.

I’m pretty sure this cold is due to the whole chasing Delaney after our snowball fight and falling into the snow yesterday. At the time I hadn’t even thought about it, just wanted to have some fun with her. But considering how wet and cold I got, I suppose this was inevitable.

Still, I’m sure I just need to rest, and in a few days, I’ll be feeling fine.

“My mom used to build me blanket forts,” I suddenly say, memories of my childhood coming back to me as I remember her earlier question.

Delaney looks up at me and smiles. “When you were a kid?”

“Yeah, when I was sick and had to stay home from school,” I say. “She’d stay home with me, and we’d build a blanket fort in the living room and spend the day watching TV.”

“What did you watch?” she asks, resting the back of her hand against my forehead.

I smile, grabbing her hand and holding it to my lips to press a kiss to her palm. “A lot of stuff, but my favorites wereLostandDexter.”

“Dexter? How old were you?”

Laughing, I say, “I mean this was like when I was maybe eight, nine, ten, you know.”

“And your mom let you watch a show about a serial killer?”

I grin, remembering how she didn’t just let me, it was her idea. “Yep, she sure did. Not sure my dad knew about it, but it was kinda our secret I guess.”

“Wow,” Delaney says, settling herself back against my shoulder. “That’s actually pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I loved that show. It was so fucking brutal but also really smart. I loved how he killed all these bad guys and then pretended to investigate them. Plus, his sister had killer dialogue.”

“I’ve never seen it,” she admits.

I tighten my arms around her, coughing a little. “We can watch it when we get out of here. There’s actually a sequel that’s come out too. I haven’t seen that yet.” I cough again, my lungs feeling weirdly heavy and full.

“Here,” she says, holding out the bottle of water.

“Thanks,” I reply, taking small sips.

“You need to keep your fluids up,” she says, looking up at me, her brow narrowed. “How are you feeling?”

I chuckle, taking another few sips of water before putting the bottle down. “Same as when you asked me five minutes ago,” I tease. That crease between her eyebrows deepens and I laugh again. “Tell me what your favorite TV shows were as a kid.”

She scowls but I smooth out the crease with my thumb, before kissing it. “Nice deflection,” she mutters, and I laugh again.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Laney.”

Huffing, she leans back against me again. “Yes, you do, you’re just lucky I’m gonna let it fly because you’re sick.”

Kissing the top of her head, I murmur, “And I’m definitely filing that little piece of info away for future use.”

She takes one of my hands, linking our fingers together. “You know it’s only because I care about you, don’t you?”

I lean down and rest my forehead against her shoulder, squeezing my fingers in hers. “I do know that, Laney. Just like I hope you know that I am very grateful that you are taking care of me.”

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