Shatter (Book 2 of Collide Series)

s e v e n

With the last shirt hung to the branch, I chalk my hands together in a job well done. It is the last thing I had hoped to do today, and so now I am free to my own devices until Kade returns, whenever that might be. Rather than return inside, I decide to enjoy the mild day, and so after a few minutes of fumbling, I manage to drag the rocking chair beyond the threshold, placing it at an angle which Kade has informed would offer me the largest stretch of vision.

Across my bare legs, I drape a blanket, soon curling them beneath me as I shuffle to get comfortable. Once settled, I open the book of Kade's which I have been reading privately – long blade of grass holding the page where I pause upon his returns.

It is not one I have read before, but it washes me with a comfortable sense of familiarity, and I feel tranquil and I allow myself to become engrossed in the words that are scrawled across the pages. The book is in near immaculate condition – a few of the pages are creased and their corners bent, and the spine is slightly battered and therefore not quite as sturdy as I imagine it one was. Still, it remans intact, and the literature remains just as brilliant, which I why I fall ignorant to the breeze that soon picks up, whipping my hair in lassos across my face. Eventually, the wind becomes so brutal that I have no choice but to return inside, and so I place the blade of grass to act as the marker of my page once more.

Just as I stand, book in hand, I catch the sights of Kade who has been lingering, watching me again. "It is rude to stare, you know." I tell him confidently, offering him a pointed glare. The corner of his mouth lifts with a grin, and he steps away from the wall he leans on, repositioning the bow that is strung across his back.

"So is touching what isn't yours." He retorts promptly. I hide the book behind my back despite the fact he has already seen it, clutching it within my numb fingers as a wide smile spreads on my face. The wind whips my hair across my face, so I battle it away with one hand, combing it along my scalp and pinning it in place at the crown of my head, the innocent action lifting the hem of my shirt so that it skims precariously across the still naked lower half of me.

His eyes flicker southwards, but quickly return to meet my gaze respectfully. "It has been a long while since I have been in the presence of a book like this," I tell him, slowly walking towards the open door. "I was curious." I add with a nonchalant lift of one shoulder.

He steps closer, tilting his head slightly as his eyes track the features of my face. "Aren't you always." I hum in amusement, teetering on the threshold of the door. "You should get inside, you'll get cold being out here, dressed like that." His eyes flicker downwards one more in gesture.

"Will you join me?" I ask him. He lifts a brow at my hurried suggestion.

"Inside?"

I nod. "Your company is not the worst, Kade." I drawl playfully, tilting my head as he grins, setting a frenzy of heat swirling in my stomach.

He easily picks up the rocking chair, the blanket trailing in the grass, and nods his head to usher me inside. "Careful, that almost sounds like a compliment." I laugh as we both make our way inside, the brutal wind quickly ceasing, more so when Kade bangs the door shut behind him. He readies himself as I sit, shedding his frame of the bow and quiver full of arrows, along with the belt from which hangs a number of rodents – squirrels and hares.

His shoes next, discarded beside the fire heath, then his jacket which is slung across the foot of the bed which he has allowed me to sleep on each night while he rests on the sofa. I watch him with a slight frown as the tidying I have committed is so quickly undone. "You'll wrinkle, scowling like that." He chides mockingly, sitting beside me, a distance safe enough that it is respectful.