Breathless by Heather C. Hudak Page A

any more out of me. Instead, she pretended she didn’t notice anything was wrong, kicked me in the behind with her left shin, and started walking toward the main entrance. “Coming, slowpoke?”
     
    Watching my feet, I scrambled to keep up with Addie’s unbearably perky bounce. Sometimes, she was hard to take. Still, I was thankful she was willing to leave me to wallow without asking for details. I knew this wouldn’t last forever. At some point, her curiosity would take control, and I would be subjected to a full interrogation.
     
    I pushed through the heavy glass doors into the cool afternoon air. I hadn’t taken two steps before I heard someone call my name. I didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
     
    “ I thought you’d left,” I said in tone so low I was shocked when he responded. I never looked up, and I dared not face the direction of his voice—scared of what I might find. I kept my back to him, hoping to hold myself together just long enough to make it through this moment and on to Addie’s car.
     
    “ It’s okay, Addie,” he shouted past me to where she was standing about fifty feet away, already opening her car door. “Cordelia’s got a ride.”
     
    I was furious. How dare he disappear after our brief encounter earlier today and then return as if nothing had happened? He had no right to toy with my emotions like this and worse, have the nerve to tell my friend what to do.
     
    “ Excuse me,” I said, turning quickly to face him. He was standing so close that I was sure we were breathing the same air. “Who do you think you are to just come and go without any explanation? Do you have any idea—”
     
    He stopped me then, cutting off my words by placing a single finger across my lips, a low shushing sound seeped through his raspberry lips.
     
    “ Go ahead, Addie,” he repeated. I nodded in agreement, and Addie laughed.
     
    “ You tell him,” Addie said, giggling in a high-pitch chime as she climbed into her car. “I’ll call you later. Your mom’s working late, right?”
     
    Again, I nodded, unable to break away from Chaseyn’s gaze. I was behaving like one of those pitiful sots in a Victorian romance who falls so hopelessly in love with the male lead that she can’t act on her own volition. I wanted nothing more than to give Chaseyn a dose of his own medicine, but I was frozen there with him. Just then, the first flakes of winter snow began falling around us as if we were in the center of a snow globe and someone had shaken us upside-down. The thin flakes rained upon us, dusting everything in their path with a sparkling white glow.
     
    Chaseyn practically dragged me back to the car; he walked so quickly that my legs could barely keep up. Inside, he cranked the heat, though I could tell he wasn’t cold.
     
    “ Good,” he asked.
     
    I nodded. Soon, anger was welling inside, warming my blood.
     
    “ Why are you here,” I yelled at him. “If you’re just going to break up with me, why did you come back? You should have just let me go home with Addie.”
     
    Chaseyn looked puzzled. He grabbed both of my icy hands in his and kissed each of my knuckles. The corners of his lips curved up.
     
    “ Stop it,” I said. “You’re not making this any easier.”
     
    “ I’m not sure what you’re yelling about,” he said. “Why are you so upset?”
     
    “ You kissed me, and it took my breath away, but you just left. You left me there alone, without a word, and I didn’t see you again the rest of the day. It’s obvious you didn’t have the reaction you had hoped for. Why bother being here now?”
     
    I started to open the car door. I would rather walk home than be forced to be near him for another minute. He held my hands tighter. I would have to struggle to get away, and I wasn’t feeling that strong.
     
    “ What are you talking about,” he said sternly. “I had an appointment. I should have said something, but I was trying to be mysterious, and instead, I