03 Out of Breath by Rebecca Donovan

Author:Rebecca Donovan [Donovan, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-07-02T07:00:00+00:00

22

Taking Me with Her

THE SUN WAS RISING SOMEWHERE BEHIND the hills, but it still hadn’t cut through the clouds that had settled on the beach. As the fog lingered over the water I wrapped the blanket tighter around me to fend off the cool morning air.

The yearning for sleep still clung to me. I’d been restless throughout the night, disturbed by the shouting and crying in my head. Eventually, I’d slipped out of bed to relieve Cole of my tossing and turning.

My eyes ached with fatigue as I spotted a silhouette coming into view along the beach. I tried to focus through the thick haze. Someone was running along the water’s edge. Just the thought of exerting that much energy exhausted me.

As the runner neared the house he began to slow down. He hesitated, then began jogging my way. I froze, trying to be invisible in the fog, but he knew I was there.

As he came closer, I squinted in confusion. ‘Evan?’

‘Hi,’ I answered, not certain if I should’ve just kept jogging and left her alone. But I wanted to know why she was up. She peered down at me, wrapped in a blue blanket pulled up to her nose.

I smiled at the sight of her hair all pushed in different directions. I was still getting used to the short hair. I had to admit I didn’t mind it – the length accentuated the exotic shape of her eyes.

‘I knew you were a morning person, but this is ridiculous,’ she said.

I laughed at her comment. ‘I couldn’t sleep. Thought running might … help. And I know you’re not a morning person; you pretty much despise any time with an “a.m.” after it.’

‘I couldn’t sleep either.’

‘Nightmare?’ I asked without thinking, knowing that was the reason I was running into the fog, and away from the panic that had awoken me.

Her eyes darted away and she shrugged evasively. I assumed it was my fault she was out here and not still wrapped up in the covers … next to Cole. I forced my shoulders to relax. I’d sworn I wouldn’t think of them together, even after the not-so-pleasant details Peyton planted in my collection of unwanted thoughts.

‘Run with me.’

Emma looked down at me as if I’d just asked her to go skinny-dipping in the freezing ocean. I chuckled. ‘Come on, what else do you have to do?’

I couldn’t believe I was actually thinking about it. I pushed my chair back. ‘Fine,’ I grumbled. ‘Let me get my stuff.’

I ignored the grin that spread across his face, and crept back into the house. What was I thinking?

When I returned a few minutes later, Evan was sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Don’t expect much,’ I told him, making him stand up quickly and turn around. Seeing me at the top of the stairs in my running gear made that smile emerge again. The smile that I couldn’t look at for more than a second without my heart thrusting to life and my cheeks igniting.

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