Page 171 of Ice Princess

I let my hands relax at my sides, staring at the constellations. The truth still looms over me but, having Rebel here, I feel I can breathe for a moment.

“Want to know a fun fact I learned about stars lately?” Rebel asks.

I grunt.

Her shirt rustles as she moves. I sense her watching me, but I don’t look her way. Instead, I train my eyes on the scattered lights suspended through the night.

“At the last home game, Gordie and I were talking about stars. She said they’re constantly in motion. I said they weren’t. Then I looked it up and, turns out, a first grader is smarter than me.”

“I wouldn’t recommend getting into a trivia fight with her, especially when it comes to space. Or hockey.” Whatever Renthrow feeds Gordie makes her brain ten times bigger than the average kid.

Rebel chuckles and returns her attention to the night sky. “Stars are kind of sad, aren’t they? So pretty and bright, but in reality, they don’t choose where they want to go. They’re just caught in the riptide of a giant, cosmic wave.”

I make a low sound in my throat.

“We might not be as brilliant as the stars,” Rebel says thoughtfully, “but at least we can choose our own direction.”

“Keep your mouth shut and nothing has to change,”Uncle Clarence growled after telling me everything in the orchard today.“You really want to see the Kinseys crumble? You really want to be the reason your family suffers?”

“Even if, in the moment, the waves are bigger than we are and we’re being ripped apart by the tide…”

“Think of all your father’s done for this town. Think of all your mother’s accomplished. Everything you have, everything you are, you owe to them.”

“We have the power to change course. I think… I think that’s the wayweshine in the greatest darkness,” Rebel finishes.

My fingers curl into fists. The truth is going to rip the rug out from under my entire family. There will be no taking it back. The moment I pull the trigger, everything goes boom.

It’s the right thing to do.

But that doesn’t make it easy.

Suddenly, Rebel rolls closer. My breath hitches as she props her arm up and rests her chin against her fist, looking at me beneath thick lashes. The gemstone necklace I gifted her dangles from her neck and swings like a pendulum trying to hypnotize me. But I don’t need a swinging motion to be put under Rebel’s spell.

I’m already there.

I’m already hers.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, Gunner. Not if it tears you up this much. I truly don’t ever need to know.”

My eyebrows climb to the top of my head and I stare at her. She’s giving me a way out, a free pass, a ticket to easy street. Keeping this truth to myself is a much smoother road than the one I’m preparing myself to take.

“I’m happy, right here. Right now. With you. I don’t need anything else,” she promises.

Moved, I slide my fingers over the back of her neck and pull her down for a kiss. Our lips move in tandem, tender yet urgent. I slip my other hand over her back, losing half my mind when she mewls and arches into me.

I kiss her harder.

Faster.

Because this might be the last time I ever get to taste her lips.

Rebel tilts her head, inching down a bit as she matches the rhythm of my kisses. I realize the way she’s angling her head down to meet me is uncomfortable. Without removing my lips from hers, I roll her over me and wrap both arms around her waist.

She’s so soft it’s enough to send my pulse into overdrive. My heart beats fast enough to rocket straight through my ribs, past my skin, and spark fireworks in the night sky.

The franticness of my touch doesn’t seem to bother her, so I don’t hold back. I nip at her full bottom lip, skate my tongue across the inner lining of her mouth and kiss her like I’ll die if I have to stop.

Briiiing!

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