Page 20 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

“My name is Summer Brooks, you psychopath!”

“You are not Summer Brooks.” His voice rumbled lower than usual as he turned back around.

My heart stammered against my chest. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.” He turned back around and kept walking.

“V, what do you mean?”

He didn’t respond so I started running after him.

There was only one reasonable explanation. “Did you know me when I was a kid?”

He was almost to the fire escape.

I couldn’t run any faster in the snow. “V!” My feet slipped on a sheet of ice and I landed hard on my ass. Ow. I tried to stand up but my feet slid again. And that was why you didn’t wear converses in the snow. Before V completely disappeared, I made a snowball and tossed it at him.

It made direct contact with his upper back. He immediately stopped. A laugh escaped his throat. “You’re so going to pay for that.” He bent down and started making a snowball.

Shit. I shifted to my knees and was able to get up just as a snowball hit me.

“I knew you loved the snow,” he said. He grabbed my arm before I was able to make another snowball.

I tried to search his face. “You knew me.”

“A lifetime ago.” He lowered his head so I couldn’t see his eyes.

“And you won’t call me Summer because…”

“Because you’re nothing like her.”

I had been trying to hold on to my past for so long. But there was no point if I held no resemblance to the kid I used to be. It hurt. I had been ready to give up my past last night. But now that there was no way to bring Summer Brooks back? I swallowed hard. “When did you know me?”

He didn’t respond.

“Did you love me then?” I moved closer to him.

Nothing.

“Is that why you said it when you thought we were going to die? Because it used to be true?”

His silence was driving me crazy. I got close enough to breathe in his exhales. Tell me the truth. “What about now? Do you hate me?”

“I think I hate you more than I ever loved you.”

For some reason, I didn’t believe him. I smiled. “I hate you more.”

He laughed. “Is that why you’re trying to kiss me?”

“I’m not trying to kiss you.” But I didn’t step back. Was I trying to kiss him? There was such a small space between us that snow could barely fall through it. “I’ve decided to see how things go with Eli actually.”

“What?”

“I’m going to date Eli.”

“You can’t.”

“This isn’t something you can vote on, V.” I tried to take a step back but his grip prevented me from moving. “You said yourself that we don’t end up together, remember?”

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