Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 184

Chapter 184 I’m Safe With Theo

Emily

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We arrive at a snowy little set of cabins tucked back from the road. Theo parks under a wide wooden awning beside the main office and

turns the truck off, but he doesn’t move right away. He looks over at me, one hand still on the steering wheel, the other resting near the

gear stick like he wants to reach for me and is forcing himself not to. “I’m going to book us a room,” he says quietly. “I’ll be right there.

Doors locked. Keys with me. You’ll be able to see me through the window the whole time.”

I nod silently because words still feel too far away.

He climbs out and shuts the door gently. I watch him walk through the snow to the office, shoulders tense beneath his jacket, hair messy

from running his hands through it. He looks back at me twice before he reaches the door.

The cabin grounds would probably be beautiful on any other day. Snow sits thick on sloped roofs. Tall trees crowd around the little

buildings, their branches heavy and white. Warm yellow lights glow under each porch, and smoke curls from one chimney into the pale

afternoon sky. It looks like the kind of place people come to for quiet weekends and mornings that start with coffee by a window. Today, it

feels… sad, I press my hand against my chest and try to breathe around the ache sitting there. Sasha is curled deep inside me, shaking

and silent. She hasn’t spoken since we left the border.

Theo comes back a few minutes later with two keys in his hand and snow in his hair.

“They had a cabin free near the back,” he says when he opens his door. “It’s private, but close enough to the office if we need anything. Is

that okay?”

I nod again, and he watches me for another second before getting in and driving us along a narrow, cleared track between the trees. We

stop outside a small cabin with a porch light glowing beside the door and a stack of chopped wood sitting beneath a little lean–to.

Theo parks as close to the porch as he can. Then he is out and around the front before I can even look down at my seatbelt. The

passenger door opens, and cold air slips over my legs. He leans over, unclips my seatbelt, and gathers me out of the seat with both arms.

My body folds into his because it is the only thing it seems to know how to do right now. I wrap my legs around his waist and bury my

face in his neck, breathing him in as hard as I can. Vanilla and warm skin. Theo. Theo wants me. Theo chose me. Theo said no one would

hurt me like that again. I hold onto those thoughts because they are the only ones that don’t split me apart.

He carries me across the snow and up the steps with one arm locked under me, the other holding the key. He manages to unlock the door

while still keeping me against his chest, pushes it open with his shoulder, and kicks it shut behind us.

The cabin is warm enough that my frozen cheeks sting. There is a small sitting area with a dark green couch, a round wooden table by the window, and a bed tucked beneath a quilt made of red, brown, and cream squares. The walls are dark timber, the curtains thick and plaid, and a little wood stove sits in the corner with kindling stacked beside it. It should feel cosy. It probably is cosy, but I am too numb to feel

1. it.

Theo walks straight to the bed and pulls the covers back before carefully lowering me onto the mattress, then crouches to take off my shoes. He sets them beside the bed, removes my gloves and jacket, and then folds them over the nearby chair. I sit there and let him.

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Chapter 184 I’m Safe With Theo

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Then he pulls the blankets up around me, tucking them against my sides and over my legs. He pauses, studies his work with a tight frown,

and tucks the corner in again like that might be the thing that holds me together. “Okay,” he murmurs. “We need to get you warm.”

He turns to the wood stove, and I watch him grab the kindling and logs, slowly creating a small fire. Then he stands and looks around the

room. His eyes land on the small minibar fridge near the table. He moves to it like a man on a mission, pulls out a bottle of water and a chocolate bar, then returns to the bed. He unscrews the cap and holds the bottle close to my mouth. “Drink, please.”

The water is cold as it goes down, and I realise now that my throat hurts.

“Good,” he says under his breath, and then he unwraps the chocolate before turning it over to read the label.

“You’re not allergic to nuts or anything?”

I shake my head slowly.

“Okay,” He breaks off a piece and holds it out. “Eat, please.”

The chocolate melts against my tongue, sweet and simple and strangely grounding. Theo feeds me another piece, and then another, his

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