My eyes fell shut as my heart did this stupid squeeze-floating thing. Kyler’s biggest soft spot had always been animals. Once, in the third grade, he’d found a pigeon outside on the playground. Its wing had been broken, and left alone, it would have surely died. He’d kicked a fit, and I mean, refusing to sit at his desk and everything, until the teacher dug up a small box.

Kyler had marched out onto the playground and scooped up the little bird. He’d also made his mom take it to the vet. A pigeon—a creature that no one else would’ve given a crap about. He’d become my hero in that moment.

“Syd?” There was uncertainty in his voice, like he thought I might think giving up a career where he could make millions for one where the main payback would be helping animals was insane.

I inhaled a shaky breath as I snuggled closer. I couldn’t have Kyler the way I wanted him. I knew that, accepted that. The drunken version of me didn’t, obviously, but still, I was proud to call him a friend. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“You do?” He sounded surprised.

I smiled. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s something you feel passionate about. You should do it.”

Kyler didn’t respond, but I felt some tension seep out of him. Something I hadn’t really noticed until then. Maybe that’s what he needed. Affirmation.

As we sat there in the silence, watching the flames create dancing shadows along the wood walls, I realized something else in that moment. Even though I knew that all we ever would have between us was friendship, I loved him.

Oh man…

I would always love Kyler Quinn.

I was so screwed.

Chapter 10

Sydney

We were going to lose power. The wind was going crazy outside, beating at the house and the power lines. Why no one had thought about running those suckers underground was beyond me.

Lights flickered on and off for the entire evening. Around nine, the snow started coming down so fast and thick, I couldn’t see anything outside the windows. The white stuff blanketed the limbs on the pines, weighing them down. I’d gone to bed hours ago, but couldn’t sleep. My mind was obsessing over everything—me molesting Kyler, the killer snowmobile, and how long we were going to be stuck here. The wind wasn’t helping. It sounded like the house was going to cave in on me.

Frustrated, I turned away from the window and tightened the quilt I had wrapped around my shoulders. I crept out into the hallway, not wanting to wake Kyler.

I made it halfway down the hall before I heard a door creak open. “Syd?”