Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 145

**Charlotte**

We make it halfway down the stairs before Blake stops again. His hand tightens around mine, and he turns his head toward the living room. I hear the low murmur of a movie, Mara’s quiet laugh, and Gareth saying something I can’t quite catch. Blake looks back at me and puts one finger to his lips. I bite mine to keep from laughing. We move down the rest of the stairs, careful on each step. The house is warm and dim, with soft blue light flickering across the hallway from the television. I can see the back of Gareth’s head over the couch. Mara is tucked against his side with a blanket over her lap. Blake pulls me gently toward the kitchen.

We slip through the doorway, and he opens a drawer without making a sound. He takes out two spoons, then closes it so carefully I almost laugh again just from watching how serious he looks. He catches my face and grins. This feels ridiculous. We cross the kitchen, and I pause for a second when my sock slides on the floor. Blake catches my hand before I can wobble, his smile drops into concern, and I lift a brow. He lifts one back, then points toward the garage door. Right. The mission. Ice cream. I nod like this is very serious. His mouth twitches, and then he turns the handle slowly, inch by inch, until the door opens without a sound.

The garage is colder, and I tuck my toes against the floor as Blake guides me in. A large deep freezer sits against the far wall, with another fridge beside it and shelves full of things. Blake lets go of my hand only long enough to lift the freezer lid. Cold air spills out in a white breath, and he looks inside, then back at me.

“Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, caramel, or cookies and cream?”

I whisper, “Why are there so many options?”

He looks offended. “It’s Mum’s house.”

I lean closer, peering into the freezer. “How much ice cream does one family need?”

“It’s for emergencies.”

“This is an emergency?”

He looks at me like the answer is obvious. “You woke up hungry.”

A smile pulls at my mouth as I point to the caramel.

He pulls the tub out, shuts the freezer, then pats the lid. “Up you go. Best seat in the house.”

Before I can argue, he lifts me carefully by the waist and sets me on top of the freezer. A little laugh slips out of me, and I cover my mouth fast, glancing toward the door like Mara might come in and catch us.

Blake’s eyes brighten. “Rebel.”

“I was promised ice cream, not crime.”

He peels the lid off the tub. “In this family, they’re often the same thing.”

He stands between my knees and hands me a spoon.

We eat straight from the tub. The garage is cold, but he is warm in front of me, broad shoulders blocking most of the chill. Every so often, our spoons knock together, and we both pause like we’ve been caught doing something worse than stealing ice cream from his mother’s freezer. The caramel is soft enough at the edges and hard in the centre, and Blake digs his spoon into the frozen part with far too much confidence.

“You’re going to bend that,” I whisper.

“It’s a spoon. It has one job.”

“It’s losing.”

He looks down at the spoon, then back at me. “Don’t talk to my equipment like that.”

I can’t help but laugh at him. I press the back of my hand to my mouth, shoulders shaking, and he freezes.

“What?” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “Nothing.”

I narrow my eyes. “Suspicious.”

His smile softens. “I’m just happy.”

Shanti stretches inside me, pleased and lazy. *This is what life is supposed to feel like, she says.*

I glance up at Blake. He is pretending to fight the middle of the ice cream tub, brows slightly drawn together, mouth tilted in concentration. He looks different when he isn’t hurting. I wonder how many times I saw him like this before. I wonder if I loved this version of him, too. A little ice cream catches on my lip as I pull the spoon away. I lift my hand to wipe it, but Blake’s hand comes up first. This feels like one of those movie moments where the room goes quiet, and the boy finally kisses the girl. My heart starts beating harder. I don’t remember kissing him, but I want to. So I close my eyes and lean in. I feel Blake’s thumb run softly across my lips, and then I feel the whisper of his breath there, too. I lean the rest of the way and revel in the way his lips feel against mine. The kiss is so gentle it almost hurts.

 Shanti purrs inside me, and Lex answers from somewhere in his chest. When he pulls away, his forehead rests lightly against mine, and his eyes stay closed.

“Was that okay?” he whispers.

His face is right there, close and nervous and beautiful, and I smile.

“For a first kiss?”

His eyes open then, and something in them breaks softly.

“Yeah,” he says, voice rough. “For a first kiss.”

“It was perfect.” I breathe out.

He smiles slowly, then his spoon dips into the tub again.

“Good,” he whispers. “Because I was hoping to earn a second.”

I laugh quietly, but I don’t look away as his eyes drop to my mouth, then lift back to mine, asking without words. I nod, biting my lip, feeling a million butterflies in my stomach. He leans in again, just as softly as before, and I meet him halfway.

The second kiss is still soft, but now I’m feeling a little more confident. My hand moves on its own, fingers brushing his jaw, feeling the roughness there. He makes that low sound again, and it hums against my mouth. I pull back, breath unsteady as that sound makes my whole body feel alight with pleasure.

“Does Lex always make that sound?”

Blake’s eyes flash with his cocky smirk. “Around you, yes.”

I feel Shanti preen inside me, and I smile down at the ice cream. “Shanti likes it.”

“Yeah?”

I nod, biting back the quiet need to shy away. “She says he’s happy.”

The garage door opens, and we both turn. Mara stands there in her slippers and robe, one hand still on the handle, eyes moving from me on the freezer to Blake between my knees to the open tub of ice cream. I freeze with the spoon halfway to my mouth.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see this,” she says.

Blake clears his throat. “Thanks, Mum.”

She points at the freezer. “Put the lid back on properly, or it gets crystals.”

“Yes, Mum.”

She looks light, she’s fighting back a laugh as she says, “And bring Charlotte a blanket if you’re going to sit in the garage like gremlins.” Then she closes the door again, and we break out into a fit of laughter, feeling like two teenagers caught making out at his Mum’s house.