Page 93 of Fractured Ice

She smiles at me, the full one, the real one, and I set the controller on the cushion and get up and cross the room and kiss her.

She kisses me back, warm and certain, her hands coming up to my chest, and I feel her smile against my mouth and I'm so absurdly happy I don't know what to do with myself.

When we finally separate I reach up and touch the small gold heart at her collar, the necklace I got her two days ago, a shop on the far end of campus that I'd walked past a dozen times and never gone into until I saw it in the window. I'd stood there for ten minutes deciding and then gone in and bought it. I felt like an idiot the entire walk home before giving it to her, then watched her put it on and I haven’t taken my eyes off it since.

"You sure you like it?" I ask. I've asked this already. I'm going to keep asking.

"I love it." She covers my hand with hers where it rests on the necklace. "Stop asking."

"I just want to make sure⁠—"

"Ethan." She's smiling. "I love it."

We stand there grinning at each other like two people who have not figured out how to be casual about this yet. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, and I'm fine with that.

"I have to go," she says. "Emma's waiting."

"She can wait."

"I've already made her wait twenty minutes."

"She can wait twenty-one."

"Ethan—"

Knox has turned around on the couch. "She's always welcome to just meet you here, you know."

Sienna glances at him. "Emma hates coming to the hockey house."

Knox goes very still.

He doesn't seem to even take a breath, but this is different from his usual processing stillness. This is something that's gone deeper.

"What do you mean she hates it?" he says.

Sienna looks at him with careful neutrality. "She just doesn't like coming here."

Rory makes a small sound that is not quite a laugh. Knox looks at her.

"What?" he says.

"Nothing." Rory uncurls slightly from Jace's side. "I just can hardly blame her."

"Why would—" Knox sits up straighter. "What am I missing?"

"Knox…"

"Rory."

Rory looks at him for a long moment. "She really liked you. And after what you did, she hates you."

Knox stares at her.

"She liked me?" he says. Like he's trying to make it make sense.

"She did," Rory says. "A lot."

"What did I do?" His voice has gone somewhere unfamiliar. "Rory, what did I do to her?"