Page 59 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
My hands start to tremble, my stomach tightening harder with each bite until I can feel it building, rising too fast.
“I can’t,” I say, my voice unsteady. “I’m going to be sick.”
He watches me for a long second, his eyes searching my face like he’s trying to decide if I’m lying.
Then he leans back.
“Fine.”
The pressure eases just enough that I can breathe again.
My hands move without me thinking.
My fingers find my ring first, twisting it slowly, grounding myself in the feel of it, the familiarity of it.
Then my necklace.
Zach’s.
My fingers close around it, holding it tighter, pressing it into my skin like I can anchor myself to it.
They’re looking for me.
That thought is the only thing that steadies me.
Elijah won’t stop.
Jackson won’t stop.
Zach won’t stop.
My fingers tighten. I hold onto that. I need to hold onto that.
“What are you doing?”
His voice cuts through it. I freeze.
“Nothing.”
His eyes drop to my hands.
To the necklace.
To the ring.
Something snaps in his expression.
“They don’t belong on you.”
The movement is so fast I don’t have time to react.
His hand comes up and grabs the necklace at my throat, yanking it hard enough that it bites into my skin before it breaks, the chain snapping with a sharp crack as it’s torn away from me.
The sudden loss of it hits like something physical.
“No!”
I lunge forward without thinking, my hand going to my neck, but it’s already gone.
