Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

never seen so much snow in her life, and she let the cold air pour over her and wash the nausea away. She felt

as if she'd just been caught in the act. That Daniel had somehow known the exact moment to text her to keep

her from doing what she was about to do with Thomas.

Flipping open her phone, she read the text again.

Okay. Just breathe. Breathe and think this through.In ... two ... three ...

Out... two ... three ...

And suddenly, her mind cleared. Daniel was waiting for her in Vermont. This meant that the hat in the woods

really was a coincidence. He wasn't still on campus. He didn't know what she had been doing. Which meant

that she could still fix this. She could still turn back and make this all okay.

Ariana took in another breath of icy morning air and held it,

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staring out at the gray early morning light. She had never seen campus from this angle before. She'd been in

Ketlar plenty of times, but always on the other side of the building, where Daniel's sloppy disaster of a room

was located. She thought of all those nights he'd helped her sneak past Mr. Cross, the Ketlar Hall advisor.

How he always let her wear his favorite, worn Harvard sweatshirt when she got cold. How warm and cozy she

always felt when they cuddled while watching movies on his laptop. How he always walked her back to

Billings no matter what time it was, risking getting caught every time.

Maybe it wasn't exhilarating and dangerous like the last fourteen hours with Thomas had been, but it was her

life. The life she was supposed to have. The life her mother wanted for her. Thomas Pearson could not be part

&

nbsp; of that life.

"Something wrong, naughty girl?" Thomas asked, walking to the window and snaking his arms around her

from behind.

Cold, dark rage instantly overcame her. The arms that had made her feel so safe moments ago suddenly

burned her skin.

"Let go of me," she snapped, ripping herself away from him.

Thomas took a step back, startled, but Ariana barely noticed. Her mind was racing off on a horrible tangent

and she couldn't stop it. She was dirt. She was nothing. She wasn't worthy of Daniel Ryan. Look what she'd

done to him. Look where she was while he was waiting for her in Vermont. Look who she was with. Ariana

grabbed her sweater off the extra bed and clutched it in both hands, twisting it into a spiral. Daniel would die