First message
The train rattled, snow-capped peaks looming in the distance. Evan had been staring at me since we boarded—a heavy, lingering gaze that Anna was too busy being cruel to notice. "You always dress so... practical, Joanne," she’d sneered earlier, right after I overheard her whispering to Evan about the condoms she’d packed.
I couldn't take her snide remarks anymore. I moved several rows down, but his eyes followed. When I finally stood up to head toward the snack cart, I felt the air shift behind me.
In the narrow, swaying corridor between carriages, he caught my arm. "Joanne."
His voice was low, vibrating against the hum of the tracks. He pinned me against the cool metal wall, his tall frame blocking the door. The tension was suffocating, a sharp contrast to the freezing mountain air outside.
"Anna’s waiting for me to use what’s in her bag," he murmured, his face inches from mine, dark eyes searching. "But I’ve spent the last three hours thinking about what it would feel like to have you under me in that cabin instead. Tell me, do you think you could handle me being that close?"