Fat drops of rain pelted the car like bullets. The sudden and intense downpour felt almost mocking.

I stared at Zaphron as he watched the rain turn into a watery sheet, sliding down the windshield. "Jax doesn't keep a spare?" I asked, my voice sounding thin with desperation.

Zaphron sighed, not willing to meet my eyes. "He does, but I left it on the charger back at the apartment."

I slumped further into my seat and let out a groan.

The pelting rain grew louder in the silence between us.

"Screw it," Zaphron said, opening his door again. He stomped out into the rain, heading around to the front of the car and lifting the hood. After several minutes of nothing happening, I swore under my breath and looped the duffle over my shoulder, stepping out into the rain myself.

I rounded the open bonnet to find Zaphron fiddling with a bunch of wires in the battery bay.

"I don't think it's a good idea to be playing with electrics in the rain," I said, peering at the car's innards—and definitely not noticing how Zaphron's white shirt had gone transparent in the downpour.

"While I appreciate the safety lesson," he said, his wet hair hanging in his eyes as he glanced over his shoulder. "It's the only option if we're going to get out of here."

I bit my lip and watched him fiddle with the wiring a little longer. His clothes clung to him in the rain, every movement of his shoulders and chest visible under the soaked weight of his shirt.

Focus Astrid. Stop the guy from frying himself on engine wires.

"Zaph." I reached out and put my hand on his forearm. His skin felt warm despite the chill of the rain and I nearly retracted my fingers in surprise. "Just leave it. Until the storm passes at least."

He stopped what he was doing and cast a pointed look in my direction. "There's a reason no one stuck around here after the weather warning. It's not safe."

I let go of his arm and rolled my eyes. "It's got to be safer than willingly making yourself an electrical conductor."

He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth to cover a grin and turned away. "Alright." He closed the car bonnet, leaning back on it casually—as if rain wasn't hammering down on both of us. "I guess we're staying here then."

"Um." I motioned wildly to the cabin. Droplets of water were clinging to my eyelashes and beginning to run down my neck. "Can we go back inside then?"

"Sure," Zaphron said, getting slowly to his feet. "But it's not like either of us could get any more drenched." He tugged at his wet shirt and gestured to my clothes, which were now just as clingy as his. The weight of his gaze lingered on me a moment longer than necessary, lighting a firecracker in my stomach.

I swallowed, watching the water dripping from his hair, rolling down his face in rivulets. For the briefest moment I had an overwhelming urge to disrupt the tiny torrents with my fingers and sweep his jet-black fringe from his eyes. Would he want me to?

The moment passed quickly as Zaphron's eyes drifted over my shoulder. All hints of his bitten-lipped smirk disappeared. I followed his gaze, letting out an involuntary gasp.

The storm front was perfectly visible out to the east. A mile-high tidal wave of purple-black cloud advanced on grey skies. The flicker of lighting and distant rumbles of thunder were ominous.

A sudden and violent gust of wind rolled through the lot, sending outdoor furniture flying and pushing me into Zaphron. He caught me in a half-embrace before I could fall over.

"Careful," he said with a husky laugh. "On second thoughts, maybe we should hurry back inside. You're going to blow away at any minute out here."

I scoffed, but was too wobbly to let go of him as another blast of wind crashed into us. The rain stung like tiny, cold needles as it whipped down hard—reaching us even as we sought shelter on the lodge's porch.

Zaphron unlocked the door and we practically tripped on each other's feet trying to get inside. It took our combined bodyweight to close the door against the howling wind. The sounds of the storm muffled as we closed it out and stood, panting, in the entry.

"Well that certainly intensified quickly," I said, straightening and wringing out my hair.

Zaphron nodded and swept the damp hair from his forehead. "Probably a good call on the wires."

"Definitely a good call on the wires."

He snorted and threw his eyes up to the glass ceiling. The storm front was approaching quickly, the dark cloud filling the plexiglass like a blossoming bruise.

Without a word, Zaphron strode off to the first bedroom, leaving me dripping into a puddle that had collected around my boots. I adjusted the duffle on my shoulder and realised I didn't have to stay soaked. I had my own clothes.

Each step I took toward the bathroom made my socks squelch inside my boots. I hurried in, closing the door behind me and peeled off my clothes—leaving them in a soggy heap on the tiles. I pulled on new underwear and jeans, feeling a little more like my old-self in my own clothes. My cold hands struggled to untangle a hoodie and a shirt that knotted together as I pulled them from the duffel.

At that moment, the bathroom door flew open and Zaphron backed into the room, attempting to pull a double mattress through the door frame with him.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a half-shriek, wrapping my arms around myself in an attempt to cover my bra and exposed torso.

Zaphron whirled around in surprise, his eyes going wide when he caught sight of me. "Oh, uh wrestling a mattress." He looked away, then back again. "What are you doing?"

"Getting changed," I said, forgetting myself and putting a hand on my hip while I pointed my fisted hoodie at him. His eyes went wide again and I had a vague sense of how he must have felt this morning when I was staring at his tattoos. His gaze was all over me, his pupils so dilated they overpowered the blue of his irises.

It made my skin burn.

A sudden crack of thunder scared us both and I robotically threw on my hoodie, zipping it up to my chin.

We stared at each other in momentary shock before Zaphron swallowed and ran a hand through his damp hair. "I should have knocked," he said, "but I didn't know you were in here."

"It's fine," I mumbled, watching him resume his fight with the mattress and the door. His wet shirt hugged the muscles on his back, the sight doing nothing to dispel the hot prickling sensation running through my veins. I took a deep breath and tore my eyes away. "Why are you trying to force a bed into the bathroom by the way?"

Zaphron chuckled as he reefed the mattress free of the door frame, scraping the covers off in the process. He stopped to catch his breath and pointed to the large spa-tub against the opposite wall. "It's to put over the bath."

"You're putting a bed on the bath?"

"Supercell survival 101," he said with a grin. "Always get in the bath."

A deafening roll of thunder shook the cabin and I flinched. Zaphron's gaze drifted up to the violent rain that pelted the plexi-glass ceiling.

"If it starts to hail, that ceiling is going to be the first thing to go," he said, the bright colour of his eyes flashing in a passing flicker of lightning. "Do you want to help me with this?" He gestured to the other end of the mattress.

I obliged, helping him lift it to cover the bath like an oversized lid. We left a slight gap on one side as a point of entry. "Now what?" I asked, collecting up the discarded duvet and sheets from the doorway.

As if in answer, the hammering of rain above morphed into the rattle of ice against glass. The stones started out small, bouncing off the roof, but after a few short moments they became larger.

"Supercell survival 101," Zaphron shouted over the deluge, "we get in the bath."

There was a crash as a fist-sized ice rock punched through the glass and shattered against the tiles by our feet. I jumped backwards to avoid the rain pouring through the new hole and bumped into Zaphron.

He scooped me up and I let out a tiny gasp, my stomach dipping with the sudden weightlessness and close proximity to him. "Watch your head," he instructed, depositing me in the bath. I did as I was told and ducked down, laying flat on my stomach and scooting to one side to make room for him next to me. After a moment the mattress shifted above as Zaphron climbed into the tub, flattening himself onto his back and pulling the lid closed over us.

Even though the tub was clearly big enough to accommodate two people under normal circumstances, it quickly became clear that the same did not apply for apocalyptic conditions. Trying to fit our entire bodies under the mattress made for a very tight squeeze. Zaphron's side pressed against mine, his soaked clothes dampening my dry hoodie.

"This is cozy," he said, the breeze of his words hitting me in the side of the face.

I rolled onto my back, trying to press as far into my side of the tub as possible to get away from his damp clothes. "You're making me wet," I complained, not realising what I'd said until the words were out of my mouth. "Oh god, not like that."

Zaphron barked a laugh, his whole body shaking with it. I was glad for the complete darkness—he couldn't see the colour my cheeks were turning. Though we were so close he could probably feel the embarrassment rolling off me.

"I'd offer to take my shirt off," he said, an obvious grin in his voice. "But that might just make your situation worse?"

I flung out an arm and smacked him in the stomach, probably hurting myself more than him. "Shut up."

The crash of ice and glass in the room grew louder and a series of dull thuds pummelled the mattress as large hailstones bounced off. The sounds of wind and rain became disturbingly intense through the shattered ceiling.

"Probably a good call on the bath," I said, trying not to flinch at another crack of thunder.

Zaphron chuckled, his breath on my neck setting off goosebumps. "Definitely a good call on the bath."