Caught by the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 1) (19 page)

“Aw Beth, are you alright?” he asked with a smirk. His eyes fell to my torn and bloodied jeans. “You know it’s dangerous to jump out of moving vehicles, right?”

Bryan’s hand tightened around my arm. “Go to Kayla,” he whispered harshly. I looked up at him in fear. “I…I—”

“Go!” he snapped. I wobbled backwards a few steps, my body trembling in shock. I wanted to tell him to be careful, to remind him of all the things I’d told him about Rick the night before. The words jumbled in my throat. Kayla rushed up behind me, threading her arm through mine, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Bryan. I noticed he had a rifle slung over his shoulder. That detail wasn’t lost on Noah either as he came around to the side of the Jeep.

Bryan stepped between me and Rick, squaring his shoulders. The headlights threw bizarre shadows across the ground, dark figures stretched to impossible heights. Everything felt surreal, slow and fast at the same time, quiet and loud.

“Listen, this really has nothing to do with you. Beth and I go way back. I think you might’ve gotten the wrong impression last night,” Rick started. He sounded like a guy trying to talk himself out of a speeding ticket but I saw his eyes dart to the gun a few times.

“Get the fuck out of their car, get back in the truck, and drive back to whatever shit hole you crawled out of. Whatever Liz was to you, she’s not anymore.”

One of Rick’s eyebrows shot up in amusement, the corner of his mouth curling to match. He ran his tongue along the front of his teeth, a habit I recognized. I’d seen him do the same thing when Candi insisted she’d given him all her tips.

“Listen, you yokel, absolutely none of this is your concern and frankly, I’m sick of you showing up where you aren’t wanted,” Noah said, stepping forward. I got the distinct feeling that Noah had never been in a fight. Having Rick at his back somehow gave him the balls he lacked.

As Rick opened the door and stepped out, Bryan’s hand slid up the strap, readying himself. I was so terrified I thought was I was going to collapse.

“Lemme know if you need anything,” Walt yelled out as the doorbell tinkled.

“I, uh…” Kayla’s face popped out from behind an overflowing stack of hats. “I’m actually looking for a pair of skis.”

That perked the old man up a little. He slowly climbed to his feet, grinding his knuckles into his back, stretching his spine backwards. “Well, lemme take a look at ya. You been skiing long then?” he asked, looking at her over the rims of his glasses.

“A little while. Do you have any skis with flowers on them? Cherry blossoms, preferably,” she said in a cutesy voice.

I popped out around the corner, avoiding plain sight for long enough. “Well, I don’t know what the hell a cherry blossom is but I’ll show you what I’ve got.” Their voices drifted away, muffled by the piles of jackets and gear. I scanned the rest of the workshop, hoping I’d catch a glimpse of Liz, but she was apparently back at the cabin.

I got straight to work as soon as Walt pulled Kayla away. The dirty look she shot me was apparently all the thanks I’d get for making sure she didn’t asphyxiate in her sleep. I could tell Walt was in a great mood. Selling a couple hundred dollars’ worth of stuff seemed to perk him up to no end. It didn’t hurt Kayla was a bubbly, young girl who flirted with anything with a pulse.

Grabbing the child’s snowboard once again, I laid it flat on the work bench and sighed. The body was rippled and warped, apparently because the owner had left it leaning against a hot wood furnace. I did what I could, but a half hour later it was still a wreck. The bell above the door tinkled as Kayla left. “Walt, this thing is jacked but I need you to take a look at it. You might be able to work your magic.”

He finished counting the money in the register for the second time, shutting the drawer. I’d nearly groaned when I saw she’d paid for everything in cash.
Gee, wonder where you got all that, honey…don’t think the resort pays you that well
. I knew it was hypocritical to judge her and not Liz, but I couldn’t help it. Something about her just rubbed me the wrong way, not least of which was her nickname for me. Walt tipped his head down to look at me over his glasses. “Magic, eh?”

“I don’t know why you even said you’d take a look at it.”

Walt ran a hand across the wavy board and nodded. “Ain’t no magic can fix fucked. You’re right. I’ll give Grant a call later.” He sat down on the wooden stool with a groan. As I moved to grab the next item that needed tuning, he exhaled slowly, blowing out his cheeks. I’d been with Walt long enough to know that meant I was in for a lecture. I snatched a pair of skis from the rack and checked the order sheet. Hot wax, great. It couldn’t have been an edge sharpening or something that required loud machinery.

To be honest, I begrudgingly enjoyed Walt’s lectures and rants. While he was nothing like my father, it felt good to have a father-like presence in my life again. I liked to think he saw me as a son, though his exterior would never melt enough to show it. My instincts about taking the job were spot on. For two years, I’d avoided everything and anything to do with skiing. Whether he knew it or not, Walt was a better psychologist than any of the half dozen I’d been sent to.

He sniffed and crossed his arms, watching me tighten the ski into the vice. “How’d the date go?”

I smirked and nodded, not meeting his eye. “Alright.” Switching the iron on, I grabbed the wax from the cupboard.

He scratched his chin idly, eyes still glued to the work I was doing. “You that bad in bed?”

I chuckled, dripping the wax along the ski. “Didn’t get far enough to disappoint her.” I glanced up, debating whether or not to continue. “Her ex showed up from out of town. He’s…uh, apparently in some trouble with the law.”

Walt nodded knowingly, like this sort of thing happened all the time in his world. “You take care of him?”

My fist tightened around the handle of the iron. I might’ve had a temper, but I wasn’t a violent man. All the things Liz had told me and all the things she’d said between the lines, well…it was enough to drive me to do some pretty terrible stuff to protect her. “I wasn’t aware of who he was until after I’d gotten her safe.”

“That’s good. A man shouldn’t be quick to anger,” he nodded. He cleared his throat. “If you ever need help, you can call.”

That sentence triggered a memory and my mind went back to something Noah had said at the party. At the time, I’d been so focused on protecting Liz the comment slipped right past me. “Noah said
he’d
called him…” I muttered, the scene playing out in my head. We’d been standing outside Liz’s door, Noah jumping around like an excitable dog.

“What’s that, son?”

I set down the iron and looked up at him, pressing my knuckles against the workbench. “You know the mountain owner’s kid? The one I knocked out a couple weeks ago?”

“Little twat deserved it,” Walt grumbled. He’d enjoyed hearing how I’d put it to one of the Richards. It’d earned me honorary townie status in his eyes.

“He was all excited because Liz’s ex brought drugs to the party. Noah said he was glad he’d called
him
.” I blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of it. “Liz thinks Rick followed her out here on his own, but what if the little shit had something to do with it?”

Walt scowled at me. “Why would he do that?”

For the life of me, I didn’t know. “He’s a drug dealer, maybe that’s why? Maybe he’s looking to go into business with him? You said yourself the Richards family is pretty ruthless. Drugs have been flowing into the town for a couple months now, right?”

“If that’s true, then it’s odd your pretty little thing just so happens to live in the same cabin as that shit. And her ex just showed up, you said?”

The ball of tension knotted up in my stomach. The questions hit me in rapid succession. Liz couldn’t still be involved with this stuff, could she? Was she playing me? Did she actually know who I was and therefore how much money I had? Why would she tell me all that stuff about him going to prison if she were trying to con me?

A wave of nausea washed over me as my eyes met Walt’s. I’m sure he could see the fear there, but he had no way of knowing how deep it went. Could she really be that good an actress?

I jumped as my phone buzzed in my pocket. Liz. I almost didn’t answer it, my mind already racing. It rang a few times before I finally picked up.

“Hello?”

The juxtaposition between Liz’s voice and what I’d just been thinking was jarring. She sounded so happy, so perky. I couldn’t believe she’d be capable of screwing me over -- but then again, if con artists weren’t good, they’d never be successful.

Walt gave me a knowing look as I stood. I walked to the back of the shop as we spoke, my worries thawing by the second. As distraught as she’d been with her ex appearing, a part of me wondered if she’d fall off the radar now he was in town. It seemed like she genuinely wanted to get together, so I offered to cook her dinner, thinking I could get to the bottom of everything.

“What the hell is this guy doing?” I heard Kayla yell in the background. My heart jumped into my throat. I waited for the screech of tires, the sounds of shattering glass, the scream of twisting metal…and bodies. PTSD can be a real bitch sometimes. I squeezed my eyes shut but the sounds never came. Within seconds, my skin was coated in a thick sweat. I didn’t remember moving back to the front of the shop, but found Walt looking at me with concern.

“What’s going on?” I said with a choked voice.

I paced across the floor as Liz told me they were pulling over into the gas station. I strained to hear Kayla, to try and get a sense of what was going on.

“I’m coming, don’t hang up.”

“You really don’t have to—” There was no further response. I heard muffled talking in the background, the sound of clothing rubbing against the receiver. I couldn’t distinguish the words but I could hear the tension.

“Liz, are you there?” Walt stiffened in his seat. I paced away from him, pressing my finger in my other ear so I could hear. There was a man’s voice but I couldn’t make it out. I couldn’t make out what she said, but I definitely heard Kayla’s voice. Then Liz spoke.

“Rick, what do you want?” An electric shock of fear shot through me. No one was that good of an actress. She sounded terrified, like she was hanging on by a thread.

I covered the phone with my hand and whispered harshly to Walt, jogging across the shop to grab my keys. “I gotta go. The guy is there with her right now.” Whether or not she was playing me, there was no way I was going to take the chance by risking her life. When Rick got in my face, I hadn’t seen an ounce of kindness in his eyes.

Walt jumped to his feet, moving faster than I’d ever seen him, hands plunging into the dark cupboard beneath the register. He pulled out a hunting rifle with a rich, mahogany colored stock and held it out.

Holding the phone to my ear, panic growing strong in my veins, I resisted. “I can’t take a fucking gun.”

Walt practically threw it at me. “It’s not loaded but it’ll scare ‘em good.” I tucked it under my arm and flew out of the store, thanking every deity I could think of that I’d decided to drive to work that day.

I put the phone on speaker and chucked it on the passenger seat, sliding the rifle tightly into the crease. The conversation was a bit clearer now, as if Liz had moved the phone to a better spot.

“Just hang on,” I muttered. My mouth tasted bitter with fear. I had no idea what I was going to do once I got there. I just knew I didn’t have much time before Rick took all the options away, maybe for good. “Hang on, Liz. I’m coming.”

My truck screamed in protest as I slammed the gas to the floor, blowing through an empty four-way stop. If any of Tellure Hollow’s tiny police force followed me for speeding, I’d lead them straight to Rick and welcome the ticket. It was only a couple minutes to the gas station when driving the speed limit, so I knew I could get there quickly. As long as I kept all four tires on the road…

“You’re risking worse jail time if you get caught,” I heard Liz say. It physically hurt to hear the fear in her voice. Rick was twice her size and didn’t seem to be the type of guy who thought twice about hitting a woman. In fact, he seemed like the kind of guy who thought it was his place to slap a woman around a bit, teach her a lesson.

Rick’s voice grew louder as he told Kayla to get out of the way. I cut over the double yellow lines as I took a sharp corner, seeing the glowing phone slide across the seat towards the door. My hand shot out to catch it and, of course, it was that moment my truck started to fishtail. I lifted my foot off the gas and the reduction in speed was enough to straighten everything out.
You can’t help her if you die getting there
, I thought to myself.