Laurie's Wolves (30 page)

Laurie loved this woman. She was kind. Generous. And sweet on top of that. Who on earth would be mad at the Masters for any length of time?

She headed for the walk-in fridge, found stacks of cases against the left wall, and heaved one off the ground just as Sharon popped in. Moments later, the two of them made two dozen people very happy, and Laurie returned for another case.

When she stepped out of the fridge the second time, she found one of the employees she’d met the first day she’d arrived leaning against the wall outside. “Hey.” She wondered why he was just standing there as she tried to place his name in her head.

“Brock,” he stated, as if he’d read her mind.

She snapped her fingers. “Right. Sorry. Forgot your name. Met you at the upper lodge last week, right?” She remembered him—the guy she and Zach had joked about, hoping he wasn’t their third. And he’d proven to her he was a sleaze ball.

“Yep. You were with Zach.”

“Yeah.”
And I’m still with him
, she thought as she watched this man’s gaze roam up her body. He even licked his lips in slow motion as if he were ogling a stripper—which she most certainly was not.

She shuddered as she stepped around him. “Gotta hand out more beer. Later.” The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Half of her wanted to touch him to see what he was made of. The other half hoped she never got close enough to him to even graze his skin in this lifetime because she could tell what sort of man he was without needing the mental image his touch would give her.

“You okay, Laurie?”
Zach communicated from somewhere else in the building.

She lifted her gaze and scanned the room. He wasn’t in sight.
“Yep.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. No worries.”
Damn, the man was perceptive. She didn’t want to piss him off with the tale of her strange encounter with Brock while he was so busy. It had been obvious the other day that Zach didn’t care for Brock.

“I have a weird feeling is all. No biggy. I’m probably still shook up from being separated from you. I’d much rather be back at the condo naked with you between me and Corbin than here working our asses off for the night.”

“Agreed. But this is what landed on our plates for today, so we’ll live through it.”

“Glass half full…”
He chuckled into her mind.

Two dozen more men grabbed a beer, although some of them were repeat customers from the first batch. A few had already finished their first beer, and several were simply planning ahead. She hoped no one got drunk and belligerent stuck in the lodge without the ability to leave.

Corbin grabbed the empty box from her hand. “The snow is still coming down.” His brow was furrowed in concern. “You got any weird vibes?”

She shook her head. “No. But I haven’t had a chance to think since we got here. I’ll see what Melinda thinks.” She started to walk away, but Corbin grabbed her hand and tugged her back until her chest slammed into his. He met her gaze and smiled. “I love you,” he whispered.

She felt the heat rise on her cheeks. “I love you too,” she muttered, hoping no one was paying attention to them. What they didn’t need was a riot caused by people freaking out about her relationship with two men tonight. Or worse, the fact that she was half Native American. That wasn’t something people could readily identify looking at her, but they could see that Corbin was Native if they were discerning. And Zach was so obviously Caucasian.

Never in her life had she pondered the idea of racism in the twenty-first century. And more than likely no one visiting Cambridge from other parts of the world to ski this week was as bigoted as the locals. But there was no telling how many of the people trapped for the night were from the area. She simply didn’t know enough people to recognize them.

As Laurie turned around, leaving Corbin in his spot to head back to the kitchen area, she stopped short.

What were the chances? Of all the people, the very woman she’d met on her first day of job hunting was sitting on one of the couches, and her gaze was trained toward Laurie.

The woman—Mary, she thought her name was—startled and gave a brief smile. Odd.

Laurie returned the smallest grin she could manage and continued to the kitchen, her body shivering. Suddenly the entire lodge seemed off. She couldn’t explain in words what she felt, but it wasn’t pleasant. First that weird guy, Brock, sort of hit on her. And now this woman appeared—who had seemed excited to meet Laurie the day she went in to interview. The same woman completely changed her tune not one day later, stating that she actually had no openings. Unstated was the insinuation she could not hire Laurie because her patrons preferred that their all-white kids be taught by all-white teachers.

That was fucked up and illegal, but it wasn’t something Laurie wanted to pursue under the circumstances. Lying low was more her motto these days. Drawing even more attention to herself and her two mates would only make things worse.

Melinda grabbed Laurie’s hand and dragged her to a stock room behind the kitchen. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” Laurie glanced down, trying to hide her emotions—as if that were a possibility where Melinda was concerned.

“Don’t give me that shit. Your emotions are all over the place. You’re hot and cold. I can feel every nuance even when you aren’t in the room.”

Laurie shrugged. “The woman who interviewed me that first day is here. And some strange employee who gives me the heebie-jeebies is also. I’m probably imagining things.” She tried to smile, knowing it was forced.

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Brock something.”

“Did you touch him?”

“No. And I don’t want to. He makes my skin crawl enough without getting that close.”

Melinda dropped Laurie’s hand. “I’m going to find him.”

Laurie groaned. “Could you not? It’s probably nothing. I don’t need Corbin and Zach getting all upset. They’re already on me like white on rice.”

Melinda paused and turned around. She gave Laurie a full-on glare. “Fine. But if I sense your emotions all over the place like that again, I’m hunting that asshole down and making his acquaintance.”

What she meant by that was she would introduce herself and shake his hand. It was how Melinda operated. Laurie knew she didn’t like to touch many people, but she had already proven that as the new big sister, she felt a sense of protection where Laurie was concerned.

Laurie bit her lip and tried not to giggle. “Okay, Wonder Woman. Rein it in. I’m fine.” She rolled her eyes as she walked away.

»»•««

It was nearly midnight before Laurie dropped onto one of the employee couches in the locker room and leaned her head back. No one else was currently in the room, and she needed a moment to rest. She had never been so exhausted in her life.

Suddenly, someone spoke, shocking the piss out of her, considering she had no warning of another person’s presence, nor had she sensed anyone in the room when she entered.

“Anyone sitting here?” Brock. He pointed at the other half of the love seat.

Fuck
.

He plopped down without waiting for a response, one arm landing over the back of the couch as though they were a couple in a movie theater. “Wow. I’m exhausted. Long night, huh?”

She lifted her head off the back of the couch to put some more distance between them. If he touched her… “Yeah. I was kind of hoping for a few minutes to rest, if you don’t mind.”

He grinned. “Nope. Not at all. I think I’ll do the same.” He snuggled down deeper into the cushion and closed his eyes, as if she intended to nap with this asshole on the love seat.

What the fuck was he up to? Her pulse sped up. The man had ulterior motives. Hell, the man always had ulterior motives no matter what he was doing in life. She got that vibe from him easily without direct contact. But tonight was worse than usual. He was truly filled with something malevolent.

Laurie leaned forward, intent on standing and walking away. She was done being polite. This was crazy.

The moment she lifted off the couch, Brock grabbed her hand and tugged her back down. “Where you going, sexy? I was hoping to get to know you better.” He leaned his body toward her and hovered inches from her face.

Every instinct she had told her to kick him in the balls and run. Goose bumps rose all over her skin at the instant he made direct contact. His hand was clammy. He smelled of beer—which she was quite certain the employees weren’t supposed to be drinking during this crisis.

But the worst part was the visions that swam through her mind. This guy had been a jackass all his life. He was a bully—the kind of man who pushed women around and got away with it. Until now.

She bit her lip, forcing herself to get aggressive and not hold back out of fear of hurting his feelings. He didn’t deserve it. “Brock, get off me. You don’t want to do this.”

He chuckled. “Oh, but I do. And I can tell you want it too.” He cupped her face and smashed his mouth against hers.

Laurie shoved at him with both hands, keeping her lips pursed against his insistence. Disgusting.

“Ah, come on, sweet thing. You know you want it.”

She lifted one knee and rammed it into his thigh. “Get off. I have a boyfriend.”

“From what I’ve heard
,
you have two. And I’m sure you won’t mind making it three. That’s the kind of girl you are.” He leaned closer again, grinning from ear to ear.

“Not a chance in hell, asshole. I’ll give you two seconds to move, and then I’m going to scream.” She didn’t want to involve Zach or Corbin if she could avoid it because she was quite sure they might kill this son of a bitch if they walked in on this scene.

He laughed harder. “With all the noise going on out there, no one would be able to hear you. Plus, if you’d relax and give this a chance, you’d see that I’m a much better lover than either of your current fuck buddies. I promise.”

His proximity alone made her stomach roil. In a moment she was going to vomit in his face. That might not be a bad thing.

When his hand landed on her breast and squeezed, she was finished. She could only allow things to go so far before calling in reinforcements. Rape was becoming an imminent possibility.
“Zach. Corbin. Employee locker room. Right fucking now.”

She felt them both in her head, the level of their stress on full alert immediately, but she didn’t communicate another word because she was too busy physically fighting off Brock.

He swung a leg over her, straddling her body, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head.

She heaved for breath, hating every single inhale that brought more of his disgusting scent into her nostrils. She was pinned. And she stopped struggling, realizing it was the best course of action because it would slow down his progress and buy her some time while Zach and Corbin made their way to the locker room.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Just relax and enjoy. I swear you won’t regret a good fuck with me. My cock is big, and I know how to use it. I’m not a pussy like those other guys you’ve been whoring with.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers again.

She held her mouth as tightly closed as possible to avoid his taste and smell. Sickening. Bile rose in her throat. She wasn’t going to be able to stop herself from vomiting.

And the moment the door to the locker room flung open, slamming into the wall with the force, she lost it. She projectile vomited right into Brock’s face.

He yelped and jumped off her to stand in front of her, yanking his shirt up to wipe her throw-up away as it dripped down from his eyelids and nose. “You cunt. Jesus. Fuck. That’s so fucking gross.”

In her peripheral vision, she watched Corbin and Zach stride quickly into the room.

Before Brock could finish wiping away the mess, a fist slammed into the side of his head, knocking him to the floor. He jumped to his feet and twisted to face Corbin. “Shit. What the hell’s the matter with you, man?” He held his jaw. “You can’t just punch people in the face for no reason and get away with it. You’re a fucking deputy.” Spittle spewed from Brock’s lips. His shirt was covered in vomit.

It would have been comical if he wasn’t such a piece of slime.

Laurie drew her legs up and scrambled to press herself as deeply into the couch cushions as possible to avoid becoming a casualty in the fight that was about to escalate in front of her.

Corbin stepped closer to Brock and grabbed the man by the shirt, balling the nasty cotton in his fist and forcing Brock to stand straighter. “Did you put your hands on my woman?”

Brock’s eyes widened. “Who the fuck cares? Surely you don’t mind if someone else shares in that hot piece of pussy. She’s nothing but a whore.”

Zach stepped closer. Even though Brock was immobilized in Corbin’s clutch, Zach lifted a fist and slammed it into the side of Brock’s head, knocking him toward Laurie.

Luckily Corbin held on to the man by the shirt, righting him almost immediately. “Come again, mother fucker?”

Zach spoke for the first time. “From my vantage point, he had more than his hands on her. He had his entire body on her, pinning her to the couch. I call that attempted rape.”

Brock shook the cobwebs from his head, his eyes widening again. “Rape? Nobody in this room got raped.” He twisted his neck to face her. “Did anybody rape you?”

Laurie narrowed her gaze at him and said nothing.

“Laurie, baby, did you tell this man he could climb on top of you and maul you?” Zach asked in a syrupy voice, not taking his eyes off Brock.

“No.”

“Did you at any point ask him to stop?” Corbin asked.

“Yes. Several times.”

Corbin leaned his face closer to Brock again. “That’s attempted rape, mother fucker.”

Brock swallowed. “I was just trying to have some fun. She’s nothing but a whore. I don’t know why you give a shit who fucks her. I bet her pussy is looser than my grandmother’s panties.”

And that was it. Corbin slammed his fist into Brock’s nose, knocking him unconscious as Zach grabbed him and lowered his limp body to the floor. Corbin released his grip and wiped his hand on Brock’s jeans. “Jesus, that man smells.”