Saved by the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 2) (19 page)

I licked my lips again, my mouth suddenly so dry. Without a word, Liz grabbed a cup of water from the side table and held it to my mouth, tipping it so I could drink. It was pointless trying to keep my eyes open, so I did everything by touch.

“Thanks. Anyway, the magazines all got that part right. He was my coach and he was tough, but he wasn’t the abusive prick they made him out to be. I always thought you were supposed to be kinder about people after they died, but apparently that rule doesn’t apply to anyone in the public eye.”

“Bryan, you really don’t need to do this now,” Liz said squeezing my hand. “I promise I’ll stop being such a—”

“No, I need to,” I insisted. I didn’t want to admit it to her, but I felt sleep winning quickly despite my best efforts. “What did you read online?”

“Nothing really, I couldn’t stand to,” she said in a low voice. “I read the first part of the Wiki page before I almost threw my laptop across the room.”

I chuckled. “That sounds like you.” I took a deep breath and decided to dive right into it. While painful, talking about my dad was the easy stuff. “I don’t remember much from the day of the crash. Most of my memories aren’t really memories. They’re pieces of videos or articles I saw. I know exactly what time I crashed only because I read it somewhere.

“I woke up in a hospital room a lot like this one. At first, they wouldn’t tell me what happened. They were afraid of what my reaction would be and at the time, they weren’t even sure I’d ever be able to walk again. So many shitty things happened that day, I think they froze up. They didn’t know which shitty thing to hit me with first.

“I actually laughed when they told me Dad had died, which freaked them out. My mom had sat down, pretty much right where you are now, and told me that he’d gotten into an accident as he was following the ambulance to the hospital. I laughed. I thought it was a joke, like, how could that possibly happen? It’s absurd.” I was thankful for the painkillers. They were good at numbing all kinds of pain, apparently.

“He died on the way?” she whispered. I almost laughed again at the horror in her voice.

“See? It
is
absurd.” I shook my head. When I spoke, it was like I was reading it from an article. “Christopher Marsh, father and coach of Bryan “The Blizzard” Marsh, died tragically following the accident at the River Creek Olympic qualifiers. Marsh, 52, failed to negotiate a particularly icy corner and careened off the edge of the road and down a small ravine. The Nissan XTerra came to a stop thirty feet below. Marsh was declared DOA at the same hospital his son had been taken to. Services will be held blah, blah, blah,” I finished with a wave of my hand.

Liz let out a strangled gasp as she threw herself over me in a tight hug. “I had no idea it was that bad. That’s so horrible. Jesus, Bryan...”

I fought the urge to say,
It’s okay. It’s fine
, because it wasn’t. It sucked and of all the people, other than my family, Liz understood how much it sucked. I did my best to return the hug before she sat back down.

“You can see why I laughed. I couldn’t go to the funeral because I was still in the hospital. The whole time was...difficult.”

“No shit,” she blurted out. She sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue.

I sighed again. The accident, my dad’s death, I’d talked about that over and over with my therapists. It felt mechanical almost, like I was dictating the things I’d been told to say. The next part...well, that’s why I’d come to Tellure Hollow. I’d been living the next part for so long. Coming here was supposed to give me the distance and space needed to figure out what the hell happened. Maybe part of moving on was confronting it directly.

“The media jumped on us. The story was fucking everywhere. I really think if Dad hadn’t died, no one outside of the Olympic circles would’ve ever known about my crash. I would’ve just become another footnote in the history books. I had a few records, a cool nickname, but Dad dying turned it into a real story. What a tragedy.

“They were at the house when I was released from the hospital a few weeks later. I remember my brother pushing me in the wheelchair, having to fight through the crowds of photographers, microphones shoved in my face. They towered over me, like adults did when I was a child. They wouldn’t stop calling, even camped outside in the dead of winter. It was crazy. It didn’t take much to turn me into a shut-in.

“I moved back home with Mom, for her sake and for mine. Angela, my fiancée at the time...she didn’t handle it well. We started to fight all the time. She said she didn’t recognize me. We’d known each other since we were kids, but I’d always been the big strong, loud, jock, ya know? She didn’t know what to do with this guy who was stuck in a hospital bed, depressed, doped up on painkillers. It wasn’t a happy house.” Major understatement, but she didn’t need to know every gory detail yet. I wanted to open up, not scare her away.

“That’s hardly your fault,” said Liz.

“I know that,
now
. On top of it, she was getting a lot of attention from the press. It’s something I blame myself for. I thought if we gave the vultures
something
, maybe they’d go away. She was close enough to the family it was natural for her to speak for us. It’s not like me or Mom were in any state to do interviews. Angie was more than happy to help and then it turned into more. Whatever attention she wasn’t getting from me anymore, she found from her new adoring fans. She became the hot girlfriend of the tragedy that was The Blizzard. She even did a spread in Playboy that was all snow- and ski-themed.”

“Are you serious?”

“Painfully.”

“What a cunt, sorry, but she really is.”

A slow smile crept across my face. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Anyway, she just sort of, drifted away. We never broke up, she never gave me back the ring. Her visits became more and more infrequent and eventually, I heard more about her through the news and magazines than in real life.” I laughed cynically. “Of everything that happened, that hurt the worst. The crash, Dad dying, those things were quick. They had conclusions. But Angela leaving took months and months of back and forth, lies, crying.

“That’s the thing I need you to understand the most. All the stuff she said about me, my abuse, my temper...it was for the fame. I mean, yeah, you’ve seen my temper, but I never raised a hand to her. The truth becomes flexible when it’s dished out in public like that. I didn’t know how to explain it when I first met you. ‘Hey, my name is Bryan, go ahead and Google me but hardly any of it is true. I promise, I don’t hit women and I’m not a complete asshole.’ Really, I haven’t done myself many favors in the past couple years, but when I met you...”

I didn’t know how to finish my thought. My speech had become more than a little slurred, fuzzy around the edges. My tongue felt heavy and speech too much of an effort. The lure of sleep drew me into silence and I dozed off and on. Time became very fluid. Hours passed in the blink of an eye. Throughout, Liz stayed by my side. I’m not sure how long I was asleep when I heard hushed voices in the room. Liz slipped her hand from mine and stood, the bed bouncing back.

“How did you find me?” she whispered.

“The camera. I saw the video. Jesus Liz, are you alright?” It was Kayla. Great. Might as well call up Noah and Rick, make a real party out of it. The ache in my joints and muscles told me the pain medication had largely worn off, but I pretended to be asleep so I could listen to their conversation.

“What do you mean the camera? The one on my helmet? Oh shit, it was recording!”

“It streams directly to my computer. When I saw you weren’t in the house this morning, I loaded it up to see if you were at the mountain still.” She paused and presumably gestured to me. “How is he? He looks like shit.”
Bitch
, I thought.

“He’s gonna be fine,” Liz said, returning to my side. “Scared the hell out of me, though, but there isn’t anything seriously wrong.”

“Oh, well that’s good, I guess,” Kayla replied.
Don’t sound too excited.

Liz ran a hand down my arm and I chose not to respond. It felt a little dishonest to be laying awake listening to them, but something told me if I woke up, Kayla would leave. I still wasn’t sure what was going on between Liz and Rick, so maybe I could find something out that might help me get her away from him for good.

“He was actually just telling me about everything that happened to him with that accident, the one before.”

Kayla scoffed. “Did he tell you he was an abusive prick who got addicted to painkillers? ‘Cause I’m sure he left that part out.”

“Seriously, what is your problem with him? He’s done nothing to you, other than help your best friend over and over.”

“A few weeks ago, you practically wanted him dead,” she snapped. Their voices were growing louder and louder. If I didn’t stir, they’d probably think I’d slipped into a coma. Before I could move, Liz hushed her.

“Alright, fair enough,” she said, her voice returning to a whisper. “You’re right. It’s just...after seeing him today, thinking that I might actually lose him—” her voice choked.

“Aw sweetie, I’m sorry.” I could hear Kayla’s heels click along the tile floor to Liz’s side. For some reason, that annoyed me more than anything. “I didn’t think. I was just so worried about you. Once I saw the crash, I came straight over here to make sure everything was alright.”

I shifted slightly, stretching as far as I dared without hurting myself. With a few dramatic blinks, I opened my eyes feeling much clearer than before, the heavy-lidded sensation gone. I smiled at Liz and then looked at Kayla, hopefully conveying the right amount of confusion.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Liz said as she touched my shoulder.

“Much better, thanks. Hey Kayla, thanks for stopping by. I apologize for not getting up.” I gave her a weak smile, really hamming up the charm.

“I’m just glad you’re alright,” she replied. For some reason, a shiver ran down my spine and I remembered her threat from the day before.
“You don’t know half of what you think you know.”
She turned to Liz and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll give you a ride back to the cabin if you want.”

“Well, maybe. How would you get back?” she asked me.

“I could call Walt, I suppose. The shop’s been closed because of that break in, so I know he’ll be around.”

“The shop’s closed? God, I didn’t hear about that.” Liz thought for a moment and shook her head. “No, it’s alright. They said he’ll be discharged in a couple hours. The doctors want to take one last look at him. I think I’m gonna go spend the night at Bryan’s tonight, make sure he’s okay.”

“Ah.” Because she was standing behind, Liz didn’t see Kayla’s expression contort. A distinct flash of hatred crossed her face, the smile turning into a snarl for a fraction of a second. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone. It could’ve been a trick of the light or the drugs messing with me, but I was sure of what I’d seen. “Well, alright then. If you want, I can pack you an overnight bag and bring it by his house after work.”

Liz looked up, touching her hand, and smiled. “That would be awesome, actually. Thanks, babe.”

____________

About an hour after Kayla left, my phone started ringing. Liz had fallen asleep with her head on the mattress, so I gently nudged her. “Liz, hon, my clothes are buzzing.” By the time she reached them and dug through the right pocket to get it, the call had stopped.

She handed me the phone, the glass surprisingly intact even after the impact. “Sorry. I’m sure they’ll call back.” What she didn’t know was the only person who had this number was my mother. Before I could swipe to her number to return the call, a voice mail popped up.

The panic in her voice brought a metallic taste of fear in my mouth. “Bryan, where are you? Oh Jesus, I can’t believe—if you get this in the next half hour, please call me back. I’m going to try not to overreact but I’m pretty sure the video is real and I don’t want to start calling hospitals—just, call me. Bryan, please.”

My eyes went wide as the phone dropped from my ear. Liz looked at me with concern. “What’s the matter?”

“It was my mom. I have to call her right back, but I think—no, let me just call her.”

My heart thumped like crazy as I pressed send. She picked up on the first ring.

“Bry? Are you alright?”

“Mom, I’m here. I’m fine.”

Her breath came out quick and loud against the receiver, like she’d been holding it for hours. “Oh thank God. Are you hurt? Your Aunt Jess sent me a video that a friend sent her of a guy—was it you? Or was it another fake? Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine, just a few bumps and bruises but nothing serious apparently.”

She gasped. “So it’s real? Bry, where are you? I’m coming straight out.” I could hear her throwing things around in the background, panic packing.

I sat up on my elbow and did my best to calm her down from a couple thousand miles away. “Mom, I’m genuinely fine,” I looked at Liz and grimaced. “Can you do me a favor? Can you send me that video?”

Liz scrunched her face as we locked eyes. “What video?” she mouthed to me. I shook my head. “What video?” she repeated harshly.
The one your best friend leaked on the Internet
, I thought.