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A little fake napping, waiting till Drew went to the bathroom and then I slipped out the French doors and down the path, silent as the grave. I wanted to surprise the Burns boys with some Swiss goodies from the gourmet shop on site. They were impossible to keep a secret from, and Jake probably had a tracking device implanted in our teeth anyway.
A surge of glee hounded me to go faster, almost skipping toward the resort’s main building, excited to give them a fun surprise and proud of myself for sneaking out without being caught. Because there was no alarm system known to mankind that held a candle to even one Burns bro on alert.
In the lobby, the scents and sounds, the beauty of it claimed me for a moment. I stood there and breathed in the tranquility and perfection of the place. Thanks to my bosses slash friends slash lovers, the gorgeous, luxurious resort was part of my story now. The broken road and all that—a country song I loved when I was a kid about how mistakes lead you to where you’re meant to be.
I had been a fatalist since I was about ten, but the Burns boys had taught me to hope for things, to wish for more time, for a future full of adventures and romance with them. I felt a cautious optimism bloom in my chest and couldn’t even blame the expensive aromatherapy for my rush of good feelings. I was in love, and happy, and had something to look forward to for the first time I could remember in all of my life.
I spotted Eli coming out of the restaurant, so I dodged quickly behind a pillar. He went in the gourmet shop, leaving me to wait him out. There was a regular gift shop across the lobby where I hid. By ‘hid’ I mean that I bought a magnetic bottle opener and a box of those amazing local soaps. I sampled the lotion tester and sighed with satisfaction at the light citrus scent. He was still in the damn gourmet shop. I rolled my eyes. No way to surprise them if got caught by a one of them on my silly mission.
I gave up on the gourmet place—I had probably ten more minutes before someone noticed I was missing, and I had to hurry. The plan was to surprise them, not alarm them and make them anxious or furious. I would for sure end up with a tracker in my molar if I didn’t make it back to the cabin before Drew checked in on Ty and me during our supposed nap.
This was starting to seem like a dumb and childish plan, I realized. I ducked next door into the bakery and chose an assortment of pastries. They were full of pears and nuts and one of them had marzipan. I paid for the mouthwatering treats and adjusted my grip on the box as it teetered a little unsteadily with the weight of the pastries loaded inside. I couldn’t wait to see their faces when I brought the goodies back.
I made my way carefully through the lobby, balancing the box as if it contained a fragile treasure.
“Oh, sorry!” I chirped automatically when I bumped solidly into a man who hadn’t been standing in my way seconds before. I managed to steady the wide, wobbly box as I turned to see if the guy was going to apologize for barging in my path and nearly dumping some very special and expensive treats on the ground.
Oh no oh no oh no shit please no. No. Not here, not him, no, please.
My brain shut down. I shuffled back a step on instinct as I recognized him. My entire body wanted to reject the sight of him and believe it was a nightmare, that I was somehow still asleep in the cabin having a vivid dream about my ex. About the nightmare I had lived.
Chris.
Blonde hair, star quarterback grin, wearing a popped collar polo and looking for all the world like he owned the resort and me and everything else. I felt long icy fingers close around my heart, cold as death. I shook myself out of pure terror, forced myself to think.
I tried to brush past him and avoid a confrontation, to get away and make for the front desk. I didn’t want to cause a scene in this lovely place and embarrass myself and everyone else. Maybe I could resolve this quietly, ask the front desk to send a security guard to escort him out or just call one of the guys.
I cursed myself for leaving my phone on the charger. I could have used the panic app and called them to me in an instant. I wanted to sink to the floor and weep for being so careless and stupid, for thinking of a surprise rather than using common sense.
Chris wouldn’t let me get away that easily. How many times had he thwarted my attempts to escape him in the past? A dozen? A hundred? The sick horror of being dragged back into that futile loop of torment and false hope and failed escape and more torment gagged me, stopped my voice, threatened to choke off my breath.
Chris’s hand closed around my arm, a bruising grip above my elbow. He kept smiling as he hauled me to the doors and propelled me out into the cold sunlight. I staggered along with him, trying not to fight him because he always hurt me worse when I struggled. Some part of my brain wanted to avoid a scene, but I would have screamed if I could have.
I felt strangled by panic, suffocating in my own fear and misery. He got me out to the beautifully landscaped area outside the resort entrance. Something about the icy air, the stark sunlight, the way that a group was chatting happily as they approached the door, their very safety and comfort and normalcy mocking me in my distress—all of it ran up my spine like steel.
If I struggled and he broke my arm, so what? I wasn’t a scared teenager anymore. I was a grown woman with more than one trick up my sleeve. I cleared my throat, made my eyes wide.
“Chris, please,” I managed to whisper.
I saw that vile, triumphant gleam in his eye, the one he always got when he knew he had me. I was prey again.
“You think if you ask nicely I’ll just let you go?” he said.
His voice was as friendly and normal as you please. The menace of his words was made even more chilling by the way he said it, commonplace and cheerful. No hiss of threats, no shout—just the everyday conversational tone of a man accustomed to doing whatever he wanted with no one to prevent him.
He was trying to pull me off to the left—to a parked car, to an outbuilding, it didn’t matter to me where he intended to take me. It mattered that there was no way I was going anywhere with this asshole. Remembering one of the first things Drew ever told me about self-defense, I stepped in toward Chris instead of pulling against his grip on me. I shifted my weight and slammed the entire box of pastries into his shocked face.
Startled, he reacted by raising his hands. Free of his grip and my burden of the box, I gripped his shirt in both hands, stepped in close and rammed my knee between his legs. He gave a satisfying yelp and went over onto the ground, curled on his side. Part of me wanted to kick him but I still had a healthy fear of getting close enough for him to grab me.
I scanned the crowd that was forming and saw Ty barreling toward us. I knew better than to get in the way of a Burns on a mission, so I took a step back.
26
TY
As soon as I saw them, I took off at a run. I medaled at state running sprints for the varsity cross country team three years in a row in high school. Although I was a distance runner now and had several marathons under my belt, speed kicked in when the adrenaline spiked in my bloodstream. She was ours, not his. He had hold of her arm. As I barreled toward the pair of them, Jasmine smashed a box of food in his face and kicked him in the nuts.
Pure rage, burning hot and focused like the laser sight of a high-powered rifle on that bastard. My vision went red at the edges. I pinned him by the throat and pounded my fist into his face. A rush of satisfaction filled me as I felt his jaw give way. I drew back for a third hit when two sets of hands clamped down on my arms and hauled me off of him.
