Page 35 of Pucking Snowed In With My Ex

“Something’s wrong. I can feel it.” I gripped my chest as the fear clouded my ability to think straight.

“Listen up! Everyone spread out and look for any sign of Alex or Skye. Don’t leave any building, car, trail, or room unsearched. Go,” Tyler ordered, and I was happy that one of us was able to come up with an intelligent plan. “Come on, let’s get our shit on and check for footprints.”

“Good call.”

Shoving my feet into my snowmobile boots, I shrugged on a jacket, opened the lower door, and stepped outside.

“Nothing over here,” Tyler said as he checked the far side of the lower patio.

“Same here. Let’s walk around. She’s not in the hou—” I paused when I heard a faint scream and grabbed Tyler’s arm. “Did you hear that?” We froze and held perfectly still. “There it is again. That’s Skye, but where is it coming from?” I ran to the front of the house and looked at the driveway, but all the cars were still untouched. My eyes scanned the pond, but nothing.

“There.” Tyler pointed to fresh tracks heading along the path to the forest.

Why the hell had she come out here alone? I expected to feel the old insecurities rising, but they didn’t. Alex might have talked her into coming out here with him, but she wouldn’t have wanted to go.

My heart stopped, and my anger surged as we rounded the edge of the trees. Alex was on Skye, though I could barely see her as he pressed her into the snow. His hands were wrapped around her throat as she weakly hit his face. Pulling away from Tyler, I raced towards them as Skye’s hands fell to her side.

Alex looked up as I hollered a moment before I slammed into him. My fist connected with his face as we sailed through the air. I gripped the front of his hoodie tight as we hit the ground and rolled together.

“I’m going to kill you,” I growled, my fist smashing into his jaw again, his lip splitting open.

Alex covered his head. “It’s not what it looks like. She attacked me,” he yelled. “I was just protecting myself.”

“Liar,” I hissed, landing two more blows before pushing myself up and staring down at him.

I looked over my shoulder long enough to see Tyler give me the thumbs up that Skye was alive and stepped away from Alex. I was far from done, but he was down for now. The rest of the guys ran our way, and with one look at Skye, they all balled their fists.

“Take her to the house and get her warmed up. Don’t leave her for a second, Tyler. I mean it.”

He scooped her up into his arms, and the bruise on the side of her face had my hands clenched tight.

“I’ll make sure she’s okay. You have my word,” Tyler said. He was the only person on the planet that I would trust her to right now. I watched him walk away as the guys joined me.

“What the fuck is this? I swear she called me out here and tried to kill me. Look at me.” Alex pointed to the long red lines running down his face where Skye had scratched him. There was also a partial boot print and I was instantly filled with pride. “She’s fucking crazy. She kept saying that she wanted me and not you. I tried to walk away, and she went insane.”

How had I not seen the lies before? As Alex spoke, I knew that not a single word was the truth, yet he sounded so sincere. Three years ago, I believed him. I believed him when he said that they were drunk, and Skye came on to him. I believed him when he said he was passed out in the room when she found him, and he didn’t even know it was her until it was too late. He swore on our friendship that he was telling the truth and was sorry. I believed him then, but not now.

“Hey, look what I found?” J.T. held up Skye’s phone and walked over to show it was still recording. I hit end and then play. With every word spoken, all I saw was red.

She won’t be able to get a coffee without hushed whispers and people staring at her, wondering if she is the girl in the pictures. Every guy that knocks on her door will already have seen her naked, and let’s not forget that she will hate you forever.

I’d heard enough and hit end. So that was what Alex held over Skye. She was protecting her sister. I hated myself for not pummeling the shit out of Alex three years ago. I should’ve stopped him. There were so many things that I would never be able to fix, but this…this I could fix.

“You want to try and lie again?” I stuffed the phone in my pocket for safekeeping and was so proud of Skye for thinking fast on her feet. I didn’t need the video, but she constantly impressed me.

Alex’s eyes changed in a blink. It startled me how one moment he looked like my scared friend, to the next when I could see him slitting my throat while I slept. A shiver raced down my spine as I remembered the many times I thought someone was trying to get in my room when Skye slept over, but I always kept my door locked. It was too unbelievable to contemplate, and I didn’t want the answer. What would he have done?

At that moment, it became clear that I couldn’t take the chance of him ever walking around free again.

“Get him up,” I ordered. Zach and Noah pulled Alex to his feet.

Alex laughed, and even that didn’t sound like the guy I grew up with. How had I never seen this? I couldn’t understand how I missed something so sadistic in one of my closest friends.

“You don’t deserve her, just like you didn’t deserve to go to Wayward or make the NHL. We all know the only reason you’re there is because of your daddy,” Alex snarled and pulled against Zach and Noah.

“Is that what this is all about? You wanted to break us up because you were jealous?” The thought that Skye ended up as collateral damage made me sick to my stomach.

“I’m not jealous. I’m stating facts,” Alex yelled, his eyes full of rage. “I loved Skye, but you asked her out even though you knew I wanted her.”