Page 2 of Captive Lies

“What do we do? Take him to Summit County?” Iasked.

“Radio says roads are shutting down. We’ll never make it.” We had been heading into town when the weather took a turn for the worse, forcing us to turn around. Liam started examining the man’s body, starting with his pulse. He tried to rouse the unconscious stranger to noavail.

“He has a pulse and is breathing,” my friend informedme.

“We need to get him out ofhere.”

“No shit,” Liam muttered. “Get hislegs.”

There was no choice but to move him as I bent and took hold of the man’s boots. With the blizzard strengthening, we’d risk getting stuck ourselves and first responders wouldn’t be dispatched until the conditions improved. I imagined the 911 call center was already backed up. This man was either going to be dead, alive and paralyzed, or alive with no lastinginjuries.

Liam carefully slipped his hands under the man’s shoulders and cradled his head and neck under his forearms. We tried to keep his spine as straight as possible as I pulled him feet-first onto the sled, but the board was too short for the man’s frame, so parts of his lower limbs ended up dangling. His head, torso, and hips were level on the sled. After securing him with a couple of belt straps, we trekked back to the vehicle, pulling the sled behindus.

“Thanksgiving week brings in the idiotic tourists,” Liamgrumbled.

“At least he’s wearing a helmet.” The visor had a crack, so the man must have hit one of the trees. His choice to wear jeans riding a snowmobile was questionable unless he wasn’t expecting to stay in freezing temperatures forlong.

“Still anidiot.”

I smiled. Liam did not suffer fools. He had no patience for them. Unfortunately, Vail attracted the privileged rich and had become an everlasting source of irritation for him with their sense ofentitlement.

When we reached the SUV, lifting more than two hundred pounds of dead weight into the back presented another challenge. After debating what to do for a few minutes, Liam stooped over and removed the belt straps. He then raised the damaged visor. I finally got a good look at our injured charge and my breathing hitched. Thick lashes, classic Roman nose, and whatever angles exposed of his face were chiseled granite. But what struck me the most was how much presence the man exuded even in his unconscious state. My friend tapped the man’s cheek. “Hey. Wakeup.”

The stranger’s brows cinched together before thick lashes lifted briefly to reveal inky blue irises. “What?” herasped.

“Thank fuck,” Liam grunted. “Can youmove?”

The man blinked once as if confused, then, as if belatedly understanding what he was asked to do, he shifted to his side to push up. Liam and I rushed to help him. My friend managed to get the stranger up before the man swore under his breath and started tocrash.

“Easy,” Liam cautioned. “I’ve got you.” The man passed out again, leaving us to struggle for a few minutes to settle him into the SUV’s cargo space. By the time I jumped down from the tailgate, my overheated skin felt like it had withstood the flames of a furnace so I welcomed the blast of coldair.

Liam shut the cargo door and walked to the driver’sside.

I got in beside him and stole a glance at our guest. “You think he’ll beokay?”

As if on cue, we heard a groan from theback.

“He’s alive,” Liam muttered and gunned theengine.

“True.”

“We more or less confirmed he’s notparalyzed.”

Again, Iagreed.

“Otherwise, I’d have to killhim.”

I snorted a bewildered laugh. “What?”

Liam glanced at me. “He’ll blame us, saying we caused it by moving him. We don’t need thattrouble.”

“Liam …”

“I’m already regretting that we had to rescue his sorryass.”

“Do you see any cars on the road at the moment? He’d die from hypothermia if not hisinjuries.”

“Our life is already too complicated,Blaire.”

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