Page 67 of Stolen

Keith let out an exasperated sigh. “Fuck. Fine. You can have him. You can have Leo.”

“Gee, thanks for your permission.” I couldn’t help but laugh at Keith’s idea of graciousness.

“Just promise me that you’ll treat him really good, okay? He deserves that much,” Keith went on. “And trust me, if I even get a whiff that there’s trouble in paradise, I’ll be flying back to Virginia in a goddamn heartbeat.”

“You know what, Keith? I think you’ve finally got yourself a deal.”

“Leo?”It was early the next morning, and I was knocking on Leo’s door, my heart pounding fast in my ears. “Leo? Are you in there?”

I’d spent the rest of the night away from Leo, not wanting to disturb him. I’d sent a few texts that he hadn’t responded to, and I had a feeling that he wasn’t interested in talking until he’d managed to calm down about the flight situation.

Although, a more irrational part of me wondered if this was Leo’s way of cutting things off between us, ghosting me in real time. And even though I knew that if Leo did want to end things, he would’ve at least done me the courtesy of breaking up with me in person, it didn’t help that he still wasn’t answering his door.

“Leo?” I raised my hand to knock again, but this time, the door opened before my knuckles could rasp against the wood.

“Diego?” I stared down at him in pure shock. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of dark shorts. “What are you doing in Leo’s room?”

“Borrowing some sunscreen,” Diego answered, as he held the bottle up in front of me. “Leo said we’re going to be outside pretty much all day today and I’m not interested in getting a sunburn. Snow or no snow, the sun always stays the same.”

“Hey! Jacob! Guys, it’s Jacob!” Chris called out from the room, too. “Good! We’re going to need all of us if we’re going to make this work.”

“Yep. It’s all hands on deck.” Andrew offered me a wave. “Hey, Diego! Are you done with that sunscreen yet?”

“Hey! Jacob! My man!” Keith waved, too, brimming with enthusiasm. “Sorry, I should’ve gotten your number last night, added you to the group text.”

Everyone in the room turned to look back at Keith, before looking over at me, confusion written all over their faces.

“Right. That.” Keith sliced his hand across his neck with an exaggerated motion. “All of that? Completely dead. Jacob and I came to an understanding last night. He’s a better man than I am.”

“Thanks for saying that, Keith?—”

“And we also agreed that if he fucks up with Leo, all rights revert back to me.”

“Not sure about that part—” I cut myself off, as I quickly glanced around the room. “Speaking of Leo, do any of you know where he is right now?”

“Jacob?” Leo said my name, as he suddenly appeared right behind me. Bradley was next to him, clearly dressed for much colder weather than the inside of the lodge called for.

“Leo! There you are,” I started, feeling more nervous than I’d expected. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about?—”

“You need to get dressed to go outside. We can talk later,” Leo instructed. “All of us are getting ready to go and clear the airstrip.”

“What?”

“If the snow’s the main thing in our way, why don’t we take care of it ourselves?” He went on. “I talked about it with Brent last night, and he said if we got it looking good enough, he might be able to talk to the airstrip workers and try to make a case for us getting out of here sooner.”

“Leo, that’s…” I looked over at him, my words getting lost in pure awe. “That’s genius, actually. It at least gives them one less excuse for not letting us travel.”

“Yep. That’s what I was thinking, too.” Leo smiled, but it reminded me of the way he used to smile when we first met, like he was fully back in PR mode.

Like we hadn’t spent the better part of this week in each other’s beds, in each other’s arms.

“And Bradley? You already signed off on this?” I asked.

Bradley quietly nodded, not adding a single word to the conversation.

“All right, then. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Fuck!It’s cold as tits out here!” Chris groaned as soon as we stepped out of Bradley’s truck and onto the airstrip.

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