Page 35 of Snowed In with Three Mountain Men

“And me,” Dax agrees gruffly.

I sigh heavily, staring into the fire.

“What is it?” Callum asks softly, sensing the shift in my attitude.

“It’s just…I’m glad for you, I really am,” I reply. “It makes me so glad to know that the three of you have this place, and that it’s helped you. I just…”

I trail off. I don’t want to sound selfish, or like I’m making this all about myself, but the weight of everything I’ve been through still hangs heavy over my head, even here.

“I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to feel that way.”

“What do you mean?” Chuck asks, a furrow appearing in his brow as he laces his fingers through mine. To my surprise, neither Dax or Callum comment on our sudden closeness—have they talked about it already, what’s happening between us? Maybe. I guess it’s not what matters right now.

“I mean, with James,” I admit. “The way he got inside my head, the way he—the power he has in this state. I don’t feel like I’m ever going to be able to get away from him, or what he’s done to me. Unless I spend the rest of my life in hiding, and that’s not exactly the existence I had imagined for myself, you know?”

I shake my head. “It feels like I’m always going to be running from him,” I continue, the words spilling from me faster than I can stop them. “And now that he’s sending people out here, to this place you’ve worked so hard to build, I just…”

I find the words hitching in my throat. I hate how helpless I am in the face of this. Running from that man has landed me here, among these men who are actually worth something, these men who are decent and kind and have offered me a place to stay when it feels as though everything else is falling apart. And I’ve dragged my past with me, and that past might destroy them even as it takes me down too.

“I can’t let him take this from you,” I murmur. “And I hate that I might have made you a part of this.”

“You didn’t make us a part of this,” Dax replies, his voice almost sharp, like he’s annoyed I would even see it that way.

I glance up at him. “What do you?—”

“We might not have had a choice where you crashed your car,” he replies, leaning toward me slightly. “But we had a choice to keep you here. You told us everything, and we decided we still wanted you in this cabin. Here, with us. Is that not enough to convince you?”

I raise my eyebrows at him. The way he’s speaking, it’s almost fierce, like he can hardly believe I would doubt them like this. And I suppose it’s only fair. They’ve made it clear that they’re not going to let me go anywhere, and instead of believing them, all I can think about is how this can go wrong.

“And besides, that motherfucker has no idea what he’s getting into with us,” Dax continues, leaning back in his seat again, a grin crossing his face. “He might think he knows how to handle this, but he doesn’t have a fucking clue.”

“But it’s his father I’m worried about,” I admit. “That was what he always used to get what he wanted, his father, he’d use him to?—”

“And if his father’s someone with any real power, then there are people who want to bring him down,” Chuck adds. “People who will be very interested to hear what his son has been using his influence for. And those people will probably be very interested to hear what you’ve got to say about the way he’s treated you—and how he used his dad’s power to make that happen.”

“I don’t know about that,” I mumble. “Nobody really cares about what I have to say…”

“That’s not true,” Callum fires back, his voice sharp. “People do. Whatever shit he’s spun to you about where you stand in the world, he’s only done it because he’s scared that you’ll suddenlyrealize you’ve got a whole lot more power than he ever wanted to give you credit for.”

I look up at him, raising my eyebrows. Within me, something begins to awaken—something that hasn’t been there for a long time. This sense that, maybe, I might be the one holding the cards here, after being certain for years that James was the one dealing them.

“He showed a side of himself to you that he doesn’t let the world see,” Callum continues, leaning toward me, speaking quickly. “And that means you have something on him. You just need some way to prove what he’s been doing, and he’s dead to rights. And so is his father.”

When he puts it like that, I can’t argue with him. It just sounds like it makes perfect sense—of course I have the power here. Of course I’m the one deciding how this is going to go. I feel the smallest hint of a smile creeping up the corners of my mouth, and I wonder, just for a second, if they might be right.

“See? There’s my girl,” Callum laughs. “You’re in control here, Charli. You can bring him down.”

“And anything you need from us—we’ll give it to you,” Chuck adds.

Dax nods in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t like the thought of that asshole out there, walking around like he owns the place,” he mutters. “I look forward to wiping the smile off his face…”

As the three of them continue to talk, I lean back in my seat and lift the drink to my lips once more. It might be the alcohol, or it might be the fact that I’m suddenly feeling optimistic in ways I haven’t in a long time—but whatever it is, the future suddenly feels a little more manageable.

As long as I have these three on my side, I can take on the world. And I know I’ll win.

16

CHARLI

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