Page 3 of Snowed In with Three Mountain Men

I try the door, but it’s locked.Crap!My head starts to spin as I kneel down beside it, attempting to find some way I can continue my escape attempt before someone notices I’m gone…

And that’s when something catches my attention from the corner of my eye. A twinkle of something, there, in the sunshine—a set of keys! I dive over and snatch them up. Someone must have dropped them when they were getting out of their car, or one of the valets here must not be as careful as he should be—either way, it doesn’t matter. I have keys. I just need to figure out whose car they belong to, and I’m on my way…

I check the leather tag attached to the keys, and sure enough, it matches the logo attached to one of the vehicles just a few cars over from me. I rush toward it and, with shaking hands, push the key into the lock. I almost expect it to set off some screaming alarm telling everyone in the area that I’m trying to do something I shouldn’t, but instead, it unlocks smoothly, and I climb inside.

Gripping the wheel, I stare back toward the hotel. This is it—my last chance. If I want to change my mind, I still can. I can pretend none of this happened, I can turn on my heel and head back inside, I can leave those keys right where I found them and go back and marry that man, even if I know it’s a bad idea…

Or I can run. I can run for the fucking hills, and never look back. And no matter how terrifying it might seem, that’s better than staying here and letting him take everything from me.

I throw the car into reverse, pull away from the parking lot, and take off toward the road. The roar of the engine is loud enough that I’m sure it’s going to attract some attention, which means I have to get out of here quickly. By the time they notice I’m missing, a stolen car is going to be the last of their worries—and I don’t even want to think about what kind of chaos I’m leaving behind me.

I speed through the large gates that cut off the hotel from the rest of the world, and hit the road once more—the sun is still beaming cheerfully above me, as though it has no idea what’s going on here on this day. I press down on the accelerator, glancing in the rearview mirror and making sure nobody is following me—the hotel vanishes in the distance, going, going, gone, until there’s nothing left of it at all. My heart skips another beat in my chest. Oh God. I’m doing this. I am really doing this.

Once I find the highway, I take a turn toward the forest. I don’t know this area well, but I took a trip up to the woods a few years ago, and I can at least navigate my way back to the city from there. That damn return journey from the cabin to my real life is burned into my memory, after all.

A loud ringing plays in my ears as I drive. I can hardly take in anything that’s going on around me. It feels like everything is about to shatter into a thousand pieces.

I roll down the window, trying to let some cool air in, but it’s too cold—it bites me, the sky darkening overhead as rain begins to fall. I roll it up again and try to stay focused on the lines on the road as they slip beneath the car, over and over again.

Every vehicle that passes me, I find my head snapping up, looking around to see if it’s him. How long has it been since I left? An hour, maybe ninety minutes? And how long would theyhave left it before they came to the hotel room to see what was keeping me so long? He’s an impatient man, James, and I doubt he would have been willing to give it more than a few minutes. And when he finds that I’m out of there…

I am fucked. Well and truly and totally fucked.

The rain begins to turn to snow around me, and I keep my grip tight on the wheel. I’m not going to let anything move me off course, I’m just not. I can’t go back now. I don’t even want to think what he would do to me if he knows I tried to abandon him like this—hell, maybe he’s got a right to be pissed, with me taking off like this.

No.After everything he’s done to me, this is nothing. He deserves it.

A smile twists up the corners of my lips. I’m not usually cruel like this, but fuck, the thought of him standing there, realizing that I’m not coming back, it feels good. Right. Like this is the first good choice I’ve made for myself in longer than I can remember.

I pull onto a road that snakes into the forest, through the dark Oregon woods that rise up on either side of me—I know a lot of people think of this place as creepy, because of how rural it is, but I’ve always found it peaceful. The few trips I’ve made up here over the years, they’ve been quiet, and that’s exactly what I need in my life right now—quiet. Something as far removed from the bullshit that he’s dragged me into as I can get. If I have to make like a wild woman and go live in the bough of a tree or something, I’ll do it. Better than the alternative…

But as I drive, the snow begins to fall harder. It’s piling up at the sides of the road, creating heavy piles that are already starting to ice over the ground beneath me—I can’t help but think of howeasy it will be for them to track my tires through this snow. And it’s winter, so it’s not like it’s going to just dissipate after a few hours, before they figure out which way I’ve gone. No, when we get snow, we getsnow,and this blizzard will likely cut down my visibility for the rest of the night, at least…

I should pull over. But I don’t know how this car works, how I can get the heating on, and staying out here in the snow with nothing to protect me from the elements is way too dangerous. I need to find somewhere to stay the night, somewhere away from the snow. There has to be a motel somewhere near here. I don’t know how I’m going to get in there with no money, or what they’re going to think of me when I turn up in my wedding dress, but I can cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, all that matters is getting through these woods before the blizzard completely takes hold, and…

“Shit!”

I let out a cry as the car hits a patch of ice, spiraling out from underneath me. I manage to get it under control just before it swerves off the road entirely, but it’s a close thing. I pause for a moment, breathing hard, and catch sight of myself in the mirror—the veil is still half drawn over my face, but I can see my eyes. They’re narrow, focused, and I know that’s the energy I need to bring to the rest of this journey.

I start the car up again and push forward. I’m going a little slower this time, but still fast enough to put some serious distance between myself and the wedding venue where I was meant to sign away the rest of my life to that man. No matter what happens to me out on this road, it’s better than anything I signed myself up for back there, I’m sure of that.

I crest a hill—but as soon as I start to come down the other side, panic hits me once more. The car is sliding. It’s not under my control. I try to press down on the brakes, but the cold must have hit this place sooner than anywhere else—the ice is thick, solid, and there’s nothing I can do to pull the car to a halt.

It picks up speed as it comes down the hill—the snow is so thick I can hardly see what’s waiting for me beyond it. I press myself back into the seat, gritting my teeth and bracing for impact…

And in a matter of seconds, the dark wood of a huge tree emerges from the whiteout—and I hear the sound of crumpling metal before everything vanishes to blackness.

2

CALLUM

As soon asI hear the crash, my head snaps up.

Something’s wrong. Nobody comes out here, not if they can help it, especially not in this weather. If someone is on the road at this time of day, at this time of year, it’s because they don’t have a choice.

I drop the firewood I’m carrying, and head toward the source of the noise. No time to waste. Not now. Not here.

I grit my teeth as the snow whips into my face. I need to get my brothers. Whatever is happening here, I can’t deal with it alone—not in this weather. I’d be an idiot to go and follow that noise by myself, when I could easily get lost on the way back, or caught in a snowdrift or worse. No matter how well you think you know a certain area, there’s no guarantee you can handle it when the conditions turn bad. The way they are right now, they’ve rarely been worse.

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