Page 76 of Three Swedish Mountain Men

I raise an eyebrow. “You have something better to do?”

She hesitates, thinking, then sighs. “It was my ex-boyfriend. Sam. He recorded it secretly, back when we were still together. Must have set his phone up on the bookshelf, or something.”

Anger roars up in me. What is this guy’s problem? The internet’s full of porn, of women willingly taking their clothes off, and he had to fucking trick Daisy into making him a sex tape against her will? It’s disgusting.

“When I tried to break up with him,” she continues. “He sent me the file. Said if I didn’t stay with him, he’d put it online. I called his bluff. I didn’t think he’d really do it. I didn’t think someone I once loved could be thatevil.” She shivers. “He held it over my head for a few months, but when he realised that I wasn’t going to come around, he did it. Put it on the internet, on a bunch of porn sites, and titled it with my real name.” She looks up at me through her lashes. “It’s Jennifer Adams.”

“Riven told me,” I say. Her shoulders slump. “Where did you get Daisy from?”

“It’s my middle name. And Whittaker is my mum’s maiden name.” She coughs. “Sam said he’d only take the video down if I got back together with him. Obviously, I wouldn’t, so… I guess I’d logged into my social media a few times on his computer. He had my passwords saved. He sent links to the video to everyone. All my Facebook friends. My family. Every single person in my work email list. All the parents of the kids that I taught. E-everyone.” Her bottom lip trembles, and she looks down. “Sorry. I can’t.”

“Come here,” I say roughly, pulling her into my chest. “You’re okay. You’re okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

As soon as I say those words, she just falls apart against me. She starts sobbing into my chest like somebody’s died. I rub her back, feeling completely helpless.

“My mum and dad won’t talk to me,” she whispers. “They won’t believe me, that I didn’t film it on purpose. They think I did it for some easy money. M-most of my friends were other teachers at the school. They all blamed me. Said it was inappropriate for a teacher to be seen doing stuff like that. I had messages from pretty much every parent whose child I taught, calling me a whore, and a slut, and a ‘danger to society’. I lost my job. My income. I was in thenews,so many stations covered the story.The Pornstar Teacher,they called me. And every time someone looks up my name, they see a video of me getting f-fucked from behind. I just—I don't know what to do.”

I have nothing to say, so I don’t say anything. I just hold her tighter, clenching my free fist so hard my fingernails bite into my palm.

When all of this is over, when Daisy’s safe and warm and back in the cabin, I’m going to find her ex-boyfriend. I don’t care where the fuck he is. If he’s in Sweden, or England, or the fucking Amazon rainforest. I’m going to find him, and he’s going to pay for hurting her this much.

Daisy makes a little noise against me, and I realise I’m squeezing her too hard. I force myself to relax my grip. The stew starts to bubble in the can, so I pick up the fork and feed it to her. She eats slowly, sniffling, then turns her face into my chest. “Can I please sleep now,” she whispers.

I lay her down gently and wrap myself around her. With her all bundled up like this, it’s like spooning a caterpillar. She falls asleep almost immediately, her breath still trembling with little sobs.

Twenty-Seven

Daisy

When I wake up again, Cole is huddled next to me, an arm slung protectively over my waist. Outside the tent, I can still hear the heavy fall of snow. I try to sit up, but I’m wrapped in about fifty layers of blanket. My arms are pinned to my sides by a bright orange sleeping bag. Frowning, I try to tug free.

“Don’t,” a low voice rumbles at my side. I look across at Cole. I thought he was sleeping, but his eyes are alert. “You need to stay warm,” he mutters, reaching across to pull at the tapes tying the sleeping bag shut.

I feel plenty warm at the moment. If anything, I feel too warm; sweaty and gross and claustrophobic under all the insulating layers. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.”

“I can’t breathe in here.” I try to yank my hands free.

“You’d be dead without it.”

“Please take it off? I’m really fine—”

“You’renot fucking FINE!”He roars suddenly, sitting up. My eyes widen. He looks furious. “You almostdied,Daisy. If I found you any later, we would’ve spent tomorrow digging your fucking body out of a snowdrift. So don’t tell me that you’refine!”

The wind howls outside like a dying animal. The nylon walls of the tent flap violently.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

“Fan.” He shakes his head. “I’m not mad,” he mutters. “Not at you.”

“You should be. I was stupid.”

“None of us saw the storm coming,” he says gruffly. “Me and Eli almost got caught in it. Sometimes there’s no warning.”

I try to smile. “Sure you don’t want to call me an idiot? That’s your usual go-to. Don’t go soft on me just because I almost died.”

It’s supposed to be a joke, but he wipes a hand over his mouth and swears again. “You really feel better?”

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