Page 44 of Knotty New Year

“Airport? Since when does he fly out of an airport? He spent millions on that damned landing strip…” Luke grumbled, pulling out his phone. “There’s no bad weather anywhere from here to Atlanta, just a little band of storms moving through Texas later tonight and tomorrow. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s avoiding…”

“Me?”

He looked up at my whispered question, and froze. “Um. Maybe I’m wrong. Oh, yeah, there’s a storm. Totally missed it.”

Damnit.He was worse at lying than I was.

He tucked his phone away in a pocket. “Whatever it is, he owes you an apology. Make him beg on his knees, okay?”

I scratched at my neck, my mark burning. My scent rose up slightly at the thought of Pax on his knees, but the strawberries and cream smelled scorched, like a pie left too long in the oven. “Will do, Luke. Anyway, I guess he won’t be here for dinner after all. Tell Kati when she wakes up that you all might need to postpone your family picture.”

“Candy,” he began, stepping toward me. “I’ll talk to him about this. After all of the kids grew up, until you walked into his life, work was all he had to fill his time. I’m so—”

I held up a hand. Pity right now, or sympathy, would break me. “I need to rest. Kati wore me out, too.”

I hid in my bathtub nest through lunchtime, knowing I probably wasn’t making a good impression on Pax’s family but not able to care. They’d already seen my drunken ass screeching at their brother that she didn’t want him—and seen my actual ass hanging out of my dress—and if they didn’t hate me from that, I figured missing lunch wasn’t that big of a deal.

I had the feeling I was running a fever, so I took a few pain relievers, and turned the fan on high. Maybe I had altitude sickness? I read for a while, texted Soleil, who was still on vacation, and avoided texting Rain.

I had a feeling if I did, I’d only send one word: grapefruit.

When I called Pax, it went directly to voicemail. My texts stayed on read for another hour. Finally, my phone buzzed.

Pax: Sorry, love. Shitstorm of the century followed by weather delays. Real storm should clear up soon. I’m trying to get there, I promise.

I opened my weather app. Like Luke had said, there was no weather anywhere from here to home. What was he hiding?

Where are you? Freaking out a little. Feeling…

I thought about telling him I felt sick, but then reconsidered. He would probably call Mountain Rescue to fly me in a helicopter to the hospital.

Feeling sad. Where are you?

Pax: On my way to you eventually, princess. I promise it will all be okay. Go have some fun with my sisters.

For some reason, the word princess sounded condescending in my mind for the first time.Have some fun?My gut churned. He’d sent me to meet his entire enormous family, all alone. And even if I’d loved them instantly, that didn’t make it better.

I was going to kick hisass.

And have some fun.

Suddenly, all the energy I’d thought was gone earlier was back.

I was in the mountains. I could ski, though not very well. I was a greens and blues girl, or at least I had been before I’d revealed as an omega, before my parents had decided skiing was too dangerous. Right now, I had access to a private lift and some of the best snow in a century.

Fuck moping. I was going to hit the slopes. Maybe today would be my black diamond debut.

I turned my phone off, stuck it in a drawer, and opened the closet. In a half hour, I was wandering through the empty lodge. Kati was still snoring on the sofa. No one else was around, though I looked. So I tucked a note about where I’d gone under her pillow, then left to burn off some of my bad mood.

Chapter19

Pax

I’d fucked up, big time. I texted Candy again, but got no response. She’d stopped reading my texts earlier that afternoon, and my calls were going straight to voice mail. She didn’t want to talk to me, and I didn’t blame her.

She didn’t know what had happened to keep me from making it to Colorado. No one did, not really.

Not that it should have mattered. I’d had more than one person over the years, both in and out of the family, accuse me of being a workaholic. But besides my family, my company had been everything to me.

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