“Do those other customers pay you what I do? I need those plows now! If skiers can’t get up the mountain during a snow, then what the hell good are you?!”
“Mr. Johnson, I am trying…”
“Your trying doesn’t mean shit to me! I got customers!” ranted Johnson.
“Jesus, Tanner, lay off,” drawled Teak as he walked into the garage. “Of course, Bart’s gonna fix them, but every minute you spend yelling at him is another minute he could be fixing the plows.”
“Shut up, Barrett,” he growled. “This is none of your business. And Bart, you’d better have those plows ready by the end of the week.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Johnson, it won’t be a problem,” assured Bart nervously.
“And who is this?” asked Tanner, suddenly acting charming when he saw me. “Are you coming to the resort to ski? I own it, you know.”
“I… didn’t. It’s good to know, but I don’t ski.” I wasn’t into his attention.
“You should come anyway. Be happy to give you a lesson,” he smiled. “There’s also a great deal of partying going on at our ski lodge and you don’t have to know how to ski to find the bar, Ms. uh…”
“Rhodes,” I said. “Lila Rhodes.”
“Nice to meet you Lila Rhodes,” he said suavely. “I hope I have the pleasure again.”
“I’m pretty busy right now, so you probably won’t see me.”
“Well, if you change your mind, I’m just up that mountain,” he said gesturing to a hill in the distance with a ski lift. “Bart. Teak.” He nodded curtly.
“Don’t let the garage door hit your ass on the way out,” said Teak wryly.
“Say hi to your brother,” he said before leaving.
And with that, Tanner slid into his convertible and skidded out of the driveway, kicking up gravel as he did so. He drove like an asshole too.
“Sorry about that,” apologized Bart. “Tanner’s more than half my business and he can be demanding. He’s threatened to hire an in-house mechanic and cut me out more than once.”
“Did he say he owns the resort?” I asked.
“Yeah, his family’s pretty rich, but…”
“Kind of a dick, right?” I added. “I can’t believe I was going to drive to work for that guy!”
“Yeah, exactly,” said Teak.
Boy, I really dodged a bullet not having to work for that guy. I couldn’t imagine driving all the way up to the mountain and begging him for help. He probably would’ve sent me packing.
“What can I do for ya, Teak?” asked Bart.
“Lila’s car is in a ditch just off the road near our place and about a hundred feet down. Think you could pull it up and out?” asked Teak.
“I can send my boys to retrieve it, but I won’t get to it until I finish with the plows. You know how it is,” Bart’s hand gestured towards the snow by way of explanation.
“Sure, I get it. Give me a shout when you can make it happen,” said Teak. “It’s a hatchback, all smashed up against a tree. Caught on fire too.”
“Jesus, well, I’m not a miracle worker, but I’ll see what I can do,” said Bart. “You staying in town somewhere, miss?”
“I’m staying with the Barretts, so just call the business line if you have any news about the car,” I said.
“You can stay as long as you want, Lila,” said Teak awkwardly. “I mean, ya know, if you need to.”
“Thanks Teak, I know.” My head swam with thoughts of me trapped with the brothers and I couldn’t say more.
We drove to the supermarket in awkward silence until we spotted some kids building a snowman.
“Hey, look at that,” said Teak suddenly breaking the silence.
“Aw, that’s cute,” I said. “I haven’t built a snowman in years. You guys ever build one up at the cabin?”
“Once in a while,” said Teak. “One time Oak started building one when he was just a kid and he let one of the snowballs roll down the hill, not far where your car landed. It was about the size of a car when it finally stopped.”
“We could crush the whole town!” I kidded.
“Our secret weapon,” promised Teak. “Don’t let anyone know.”
The rest of the town was full of suburban homes and cabins. They were smaller versions of what the Barrettes had. I imagined everyone in town was pretty rugged and independent like them.
The supermarket was small, but in a town like this it had to be. There was a section for things like firewood, driveway salt and shovels. It was part hardware store as well as supermarket. Teak and I stocked up on some supplies for the cabin. I still had a couple of dollars left from the road. I picked up some make up and feminine products. I bought myself a package of underwear and a t-shirt, just so I’d have some more clothes that didn’t belong to the boys’ mother.
“Is this where you got the turkeys?” I teased Teak.
“Yeah, they get pretty much anything you need here,” he said. “Even if they don’t have it, they can order it for you.”
In the corner of the store, there was a counter and what looked like a little post office right inside the store.
“Is that a real post office?” I asked.
“Yeah, they used to have their own building, but they moved it into here,” he explained. “Guess it was cheaper. Now they have the mail boxes in the back, but it’s still the same. Why? You need to mail something?”
I thought about mailing an angry letter to Bradley and Annie. Basically something like, “Hi-how-are-you-I’m-doing-great-you-bastards”. Then I dismissed it. I didn’t need those two in my life anymore.
“I don’t need to mail anything.”
As I looked around the store, I watched the locals doing their shopping. A mother told her kids to put back a box of cereal. An old woman took down two boxes of oatmeal, but put on back. At the cash register, there was an argument over the final bill. It seemed like everyone in the town was tight for cash.
“Why is everyone so broke?” I finally said to Teak.
“A lot of the locals work for the resort and Tanner’s a bit of a task master. Plus he hasn’t raised pay in a while,” said Teak. “The guy’s a real jerk.”
“Well, maybe the resort is losing money,” I suggested.
“Fat chance!” laughed Teak. “They did a story on the news last year how he was breaking all sorts of records for attendance on the slopes. No, he’s making money, he just wants to be sure no one else in this town does.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah,” said Teak. “Hey, listen, when we get back to the cabin, don’t mention that we ran into Tanner to Ash. They got a history and– Well, it’s better you don’t mention him, okay?”
“Sure, no problem,” I agreed.
I wanted to pry and ask why, but I felt I owed the guys and wanted to respect their wishes. Whatever was going on between this Tanner and the boys, I got the vibe it was big and bad. Imagine having a whole town under your sway. Although the guy seemed like a jerk, it also sounded like he was saddlede with pretty big responsibilities.
We paid for the supplies and got back in the truck. When we reached the base of the mountain, Teak put down the plow and plowed the other side of the road on the way back up. It was a lot more strain on the truck going up hill, rather than down. Teak gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and had to give it a lot more gas. We were going only a little faster than I did when I drove up here the first time.
During the trip, we played “I spy with my little eye”, but the running gag the letter was always “S” and the answer was always snow. Each time, we pretended to be surprised by the answer. It got sillier and sillier during the ride.
“Look, you don’t have to tell me what happened between Tanner and Ash,” I said. “But I want you to know that you can talk to me if you want.”
“Thanks,” said Teak. “But I’d better not. Ash might get mad if I said anything. Trust me, it’s better that you don’t know.”
“Quite frankly, I’m kind of surpris
ed,” I said.
“Why’s that?” asked Teak.
“You guys are all the way at the top of the mountain. No families. You seemed kinda isolated. I was surprised you had much contact with the people in the town.”
“Oh, we got friends down there,” assured Teak. “I mean, it gets boring in the cabin. Sometimes you have to just come downtown and find something to do.”
“Didn’t seem like there was much to do other than ski at Tanner’s resort,” I said.
“No-no, there’s plenty. If you like hunting, there’s all sorts of things to shoot. Not our thing, but other people do that.”
“No, I couldn’t do that.”
“There’s good fishing during the season and ice fishing this time of year.”
“That sounds interesting,” I said. “Do you guys go sailing?”
“Well, more boating than sailing. Or canoeing or kayaking.”
“Or that thing where you stand up and paddle with the board?”
“Paddleboarding? Yes. It’s just this time of year, people are shut up for the winter. You have to have a good stack of movies to ride it out.”
“I didn’t like that Geostorm movie.”
“What? It wasn’t so bad,” insisted Teak. “You fell asleep like fifteen minutes in!”
“No, I saw more than that, I’m sure!” I laughed.
“You missed all the special effects! The Earth turn against us! The weather killed a bunch of people.”
“I think I’d rather watch the Notebook again,” I admitted.
“Chick flick,” said Teak. “I get it.”
“Name a movie you watched that didn’t have an explosion,” I chided.
“If it doesn’t have an explosion, then I’m not watching it,” assured Teak. “Name a movie you saw that didn’t have a romance in it.”
“They all have a romance in them somewhere.”
“Not Apocalypse Now,” countered Teak. “I’ve seen that movie like five times.”
“That movie’s old!” I laughed. “Watch a movie from this century.”
Teak was full of surprises. Apocalypse Now? Who would’ve thought? Although, really, it was a very guy thing to like that movie. That’s what made the brothers so endearing. They were such guys. Not guys in the way that they were slobs or jerks, but guys in the way that they were so unapologetic for their lives. They lived in the wilderness, making it all on their own. They weren’t dependent on others. Maybe that was my problem all along, being too dependent on relationships and guys like Bradley.
“I have to admit, Teak,” I said. “I really envy your family dynamic.”
“How so?”
“You and your brothers just seem to back each other up in everything,” I said. “Your whole family works. Mine was so dysfunctional.”
“Guess we’re pretty lucky.”
“You don’t know how lucky,” I said. “My dad always tried and he was a nice guy, but things just got so screwed up in his life.”
“I’m sorry.”
“See? Right there. You barely know me and you’re sorry. Most people just wouldn’t care, ya know? You have empathy.”
“Well, I care for a lot of living things. Comes with the territory, I guess.”
“I think it was how you were raised. You were raised right.”
“Well, when you think about it, your dad didn’t do a bad job,” suggested Teak.
“How so?”
“You seem like a nice, empathetic person. Sure, you had some bad luck, but you’re still nice. The mere fact that you went through a hardship and you’re still nice is kind of a miracle. Most people are too angry or selfish to be nice.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. My dad did do something right,” I agreed.
This made me happy. It was like a weight had been lifted from me. All this time, I was looking to make excuses for my dad and my past. I did have positive things happen, I just needed to see. I needed to remember them and cherish them always. Teak was putting me in touch with feelings I hadn’t had in a long time.
“You know, I think you may have missed your calling,” I said to Teak.
“How so?”
“You have a real knack for– I don’t know, I guess you’d call it reading people.”
“Me? It’s the first time anyone’s ever said that about me!” he laughed.
“No, seriously,” I insisted. “You kind of nailed me– I mean, nailed my– You saw through me and put together something that was really deep on an emotional level. Thanks.”
“Oh. Well. Uh, ya know– I, uh–“
“You don’t have to be embarrassed.” I said. “It’s a good thing. Heck, with that kind of read, you should probably play poker for a living.”
“Can I plant trees in the poker room?”
“I don’t think they’d grow there. Those places are usually pretty dark and smokey, I hear.”
There was a few minutes of awkward silence. I could tell Teak was trying to formulate a response. He would start to inhale and then exhale without talking. Finally, after a couple of false starts, he spoke.
“You coming up here,” he began. “Well, it was a bit of a change. I can’t really get into why, but things were kind of– What’s the word? Gloomy, I’d guess you say.”
“Gloomy? Why?”
“Long story, but mostly we all seemed to be in a rut,” he said trying to explain. “Every day just blurred into the next. All it seemed like we did was work and eat and sleep, ya know. Suddenly, you come along and things are different somehow.”
“In a good way?”
“Yeah, definitely,” he said, encouraged. “Like, just showing you the mountain, I can see the mountain for the first time through your eyes. That makes everything kind of new and exciting even though I’ve already seen it a million times.”
“And going into town.”
“Sure, even meeting Tanner,” said Teak. “What is it about meeting new people that does that?”
“I guess it’s like you said, plus I bring my own experiences to the table too. And then I react to you guys and then there are new experiences and reactions none of us ever had before.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s kinda it,” he said. “I think you would’ve liked my parents. They definitely would’ve like you. They would’ve taken you in right away too. They were like that. Always putting out for other people.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” I said. “I wish everyone in the world was like that. Wouldn’t that be something? People being nice to each other? Was there ever a time that it happened in the world? When everyone else was nice?”
“Maybe during prehistoric times,” suggested Teak. “Who knows? You’d have to figure there was so much land, so much food– Why fight over it?”
Finally, we were back in the parking lot of the cabin. Teak went to get out of the car, but I touched his hand and asked him to wait.
“Listen, I just want to thank you for bringing me along on this ride,” I said. “It was really good to get out of the house. You and your brothers have been really great to me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t stumbled upon your cabin.”
“Ye-yeah, sure, no problem,” he stammered.
I leaned forward to just give him a peck on the cheek, but Teak wasn’t paying attention and motioned to get out of the truck again. I stopped, but then he realized I was hovering behind him, so he turned back around and pushed into the truck. I didn’t see him coming and we ended up colliding in a brief smashed kiss.
We looked at each other. We knew we both wanted it. so we lunged at each other, kissing hotly in the truck’s cracked vinyl seats. It was long and steamy. I felt aroused. Way more aroused than when I had kissed Bradley. There was nothing deceitful about Teak. He was honest and open, and his kiss was the same. For a moment, we were sitting in the truck making out and then a snowball hit the windshield. We both pulled apart, surprised and alarmed that someone was throwing something at us. I opened the door to the truck and looked out.
&nb
sp; “Hey, you two,” said Oak, packing another snowball.
I was sort of expecting Oak to be angry with me. I assume he caught us kissing. Did he see us? Maybe he didn’t. But he was clearly not angry. He was just a kid preparing to throw another snowball at us.
“You’d better get ready!” yelled Teak playfully, getting out of the truck.
These guys lived on top of the mountain where it snowed all the time. No doubt they would be excellent in a snowball fight. I immediately took cover. Oak hurl another perfectly packed snowball in my direction. His aim was pretty uncanny. It was almost like having a snowball fight with Buddy the Elf.
Teak hid behind some bushes that were part of the landscaping for the office entrance. He quickly packed a snowball. I tried to pack one and throw it, but it immediately fell apart as I threw it toward Oak.
“Oh, dammit.” I laughed. “This is not fair!”
Throwing a snowball at his brother, Teak nearly hit him, but Oak actually caught the damn thing. He packed into another snowball and threw it back at him. I finally got a good snowball packed and threw it at Oak. It sailed over his head and hit one of the trucks. Then, suddenly, as I was packing a snowball, I got hit from the side.
Teak suddenly hit me with a snowball!
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped. “I thought you were on my side!”
“Sorry.” Teak shook his head in mock sadness. “No sides in a Barrett snowball fight. It’s every man for himself.”
As he completed that sentence, Oak nailed him in the face with a snowball. I laughed. Teak just stood there a moment, trying to spit out the snow. For a few minutes, it was all out war. We were having a blast. Just playing in the snow like kids.
Eventually, Oak chased me down with a snowball after I nailed him across the face. I slipped and fell in the snow. He pinned me to the ground with his big strong arms.
“I’m going to stuff some of this down your shirt!” he said, grabbing a handful of snow.
I was laughing so hard, I was almost out of breath.
“No-no! That’s not fair. I have to work in the office. Don’t!” I laughed.
But then Teak snuck up and shoved a handful of snow down his brother’s back.
“Ahhh!” he squealed.
Loved by the LumberJacks_A MFMMMM Reverse Harem Romance Page 7