Dead of Winter_Aspen Falls Novel

by Melissa Pearl

  How had she never known that about him?

  She’d always believed that he was just the friendly, sexy bartender she’d met and fallen in love with.

  They’d been living together for months and he’d kept it from her, living this double life while she blindly believed he was the perfect boyfriend.

  Damien sniffed and rested his hands on his hips.

  “Rosie girl.” His voice shook. “I need my shit. What have you done with it?”

  “I…” Her courage fled along with her voice.

  He looked kind of desperate, like a wild animal that had been cornered and was ready to pounce. She couldn’t tell him the truth, but was struggling to think up a lie.

  “How could you not tell me?”

  “It’s not your business.”

  She frowned.

  “I provide a roof over your head.” His voice was hard. “It doesn’t matter how I do it. You want this life with me, then you accept it.”

  “You deal drugs!”

  He swallowed, his fingers tightening on his hips. “What’d you do with them?”

  “It’s complicated,” she whispered, picturing the detective who had been standing in their doorway only a little while ago, shoving a warrant in her face and demanding to search the apartment.

  She’d had to act fast or Damien would’ve been arrested.

  “It’s complicated?” he snapped.

  “Well…”

  “Rosie! I need that stuff! People are expecting it! I have commitments that I can’t break!” Marching around the bed, he snatched her arm and hauled her up.

  His fingers bit into her. It hurt and scared her. She’d never seen this side of Damien before.

  “Where is it?” he demanded.

  She whimpered and looked to the floor.

  “Did you sell it to someone else?” he yelled.

  She recoiled but he yanked her back, his lips brushing her ear as he harshly whispered, “You better find me those drugs or we are both dead!”

  “Dead?” she choked, leaning away so she could look at him.

  Oh shit, he was serious.

  Her eyes bulged so wide she thought they might pop out of their sockets.

  If Damien hadn’t been holding her, she no doubt would’ve crumpled to the floor. His painful grip kept her from fainting, but the flicker of panic in his eyes only heightened her terror.

  Damien was working with some scary people, and she’d just screwed up everything in a bid to save him. But had she just sentenced him to a different kind of punishment?

  “Where’s my candy, Rosie?” His quaking voice told her that his control was only just in check.

  “I…I…” She struggled to get the words out. As soon as she told him the truth, he’d snap, and she couldn’t predict what he’d do.

  “Say it!”

  “I…”

  A knock at the door shut her up.

  Damien jerked, breaths punching out of him as he let Rosie go and shoved her onto the bed.

  She yelped but quickly scrambled to her feet.

  Pulling her clothes straight, she shoved on her boots to keep her feet off the freezing floor, then crept to the bedroom doorway to listen in.

  “Chester. Hey, man.” Damien’s voice was like a string about to snap. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just coming to collect.”

  “Really? That’s not the way we usually roll. I mean, I was planning on—”

  “Boss wants it now.”

  “Right now? Cuz, uh…”

  “Where’s the money?” Chester’s gruff voice was deep and unrelenting. He sounded like a mean-ass…and probably looked like one too.

  Rosie was too scared to peek her head out to get a look at him. Gripping the doorframe, she held her breath, wondering how Damien would get out of this.

  “I’m gonna get it for you. I’ve just had a delay in moving product, so I need a couple more days, man.”

  “The boss wants it now.”

  “Yeah, I—whoa!”

  Rosie leaned around the corner in time to see Damien stumbling into the tiny living room. He smashed his hip on the edge of the couch and tried to smile as the door slammed shut.

  Raising his hands, he let out a shaky laugh. “Chester, chill out, man. I’m gonna get you that money.”

  “Boss wants it tonight.” The tall man towered over Damien.

  Rosie swallowed back her gasp. The guy was huge. Tall, broad, and intimidating. He had dark, ragged hair that brushed his shoulders and a goatee that was just as unkempt. Rosie’s guess had been right: he looked as terrifying as he sounded.

  “I can’t give it to him tonight, okay?” Damien’s voice quaked. “I just need a couple more days.”

  Chester scoffed. “If you can’t give me the money, then boss wants the product back.”

  “Why? I mean, he’s never asked for it back before. Is…is something wrong?”

  With the swiftness of a viper, Chester fisted Damien’s shirt and yanked him forward. “The product.”

  “Yeah, yeah, okay. The…the product.” Damien cleared his throat, easing out of Chester’s grip and trying to put on his standard charm that usually worked so well. “Yeah, I…I could do that, but I’ve got some really interested buyers that I’m meeting to…tonight. So, if you just give me a day, then I’ll…I’ll get you guys the money.”

  Chester huffed like a bull ready to charge, then powered forward with a slap that tipped Damien sideways. He caught himself before falling, rubbing his red cheek and letting out another choked laugh.

  “I’m good for it, I swear.”

  Rosie couldn’t breathe. She’d never met Chester before. Did he have more than a slap in his back pocket? He seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t hesitate to kill or torture someone in order to get what he wanted.

  And Damien knew it.

  Her boyfriend glanced her way, jerking when he spotted her. His eyes flashed with desperation while his tongue darted out of his mouth like a snake studying its prey.

  Rosie curled her fingers around the doorframe, her pulse quickening.

  “Listen, man, it’s gonna be cool. I’ll make you a deal.”

  Rushing across the room, he grabbed Rosie and yanked her into the open.

  She gasped, fear hammering through her as she gaped at Damien, her eyes asking what he was up to.

  He looked back to Chester, his swallow thick with guilt as he shoved Rosie forward. “Here’s a little collateral.”

  She stumbled. What did he just say?

  Rosie’s mind froze as Chester’s hungry gaze trailed her body. His dark eyes drank her in, mentally peeling off her clothes. She could feel it.

  “You take her for the night, use her however you need, and that’ll give me time to get you the money.”

  Rosie spun to face him, her mouth dropping open in disbelief.

  Damien just glared at her and spun her back around.

  “It’s a good deal.” He wooed Chester with his sales-pitch voice. “You can make a little extra cash on the side. She’s got to be worth some decent change. Look at her face. Check out the body. She’s hot!”

  Rosie’s gut roiled as Chester moved around the couch.

  Vomit stirred in her belly, fueled by disbelief and a quiet rage that Damien could betray her so easily.

  Gritting her teeth, she breathed through her nose, shrugging out of Damien’s hold as Chester stopped in front of her.

  He reached a hand out and she flinched. His eyes challenged her to move and she held still, her body quaking as he picked up a lock of hair and rubbed it between his fingers. He gave it a quick sniff, closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent. She’d never felt so degraded in her life.

  The rage boiled, spurting higher up her throat when he reached for her face.

  She lashed out before thought could stop her, scraping her nails down his cheek with a feral yell and kicking his shin.

  He barked in surprise and grabbed his face, which gave Rosie just enough t
ime to do what she needed to.

  Without a backward glance, she bolted for the door.

  4

  Friday, February 16th

  3:10pm

  Rosie couldn’t stop shaking as she crept down the street, away from the cop that hadn’t given her a ticket. She didn’t know what to make of the incident. He’d been kind, which was not something she’d been expecting. And he’d said her name like…like he cared about her.

  Part of her wondered if she knew him, but she never had the guts to look at him long enough to figure it out. She hadn’t even read his nameplate.

  She was too ashamed of everything she’d become to let herself be recognized by someone from high school.

  Shit! Coming back was a huge mistake.

  The moment she’d entered Aspen Falls, her stomach had knotted, but driving past the high school had been her undoing. Her fall from grace had been hard, and the landing was breaking her.

  Damien had offered her to another man.

  She shuddered, her hellish day playing out in her head like some sick movie reel. She was still recovering from the shock of what she’d discovered that morning, but to then have him do that to her was the final blow.

  The guy she lived with thought of her as nothing more than a cheap whore.

  So what did everybody else think of her?

  She was too scared to really consider it.

  Biting her lips together, she sniffed at her tears and ambled toward Lulu’s Coffee Shop.

  “Lulu,” she whispered, her mind jumping back to that sweet cop.

  Surely the coffee shop was owned by Louanne—the one and only cool adult present in her teenage life.

  Had that cop somehow known that?

  She nibbled her lip as she thought about him. She’d been speeding way over the limit. He could’ve ticketed her without a second thought, but instead he’d checked if she was okay. Told her he’d rather give her a jacket.

  He’d cared about her well-being.

  For the briefest of moments, sitting in the car with that cop standing next to her door, his concern for her palpable, she’d considered telling him everything. Just letting it all out. But then the full force of what she’d done slammed into her. The events of that morning could be considered aiding and abetting. She’d lied to the detective who showed up on her doorstep. She’d been trying to save her boyfriend, not realizing that only two hours later he’d offer her up as a way to clear his debt.

  An icy chill swept through her.

  She hadn’t had the guts to tell Damien what had happened before he got home. The guy had been freaking out, and she couldn’t predict how he’d react. She was staggered by how little she knew him.

  She should’ve split as soon as that detective left. Disappeared without a trace. But maybe a part of her still hoped that Damien had accidentally gotten himself mixed up in something illegal.

  “Accidentally,” Rosie scoffed. “You’re an idiot!”

  A stupid, blind idiot.

  Maybe that was another reason why she couldn’t tell that nice police officer why her day had been so hellish.

  How did she admit to an upstanding citizen of the law that she’d jumped into bed with a scumbag like Damien? She’d let herself be blinded by his fake charm and sexy looks.

  She was a shallow piece of work.

  She always had been.

  Slashing at her tears, she thumped the wheel as her lips bunched with self-loathing.

  It felt like rock bottom. She’d been sliding from the top ever since she left Aspen Falls, and now she was stuck to the scum at the bottom of the pond. She’d never felt so vile or so alone.

  “Louanne,” she whispered again.

  Would she take her in? Rosie didn’t deserve it.

  But it was Louanne—the woman she wished had been her mother…or grandmother. The only one who really saw her or understood how hard it was being part of the Sweet family.

  Guilt slashed her insides at the idea of turning up after years of radio silence only to ask for help.

  “You don’t deserve it,” she muttered.

  But where else could she go?

  She had no money for a motel.

  The gas in her car was getting low. If she hit the highway now, she’d run out and no doubt freeze to death on the side of the road. Calling her parents wasn’t an option. And Hell would literally have to freeze over before she asked Angie for help. Besides, they were all miles away. Thousands of miles away.

  If she wanted to live, Louanne was her only option.

  “Do you want to live, Rosie?”

  A memory flashed through her brain. A guy with bony white fingers wrapped around a handgun. His long greasy hair had covered the recent black eye, but she clearly remembered the way his split lip bunched as he lifted the black weapon and pressed it against his temple.

  “Don’t do it,” she’d cried from the edge of the woods.

  And he’d listened.

  He’d walked away that day. Because of her.

  And she’d never spoken to him again.

  She wondered what had become of Blaine Hartford since high school.

  Had he made good choices? Had he followed her advice?

  She couldn’t even remember what she’d said that day. It had been a desperate rush of words, trying to convince him not to take his life. Not to let those bullies own him that way. High school would be over soon, and he would be free of them. Something like that, anyway.

  She spotted Lulu’s Coffee Shop and drove past it, her fingers drumming the wheel as she tried to decide what to do.

  If Blaine could not commit suicide, then maybe she could pull over and walk her shame-faced ass into Lulu’s.

  Slowing the car, she pulled to the side of the road and turned off the ignition.

  The heater that had been taking the edge off stopped running and the icy outdoor air poured into the car. It immediately felt like she was sitting in a freezer.

  “Hot coffee or freeze to death. Make your choice, Rosie.”

  Her chin bunched as she dipped her head. She suddenly felt like the heaviest creature on Earth. Like moving would take too much energy…or courage.

  Glancing at the door handle, she blinked her burning eyes.

  With a shaky hand, she slowly gripped the door handle.

  And made her decision.

  5

  Friday, February 16th

  7:45pm

  With a tired yawn, Blaine walked up the back steps to his apartment. He liked the 12-hour shift schedule because it gave him bigger chunks of time off between them, but they could be pretty tiring, especially at the end of a run of three. He had the next two days off though—a weekend he was very much looking forward to.

  He had no plans except lunch with his dad on Sunday. Other than that, he was putting his feet up and hopefully finishing Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, uninterrupted in his quiet little apartment. It was a small, one-bedroom box that he’d been renting since he left the academy. It wasn’t much, but it was home, and a darn sight better than moving back in with his dad.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t love his father; he just couldn’t handle living with the guy. He didn’t realize that until after he left home and figured out how awesome it could be.

  Stopping outside his door, he jiggled his key free on the ring and heard a noise coming from inside his place.

  His eyebrows dipped as he quietly put the key in the lock and pushed the door open.

  With a snicker and an eye roll, he kicked the door with his toe and walked into the living room, which had been taken over by his best friend. The guy had the ability to make himself at home wherever he was. He had a confidence that belied his stature. The guy was small and wiry, but he could make his presence known from across the room. His scruffy good looks and boyish charm won most people over in a heartbeat.

  “I should’ve known you’d be here.”

  Lucas shoved a chip in his mouth and pointed at the screen. “My cable’s out, and I’
m not about to miss the game.”

  Blaine threw his keys in the bowl on the coffee table and slumped onto the couch, quickly reading the score.

  “The Jets are killing us. Why do you have to watch this game?”

  “Dude. I’m a hardcore fan. I watch every game I can.”

  “But we rarely win against them. It’s like this unwritten rule. You know that.” Blaine took the beer Lucas handed him.

  “One day we will, and it will be sweet victory, my friend. We’re gonna pound them into the ice. And I’m not missing that.” He laughed and clinked his bottle against Blaine’s before taking a swig.

  Blaine loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. He leaned his head back against the plump cushions.

  “Tough day?” Lucas asked.

  “Pretty low-key. I was out on patrol for most of it.”

  “How’s Ollie doing?”

  “He was off again. His wife was puking her guts out this morning. Poor thing. I feel bad for her.”

  “Eh, she’ll be fine,” Lucas said dismissively. “It’ll all be worth it.”

  “Tell that to them when she’s heaving into a porcelain bowl while Andy wails for his mommy.”

  Lucas snorted. “And people ask me why I don’t want a family.”

  “Yeah, those tend to start with a girlfriend, which you never seem to have.”

  “Fuck off.” Lucas shot his friend a good-natured grin. “I’m just…selective. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Blaine barely managed to swallow his mouthful of beer before cracking up with laughter. “Dude, you don’t have a girlfriend because you’re afraid of commitment and you hate talking about your feelings.”

  “I don’t know any guy who likes talking about their feelings,” Lucas scoffed. “And I am not afraid of commitment.”

  “Whatever. You haven’t made it more than a couple of months with a single woman.”

  Lucas rolled his eyes and stared at the screen while muttering, “It’s not like you can talk.”

  “Hey, I have a serious girlfriend.”

  Lucas gave Blaine a pointed look. “Who you’re refusing to move in with. She has to commute over an hour to get here. You guys are fucking crazy.”