by Ann King
Two young people stranded in a warm van in a blizzard? Come on.
But then again, I would have to know what Cory was hiding from me all this time with Peter. He still hadn’t answered my questions back then. I really wanted to know. Even if he thought it could hurt me. I had to know. It was killing me inside. There was so much I had to know. It tore me up inside not being able to have…closure.
“Rule number two,” Cory continued, interrupting my thoughts. “We agree to drink water from the water bottles in the back but should that get used up, we’ll each take turns collecting snow in the bottles and heating them to drink later. If necessary.”
“Whoa,” I said, shifting in my seat. The thought dawned on me. We really had to do some grassroots survival here. “I feel like we’re at camp or something.”
“Like you’ve ever been camping,” he teased me, his facial expression unreadable but a grin of amusement seemed to touch the corner of his lips.
“Like hell. Of course I have.”
“What? You’re counting that little leadership camp you went to where you had to inconvenience yourself by staying in a nice hotel by some lake.”
I growled. “FYI, it wasn’t by the lake. It was…um…quite a distance from the lake.” Okay, that sounded lame. I wasn’t helping my case was I?
He grinned and a small dimple made a beautiful impression on his smooth skin. God, he looked so boyish, yet handsome. It was good that I was at least amusing him, though not intentional.
“Girl, you have a lot to learn about surviving outdoors. But don’t worry, somebody’s gotta teach you.”
“Well, let me know when he arrives.”
“Ouch,” he mocked being offended.
“Well you deserve that. I may not have had the same experiences you’ve had but…well, I can survive on my own.”
“Yeah, like pressing the brakes when you drive over a sheet of ice.” He cocked a brow. His mellow expression melted and his face was more serious.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You did the worse thing a motorist could do in icy conditions.”
“Hitting the brakes?”
“Yeah. If you’re ever on an icy road in the future, don’t ever press on the brakes. Even if your instincts tell you to.”
“Why? What was I supposed to do?”
“You’re supposed to take your foot off the accelerator and carefully guide your car by turning the wheel in the opposite direction of where you’re skidding.”
I breathed a deep sigh. Okay, so I wasn’t the best defensive driver.
“Now I know they probably didn’t tell you this at that charm school you went to but…”
“Not funny, Cory! Besides didn’t we go to the same charm school?”
Okay, that got him. His lips pressed into a thin line again and he shook his head and rolled his eyes. “By the way, how’s your headache?”
“Oh, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Will you relax already, Kate. You were dazed when I saw you filling up your car with carbon monoxide on purpose.”
I growled. “I’m fine now. Just a little tired.”
“Yeah, that’s expected. But you should be fine now.”
“Oh, you’re a doctor now?”
“I’m experienced enough to know that when you get a touch of monoxide like you just did, the headaches and nausea should disappear once you’re away from the gas fumes. That’s why I opened up the windows and eventually took you out of the vehicle.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. “I really am grateful to you for saving my life, Cory.”
“Yeah, I could tell by your expression and this friendly chat we’re having.” He grinned.
I playfully rolled my eyes. It wasn’t easy to stay mad at dear Cory, was it?
“Anyway, try not to make it a practice to block your tail pipe and turn on the gas while you’re in the car, next time, hmm?”
I narrowed my eyes and thinned my lips glaring at Cory. He was beginning to get under my skin. Now I knew why we argued a lot in high school. He always had to have the last word. Always teasing me, he was. But then I thought to myself, wasn’t that one of the ways young guys expressed how much they liked you? When they teased you playfully, pretended to pull your hair in the playground but later apologized? Who really knew? If Cory liked me this whole time, he sure had a weird, but cute way of showing his feelings.
“Okay, rule number three?” I continued, trying to redirect our conversation back on track.
“We need to get the snow cleared off the windshield and van so we don’t get buried. At least once an hour by the way the snow is falling hard.” He turned on the ignition and powered up the windshield wipers. The blades switched back and forth clearing the heavy snow from the view, making a squishing sound. “That will be my duty.”
“But I want to help.”
“Like hell you can. Listen, Kate, the last thing I need is you getting frostbitten or fainting on me outside again.”
“Excuse me?”
“When was the last time you lifted weights?”
“That’s so chauvinistic, Cory.”
“Thanks for noticing.”
I pouted my lips. It wasn’t like I really could clear this van off as fast as Cory could. And I had to bear in mind that with the temperatures dropping as fast as it was, I had to make sure I wasn’t outside for too long.
But what about Cory? How could he withstand the ice and chill? Was he superhuman or something? I surreptitiously glanced at his firm physique, his muscles were outlined amazingly in his skin tight, thermal hoodie. God, he looked hot. And fit. He could probably bench press me without any effort on his part.
My mind diverted down naughty lane and I wondered what his strong arms would feel like over my body, hugging me as he made passionate love to me. His perfect muscular heaviness over my body. The sensuous scent of his smooth cologne was driving me crazy. I could not bear it any longer. I needed air to breath.
Just think, I would be stranded in this small space with a hot guy, like Cory. The two of us alone. In the middle of a deserted ice-storm as our shelter becomes engulfed with sleet and snow.
“Are you warm enough?” Cory asked, interrupting my private fantasy. The truth was I was feeling heated at the moment but probably not from the temperature in the car. More like the temperature from my raging hormones right now.
“Um, yeah. I’m good thanks. And you?” I whispered. This was so unbearable. How could I be here so close with him for God knew how long?
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he murmured in a low voice.
He stroked his sexy bad boy stubble for a moment as if pondering something to say. He switched off the blades and turned off the ignition again to save what little gas we had. We both knew that deep down if we ran out of gas completely. We’d both be dead in minutes. There was nothing more serious than being encased in freezing cold metal. An igloo tomb. We’d have to be smart about all of this. Overly cautious, yet able to keep ourselves alive.
“Okay, now we need to keep our circulation going so I’ve got some exercises and stretches that we’ll perform with each other while we’re in here, okay?”
I nodded, amazed. He really had all this worked out. But the last thing any of us needed was a clot in our limbs from being cramped in a vehicle for ungodly hours while we await, hopefully, our rescue. Or at whenever the storm would let up so that we could get going without moving the vehicle dangerously on black ice with very little gas.
“Okay,” I whispered.
I was almost speechless. Part of me was curious at to what kind of stretches and exercises we would be doing…together. Oh, God. It was getting too hot inside my body again. I had to regain my thoughts and get my body under control.
I was annoyed, caught by surprise at how my closeness with Cory was driving my hormones out of control. I just could not understand it. It was as if we’d just met in grade nine again. All over again. Only this time, I’m not a shy, insecure virgin who suffered from a bout of w
ithdrawal after being through so much suffering at the hands of previous caregivers before my grandparents mercifully took me in.
Cory and I were single…at least I hoped he was still single, and we were both mature adults who were alone and unattached and could make our own decisions. So why was I flustering inside like a frightened school girl? If only I knew why.
“We’ll need to stand up periodically,” Cory continued. “I can open up the sun roof after I clean off the top of the car and quickly put up the rooftop tent.”
“The rooftop tent?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell me you have never seen one before.”
“Um. Yeah, of course I have,” I shrugged.
“Yeah, right. You’re a terrible liar, Miss Kate.”
“Anyway, I’m going to move the seats around, flatten a few and give us more space—this ride could easily seat eight.”
“Amazing,” I interjected, my eyes taking in the luxurious spacious interior of the SUV. It was almost like being in a miniature luxury private plane or something. Not that I’d ever been in one of those private planes or anything. I’d just seen some on Google, that was all. But I bet Cory, with his successful business had probably graced some of those expensive toys.
Gadgets were everywhere in the vehicle. Darkened flat screens which could be television monitors or computers, who knew? The soft leather seats also strangely enough still had that familiar newness leather smell to it. Fresh and immaculate. I hadn’t expected a guy to have his ride so well taken care of inside. At least not the other guys I knew.
Cory and I really had been out of touch from each other after high school. It was amazing how fast a few years speed by when you don’t keep in touch. Though he’d go out with Peter and the other guys for beer at a sports bar once in a while, Peter rarely discussed what Cory was up to these days. I had no idea how successful Cory had become. A part of me was proud of him.
“It was good that you bought this huge SUV.”
“Yeah, it gets me around. But I don’t always use it.”
“No?”
“I drive a smaller car to work, Kate. This SUV was bought mostly for family stuff and taking my team to football practice.”
“Football practice?”
“Yeah. I coach this little league. A group of kids who’ve had a rough time.”
My heart squeezed. “Oh, Cory, that’s so good of you. You’re helping disadvantaged kids?” I clarified.
“I don’t really like to call them that. I mean, it’s not their fault they were born into their circumstances. I don’t want them to carry that label with them through life as if they’d always be disadvantaged.”
“True. So true,” I agreed. I hadn’t seen this insightful side of Cory before. Had he matured so much since high school graduation and college? Just when I thought I knew the real Cory. Funny how Peter never really divulged any of this stuff about Cory before. I then noticed a couple of jersey’s in the back and it all made sense. They were football jerseys. Cory would make a good father someday to a lucky… I gulped. A hard lump caught in my throat. I was overcome with emotions. It was so crazy. I couldn’t understand why I felt that way at that moment. Was it because deep down, really deep down in my conscious…in my soul, I secretly hoped that Cory and I could move past the differences in our past and…be together?
Okay, I was really stepping ahead of myself here. I had to get my nerves and my runaway fantasies under control. It was doubtful that Cory and I could ever be together. It just seemed so…unreachable right now. And I couldn’t bear the pain of loving someone only to lose them again forever. I’d promised myself that. I had to keep to that. As crazy at it sounded in my mind, it was essential to my emotional survival.
“It’s convenient that you have all this space for other stuff,” I said, looking around again.
“Yeah. I need to do my push ups. Oh, and another thing: you can stand up in the van with the tent shade protecting you for the snow fall once I put it up. It’s important to keep that circulation going.”
“Wow. One would think that you always get stranded in a snow storm, Cory,” I said, playfully.
“I’ve got some non-perishables in the back,” he continued, with a grin. “And a few bottles of water but that’s it. I usually stock up all the time but I didn’t get around to doing any groceries.”
“You mean your maid didn’t get to do any groceries,” I corrected him in humor.
He gave me a quizzical look as if searching my face. He then rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Yeah. Whatever. And just for the record, my father’s house staff are not my staff. I live alone, remember?”
“Yeah, but still, you have a room at your dad’s…um…mansion, is it?” I grinned.
“Methinks you are trying to use the fact that my old man hit it big so I must have been spoiled.”
“Hey, you said it not me.”
“Well, it wasn’t always like this,” he said in a low deep voice. “My real parents didn’t have anything. That’s when I got sent to foster home. The children’s services took my brothers and I away when they found us living out of our car.”
“Shit, Cory. I’m so sorry. I…I had no idea.” My heart exploded into a million pieces of glass. I felt his pain. How was it that I’d known Cory since high school and I never even knew he was adopted. The Knights family seemed so together. They even looked alike. He had seven or eight gorgeous brothers. Why surely they all couldn’t have been living in that car, could they?
“Don’t be,” Cory answered in a soft voice. He gazed out the driver’s side window at the snow squalls outside, I could see raw hurt glittering in his dark beautiful eyes. He then turned to me as if he’d regained control of his emotions and added, “Everything that’s happened to me has happened for me. Remember that.”
I nodded thoughtfully. Of course I understood that. Who would have known that my silly little joke would have opened up a deep wound.
“If it weren’t for the pain and shit I’d been through, I would have never had the incentive to do all the stuff I do now. Including making sure I’m never caught in a bind or helpless…ever.” His voice trailed off dangerously low.
“I hear ya,” I murmured. I had to do something to switch up the conversation. We had to get back on track before we go somewhere neither of us want to go.
“Okay, it’s my turn,” I said, biting my lip. I was almost breathless. “ We’re going to drive each other crazy if we don’t keep ourselves…I mean our minds occupied.”
His dark sexy eyes trailed down my silhouette for a moment before he caught himself and diverted his vision back to my face. I couldn’t lie. At least my body couldn’t lie. I was enjoying the attention. The closeness. The whatever we were experiencing. The mound between my legs started to throb and tingle. Oh, God! Why was Cory turning me on like this?
“I’m listening,” he said in a deep, low, ohmygod, sexy voice. Too sexy.
“Let’s play twenty questions or truth or dare or something.”
“Sounds good to me. But I’d like to add to that rule.”
“Add what?”
“Nothing is off limits,” he said in a low serious voice that sent chills up my spine and a fresh round of butterflies exploding in my stomach.
“Nothing is off limits?” I repeated incredulously.
Oh, God! Did I really want this? Were we going to go deep…too deep into our thoughts, the past? Did that mean he was about to tell me the truth about what happened to Peter? And why he didn’t want Peter to date me? And God knew how many other things he bottled up from me to “protect” me as he once said.
“Nothing,” he repeated in a dangerously low tone. Okay, surviving the ice storm was one thing but could we survive with each other and our emotions?
“It’s a deal.” I swallowed hard as my heart pounded fierce in my chest. I had no idea what I was really in for.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kate Samuels
Two hours had already melted away while the gas in
the tank slowly dwindled to dangerously low levels. Each drop of the gas gauge threatened our very survival.
It was terrifying to watch.
Snow pellets assaulted the windows of the vehicle making a loud clicking sound. We watched as the snow piled up furiously. It was as if we would be buried alive underneath it all.
I feared for Cory going outside periodically in the sub zero temperatures, praying he’d be okay.
During that time, Cory had already put up the rooftop tent and ladder at the side. Covering a good portion of the vehicle while making us more visible in case help arrived. It was a bright blue tent. I didn’t know how he managed to get it up so fast. It was as if there was nothing he could not do. I was utterly in awe of him.
He had, in fact, declined my assistance to help him move snow off the car. He insisted on doing it alone. Every so often he’d gone outside the vehicle to scrape the fresh snowfall off the SUV, especially the windshield, so that we would not be buried alive.
I was completely amazed by Cory’s survival skills and instincts and his strong, firm, muscular body. You could tell he really took care of himself by his physical fitness and strength. He was to die for in so many ways. I was also amazed at all the stuff he’d already gotten prepared in his vehicle. My heart still squeezed for the horrific conditions he must have endured as a child being forced to live in the family car with his siblings and he’d told me that his parents fought like wild animals sometimes.
His father was an alcoholic which didn’t help much. His dad was also a compulsive gambler who’d lost a whole lot, including the home, eventually.
There was so much heartache and depression surrounding Cory from such a young age, yet his soul managed to thrive barely scathed. One could never guess, with his sweet humor and wit and charm that he’d had it so rough and wicked growing up. I had developed a new found respect for my old friend and ally.
He had told me he likened himself to a soldier, always prepared. Always on alert. Survival was always on his mind and in his gut. But what grabbed me was when he said, “Mental survival is just as important as physical survival. Always remember that. Don’t let anyone steal your happiness.”