by Adele Huxley
“Go down the hall, last door on the left to the basement, axe should be by the back door,” Dani cut in. “Want me to come with you?”
He collected the wood carrier and stooped to give her a kiss. “You stay put, too. I’ll just be a minute.”
I kept my eye on her as she watched him disappear down the hall. I knew that look. Even though she was too young to be having it, there it was regardless. Relationships forged under high stress are the strongest of all. Whether she realized it or not, she’d fallen hard for that one.
“He’s cute,” I whispered.
When our eyes met, I expected the usual anger, maybe a nasty comment. I wasn’t sure where our relationship stood, but now was as good a time as any to test it. Much to my surprise, Dani looked down bashfully.
“He’s pretty frickin’ great, actually.”
“I’d say so. Fair warning, though. It’s easy to fall for a guy who saves your life,” I smirked as I nodded toward Bryan.
A genuine smile curled her lips as she went from bashful to downright embarrassed. The roar of a snowmobile zoomed by outside, one of dozens we’d heard after settling into the house. Another sign that the world was digging out from under the weight of the snow.
“I wish I could call my mom. I’m sure she’s been having a near-constant panic attack since the last email I sent her.”
The idea of Jack being caught in something similar with no contact made me want to scoop him up and never let him go. And to think, I was just getting over my separation issues. Seeing him in Richards’ arms made me want to reinsert him into my uterus for the next five to ten years… just in case.
“The moment we get communications back up, we’ll give her a call. Or a text. A tweet? Maybe a carrier pigeon,” I laughed. “Whatever the hell you young folk are using nowadays,” I said in an old lady voice.
With good nature, Dani shook her head as she shrugged the blanket from her shoulders. “You want a drink?”
“Tea would be great, thank you.”
The freshly stoked fire crackled and popped. Night was setting outside, the darkness encroaching so much faster without electricity to keep it away. I gazed at the tree and idly wondered how much power a few strands of twinkly lights could possibly use. It’s still Christmas. Shouldn’t we try to capture a little bit of it while we can?
A cold gust of wind blew through the living room as the front door opened. I turned to scold Miah for coming in the front way and saw Dani frozen in place, a gun pointed at her from the open door.
“Chris,” I whispered. Instinctively, I stood, putting myself between him and the baby. Bryan stirred on the sofa as the cold air continued to whip through the already chilled house.
“Liz, I need another blanket,” he mumbled. I nudged his shoulder with my knee until he opened his eyes. “What the hell…” I nodded to the door without taking my gaze off the intruder. Bryan sat up and cursed under his breath.
“Well at least shut the goddamn door,” I commanded him. And much to my surprise, he jumped and followed my instructions. Bryan and I shared a look and probably the same thought. Looks like we aren’t dealing with the strongest branch on the tree. But a lack of intelligence only made him more dangerous and unpredictable.
Dani held her hands up defensively. Chris had the gun trained on her but was completely focused on Bryan and me. Looking at him now, I finally recognized the familiarity that had bothered me all along. In his cold features, his hawkish, narrow nose, I saw a shadow of his brother. My hatred for him only grew.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” he mumbled petulantly.
“And so are you,” I bit back. He might’ve had the Richards last name, but he certainly didn’t have the personality.
“You killed my whole family!” he screamed as loudly as he could. Dani covered her ears and cowered back towards the stove. The stammering disappeared, his jittery jumpiness replaced by a resolute anger.
I was beyond the effects of adrenaline and shock. Maybe trying to kill my baby boy depleted the amount of fucks I had to give. Perhaps by walking into my house and threatening my family, he poked the momma bear. But either way, I wasn’t having any of it.
I took a step around the sofa and faced him square on. “I only killed them when they tried to kill me. I’m two for two. You sure you want to test your luck here, kiddo?”
“I’m the one with the gun!” He brandished it towards me like a nervous kid trying to rob a convenience store.
“Liz, what the hell are you…” Bryan hissed behind me.
I have a problem with knowing when to keep my mouth shut. I readily admit that. When I see a sore spot I can poke, I shove my dirty fingernail deep inside and twist. I waved Bryan away as I took another step closer. In my peripheral, I saw Dani inch towards the pot on the stove, closer to the water she’d been boiling for tea. If I could just hold his attention on me for long enough, she could incapacitate him.
“Your daddy did all this because of your brother, huh? I bet Noah was always the favorite, wasn’t he?”
His face twisted. “You don’t know anything. You killed him!”
“Honestly, I didn’t. The same people who killed him tried to kill me, too. And I’m sure you’ve heard what I did to them.” My own cold voice sounded foreign to my ears. The menacing look I leveled straight at him must’ve been convincing.
“My dad said that you…” he trailed off, suddenly unsure of himself.
“No, I didn’t,” I said as I shook my head sadly. I peered up at him through my eyelashes and finished, “But I wish I had.” His hand balled at his waist but he still didn’t move. A quick glance to Dani and I kept pushing. “How does it feel to be your dad’s second choice son? I’m an only child, so I wouldn’t know.”
He stumbled over his words, the awkward stutter returning for a split second. It was the sore spot I’d been looking for. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Shut the fuck up.”
“You think your dad would’ve gone to all this trouble for you?” I laughed, my forehead crinkling. I tossed my hair over my shoulder with a flick. “So not only are you batshit insane, you’re delusional. Good to know.” I turned my head but kept my eyes locked on him.
“Shut up.”
“How much do you think he valued you? What number would he write down on a piece of paper for you?”
“Stop it,” he growled.
“Really, Chris. Do you think your daddy would’ve gone to these lengths if you’d been killed? Spend years plotting revenge? All this time and effort?” The gun trembled in his hand as his features collapsed. I knew I was close to breaking him. “Do you think he would’ve even stood on the edge of your grave and wept? ‘Cause I don’t. Not for a second.”
Dani’s fingers wrapped around the handle of the pot and she carefully lifted it from the burner. I gestured wildly to keep his attention on me.
“Would he have done any of this for you, Chris? Answer me honestly.”
“I… he loved me just as much,” he resisted. Dani inched close enough she could throw the scalding water on him.
“Trust me. As a mother, I would’ve never put a child I loved in as much danger as he did you. He never loved you.” His expression crumbled but we couldn’t waste any time. “Now!” I screamed.
Dani lunged forward, the water arcing through the air towards Chris’ head. The water made contact and the pot clattered to the floor. I waited for the screams of agony. I expected to see him clutch his face with both hands, fall to his knees, and beg for mercy. Instead, with a sour expression, he held his arms out as the water dripped from his soaked jacket.
“What did you do that for?” he asked incredulously. A perfectly good question when someone throws luke-warm water on you, under normal circumstances. And then he understood what her intentions had been. Rage grew as he shook it from his clothes. He peeled the wet jacket off, revealing a thin shirt underneath. The scratches along his arms and neck looked like stripes from this distance.
Dani
noticed them, piecing everything together just as I had hours before. We hadn’t talked about Chris or Richards kidnapping Jack. We’d thought we’d have plenty of time to decompress before facing the hard truths.
“Why did you do it?” she asked quietly. “Why did you try to kill Miah?”
Chris actually looked apologetic. “That was a complete accident. I didn’t try to kill him, I swear it. He was in the wrong place…”
Dani trembled with anger. “He never did a thing to you! None of us ever did anything to you!”
“Now hold on,” he warned. I watched as he remembered he was the one with the gun, the one with power. I needed to knock him down another few pegs before he did something stupid.
“Chris, will you put down the damn gun and go get cleaned up? You’re dripping water all over the floor.”
At first, I thought he was going to listen obediently. But the fiery anger in his gaze rekindled. He closed his eyes and shook his head while mouthing, “No, no, no,” over and over. He slammed the heel of his hand against his temple with one final shout. “No! Stop telling me what to do!”
Chris swung the gun towards Dani. She dropped to a crouch, shielding her head with her arms. Chris hesitated, the gun quivering as if it weighed thirty pounds. It was long enough for Dani to peek between her arms, the suspense too much. I think we saw Miah rush forward at the same moment. The axe arced through the air with amazing speed and came down on Chris’ extended arm.
The limb bent unnaturally, as he screamed in surprise and pain. The gun fell to the tile and spun a few times before coming to a rest by the fridge. I flew forward expecting to see a spreading puddle of blood. I knew a wound like that could bleed out in a matter of minutes. To be honest, I didn’t give a shit about Chris. I was more concerned about my hardwood floors…
Miah dropped the axe and flew to Dani, stooping to secure the handgun as he passed. “God, I thought you hacked his arm off,” she gasped as they embraced.
“I used the butt.” Wrapped in his protective arms, they both turned to stare at Chris. “There’s no way I’m letting him get away with what he did.”
I couldn’t thank him enough for that decision. Seeing justice doled out for all the pain and suffering his father and he had inflicted would go a long way to healing the town. Bryan limped to my side and the four of us surrounded Chris. He was rolled on his back, crying out in agony as he hugged his shattered forearm. He glared up at us in abject defeat.
“What are we going to do with him?” Dani asked.
“Tie him up, wait to get him to the police?” Bryan offered. We all shrugged in agreement and continued to stare at him like an animal caught in a trap.
Miah let out a loud exhale and shook out his arms. “Whew! What a frickin’ crazy couple days,” he muttered as he smoothed his hair back. “Like… holy shit. What the hell just happened?”
Bryan laughed, a hearty, genuine laugh that surprised me. He thrust his hand out to Miah who looked even more confused as he shook it. “You’ll get used to it,” Bryan chuckled. “Welcome to the family.”
January 10th
I had begged Mom to let me stay in Tellure Hollow for the rest of the winter. When she, and the whole world, learned of what had happened to us… well, everyone lost their collective shit. I knew I had to stay. Bryan and Liz relied on me now. The whole town leaned on each other, like struts that support a wall before it can carry its own weight. It’s not that I thought I was such an important person, but everyone who had been at the lodge shared an uncommon bond. We needed each other until… well, until we didn’t, and no one knew when that day would come.
I got a front row seat to the mayhem that is Liz and Bryan’s public life. As soon as the roads were clear, the reporters descended like crows on fresh, juicy carrion. The glee in their eyes was tangible. Every lush, terrible morsel of news was fought over, picked apart. Public attention drove the frenzy, pushing the reporters to hunt us day in and day out.
For two weeks straight, news vans lurked around Tellure Hollow like predators stalking prey. With no organization, every resident simultaneously refused their attention. Bryan and Liz were the only ones speaking to the press and I saw, for the very first time, the true dynamic in the town. They were the lightning rods. They stood up to the scrutiny and speculation so others wouldn’t have to. Liz and Bryan were the shield that kept this sleepy mountain town from changing too much.
“We just want to put all of this behind us,” Liz had said to a greasy-haired reporter while sitting in their living room. She’d agreed to one interview, granted to the highest bidder. Surrounded by three cameras, microphones, and professional lighting, she gave the abridged version of what’d happened. With a certain amount of brash grace, she told him enough to satisfy but was strong enough to shut down anything too personal. I thought she was going to kick them out and call the whole thing off when they’d tried to sneak a private shot of her with Jack. I later discovered the money they’d earned from that interview had gone to pay Lacey’s medical bills.
At first, I supposed it was a smart decision. Speak once, end the silence, and hopefully the world would forget all about it. But it only fueled the flames.
Living in their house, I saw how it wore on them. I’d hear them wondering if it’d be better for the town if they moved, took the whole circus with them. But that was a question for next year. They still felt responsible for putting things right.
And then the attention shifted. Someone, some tourist out-of-towner blabbed about me and suddenly the lenses pointed in my direction. I wasn’t the boring cousin of Bryan Marsh anymore. I became “The Hero at Powder Mountain.”
I couldn’t leave the house without them attacking me on the street. They parked at the end of the driveway, waiting for the perfect shot. You know what’s not helpful for a person trying to recover from a stressful event? Constant surveillance.
“What was is like running into a burning building?”
“How has Liz thanked you for saving her baby?”
“Is Bryan the Blizzard your hero?”
I didn’t handle the attention as gracefully as Liz. I couldn’t ignore them like her. She’d rush past to hide in the car if they’d cornered us. I’d strut by with my middle fingers up. The final straw came after a nice lunch down in town when we were ambushed on Main Street.
“How many people do you think you saved that morning?”
I stopped dead in my tracks and looked one idiot straight in the eyes. I had no idea who’d called out what question, but this idiot would have to do. He got all excited and pushed his phone into my face, eagerly awaiting my response. “Ten, fifteen maybe. Considering how many I have buried in my backyard, I think I could’ve done more to make it even-steven.”
A few of them laughed, but they’d gotten what they wanted. I’d stopped and actually spoken. Now they could dig their teeth in for the real sound bite.
“Do you think your father would be proud of you?”
With Liz tugging at my sleeve, I glared into their cameras. “He’s my father. He’s always proud of me,” I replied incredulously.
“Well, yeah, when he wasn’t a vegetable,” one of the scumbags laughed.
“I’ll make you a fucking vegetable,” I shouted as I lunged into the crowd. I just had to get my fingers on his fat neck.
Liz yanked me back and shoved me into the car. After that, we all agreed it might be time for me to return to California. The decision was made quickly and a flight booked for two days later. At least I had enough time to say goodbye to Miah.
The day before I left, he fought his way through the crowd of paparazzi at the bottom of the drive. It’s not like we could meet up at a coffee shop. There was no way to avoid photos of him entering the house, but we’d have some privacy.
He stood awkwardly in the bedroom door as I cleared a space on the bed for us to sit. I jumped up and patted the spot beside me, already fighting back tears. He half-leaned on the bed and took my hand in his. We stared at the flo
or, neither of us knowing what to say.
“Marie wanted me to give you her number. Said you could text if you felt like it.”
I sniffed and rolled my eyes. “We’ll see. I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Another silence stretched between us. “It’s weird being in the same room with you,” he finally laughed.
He made a good point. We’d talked a lot since the storm, but it was mostly through text or on the phone. Even after spending days together in the lodge, we still hadn’t spent much time alone. I smiled and pulled out my phone, quickly typing out a text.
Is this better? We can cut human interaction down to nothing ;)
Miah gave me a half-grin as he saw me typing, the smile growing wider when he read my text. He typed out a response. I stared at my phone as I waited for it to pop up.
But then I can’t do this…
When I looked up for an explanation, he ran his hand along my jaw and lifted my lips to his. The breath caught in my throat. The connection between us pulsed like a live wire, stronger than ever. The desire was there, but just a steady current we dared not dip into. His lips lingered, creating a soft, heady kiss that left me breathless as he pulled away.
Click.
My eyes fluttered open only to see Miah’s phone in my face.
“What the hell?”
He flipped the phone to show me the photo. My wet lips were slightly parted, and my hair was swept back – not a bad picture. “I couldn’t let you leave without replacing that dick pic you sent me.” He peered down at the photo lovingly. “And now I have something I can remember you with.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I replied, gripping his hand. “I mean, I’m leaving, but I’m coming back.”
Miah nodded sadly. “You don’t know that and that’s okay. I’m just glad that I got to meet you in the first place.”
“This is going to sound corny as hell,” I said, almost as a warning. I grabbed his hand and pressed it to my chest. I nearly didn’t continue. I nearly defaulted to sarcasm, avoidance. The urge to shun my true emotions was almost too strong, but I pushed through. “There’s a piece of you in me now. I can’t run from it, even if I wanted to.” I dipped my head to meet his eye. “When I’m with you, that dark dragon doesn’t feel so strong inside.”