by Calista Fox
Her heart all but crumbled in her chest. Her stomach contorted into some weird, sadistic knot that made it difficult to breathe.
Scout had told her she was his everything. Had made love to her. And she’d let those three little words slip.
Now here she was. Standing in the middle of the living room with nothing but glowing embers left in the hearth.
Here she was. Alone.
Always, always alone.
Tears burned the backs of her eyes but they weren’t solely related to heartbreak. Ciara was furious. Furious that Scout would ditch her in the middle of the night.
Of all the lousy things to do!
And to do it to her!
What the hell was going on with that man? Had he really changed so much over the past year? To quit hockey… To distance himself from his family… To sneak out of her house after the things they’d said to each other, the way he’d made her feel, the way he’d held her?
She had no idea what his deal was.
But, by God, she was going to find out!
***
Scout was shoveling the walkway to the outbuilding that housed the maintenance equipment for Win Creek Cabin and the surrounding acreage while his thoughts were on Ciara. He’d left his phone at her house. Had tried to call over there from the B&B—even called his own cell—but got no answer. He’d stopped by, but Ciara wasn’t home. None of the Pilgrim Society ladies were on the property at that time, either.
If he could remember her actual cell number, he would have called it. But who the hell mesmerized numbers that have been on speed dial for a million years? And damn it, he hadn’t been able to reach his mother, either. Where the hell was everyone this morning?
Scratch that. He didn’t want to know the answer when it came to his mother. Especially if it involved Henry Venti.
Yet he needed to explain—to apologize—to Ciara for running out on her in the middle of the night. But he’d also committed to being up at the cabin this morning to help his brothers. They were all off doing Lord only knew what, though he’d heard voices coming from the snowmobile shed—JT and Ham bickering about something Scout couldn’t even begin to make out. And with his head still throbbing, Scout didn’t want to insinuate himself in the mix until they cooled down. Then he heard Ham and a female voice. Hamilton’s old flame Gaby, Scout assumed.
Best to avoid all of those scenarios for the moment. Let his brothers work out their relationship issues between themselves and/or with their women, because Scout wasn’t exactly rocking his own problems. With his family or with Ciara. So he finished up his task. It was the third time he’d cleared the paths. The snow was coming down hard—and wet. Never a good thing in avalanche country, particularly when there was already a substantial accumulation.
Wind blew the flurries and it was damn cold, but working outside helped him to sort through some of his thoughts. Scout was an outdoorsman all the way. He’d never liked being confined anywhere, had always preferred nature to being stuck inside. So when he was at the cabin, it was an unspoken rule that he managed all the shoveling, wood chopping, landscaping, painting… Whatever needed to be done year-round. Though, of course, he hadn’t really been here year-round of late. And that was a shame. Because he’d missed the place, and was definitely having second thoughts about agreeing to a sale.
While Scout considered this, his older brother JT trudged through the snow, not the least bit interested in using the cleared path. He headed straight for Scout, shaking his head and grumbling to himself. Looking massively pissed off.
“Yo, bro,” Scout called out. “I’m not shoveling for my health, you know?”
JT erupted in an angst-filled diatribe that included something about him and Maddie butting heads, something about Mom sneaking around with Henry (Scout hadn’t told a soul, per his mother’s request) and something about Hamilton and Gaby (Henry’s daughter, so the plot thickened)—though Scout had already been privy to that conversation at Waylon’s when his younger brother had sought him out for advice.
Scout propped a forearm over the handle of the shovel and let the rant continue.
Until JT got to the sale of the cabin.
“Dad’s in on the deal!” JT exclaimed.
“Oh, hell, no,” Scout insisted. “Hamilton never said a word about that.”
“Yeah. I know. But Dad’s the broker on the deal. He hooked our little brother up with this investor who’s interested in turning our mountain retreat into a smaller Durango Strater-esque Inn. Dad gets a cut. A big one.”
Scout’s temper flared. He heaved the shovel into a four-foot embankment. “Fuck!”
It wouldn’t do his head any good, though, to go off half-cocked about this new revelation. The residual tension after last night’s attack was enough to trigger another series of headaches if he wasn’t careful.
So he tried to bring his anger done a few notches. Said, “Hamilton has always been in fairy tale land when it comes to Dad.”
“I had to set him straight this morning. It was time. He didn’t go through what I went through. He’s never been able to fully accept what our father is all about.”
“Hell, I was barely even there at the time, and I still know what a piece of shit he is. I mean… You did tell Hamilton all of Dad’s dirty little secrets, right? Including the fire?”
“Yeah.”
Scout couldn’t go there in his mind. Nope. Definitely couldn’t go there. Let JT be the one to shine the light on the extent of evil seeping through their father’s veins.
JT said, “I was against this sale from the very beginning. I know you were hesitant, too. But with Dad being in on the action? Huh-uh. No way, man. We’ve got to put a stop to this.”
“Agreed. This place means too much to all of us to lose it. Especially like this. I’m on your side. One-hundred percent.” They shook. A nice, solid handshake. Then JT tugged him forward and they did the manly slaps on the back. But that turned into a full-blown bro hug as JT held on tight. Making Scout squirm a little, because he wasn’t used to the affectionate gesture. Yet it seemed JT needed it at the moment. So Scout let him have at it before they each stepped away.
In all honestly, Scout had needed it as well.
The snow kept falling and Scout said, “I’ve got to clean this goddamn pathway again before someone goes slipping and sliding.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time, but I know you prefer skates for that.”
“For sure. We could use more wood, too. Next on my list.”
“Need help with that?”
Scout stared at his older brother. “You’re shitting me, right?”
JT wasn’t into splitting wood. Never had been.
“You know it.” JT smiled as he began his tromp through the snow up to the cabin.
Scout stared at his brother’s retreating back for a moment, then called out, “Hey, JT.”
His brother glanced over his shoulder.
Now was the time to tell him everything Scout wanted to say about not playing anymore and about the surgeries and the TBI.
But then his gut clenched and he knew he had to explain it all to Ciara first. He owed that to her. It was the right thing to do. So he simply said, “Good talking to you, man.”
“Yeah. You, too.” He continued on his way, though switched his trajectory when Maddie’s truck pulled in.
Hmm. Scout hoped that wasn’t all-new upheaval in JT’s life. But it wasn’t any of Scout’s business—especially when they moved on for privacy.
Scout wrapped up one chore and moved onto the next.
He had a respectable stack of split wood piled neatly beneath the shelter of the overhang of the outbuilding and was starting in on another round when he heard another vehicle approach. His head whipped up and he frowned as Ciara killed the engine on the Rubicon and slipped from the driver’s seat. Like JT, she stalked toward him in knee-deep snow.
“Why the hell do I go to the trouble of shoveling?” he mumbled under his breath. To Ciara, he said, “Y
ou shouldn’t be out in this weather and you sure as hell shouldn’t be driving on Avalanche Road when we’re getting hit so damn hard.”
“It couldn’t wait,” she said, her voice tight, fury flashing in her tawny eyes. “I mean, I tried to make it wait. I have a million things to do today, Scout, and I tried to just go about my business. I figured you’d come down from the mountain eventually, after Thanksgiving, and maybe say goodbye. I mean, maybe. That used to be something you did, Scout Winchester. Said goodbye before you walked out on someone.”
He hacked the axe into the stump of tree trunk before him and released the handle. He told her, “I can explain.”
Like with JT’s previous raving, she clearly wasn’t interested in letting Scout get a word in edgewise. She said, “And this morning, I really and truly wanted that explanation. But now that I’m here, I’m thinking not so much. You’re up at the cabin doing your Scout things and I’ve been going crazy in town wondering why, why on earth you would leave me in the middle of the night!”
She glared at him. Her chest rose and fell sharply. A light mist covered her eyes. Her cheeks were rosy and her expression was just painful enough to tear him up inside.
“Ciara—”
“Here’s your damn phone.” She thrust it at him.
Scout snatched the device and shoved it in his back pocket.
Ciara whirled around and headed back in the direction from which she’d come.
“Whoa!” he yelped. And lunged forward, capturing her at the waist. “Hold on there, babe. Not so fast.”
“Let go of me!” she cried out. “I am seriously mad at you, Scout. As in I may never speak to you again mad!”
His heart constricted. Panic gripped his very soul. “Hey, now. Don’t ever say that.” He set her on her feet, carefully turned her to face him. He knew the look he gave her was a grave one. “What I did was shitty. But you have to know it wasn’t intentionally shitty. It was… Necessary. I’ll tell you, I swear. Everything. I tried to find you at the house before I was due up here. I don’t have your cell written down anywhere and I couldn’t reach anyone who would know it. I figured when I got the chance to talk to Maddie, who’s also up here—though currently arguing with JT—I could probably get it from her. I was going to call you. I promise you I was.”
Ciara shook her head. Tears crested the rims of her eyes. “Why would you make love to me, Scout. And then leave me?”
“Aw, babe. I never would, except—”
There was a loud rumble in the air and the ground shuddered. Enough to cause Ciara to fall into Scout’s arms. Precisely where he wanted her, although…
His gut twisted tighter.
“What was that?” she demanded.
He yelled out, “Avalanche!” for everyone to hear.
“No!” Ciara shrieked. “I passed Gaby on the road. Like ten or fifteen minutes ago!”
“What the hell was Gaby doing on the road? Son of a bitch! She’s eight months pregnant!”
“She’s what?!”
He let out a low roar. Gaby must have taken off while he was in the shed.
A moment later, Hamilton whizzed by on a snowmobile. JT and Maddie were close behind.
He urgently said to Ciara, “Grab the emergency duffle bag from inside the shed. There’s blankets, flashlights, a first aid kit, water, ropes, spikes, the whole nine yards. It’s black. Hanging on the first hook next to the side door. I’ll get the picks and shovels. Go!”
She raced off and he collected everything mounted to the sidewall and protected by the overhang that also kept the woodpile dry. But something was missing.
What the fuck?
Scout spun around to search the immediate vicinity.
Where was the Winchester—
He started, that gut-jolt happening to him again. The pickaxe his grandfather had always used, with WINCHESTER engraved along the polished wooden handle, was propped against the tree trunk where Scout had been splitting firewood. And no… It had not been there moments before.
“What the hell…?” he muttered.
“Hey, you’re stalling out,” Ciara said. “Let’s go! We can take the Rube.”
Ciara rushed to the passenger’s seat and Scout slid behind the wheel. He turned the Rubicon around and carefully drove along the private road to the narrow one that wound its way from the base of the mountain almost to the top of its peaks. As he’d scolded Ciara earlier, it wasn’t a road anyone should be on during a snowstorm. Especially with the dense fog and the ice accumulating.
“My God, I hope Gaby’s okay,” Ciara told him.
“Yeah. And I hope nobody else was around. With kids out of school for the holiday, they could be up here on snowmobiles, skis or snowboards. It can be extremely dangerous this time of year if you’re not used to the conditions.”
Even as he said the words, the tires of the Rubicon hit a patch of black ice and shimmied along the road as Scout fought to keep the vehicle under control.
One of Ciara’s hands gripped the “Oh, Shit” bar adjacent to her window. Her other palm flattened against the dashboard.
“Jesus, Scout. This is the worst damn road to be on right now. You are absolutely correct.”
“Just hang on, babe. And hell… Had you started up the mountain fifteen minutes later, it could be you in the middle of an avalanche.”
“So happy I was running another errand before I got the wild hair to confront you.”
“No happier than me. Fuck, if it you were I was chasing after right now…”
His jaw clenched.
“But it’s not,” she simply said.
They didn’t make it too far down the mountain when they came upon the others.
Ciara gasped. “That’s Gaby car!”
The front was buried in snow. There were a few others that were covered as well, the driver’s milling about, talking on their cells, likely to 9-1-1 or family members. It didn’t appear that anyone was injured.
“I don’t see her,” Ciara said with increasing distress.
“Shit!” Scout’s body tensed.
But then Ciara’s hand shot out and she clasped his forearm. “There’s Gaby!”
The pregnant woman with short brown hair stepped away from the shield of Hamilton’s tall frame and she appeared perfectly fine. Not a scratch on her. Thank God.
They exited the vehicle and Ciara went one way—with Maddie to check on their friend Gaby—and Scout grabbed the provisions from the Rube and joined JT.
No words were necessary. They knew what to do. First, they worked with Hamilton to dig out Gaby’s rental. Scout called out for anyone else who needed help, but it didn’t appear anyone was trapped in a car and no one was hurt. A miracle. Perhaps slightly suspicious, too. With all three couples arguing up at the cabin, and Gaby actually leaving, Scout would not put it past Grandpa Win to get a little mischievous and trap them all on the mountain. Snowed in and snuggled up, Gramps would likely say with a twinkle in his eyes.
An avalanche was how he’d won over the love of his life, after all.
Hamilton took Gaby back up to the cabin in her car. Scout and JT used the pickaxes to hack away at the pileup of snow and ice, but the powder kept falling and it was too massive a mound to even loosen chunks that could be shoveled away or at least dislodged enough that Scout could bring down the snow mover from the cabin. It wasn’t meant for a job this big.
“We’re gonna have to call the association,” he told JT. “Get them to clear the road.”
The half-dozen or so luxury homeowners on the mountain paid into a conglomerate that kept the roads maintained. The crew had the necessary equipment for something of this magnitude. But Scout and JT kept at it, double checking as best as they could to make sure no one had fallen victim to the avalanche. No signs of skis, poles or boards. That was good. They continued a while longer, working well together without having to direct each other and just innately knowing what needed to be done.
Ciara and Maddie did some searching of their o
wn, but knew to stay close by, in eye- and earshot of Scout and JT, in the event another landslide occurred.
When they’d done all they could, the men re-loaded the Rubicon and everyone returned to the cabin.
Inside, Scout directed Ciara to the room he’d always slept in upstairs. JT had the bedroom across the way, with a loft separating them.
Ciara was shaking from head to toe. Scout stoked the fire to get it blazing. Then he told her, “Take a hot bath or shower. I’ll get us something to eat and you can try to thaw out.”
She didn’t say anything. Just went into the large bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
And here it is.
Scout’s moment of reckoning had arrived.
Chapter Eight
Ciara took a long, hot shower. She wasn’t sure she’d ever “thaw out” as Scout had suggested. She was chilled to the bone and it had nothing to do with the weather.
Terror had seized her when she’d realized Gaby was on the road during the avalanche. That terror had escalated when Ciara had seen the rental car she’d passed with Gaby inside, suddenly covered in snow—and no Gaby in sight.
That entire scene could have been so much worse. They were all lucky no one had been injured or trapped. Especially because it had looked like people should have been injured or trapped. Yet perhaps there’d been a little divine intervention from Grandpa Win. It was pretty much his mountain, after all.
Now, it was the return of the tumultuous state of affairs with Scout that left Ciara feeling frigid to the core. Sure, hazardous situations, even if they were only potentially life-threatening, were supposed to make you thankful for your good fortune and survival. Make you forgive and forget. Let bygones be bygones and start anew.
But Ciara couldn’t really get there in her mind. What Scout had done to her was incredibly out of character for him. Jekyll and Hyde, all the way. And while she was still miffed, she was also worried about him. He hadn’t been forthcoming of late, though. Did he plan to keep it all inside, or would he finally open up to her?
Or… Was this his way of permanently keeping her at arm’s length, emotionally?