“Bellamy…” I warned.
She was fucking crazy if she thought she could tell me she loved me and then turn around and walk away.
I wasn’t letting her go.
“This is the reason, Liam. The reason I haven’t told you. The reason I shouldn’t have come here. I love you so much, and I want you to be safe. Above everything else. Even above your happiness… and mine. I don’t think you can be safe when I’m around.”
“You’re wrong,” I argued.
“I hope I am.” She relented. “It’s why I’m still here.” She made a sound and turned away. “That and I really don’t think I can lose you twice.”
I went to her, wrapping my arms around her from behind. Against her ear, I made a promise. One I would kill to keep. “You’re not going to lose me. Not ever.”
Her arms covered mine, and I rocked us back and forth for a few quiet minutes. After a while, she brushed at her cheeks and sniffled. “You should go. Your father is waiting.”
I really didn’t want to go.
She turned in my arms, smiling up at me. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Swear it,” I demanded.
“I swear.”
I kissed her again, allowing my tongue to linger on hers.
“I’ll be back,” I said, pulling away. “C’mon, Charlie,” I called. He got up and rushed to my side. “I’m gonna let him get some exercise and put him outside before we come back up for the night.”
She nodded. Her lips were swollen from our kisses.
“Lock up behind me,” I instructed.
Bellamy followed me to the door, and I gave her one last lingering look before stepping out into the hall.
“I love you,” I told her. I would never be able to say it enough.
“I love you, too.”
I could never hear it enough.
I waited until I heard the door lock before I moved off down the hall.
Bellamy
I was a coward.
Part of me was okay with that. Not very girl power-ish was it? Thing was it was the coward part of me that kept me here. That kept me with Liam.
I couldn’t regret that. Not ever.
I might never be the poster woman for strength and courage. I didn’t even want to be. I just wanted to live my life.
My life. Not the life of Bella Lane—a woman who lived a bland existence, worked in a stodgy law office, lived alone with no family and afraid to make any real friends. A woman who would sometimes sneak off to the corner grocery store to get some good ingredients and make a meal for one because it was the only way I could feel alive.
I’d felt more alive in the past week, living out of a bag, with one ill-fitting pair of jeans and underwear I had to wash in the bathroom sink than I had in the almost two years.
I needed to tell Liam.
To come clean about everything. My father, witnessing his murder, the trial, witness protection… and running for my life. It wasn’t fair of me to confess my love when he really had no idea what the hell he was dealing with.
I was no longer a sixteen-year-old girl with daddy issues.
I was a grown woman on the run from murderers.
Funny, though, how both those versions of me loved the same man.
And that’s why you have to tell him. A man like Liam, a man that inspires this kind of love, deserves the truth.
Maybe it was a copout that I continued to say nothing because I wanted him to be safe.
Oh, I did want that. More than anything.
But keeping him in the dark was sort of like leading him into a cage with a hungry tiger, then turning on the light.
I went to the window and leaned my forehead against the cold glass. It was snowing outside. Small, icy flakes rained from the sky, giving a fresh coat to the blanket already glistening on the mountain.
If I was going to stay here, then I had to be honest.
I puttered around the room a little while, unpacking the items I’d purchased today, folding the clothes, and placing it all on top of the dresser.
Most of it was basic, everyday wearable items. There was something different about them, though. They weren’t all black. I’d gravitated toward some colors. I hadn’t worn a lot of color in a long time.
I’d always just picked up black. I always told myself it would help conceal me, and perhaps it matched my heart after everything…
But today, I bought blue. And green. And pink!
I didn’t want just black anymore.
Watching my father being beaten and murdered flipped a switch inside me. Almost being murdered and going on the run flipped it back.
I used my new products in the shower, taking time to shave and moisturize. Knowing that Liam was spending the night made me want to take extra care with my appearance, something else I hadn’t thought about much in recent years.
After pulling on his T-shirt, I brushed out my hair, and since I had some new hairbands, I took the time to put it into two fishtail braids that fell over my shoulders. The braids fell past my breasts and took forever to finish, but once they were secured and I puffed them out a little with my fingers, I smiled.
Worth the work.
Flutters of anticipation were no stranger as I waited for Liam to come back for the night. I couldn’t wait to be in his arms. To feel him against me. In me. Around me.
I really did try to move on from him all those years ago.
About a year after that morning, I was with someone else. I went to the bathroom after and cried silent tears. It felt wrong. So wrong.
After that, I didn’t get intimate with anyone until this guy I’d been dating for six months. At that point, it was pretty much do it or get left. Maybe I should have let him leave, but I didn’t.
I didn’t cry after, but that night, I’d dreamt of Liam. And I spent the next day trying not to read every article online about him. I continued to date him. We were together for almost two years. He eventually broke up with me because he said it felt as though I was always somewhere else.
He was right. I was.
It almost seemed unreal I was here at BearPaw and that Liam was back in my life. Never in a million years had I thought this would happen.
I climbed between the covers and turned on some made-for-TV movie and glanced out at the falling snow again. He’d been gone a while, and I was getting anxious to see him.
Almost as if I’d conjured him up myself, he knocked on the door.
I jumped up as he knocked softly again. My heart was pounding, fingers tingling, and my eyes desperate for his face. I ran to the door, the soft fabric of his shirt caressing my thighs as I went.
The anticipation made me stupid. The passion I felt clouded my judgement.
For the first time in I don’t know how long, I pulled open the door without calling out first, without glancing through the dreaded peephole.
The smile on my face fell instantly, faster than it took the shirt to settle around my legs. With a shriek, I moved to slam the door.
But it was too late.
I should have paid more attention today in town. I should have heeded that creepy sensation of being watched.
I didn’t.
And now it would cost me my life.
Liam
The door to my dad’s office was ajar. Not all the way open, just enough for Charlie to stick his head in and shove it open wide.
I heard my dad chuckling before I even made it through.
“Charlie!” he called out. “How’s it going, my good man?”
I smiled listening to my father talk to my dog. It was as if he thought of Charlie as one of the guys. I guess he was in a way. Charlie had helped pull me out of a deep depression, a depression that still held deep inside me with its dark tendrils. Sort of as if it was lying in wait.
Charlie became a part of the family this past year, not just to me, but to everyone around me. They all knew the giant drool-monger helped me in ways no one else had been able. If for no other reason
than to give me a purpose. It was hard to wallow in self-pity when there was a dog tugging on your sheets to get up because he had to piss or dragging in a leash because he wanted to walk.
“He’s doing great, Dad. He just ate a hamburger,” I said, coming into the office and shutting the door.
Dad laughed again, and I smiled because Charlie had his head lying in my father’s lap. Likely drooling all over his suit. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He just stroked the dog’s ears.
“Well, I’m sure your mother will be pleased you’re feeding him well.”
My mother called Charlie her grandson. Enough said.
“What’s this about?” I asked, sitting down in the chair near his desk.
The night lights were on out over the slopes. I got a sudden urge to grab my board and hit the powder. Snowboarding at night was something I would always love. The crispness in the air, the quiet around the trees, and the millions of stars filling the night sky above the pure, white snow. There really was nothing like it.
“I heard you called a staff meeting today.”
I groaned. That’s what this is about?
“Well, if you already know, then you don’t need to ask me about it.”
“Apparently, I do because it’s become clear you just aren’t going to inform me or your mother on what’s going on in your life.”
Ah, shit. I winced. “Mom’s upset?”
“If your mother was that upset, she’d already have been on your doorstep.” He glanced up. “Or at the door of wherever it is you’ve been sleeping.”
I groaned.
“Have you forgotten that BearPaw is sort of like a giant family? Families gossip, son. Especially about the most popular member.”
“People need to mind their own damn business,” I muttered.
“Considering you held a meeting and made everyone aware of your business, I would say that statement is a moot point.”
I sat up in the chair. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you and Mom before I made an announcement. I didn’t really plan it that way. It just needed to be said.”
“This must be some girl.” He started. “A suite under your name, ordering room service to be sent up every morning, purchasing a heap of outdoor gear in one of our nicest shops, bringing her to your lessons… staying in her room.”
“I get the point, Dad. You know everything.” And every single person in this place was a little tattle-tale.
“I’m not trying to lecture you. You’re a grown man. What you do with your time and with whom really isn’t my business as long as you aren’t hurting yourself or anyone else.”
“But?”
There was always a but with parents. Even when you were an adult.
“But this seems very extravagant for someone you just met last week.”
“No one told you her name?” I inquired.
His forehead wrinkled. He looked tired. A feeling I didn’t like pinged inside me, so I focused on the topic in front of us.
“No. But I don’t really think it matters.”
“It’s Bellamy, Dad.”
His face was blank for the first few seconds. Then realization washed over his features, and he sat forward. “The girl you wanted to leave the pros for?”
I nodded. “The girl that got away,” I murmured, repeating Alex’s favorite phrase.
“You mean the girl that ran away.”
My eyes flashed to his. I didn’t like the implication of his words. My tone was flat, borderline unreasonable, when I replied. “It wasn’t like that.”
He spread his hands. “Then how was it?”
“She saw me kissing someone else that morning. I didn’t know…” My voice trailed off as regret washed over me. I didn’t fight for her back then.
Why the fuck didn’t I fight?
Dad made a sound. “You were both very young. Not ready for love.”
“Well. She’s back now.”
“I take it the feelings you had eight years ago are still the same?”
I met his eyes. “They’re stronger.”
“I see.”
I shook my head. “She’s in some kind of trouble, Dad. She won’t say much, keeps saying she’s trying to protect me. But she’s jumpy. Skittish. She’s running from some bad people.”
“And you want to protect her.”
I want to do so much more than protect her. “You’re damn right I do.”
“And telling the staff that she’s your girlfriend was your way of doing that.”
I made a sound. “She was worried they were thinking bad about her because everything is in my name.”
My father smiled mildly. “So you set them straight.”
I got up, restless. Prowling to the other side of the room, I said, “Why does this amuse you so much?”
“It’s just nice to see you care about something other than snowboarding.”
“I care about more than just boarding,” I argued.
“So when do we get to meet her?” Dad asked. I wasn’t sure if I should be annoyed or relieved he didn’t argue back. “You know your mother is going to be relentless.”
I made a sound. “She probably put you up to this.”
He chuckled, and that pretty much proved that. “She’s curious. She’s heard all the gossip, too. But I was as well, especially since you were comping so much at the resort and calling staff meetings.”
I grimaced. “She tried to pay me. More than once. I can’t take her money.”
“I understand.”
I turned to him. “Do you really?”
He smiled wide. “I was young once. When I first met your mother, I was a besotted fool.”
I barked a laugh.
“I am concerned, though. If she really is in trouble, then it could follow her here. I want you to be happy, Liam, but not at the expense of your wellbeing.”
“Not you, too,” I muttered and scrubbed a hand over my face.
“Come again?”
“Bellamy just told me the same thing.”
“I like her already.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Talk to her. If there is one thing I learned after all these years of marriage, you have to be honest. And you have to be a team. If you aren’t, it will never work.”
“Yeah.” I agreed, thinking back to eight years ago. If we’d been a little more honest, maybe acted like a team, things might have turned out a lot differently.
“We’ll get together this weekend. Bring her to Sunday dinner. I’ll tell your mother. She can call you to finalize.”
I nodded.
“So,” he said in the tone he always used when he wanted to change the subject. I knew exactly where this was heading—to me taking over the resort. “Have you thought about what we discussed at our last meeting?”
There was a quick rap against his door, and then it opened. Alex popped his head in. “Sorry to bother you, Ren, sir, but I’m trying to find Liam.”
I stepped forward so he could see me.
Alex’s face softened with relief. “I tried to call you.”
My chest tightened. “Is everything okay?”
He glanced at my father, then back. “Can we talk?”
We both looked at my father, and he waved us off. “Go on. Liam, I’ll see you Saturday.”
“See you then,” I said, but right before I left, I stopped and turned. “Thanks, Dad. For everything.”
“You’re welcome, son.”
Charlie was dancing around Alex when I stepped out in hallway. That’s how I knew it was serious. Alex always goofed off with the dog, but tonight he didn’t even seem to notice him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, tucking my hands in the pockets of my jeans.
“I was at the tavern a few minutes ago, and these guys came in. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I mean, there are new faces in and out all the time, you know?”
I nodded. A pit of dread was forming a hard knot in my stomach, and it was making me very impatient.
“Are they guests here?”
Alex shook his head. “Don’t think so. They paid cash for their drinks… started asking some questions.
“What kind of questions?”
His brow furrowed even deeper. “They wanted to know about Bellamy.”
My hands fell from my pockets, shoulders going rigid. “They asked about Bells?”
“Yeah. They were being casual about it, but there was something off. Then I remembered how you said she was in some kind of trouble…”
I surged forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “What did you tell them?”
Alex wrenched away and made a sour face. “Like I’d tell them shit.”
“C’mon,” I said and took off down the hall. He fell into step beside me. “They still in the bar?”
“Nah, they left. That’s when I came to find you.”
“Where’d they go?”
“Not sure, but I told the guy working the front desk to watch them.”
I hit the elevator button about fifteen times and then cursed. These things were fucking slow! With an impatient growl, I hit the button one last time and took off for the stairs.
“Where’s Bellamy now?” Alex said, running right beside me, Charlie bringing up the rear.
“I left her in her room.”
Alone.
Suddenly, it felt as if all the blood in my veins was replaced with ice water. I let out a string of curses and picked up my pace.
This place was huge. Just because men were here looking didn’t mean they’d find her. She was fine. She was safe.
Please, God, let her be safe.
Bellamy
“Don’t look so surprised,” a man with dark, hollow eyes intoned as his palmed slapped the door and pushed.
I fought against it, but my strength succumbed to his.
The door flew wide when I stumbled back, keeping my eyes on the man.
He didn’t smile. He just stared, stepped into the room, and folded his arms together, waiting.
He might have all the time in the world, but I sure as hell didn’t. I snatched the first thing I saw, a ceramic coffee mug, and hurled it at him. It smacked him in the face and bounced off. I heard it shatter, but I didn’t look to find out where. I rushed him, taking advantage of the distraction. Plowing into him, I shoved, trying to skirt past him and flee into the hall.
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