by Amanda Rose
"What about him?" Slade replied in a sort of growly, menacing tone as he stepped closer on my other side. "The dude was blind fucking wasted; I’d be amazed if he remembers any of this tomorrow."
"He’s right." Ryder nodded confidently. "We should call the cops, but …"
I was already shaking my head; Gary's family owned this place and I did not want to get fired. It was a bit of a cowardly move, I knew, but I couldn't risk the new life I was trying to build for myself.
"Okay, well, it's not like he's going to call us out for stopping him from raping you," Ryder continued, his voice soft.
He had a point …
Surely this wasn’t the sort of thing Gary was going to admit to in the light of day. Right?
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the staff housing, but it was more than enough time for shock to set in. By the time I reached my door, I was shaking so much that I missed the handle.
Slade reached over and opened the door for me while Ryder grabbed my shaking hand. Without a word, they led me into my room and Ryder sat down on my bed, tugging me to sit beside him.
"Are you okay?" Slade asked, kicking the door shut and slouching against my desk, facing the bed with a heavy frown.
Not trusting my voice, I nodded. He stared at me hard as Ryder linked his fingers in mine, and before I knew what was happening, there were hot tears sliding down my cheeks.
"Babe, it’s okay to not be okay," Ryder said softly, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear in a gesture so sweet it almost made me cry harder.
What the fuck, Mila? Pull your shit together! You are not a crier.
I bit down hard on my lip and closed my eyes for a moment to get a grip.
"Okay, I’m fine."
Slade was still staring at me intently when my eyes reopened and I shifted nervously.
"Seriously, I’m fine. Thank you for, um, you know …" My cheeks flamed under the scrutiny of both men.
"For saving you from getting violated by some sleazy fuck?" Slade Knightbridge was clearly not one to mince words. Fucker.
"Ah, yeah, that." I stared down at my fingers linked with Ryder's, but couldn’t seem to make my hand disengage with his.
"You want us to stay for a bit, in case he comes looking for you?" Ryder asked and a shock of panic ran through me.
I hadn’t considered that. Would he? Surely not …
"No, thank you, I’ll be fine," I whispered, not totally trusting my voice.
They both watched me for a minute before Slade shrugged and opened my door.
"Suit yourself, but you really should think about reporting the incident to the local police or some shit. Dude can’t be allowed to just get away with crap like that." Slade’s gravelly tone made it sound almost like a threat, but maybe that was just his voice?
"Uh, yeah no. Gary’s cousin owns the whole village so … that’s not happening." I carefully extracted my fingers from Ryder’s grip and stood to usher them out.
"Okay, well … lock your door." Slade tucked his hands into his coat pockets, gave me a curt nod and then left me alone in my tiny bedroom with Ryder.
"You sure you’re okay?" He frowned, standing as well and sort of crowding me given how little floor space my room had.
"Uh-huh," I nodded tightly and dodged eye contact. Being so close to these drop-dead gorgeous men with their intense gazes and strangely caring behavior was totally confusing my deep-seated hatred towards them.
"Alright well … if you need anything, we’re in the presidential suite." Ryder started to leave then hesitated in the doorway and turned back to me. "Maybe you should take my number … just in case?"
"No," I snorted, "thanks but no thanks. Your reputation precedes you, Ryder Bailey, and I have no interest in becoming one of your booty calls."
"Ouch, that was harsh." He raised his eyebrows at me in surprise but I rolled my eyes. He didn’t honestly think I was falling for his innocent nice guy routine, did he?
"Whatever, you’ll live. Thank you for saving me and shit." I held my bedroom door open, indicating that I wanted to close it, but he ignored my hint and squinted at me.
"Uh-huh. You’re a strange girl, Mila the elf." He rubbed his chin, then shrugged. "I’ll catch you around."
"Not if I can help it," I muttered, but he was already moving down the hallway to where Slade waited. Despite my best intentions, I may or may not have let my eyes linger as they left the building.
Ugh, cut it out, Mila. They’re hot. Big deal. Their physical appearances did not change the fact that those assholes were responsible for ruining my life.
Sleep. Sleep would help this all make more sense. Thankfully, I had the next two days off work, so wouldn’t need to deal with Gary until Monday.
I crawled into bed, but lay awake for hours.
CHAPTER FOUR
When my alarm went off, I felt as though I’d slept for all of five minutes. Groaning, I slapped at my alarm to turn it off and dragged a pillow over my head.
Why the fuck am I awake so early on my day off?
Oh, that's right.
I’d been planning on spending the day working on my photography … except now my camera was broken. Fucking Winter Wankers. Hopefully Drex would pay my invoice or else I was seriously fucked.
Heaving a sigh, I dragged my tired ass out of bed to get dressed. If nothing else, I could take some shots on my phone and go back to recreate them when I could sort out a new camera. It was a beautiful day, so maybe I’d head up to the summit on the gondola and take some scenic shots?
Rushing through a shower, I tried not to look too carefully at the bruising around my wrist. The whole ugly scene with Gary was better left forgotten, and hopefully he would feel the same way.
Dressing warmly in jeans, boots and a woolen coat, I grabbed my phone and staff pass then headed out to the gondola. The weather had said there would be a snowstorm later in the day so I wanted to make the most of the sunlight while it was there.
Tugging on my gloves, I quickly made my way to the gondola and arrived just as it was opening for the day. There was already a line of skiers and snowboarders waiting to get up the mountain for first tracks, but I was able to cut the line using my staff pass and hopped into one of the first gondolas all on my own.
"Don't stay up too long, Mila," one of the operators advised, as he slid the door closed. "Forecast is for a huge dumping of snow this afternoon, so we'll be shutting the lifts down early."
"Good to know…" I subtly checked his name badge, "…Ben. Thanks!"
He dipped his head in a nod and jogged back to the line of waiting boarders while my gondola reached the end of the turn, then began its ascent to the mountaintop.
I sighed and sat back on the little bench seat to enjoy the ride. Chairlifts were shitty, cold things which generally required passengers to be on skis or snowboards, but gondolas were awesome. A fully enclosed capsule with a semi-comfortable bench seat, it was perfectly acceptable to walk on and off. Despite my years and years of competition figure skating, I'd never learned to ski, so my only option if I wanted top of mountain photos was to take the gondola.
Should have grabbed coffee for the ride.
A heavy yawn escaped me and I scrubbed at my tired eyes with my hand. Sleep had definitely not come easily after Ryder and Slade had left me. All I could think about were Gary's sleazy hands on me, my mind consumed with worry about whether he would remember what happened when he woke up. Not that I could do much about it if he did.
Shaking my head to clear it of those depressing thoughts, I took out my phone and snapped a couple of pictures as the little bubble carried me higher and higher up the mountain.
Rolling black clouds and a crack of thunder were my first warnings that I'd spent far too long absorbed in taking photos, and was about to get caught in a snowstorm.
Shit.
Quickly stuffing my phone back in my pocket, I yanked my gloves back over numb fingers and hurried my freezing ass back to the gondola station.
/> How had I not noticed there were hardly any people left up here?
I needed to haul ass. Fast. Or I'd get stuck up here when the lifts were turned off, which happened when the winds got too high.
"Wait!" I yelled out to the lift attendants, who were packing up the signs and bollards ahead of the imminent storm. "Sorry, I got carried away and didn't notice the time." I puffed as I jogged up the few steps and scooted through the door to the empty gondola that had just arrived.
"Good timing! We're closing up soon. Wind is getting too dangerous to keep operating." The girl attendant clapped her gloves together and bounced on her toes to keep warm.
"Good luck!" I yelled back, and took my seat facing down the mountain, waiting for the doors to close and the carriage to begin its descent. Just as I'd settled in, the little bubble thumped and rocked as more passengers joined me.
Damn it, now I have to make awkward polite small talk for twenty minutes.
"Mila. I thought that was you." The deep voice jolted through me, and my eyes snapped up to meet Blaze's piercing green ones.
Of course, out of all the possible people in this entire fucking village …
"Blaze," I muttered in greeting, then nodded at his dark-haired companion, "Slade. What are you two still doing up here? Didn't you know a storm is coming?"
"Huh, so you do know my name." Blaze smirked, tilting his head to look at me curiously. "That hardly seems fair when I had to track yours down. Drex only knew you as Blitzen, which I was relatively sure wasn't right."
"I'm amazed you even remember meeting me," I remarked in a dry tone, "given how much entertainment you had lined up last night."
"Jealous, Mila?" Blaze grinned, and winked one sexy as fuck eye at me.
"Not on your life, Blaze," I growled, remembering my disgust and anger toward these wankers, and letting it override the panty-wetting lust I seemed to be overcome with whenever I was in close contact with any of the four of them.
"Did you have any more trouble last night, Mila?" Slade asked, breaking the stare down I was engaging in with his teammate, as if we were freaking teenagers.
"After you left me in my room and I locked the door?" I arched a brow at him and a small smile pulled the corner of my mouth against my better judgement. "No, I was fine. Thank you, by the way. If you and Ryder hadn't come along when you did …" A shudder ran through me as one of the many, many scenarios ran through my brain again, just as they had all damn night long.
"Hold up." Blaze grinned broadly, looking between Slade and me like the cat that had caught the fucking canary. "Slade, you didn't tell me you went into Mila's bedroom. What did you two do in there, huh?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Just because you're all walking STDs doesn't mean every girl you encounter is just gagging to drop her knickers for you. Slade just saw me back to my room in case that douche came after me."
"Two things here." Blaze raised two fingers in the air and gave me an amused look that told me he wasn't letting this go so easily. "Firstly, we're most certainly not walking STDs, thank you very much. We all get tested regularly and always, always cover our load. Secondly, Slade is just as big of a ladies man as I am so you can save that judgmental look you're wearing right now. Slade Knightbridge does not simply see a woman to her room without getting something in return." Blaze paused, his green eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Also, did you say 'knickers'? What are you, like British or something?"
"Bro, cut it out," Slade growled, making himself comfortable on the bench seat beside Blaze who was, unfortunately, directly opposite me. "It wasn't like that; Ryder was there, too."
"Oh, well then. That's less exciting than I'd thought." Blaze pouted like he'd been expecting a story of all the dirty things his buddy had done to me. As fucking if. I for one would not fall for the Kings of Snow and their womanizing ways.
"Hold up." I frowned, just clicking on what they'd said. "So what if Ryder was there too? I find it very hard to believe the Winter Wankers have never had a threesome before."
"Of course we have," Slade scowled, all dark and brooding, my attention snagging on the piece of metal through his eyebrow. "We just prefer our threesomes to be more female focused."
A grin spread across my face as I looked between the two of them, checking if they were fucking with me or not. They actually seemed genuine though …
"Well, color me surprised," I muttered under my breath, but not quietly enough.
"Are you saying you would have had a threesome with both Slade and Ryder?" Blaze prodded, looking half teasing and half … curious?
"I—" My indignant response was cut short by the gondola jolting to a stop.
For a moment, no one spoke. The carriage sat there, swinging a little as the roaring wind buffeted it, and I peered out the window to see that the whole gondola had stopped moving.
Fuck, we are really high up.
"Attention please," the little emergency radio crackled to life over Slade's head, and we all turned to look at it. "All lifts have been stopped due to exceptionally high winds, making it dangerous to continue. Please do not panic. Remain within your gondola or chairlift and do not attempt to leave. We will be back up and running as soon as these winds drop off in around ten to twenty minutes … hopefully …" The last bit was muttered as an afterthought and was probably not intended to be broadcast over the speaker as it cut off immediately after, filling the small space with deafening silence.
"So, you were saying?" Blaze prompted, snapping my attention back to his beautiful eyes.
"Huh?" I asked, confused. Heights were far from my favorite thing, and now that the gondola was at a standstill, it was all I could focus on … how high we were.
"You were about to tell us if you would've had a threesome with Ryder and Slade last night," he reminded me and I rolled my eyes again.
"Not if they were the last men on earth. But I personally find it much more fascinating that a group of guys so very well-known for their womanizing ways have never had a guy-guy-girl threesome before." I turned the tables on Blaze with a mocking grin of my own, using it to distract myself from the vivid mental picture of our gondola falling from the wire and crashing into the mountainside below.
"Why would we?" Slade answered, looking confused, and I swear, I had to hold back a laugh. "Women share us, not the other way around."
"Exactly that," Blaze nodded. "When we have as many chicks throwing themselves at us as we do, why the hell would we want to share when we don't have to?"
"Guess you've just never met the right woman then," I smirked, then kicked myself mentally. That had sounded way too much like flirting.
"You sound like you have experience in this field, Mila," Slade murmured, running his thumb over his lower lip while his gaze seemed to strip me naked.
Not one to ever outright lie, I simply shrugged in response. My own relationship history was none of these wankers' business—especially considering they were the reason that relationship had imploded. Looking around for a change of subject, my attention was drawn once more to how high up we were and my palms started sweating within my woolen gloves. Yanking them off, I stuffed them into my coat pocket and sneakily wiped my palms while they were in there.
"Can we come back to the fact that you wouldn't fuck Slade if he was the last man on earth?" Blaze snickered, and I was actually glad for the distraction.
"Yeah, I'd like to hear this one too," Slade remarked, arching his pierced eyebrow at me and making me shift nervously. God-fucking-damn my traitorous body for being turned-on right now.
"What's so hard to believe about that? Your reputation precedes you, and excuse me for having a little more dignity than to become another in the long, long line of faceless pussy you all use and then discard like toilet paper." I paused, pursing my lips. "Besides, I'm not even remotely attracted to any of you, so there's that."
It was such a barefaced lie, I actually started laughing at myself on the inside. I was so ridiculously attracted to the Winter Wanke
rs, it was insane. My whole body was flushed with heat as I sat there under their intense perusal, and when a sly smile spread across Blaze's sexy lips I knew I was in trouble.
"Oh, you're not?" He flicked a quick look at Slade, who raised his eyebrows in some sort of unspoken challenge.
Shit.
"Sure seemed like you were last night on the dance floor," he pulled his lip piercing into his mouth and played with it while he watched me. The look in his eyes was unmistakable. Unless this fucking gondola started moving again soon, I was not going to make it out with my dignity intact.
"I was drunk." I shrugged and looked out the window to avoid the two sexy as sin snowboarders who were watching me like a pair of hungry lions. Unfortunately, that only reminded me that we were trapped in a gently swaying capsule some fifty feet above a rocky snow covered ravine.
"Right." Blaze smirked, pushing off his bench seat and leaning into my personal space. One hand braced either side of my thighs on the seat and his knee bumped the inside of mine as I reflexively moved away. The smooth bastard must have anticipated that though, as he took the space and leaned closer.
I held his gaze stubbornly as his warm, minty breath feathered over my lips and he grinned down at me.
"So you want to tell me you’re completely and totally unaffected right now?" He challenged me with his eyes, then dipped his head to press a light, teasing kiss to the side of my neck. The movement forced me to tilt my face, and Slade’s burning gaze captured mine from across the small space.
"Totally," I gasped, but my stupid body betrayed me with a visible shiver. Blaze’s lips curved into a smile against my neck and I ground my teeth together.
Damn him. Them. Ugh, how is it even possible that Slade’s blue eyes are turning me on just as much as Blaze’s mouth right now?
Blaze dragged his lips up the length of my neck to my ear, then bit my lobe gently between his teeth. A lusty sigh slipped past my lips and Slade’s eyes seemed to brighten with excitement.
It was such a damn shame snowboarding clothing was so bulky, or I was sure I’d be seeing excitement in more than just his eyes.