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“What the fuck are you doing, Rayne?” Frost demanded, all harsh lines and snarling voice. What the fuck was I doing? Therapy.
“Why am I being an asshole?” he repeated, outraged. “You hit me with your car, Rayne!”
I needed to check out of this conversation before my hormones shook off the shock-therapy of being back in Northland to get onboard an entirely different kind of Pole-r Express. Did I really just go there?
I should have left. I absolutely needed to leave. And yet I stood there fucking frozen and watching like some kind of deer in headlights. Porn headlights. There was just something… strangely familiar about the man’s ass. Was that weird? Yes, definitely. So I stood there. Watching. Like a goddamn creep.
“Because…” Nick made a frustrated sound. “I panicked! Rayne was the last fucking person I expected to walk in on me balls deep in Donna, so she caught me off guard. If you two knew she was in town, why’d no one tell me?” “And miss this amazing reaction? Not for the world,”
I’d be fine with that. But I answered your questions. You know why I’m here. You know why you’re here. Now, I’m closing the door and you’re fucking right the hell off.”
The broken bits of the day were all falling back into place from cat pee to sex with Saint Nick to Tinker losing the back of his head. Santa Claus sent an elf to kill me, and whatever was going on in this town, it was even worse than I remembered.
“This is a bad idea. You are a bad idea, Rayne, always have been, always will be.” With that cryptic and downright gutting statement, he brushed past me and stormed out with Jolly hot on his heels.
“He’s… holding onto an old grudge where you’re concerned. We all are, to be fair.” My jaw dropped in outrage. “You’re holding a grudge? Over fucking what, Nicholas Klores? What the hell do the three of you have to hold a grudge over when you all left me? Not the other way around. You. Left. Me. You all swore you’d protect me no matter what, and the second you could, you disappeared. Took off out of Northland and never looked back. Every single one of you. You. Left. Me. If anyone gets to hold a grudge here? It’s me.” His eyes widened. “Is that what you think?” A laugh as caustic as acid rolled
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He was the youngest of the three boys—only by a few weeks—but that meant he was the last to leave me. He was the one who truly left me alone.
There were no promises in Frost’s eyes at all, just violence. Violence I trusted.
“Did you sleep through that story I just told? The worst has already happened to me. Nothing you say can hurt me.” “I don’t want to hurt you!” he bellowed, grabbing my wrist before I could throw the snow at close range. “Don’t you get it, Stormy? I’ve never wanted to hurt you!”
“Don’t you fucking dare treat me like I’m breakable, Frost Jackson. I deserve more respect than that.”
“She could have gotten frost bite.” “I did,” I told him, almost cheerfully. “Frost totally bit me.”
“Oh,” Nick murmured. “That was Frost flirting? Fucking weird but alright, who am I to judge?”
Within minutes, the guys were gone, and I was alone in Doc Kane’s cabin by the lake. Alone, with one girl barely clinging to life and a scared teen holding a gun like a lifeline. Oh, and a snoring polar bear. What could go wrong?
She blinked. “I don’t even know that I have any wings left to heal…”
“Holy shit,” he croaked, dropping the box. I grinned. “Are we off to a good start, Saint Nick?” “Twelve out of ten,” he replied, kicking the front door shut and shedding his own coat. “Merry fucking Christmas to me.” I cupped my own breasts, playing with them as I watched him strip naked, my mouth watering as each inch of his tanned, tattoo-decorated skin was exposed. “How do you want me, Saint Nick? Are you going to use me like a good little ho, ho, ho?” Neither one of us could keep a straight face at that, but it sure as fuck didn’t dampen the mood.
“You didn’t need to know that I came back and didn’t get you out of all that.” The gruffness in his voice raked across my heart with what he didn’t say. That he didn’t save me. “I needed to know I wasn’t forgotten,” I said. “I needed to know you cared enough to come back.”
“I have regrets, Frost. You’re not one of them.” Not any longer. “Cause Alf told you I came back?” The skepticism rifling the words didn’t fool me. “Nope,” I said. “‘Cause you made me coffee.”
Frost placed the remaining pie box on the counter beside where I sat and grinned widely at Nick. “Stormy’s a squirter.” Nick’s mouth fell open and I tossed my hands in the air. “Way to change the subject, Frost! Real smooth.” Frost just shrugged, totally unrepentant. “Facts are facts, Puddle, my love. And this is relevant information to temper Saint’s… uh… temper. As it may be. Right, Nick?” The big doofus just nodded enthusiastically. “Very relevant discovery.”
“Yeah, I’m an asshole.” He chuckled. “But this is the thing, Firecracker, you can’t close the book on the past until you write the end of that story. The only one who can write the ending is you.”
“I’ve said it before, Rayne-drop, and I’ll say it again. Nothing is off limits when it comes to making you happy.” “Including violent murder,”
They were all studying me, their expressions a range of indulgence to worry to exasperation. I made them crazy. Fair enough. “Hey guys, did I mention that I love you?” It seemed about time they knew.
