Snowbound with the Santas (Forbidden Fantasies)

13. Rayne

13

RAYNE

“ W hy, were you jealous?” The words snap out of me like a bullet before I even have a chance to fully process Archer’s accusation. Warmth floods up my neck and settles in my cheeks as Nick buries his face in his coffee and Frankie turns beet red.

Archer looks me in the eye for a few long seconds, then he stands and abruptly begins packing away the sleeping bags.

Last night was amazing. I don’t know if it was because we were in such a strange position that it almost didn’t feel real—like some kind of dream born from adrenaline, warmth, and the urge to be close to someone. It was a bold move that I don’t regret, but it does linger in my mind that Frankie was the first person I let touch me since Ashton.

It was oddly comforting too, that it was the act without having to look in Frankie’s eyes. If I’d done that, I’m sure my mind would have started to run rampant with the what ifs and ruined the whole thing.

Maybe I’ve been more starved for affection than I realize.

Archer, thankfully, doesn’t say anything in response. I only had that one shock one-liner, and an actual discussion would be far too embarrassing to have in front of them.

I sneak a look at Frankie, and he looks terribly apologetic. Then he begins an awkward conversation with Nick about how much longer we will have to hike. As they talk, it hits me just how echoey this cave actually is.

Clearly, my desperate attempts to stay quiet last night were useless if every noise simply bounced off the rocks and amplified tenfold.

Shit. I wonder what they think of me.

Archer quickly packs up the camp, Nick puts out the fire and scatters the ashes, and Frankie packs up the rucksacks, and then we’re back on the trail.

“Are you okay?” Frankie hangs back to walk beside me as we resume our trudge through the snow.

I nod, still feeling the heat from my embarrassment warming the back of my neck. “Is he always that much of a dick?”

Frankie sighs. “Would you believe me if I told you he was just bad with people?”

“Oh, sure,” I groan softly. “He has all the tact of a fucking nuke.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would notice.”

I glance at Frankie, and he still wears an awkward, apologetic look on his face. He reminds me of a sad puppy, so I reach out for his arm.

“I don’t regret it or anything like that,” I assure him. “I had fun last night. It was… hot and unexpected and spur of the moment. I’m not ashamed or anything. I’m just…” Shaking my head, the words fail me.

“Just Archer?” Frankie offers, kicking up the snow a little as he walks. “Maybe he really is jealous.”

I mull over that thought as we hike up the rest of the mountain. Archer is a hard man to read, and of the three of them, he’s definitely been the colder one. Nick is warm and caring, Frankie is a sweetheart, but Archer? He’s an asshole.

And yet, I find myself still wanting to hear his voice and see him look at me. Is it wishful thinking to consider the jealousy theory?

Maybe in reality, he’s simply just pissed off at my presence ruining their private Christmas getaway.

It takes only another hour of hiking for the radio tower to come into view. Despite its height, it’s nestled down the other side of one of the smaller mountain peaks, so our path takes a rather scary dip down toward the base. From the peak of the mountain, it does look small.

Then I get closer. And closer.

When we reach the base of the tower, I tip my head all the way back and stare up at the miles of metal girders that stretch tall into the blue sky. A small white building sits at the base, and after some hard kicking, Archer is able to force the door open, and we all huddle inside.

“You see this?” Nick points to an electronic console, the only thing in the entire room. “This is what gives us radio. And internet when the weather permits. You need one person down here on the console to push certain buttons while someone else goes up the tower to fix whatever is broken. But no one should climb the tower alone.”

“And that’s why you need three people?” I ask, clapping my hands together for warmth.

“Exactly.” Nick nods. “It’s doable with two people but incredibly time-consuming.”

“And if you’re solo?”

Nick snorts slightly. “You’d be better hiking down the mountain to civilization than coming up here trying to fix this solo. Ideally, a helicopter would fly people up here and pick them up, but no one really cares for the old towers these days.”

“Fucking 5G,” Archer mutters under his breath, stomping his snow-covered boots on the stone floor. “C’mon, Frankie. Let’s head up.”

“Wait, you two are going up there?” I hurry after Frankie as he and Archer head outside. The tower itself looks so frail and weak that it’s hard to imagine how someone could climb it.

“It needs done,” Archer says gruffly, snapping a clip onto his belt. He tosses the other end to Frankie, who snaps it onto his belt. Then Archer begins climbing the worn metal ladder leading up.

“We’ve done it before,” Frankie says with an adorable smile and pats my shoulder. “We’ll be back in no time.”

My stomach flips with uncertainty, and I stand in the snow, watching as Frankie follows a few feet behind Archer. I stay there, watching until they become too small to see clearly, and then I head back inside.

“Are you alright?” Nick asks, glancing over his shoulder at me.

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “It’s just… weird to see them climb up this thing when it looks like one strong wind could knock it down.”

“These towers are sturdier than they look,” Nick replies. “But I was also asking about you after what Archer said.”

“Oh.” Warmth seeps up my neck once more. “I’m okay. I mean… let’s face it. You all dug me out of the snow, took off my dress, patched me up, and have been taking care of me. What happened with Frankie was… fun. And I don’t regret it or anything, I’m just sorry if it crossed a line I didn’t know about.”

Nick’s smile widens slightly. “Rayne. You’re both consenting adults. Archer is just Archer. He’s very protective over Frankie, so I can only imagine that he’s worried you’ll break his heart or something.”

My own heart skips a beat. “From just sex?” I ask, although it feels hollow to say that. It was just sex, I think. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say that.

“What can I say, he’s very protective,” Nick replies.

Turning back to the console, he gives me a quick rundown of what all the buttons mean and what to look for once Archer and Frankie fix whatever is broken. Either the top row of lights will flicker back into existence and Nick can press the two blue buttons to restore the signal, or the lights will remain dark and those two will return.

“What happens if they can’t fix what’s up there?” I ask, peering out the door.

“There’s too much that could be broken on a tower this old,” Nick explains. “But Archer’s fixed it more times than I can count, so he’ll be the best one to tell us whether it’s fixable or not. With any luck, the storm just knocked some wires loose or disconnected the transponder.”

“And with no luck?” I glance back at him.

Nick puffs out his cheeks. “Then I guess you’ll be with us for Christmas.”

I can’t express how much that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Back outside, I peer up the tower trying to get a glimpse of either Archer or Frankie. They’re so high up now that they blend into the old structure and I can’t make out any details. I need them to make it down in one piece because they’re only here for me.

Given what I’ve observed and how they talk so casually about the mountain, these men love it here and they’re familiar with how to survive. If it weren’t for me, then I doubt they would even care that the radio is down, and they would just wait until their next planned hike down to civilization.

Instead, we’re here, and they’re up there risking their lives to fix the tower so that I can radio home. The longer I stare upward, the more my stomach starts to twist.

What if it goes wrong? What if someone slips and they both topple down from the tower? If they vanish down the mountain, what would I even do? I definitely don’t know how to hike back to the cabin, and what if something were to happen to Nick?

The mountain suddenly feels a lot colder until a soft cheer rises up from inside the building. I poke my head back inside to see a full row of lights along the top of the console and Nick’s hands on the blue buttons.

“It’s working?”

“It’s working!” Nick flashes me a grin. “The radio signal is weak but it’s there. And this?” He points to a flashing amber light. “This is the Fixed Wireless Access port. It’s how we get the internet when the weather isn’t terrible.”

“Y’know, I’ve kind of missed the internet.” It’s working. Which means Archer and Frankie fixed what they needed to and they’ll be coming back.

But it also means I’ll be able to call home and likely return to the ski lodge.

“So I’ll… I’ll be able to go back?”

Nick flips a few more switches and then strides over to me. “Not quite yet,” he says, and my heart lifts. “You will be able to call your family, but with this other storm on the horizon, I don’t think it would be wise to travel much further until it passes. We don’t want you lost in the snow again.”

It shouldn’t bring me so much relief to hear him say that. Being trapped here shouldn’t be my preferred solution, and yet it’s all I can think about. The longer I’m here, the safer I am and the more time I have to work out how to tackle Ashton.

Only, I’m also working to not think about him.

Maybe I can stay here forever.

I linger near the door while Nick performs a few checks of the console, and while he talks me through what he’s doing, none of it sticks.

Reality is suddenly weighing down my shoulders once more, and I don’t know how to face it. This little bubble with these three has been so short and so amazing that I want to stay. I crave it like I used to crave the burn of a good alcohol.

Another couple of days and I’ll be back with my family. Back with Ashton.

“Rayne?” Nick’s concerned face swims into my unfocused vision, and I straighten up.

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay? I asked if you had any exciting Christmas plans to get back to and you were staring into space.”

I meet his eyes and force a smile. “I’m sorry, I was just?—”

“Frankie!” Archer’s somewhat distant cry sends Nick and me running back outside into the snow with our attention skyward.

A few feet above us, Frankie dangles out from the tower held in place only by the strap connecting him to Archer.

“Frankie!” Nick yells, making for the ladder. “Hold on!”

“Oh, my God…” It’s difficult to tell what happened, but from here, it looks like the ladder Frankie was holding onto simply crumbled away from age or even the cold. Pieces of it litter the snow around me, and Frankie appears motionless at the end of the line. Archer is hanging on for dear life, balancing his own weight with Frankie’s as Nick swiftly climbs upward.

Then the cable snaps.

A scream of fear escapes me as Frankie appears weightless for a split second, then he plummets down and lands with a thump in the snow beside me.

“Frankie!” I lurch toward him, fearing the worst, until I land on my knees next to him and he lets out a long, low groan.

“Ow.”

“Are you okay?” I can’t bring myself to touch him, too scared of what my contact might do to him. A moment later, Nick is by my side.

“Frankie? Are you hurt?” Nick demands.

“No,” Frankie groans. “Just winded. Wasn’t that far.”

“Wasn’t that far?” I snap, scrambling up from the snow and looking upward. “It was far enough! How are you not hurt?”

“Luck,” Archer pants, appearing beside me. He immediately kneels down and clutches at Frankie. “You bastard, what were you thinking?”

“Uh…” Frankie groans softly. “That the snow was thick enough to absorb my fall and also, I hate climbing that fucking tower.”

“You fucker.” Archer shoves Frankie back down into the snow as he tries to stand up, causing Frankie to wince, which makes everyone immediately concerned that he’s hurt.

I glance upward again. From here, it did look like a far way to fall, and maybe it’s a stroke of luck that he’s unhurt.

My heart pounds and something clicks in my mind. I was scared in those few seconds when Frankie was falling through the air.

Not scared of being alone. No, I was scared that Frankie would get hurt. That someone I care about would get hurt.

I stand back, watching as Archer unclips the broken belt while Nick tilts Frankie’s head this way and that to check for injuries. He really does seem fine.

I force a deep breath in and hold it as I look back up the tower.

Then, something glints and catches my eye. The ladder that broke under Frankie’s weight seems to crumble right before my eyes, and one of the ladder rungs suddenly detaches from the tower completely.

It plummets down, and I open my mouth, ready to tell them all to get out of the way, but there isn’t enough time. I react purely on instinct and throw myself into Archer.

“Archer!”

He stumbles back with a grunt of surprise, wrapping one arm around me to regain his balance just as the rung pierces into the ground just where he was standing.

A split second too late and he’d be gone.