Snowbound with the Santas (Forbidden Fantasies)

27. Archer

27

ARCHER

T hings have felt different since Christmas. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but something’s changed. Rayne’s smile seems brighter, and the tension in my chest isn’t as smothering as it usually is. Even the world outside seems a little brighter than normal.

I stand in front of the mirror, watching water droplets catch in the hairs on my chest and then roll further down my body. My mind jumps back to Christmas Day when we all ended up tangled together making love under the Christmas tree. It was the first time I let Rayne really touch the scars on my back, and the softness of her fingertips still tingles against me two days later.

Acceptance is a hell of a drug.

I start to dress, but halfway through, the familiar crackling of the radio bursts into life. Hopping on one leg, I quickly pull my cargo pants on and dart through to the bedroom where the radio is located. Seeing that it’s a call and not Freida, I answer it with the press of a button and then move to my closet.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” crackles a voice. “This is Mountain Rescue. To whom am I speaking?”

“You’ve got Archer.”

“Hey, Archer, it’s Colin.”

“Hey, Colin, how’s it going?” Colin’s been a part of Mountain Rescue for as long as I’ve been here, and he’s got a great understanding of how things work here. Mainly that we prefer not to be disturbed, but with Rayne with us, I think I’ve spoken to him more this past month than my entire years here.

“Pretty terrible, actually,” Colin replies. “I’m screening calls left, right, and center from the ski lodge.”

“About?”

“About Rayne, of course,” Colin snaps. “Archer, she never made it back to the lodge.”

I pause with my head halfway through my shirt, and confusion swirls like fog in my chest. “What do you mean, she didn’t arrive?”

“Exactly that,” Colin remarks. “She never arrived!”

“Well…” I approach the radio and glance through the door. “Of course she never arrived, Colin. She’s still here.”

“What?” Colin sounds as if someone just punched him in the gut. “She never left?”

“No, she never left. How could she? You told us we couldn’t risk that kind of drive down the mountain until the trails have cleared, so we’ve been sitting, waiting on your call.”

There’s silence for a long moment.

“Colin?”

“Archer… we called through just before Christmas. The road’s been cleared for travel for at least five days.”

“What?”

“You need to put her on this call right now, Archer, before someone thinks you’ve done something terrible?—”

Colin’s voice fades into the background as I think back to the radio call just before Christmas—the call that Rayne answered. She definitely told me that the roads were still unsafe for travel, and I had no reason to doubt her.

“Hold on, Colin. I’ll be back.”

“Archer!”

I hurry from the bedroom and stride down to the lounge, where Nick is tucked up in a chair by the fire with his nose in a book, and Frankie lounges across the sofa twirling a knife around a small chunk of wood.

“Where’s Rayne?” I demand.

Both of them straighten immediately.

“Bathroom,” says Frankie.

“Why?” asks Nick.

“Because I’ve got Colin on the radio telling me the Ski Lodge is going crazy because they think Rayne left here just before Christmas and never made it down the mountain.”

“What?” Frankie leans over the back of the couch. “Why the hell do they think that?”

Nick’s face changes immediately as he catches on before I have to say anything.

“Because,” I say tightly, “the call that came through before Christmas was to tell us the trails were safe enough to travel.”

“And Rayne told us the roads were still blocked,” Nick says, abandoning his book. “She lied?”

“Looks like it,” I reply tightly.

“Wait, she wouldn’t lie.” Frankie spins to face Nick. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Nick says. “We all saw how tense she got any time we mentioned going back.”

“And she took the call. I’m not…” I catch myself as my chest tightens painfully. “I’m not accusing her, but now the ski lodge and her family think we’ve done away with her and Colin is demanding to speak to her.”

“Speak to who?” Rayne wanders into the lounge with a smile on her face, but it fades the instant she looks at the three of us. “What’s wrong?” she asks. “Has something happened?”

My lips part to speak, but Nick gets there first, and it’s probably for the best. I lack a comforting tact in these situations.

“Rayne… the call that you took on the radio from Mountain Rescue just before Christmas. Do you remember it?”

“Yes, of course.” She nods quickly.

“What did they say?”

“Uhm…” She glances between the three of us. “I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something like the trails wouldn’t be open until after Christmas and we were to stay put.”

Tension snaps down my spine. “Then why do I have Mountain Rescue on the radio right now acting like you were supposed to leave here five days ago?” I don’t mean to snap, but Rayne lied. I wouldn’t have cared if she’d asked to stay here. We all would have said yes. But now it looks like we’ve done something terrible to stop her from leaving.

Her eyes widen and all color drains from her face.

“Archer,” Nick warns, holding one hand back toward me. Then he looks at Rayne. “What Archer means to say is that Mountain Rescue were under the impression that they radioed us and told us that the trails were clear. Your family were expecting you back, and when you didn’t make it, well… you can see how it looks.”

“I…” Rayne’s hands clasp together at her middle, twisting her fingers around each other. “That’s not true.”

“This is dumb,” Frankie says suddenly. “We can just get the transcript from the last communication and then Mountain Rescue will see that this is their error. Hell, they can even send someone up here to see that Rayne is fine.”

“Colin wants to speak to her,” I say tightly, fighting the rising guilt. I shouldn’t have snapped, but the veiled accusations in Colin’s tone had been clear. The last thing I need is people thinking we’ve kidnapped some poor woman.

“You can do that?” Rayne asks softly, and her attention is fixed on Frankie. “Get the transcript?”

“Definitely,” Frankie says. “Our radio shit is so old that it prints everything. There’ll be a transcript somewhere.” He hops over the back of the couch, but as he lands, Rayne presses one hand over her mouth and her eyes shine with tears.

“I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble!”

“It’s okay,” Nick says warmly. “This is an easy fix.”

“No…” Rayne begins to pace back and forth. “It’s not because he’s right. They did say that and I lied because I… well, I panicked.”

“Panicked?” Frankie’s face falls. “Why?”

“I don’t know!” Rayne throws one hand in the air, picking at the hem of her shirt with the other. “That call came through, and I thought about going back there and facing… I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t ready, and I like being here, and I didn’t want to leave, so I thought if I just said things were closed for a few more days, then it would be okay and I’d be able to spend Christmas here. I didn’t even think that it would cause problems.”

“Rayne.” I step forward. “You could have just asked us.”

“Asked!” A couple of tears fall when she blinks. “It’s already a weird situation. I didn’t want to be weirder and act clingy by asking to stay.”

“We would have said yes.” I swallow down my irritation at being lied to. “In case it escaped your notice, we’re incredibly fond of you, so having you here has been a blessing. But on top of that, we wouldn’t force you to go back to somewhere you don’t want to be. Not alone, at least.”

Her eyes dart back and forth, and then she lifts a hand to her mouth, picking slightly at her lower lip.

“Archer’s right,” Nick says. “We know your ex is there and he makes you uncomfortable. We already agreed that we would go back with you, although I think that’s on us for not telling you that we would do that. No one will ever make you do something you don’t want to do.”

“I’m sorry,” Rayne whispers, and her cracked tone pulls my heart south. “I’m sorry I lied.”

The more I study her reaction, the more something feels… off. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Rayne’s fear of returning to the lodge and her instinct to lie gives me the distinct impression that we don’t have the whole story.

Maybe we’re not privy to it, but we definitely don’t have all the pieces.

“It’s okay,” I sigh. “I’m sorry I snapped. Colin, the Mountain Security leader, he was on the verge of making some disgusting accusations and I?—”

Something rapid and heavy suddenly thumps against the front door, surprising me into silence and making Rayne jump out of her skin.

“Maybe he got tired of waiting for you to answer.” Nick snorts. He moves past me to the door and pulls it open, coming face to face with a man flanked by two other men in clear mountain security gear. Just beyond them, their jeep sits packed up with flashing yellow lights, nearly blinding anyone who looks at them.

“Can I help you?” Nick asks.

“Yeah,” barks the stranger, forcibly shoving past Nick. “Where the fuck is Rayne?”