Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Chapter 17 Sawyer

17

C H A P T E R

Sawyer

H e just can’t stop,” Gwen said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, guys.”

Samantha put her hand on Gwen’s. “No worries. You’re not responsible for your father. Some people don’t handle stress well and they take it out on other people.”

Gwen’s shoulders were tight and her body rigid for a few minutes, but eventually, the tension ebbed out of her. Sawyer hated seeing her like that.

Brent celebrated his win with a piece of candy Millie gave him from a stash in the kitchen. “Let’s play again,” he said excitedly.

“You guys go ahead,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer walked into the parlor, staring into the fire, with a sour look on his face.

“Jerome, we need to talk,” Sawyer said.

The older man looked up at him and sneered. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Sawyer narrowed his eyes at Jerome. “Well, I’ve got something to say to you. The whole situation here is hard enough. Everyone is stressed and afraid. Your nasty attitude and remarks are making it that much harder for everyone.”

“You think that I’m the problem here?”

“Yes, you are. Whatever beef you have with me needs to stay between us. You have no right to take your attitude out on everyone else here. The people are trying to make the best of a bad situation, and you are making that very difficult.”

Jerome clenched his jaw and glared at Sawyer. “All I asked is for you to stay away from me and my family, yet you’re constantly all over Gwen. Are you having sex with her? Are you taking advantage of my daughter?”

“You’re disgusting. As for Gwen hanging out with me, that’s her choice. She is a grown woman and is quite capable of making her own decisions about who she wants to spend time with. As for you, you need to knock off your attitude.”

Jerome stood up and faced Sawyer. His eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared, and his fists were clenched tightly by his side.

“Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?”

Anger flashed through Sawyer but he did his best to keep his voice low and calm. “I think that I’m the only mature one between the two of us. You’ve been acting like a bad-tempered toddler. If you don’t want to be around the rest of us, then you should go back to the cabin and hang out there until help comes. You can come back to the lodge and get your food, or better yet, someone can bring food to you. Then, you can make all the rude comments you want and be in as bad a mood as you want, and the rest of us don’t have to suffer because of you. I’m done letting you make everyone miserable.”

Jerome’s face turned bright red and the vein in the side of his neck throbbed. Sawyer was half afraid that the man was about to throw a punch. “You have no authority here.”

“I do have the authority,” Oliver said, behind Sawyer. “I back everything he said.”

Jerome and Sawyer jerked their head to him. Neither of them knew he was there.

“Excuse me?” Jerome said with a snotty voice.

“You heard me. Either you start acting like a human being, or you can stay in that cabin, just like Sawyer said. No one’s forcing you to be here. But we’re all dealing with the same thing, Jerome. Stop making it harder than it already is.”

Jerome looked at Oliver with pure hatred. His upper lip curled. Sawyer saw the storm brewing in the man’s eyes and waited for him to lash out. However, he apparently decided that Oliver meant every word that he said. Jerome let out a frustrated growl and stormed past them, to the bedroom. The door slammed shut.

“Well, that went well. I should go in there and make him open and shut that door nicely a hundred times,” Oliver said.

Sawyer chuckled and shook his head. “That man is something else. Thanks for backing me up.”

“You’re welcome. You’re not the only one who’s tired of his nasty attitude. He’s been a pain in the butt since day one. Maybe he’ll get over his attitude or he’ll stay in the room and sulk the rest of the time we’re here.”

Sighing heavily, Sawyer said, “Let’s hope so.”

“If not, we’ll make good on our promise.”

Sawyer went back into the dining room. This time Lucas was ahead. He looked at Sawyer and raised his eyebrows. Sawyer just shook his head.

The next morning after breakfast, Sawyer and Lucas decided to trek toward the main road to see its condition and whether they could get any service on the radios or their cell phones.

As usual, the air was biting cold and the wind felt like knife blades cutting into their faces. Their breath was visible in the frozen air.

They spotted elk tracks as they plodded across the snow toward the road.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some kind of signal,” Lucas muttered.

Sawyer nodded in agreement. Being trapped in the lodge was taking its toll on everyone. The building was starting to feel more like a prison than a safe haven. They had no idea how long it would take for help to arrive.

They held up their cell phones every so often, but there was nothing. Sawyer tried the radios when they reached the road, but all he got was static. They couldn’t call for help. The road looked just as impassible as it did the first time, they looked at it after the initial avalanche.

Sawyer laughed. “You know, I’m reminded of zombie movies and shows, where a few people are desperately trying to make contact with someone else in the world and there’s nothing.”

“Hush your mouth,” Lucas laughed. “The last thing we need out here are snow zombies.”

They were grateful for the warmth of the fire when they returned to the lodge. Oliver was in the dining room, sipping coffee, and working a puzzle in his crossword book.”

“We didn’t even get a blip,” Sawyer said. “The road looks just as bad as it did before.”

Oliver didn’t seem surprised. He sighed and set his cup on the table. “I figured as much. The people in town know we’re here and they’ll get us help as soon as they can.”

Sawyer rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, but how long?”

“As long as it takes, I suppose. We’ve got enough food to last us for the next day or so. If we run out, then we know how to hunt.”

Sawyer nodded. He went into the library and found a book on the mountain’s history. The more he read, the more he realized why the mountain was considered cursed. In the late 1800s, a group of experienced trappers were hunting on the mountain in the fall. They just disappeared and none of their bodies were ever found. Legend dictated that their souls haunt the mountains. Over the years, campers have reported seeing their ghosts. Occasionally old rusted traps would be found outside of their tents.

Another chapter described an avalanche in 1932 that wiped out an entire village. This was a different village than Claire’s. Everyone died. The rumor was that anyone who went near the abandoned ruins ended up dying in a weird way.

A third chapter told of sacred Native American grounds that were disturbed by white settlers. The people of the tribe, who were now extinct, cursed the area. Many people who went near the area reported being struck down by mysterious illnesses, some of which were deadly.

There were tales of missing hikers, animals acting strangely, and ghostly apparitions.

“Maybe it is cursed,” he muttered under his breath.

Gwen asked, “What’s cursed?”

Sawyer whirled around, startled. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Sorry, next time I’ll whistle,” she laughed. “What’s cursed?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

She took the book out of his hand and raised her eyebrows. “The mountain, huh?”

“Yeah, there are some dark legacies associated with it.”

“I think that goes for just about any area,” she said. “I don’t think the mountain has a monopoly on that.”

“True,” Sawyer said, doubtfully.

“Lunch is ready,” she said.

Daniel announced that they were running low on wood. “I don’t suppose any of you guys know how to run the business end of axes? We have to save every drop of our gasoline for the generators.”

Darren, Joseph, Sawyer, Lucas, Jeff, and George all volunteered. They uncovered some fallen trees and started swinging axes.

Soon, in spite of temperatures that were below zero, they started to get hot and soon stripped down to their thermal underwear.

“We’re starting to look like real lumberjacks,” Darren joked.

“I guess if being a doctor doesn’t work out for me, I have a job I can fall back on.”

Everyone laughed. Later as they stacked wood on the front porch to make it easier to get to, Lucas said, teasingly, “Who would have thought that a billionaire’s kid would know how to swing an axe and chop wood?”

“Just because I grew up a rich kid doesn’t mean I didn’t work. All ten of us had chores and worked our hind ends off nonstop. Dad didn’t believe in giving any of us anything. If we wanted something, then we had to work for it.”

Lucas laughed. “I remember. When I came to stay at your place, he put me to work, too. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that’s where I learned how to chop wood.”

They were done in time to clean up for dinner. Afterward, everyone decided to sit in the parlor and tell ghost stories. Gwen sat closely next to Sawyer on the floor, holding his hand. Sawyer felt as though there was a magnetic connection between the two of them.

When people started to yawn and decided that it was time for bed, Gwen pulled Sawyer into the library.

She looked into his eyes. Sawyer saw a mixture of passion and longing in her deep blue eyes. Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on her toes, and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was tentative at first and then became more passionate.

Sawyer felt smoldering embers deep inside of him explode into intense flames and the heat coursed through his body. He slid his arms around her, pulling her tight against him. He loved the feeling of their bodies pressed close together.

The kiss was hot and wet, and electricity exploded around them. He felt an aching need stir inside of him.

Gwen must have felt the same, because she pulled back and touched his face gently.

“I guess I should go to bed. Good night, Sawyer.”

“Good night, Gwen.”

As he slid into the sleeping bag on his cot, he wondered what it would feel like to hold her in his arms all night long.