Chapter 5
Chevonne
“Oh my God, where are you?” Tina asked the moment she knew it was me calling from an unknown number.
“We’re safe,” I said. “And in a warm place.” Was I hesitant to tell her who I was with? Definitely. So instead, I put it off by relaying my cold and agonizing tale from the beginning. When I got to the part where I was rescued, of course Tina asked me by who.
“I hope it was one of those good-looking security guys who patrol the trails,” she said. “Maybe you can get laid finally.”
“I actually didn’t see any of them,” I said, ignoring her lewd suggestion. “I wonder why.”
“Huh. So was it someone who lives close by? Or are you stuck in a shed somewhere on the hill? Oh God, I hope not.”
“No, it’s someone who lives here. Brevin Masterson, actually.”
“No.” She said it more like she was commanding her precious pup not to pick something up off the floor than like she didn’t believe it. “You need to get out of there as soon as you can. I’ll come and get you.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her, but she was gone, already looking on her phone for something.
Probably to rent a snowplow so she could rescue me from my rescuer.
While I waited for her to come back on the phone, I looked around the large, tidy kitchen.
The house was a luxurious log cabin. Everything—the walls, the ceiling, the cabinets—was a dark golden wood, probably pine.
The countertops were dark green marble that matched the ceramic floor and really, I was impressed.
But I had to guess Brevin had his pick, being one of the top real estate agents in the area.
“They’ve closed all the roads up in the hills,” Tina said angrily when she came back on. “Maybe I can send someone up there with snowshoes …”
“And what good would that do?” I said more testily than I’d meant to. “I told you I twisted my ankle. I can’t walk.”
Tina snorted. “Well you can’t stay where you are.”
As I watched Brevin stoke a fire in the other room, I weighed what Tina thought about him with what I saw today, and there was really no comparison.
Yes, he stood me up fourteen years ago, but he’d more than made up for it today.
Of course that didn’t mean he wouldn’t abandon me again under less stressful conditions.
Turning away from my spying on Brevin’s broad, muscular back and arms, I said quietly, “I think he’s changed.”
Tina huffed like an angry horse. “You remember what he did, don’t you?” she said when she finished breathing.
“Of course I do.” My mind flashed back to the last week of high school.
I was so happy, even though it was just a movie Brevin had asked me out to.
Not the prom or anything fancy. I fantasized for an entire week about holding his hand while we watched the film.
About him kissing me goodnight when he took me home.
And not like the kisses we’d shared on the stage with everyone watching.
A real, private kiss. One that he wasn’t forced to give me.
But when the night came that he was supposed to call me or text me or show up, there was no word from him. It had all felt like a cruel joke.
“Maybe this is just a good opportunity to finally confront him about what he did,” I pitched to my best friend in hopes she’d like the idea. My brain fog was clearing, but it wasn’t completely gone yet, so I wasn’t positive I was making sense.
“How will that do any good?” She sounded both angry and disappointed in me that I’d come up with such a suggestion. So maybe the brain fog wasn’t gone after all. “At this point,” she ranted, “he probably doesn’t even remember standing you up.”
“You’re right. As always.” I wanted to say that if he hadn’t wanted me then, he definitely wouldn’t want me now, so what difference did it make? But I was tired. “There’s nothing I can do about being here with him tonight. I’ll just make the best of it.”
Tina snorted again. “Just don’t fall for his lies or his promises. You know what you’re like.”
That made me wince. What she meant was don’t be my usual gullible and naive self. Me with my need to impress people and take the tiniest morsel of approval as something more. Something that means acceptance.
“I know you only have my best interests at heart,” I told her.
“But?” she asked when I didn’t continue.
“But I’ll see for myself, okay?”
Tina sighed loudly. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”