Chapter 5
Chapter Five
L et me get things unlocked and check out the camera situation,” Elias said once they’d driven to the mountain cabin he’d booked for the week.
Quinley waited in the truck, gathering up the bags of snacks to have at the ready when he returned to her side of the vehicle.
She watched as he opened up the back of the Jeep Gladiator and dug around among the items stored there, pulling something from the depths.
“There’s a camera by the door and probably some more on the property. Put this on and keep your head down and face averted until we get inside.”
“You think the owner’s watching that closely,” she asked, accepting the baseball cap and gathering up her hair to feed it through the hole in the back.
“Better safe than sorry. Head down walking up to the door. The camera is on the left side. Here, put this on too,” he said, giving her a sweatshirt.
It would’ve been easier to put it on before the hat, but she awkwardly managed to get the thick sweatshirt on and welcomed the warmth considering the cooler temperature now that the doors were open to the mountain air.
To add to her “disguise,” she grabbed the smaller, lighter duffle bag and the snack bags and held them high in front of her as she approached the cabin, tucking her head until her cap hit the assortment of items in her arms and hid her face as well as she could while still seeing where she was going.
The interior of the cabin looked fairly new with wood floors, neutral walls and a thick leather sectional and matching chairs. A big screen TV took up the majority of one wall, but the opposite wall was all glass windows. It was too dark to see the view or what might be beyond it, but there were drapes, so that worked. “Nice place.”
“Not bad for being fairly last minute.”
She stared at him, wondering why he carried the biggest duffle to the kitchen and sat it on the counter.
“Stay put while I bring the rest inside.”
She frowned, watching as he went back to the door and outside. She went to the bank of windows and closed the drapes just in case, finishing the act as Elias reappeared with a plastic bin that looked to be loaded with food stuffs, and a large cooler on wheels, rolling both inside and turning to lock the door behind him before bringing them to the kitchen as well.
Still more than a bit confused, she glanced down at the medium-sized duffle in her arms that was squishy enough to reveal it to be clothing and frowned at the large duffle and box and cooler Elias currently opened and began to unpack. “Um…need some help?”
“No, I’ve got it. It’s late, and you’ve had quite the day. Go on and head to bed. Both bedrooms are supposed to have their own bathroom, so pick whichever one you want. After I unload this, I need to text Cole.”
She didn’t move, couldn’t when she thought of Cole and Ana and—Rhys.
“Something wrong?” Elias paused briefly in his unloading and unpacking to shoot her a long stare.
By now he had to be tired of her drama, so she said, “You have a lot of food. More food than clothes.” She waved a hand at the duffle she’d set on the couch. “I take it you like to cook?”
He glanced around at what he’d done so far and shrugged. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Realization dawned, and she frowned. “Are you sure you’re not expecting someone to join you?”
He blinked once before opening an upper cabin to shove boxes inside. “I burn a lot of calories, so I eat a lot. You’re fine to stay here for the night.”
So maybe she hadn’t barged in on a hookup, but his words gave her pause because why wouldn’t he? He was a healthy, very attractive man in his prime and alone on vacation. The odds were forever in his favor. “I…I need to call Rhys. I think. I can’t put it off any longer. But to be honest, I’m not sure what to say other than I’m sorry. I wonder if he’ll even take my call. Not that I have a way of calling him,” she rambled as she tended to do when trying to sort something out in her head. She’d always been a talk-it-out kind of person, even if she was alone with the one plant she hadn’t managed to kill yet. “If I use a landline…his people will be here the moment they’re able.”
Elias paused again and then walked over to where she stood, his gaze shifting to the bags of food stuffs still in her hands. He took hold of them and carried them to the kitchen island, digging into the heaviest one she hadn’t explored beyond grabbing the package of Oreos and chips, and pulling something out before handing it over to her. “It’s a burner. Prepaid. That’s what took so long at the gas station. I figured you’d want something to use and wouldn’t want my name showing up whenever you contacted someone.”
She wouldn’t want it—or he wouldn’t? Either way, same thing, right? “That’s— Thank you. I’ll repay you for this and a night’s stay here at the cabin, the gas, all of it, as soon as I get back.”
“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a…nonwedding present,” he said with a handsome quirk to the corners of his otherwise eternally serious expression. The man had uptight and stony down to a science. What would he look like letting loose? A small, feminine part of her really wanted to know just out of curiosity.
She sank her teeth into her lower lip and squeezed hard and then reminded herself of the calls she needed to make.
Was she ready to make them? What would she say? What could she say?
“Quinley, the calls can wait until you’ve gotten some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough.”
Was it though? She blinked up at him and nodded, shrugging. “I know, it’s just… I hurt a lot of people today. I don’t deserve to be let off the hook that easily.”
“You made a decision that was right for you. That’s all they need to know.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how to make things right again. I don’t know that I can ever make things better.”
He moved back behind the island into the kitchen area and continued putting stuff away.
“Maybe you can’t. Right for you might not be right for someone else. Probably won’t be,” he stated firmly. “But do you regret not getting married?”
She gave the question the serious consideration it deserved, and her stomach pinched, torn with awareness and sadness, even heartbreak. “No, but it’s complicated,” she said softly, firmly, knowing that at least. “I care for Rhys, but I made the right decision, even if…even if my ways of going about it suck and I handled things badly.”
“My opinion, for what it’s worth, is if you know that for certain, then everything else can be figured out based on that. But it doesn’t have to be done tonight.”
She clutched the phone in her hand and then stared around the room. “I know I should be tired, and I am but— Do you mind if I turn on the television?”
He stilled in the act of putting pounds of chicken and steak in the fridge and freezer from the cooler layered with dry ice. Apparently the man knew how best to keep things frozen while he filled in as a limo driver. Talk about planning ahead.
Up next were frozen vegetables, packed just as well and still frozen solid.
“Do whatever you like. But I’d steer clear of junk TV stations and the news if I were you.”
Because how much of the fallout did she want to see?
He had a point, but maybe she needed to know what was being said considering she’d have to make a statement that would combat the gossip and address the situation.
Sighing, she moved around the large couch and found the remote, standing off to the side as she clicked the television on only to find it on a Hollywood gossip channel showing video of her and Rhys on his yacht in the Caribbean from last year. He’d taken her for her birthday.
And basically left you onboard while he networked with the locals setting up a new deal.
Not that a lot of women would complain either way, but she had wondered why he hadn’t included her in the social aspects. Oh, they’d gone to dinner once or twice on that trip, but when it came to Rhys’s time, she’d gotten the bare minimum. She’d seen more of the top of his head as he stared at his phone or computer than anything.
Billionaires and their heirs are busy, girlfriend. Get a clue.
She understood that. She worked a lot herself, always thinking about this ad campaign or that, going over images and prep. But it was Rhys’s… lack of connection she’d felt more than anything. Like he had her there as a doll on a shelf he took down and played with on occasion but then put aside more often than not.
Elias cursed behind her, and she winced at the sound, her gaze locking on the footage of her dangling off the edge of the penthouse balcony that afternoon. Her face wasn’t visible, but someone had indeed seen her making her escape and had filmed her antics. And given the location, etc., they’d identified the crazy person hanging off the balcony as her. “Oh, God help me.”
Rhys had seen this. Everyone had seen this by now. Seen how desperate and crazy she’d been in her blind panic to be free.
“If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll track you down and spank you like a child,” came Elias’s deep rumbling warning. “What were you thinking?”
She heard his words, the bold audacity of them to think he’d get the chance to spank her—but couldn’t process them, gaze locked on the screen, watching every slip of her hand and her feet as she tried to maneuver in the too-tight dress as she swung herself from one balcony to the other like the flying squirrel she wasn’t.
And in the watching?
Panic sank deeper into the core of her. Today she’d experienced the adrenaline rush in her mission to escape, but right now, pure, unabridged panic slipped into her bloodstream from every organ and muscle and vein, like she imagined a hit of hardcore drugs might feel like.
Her lungs seized, and she couldn’t breathe, her head thudded with every pulse of her heartbeat, and she vaguely heard another soft mutter from Elias before she blinked at the two Eliases in front of her.
Her head whirled like a twirly top, and he got to her side and swung her up in his arms just as her legs gave way and she toppled.
“Quinley!”
Her nose banged against his chest, and then it hurt too, and she felt him gather her up against him and carry her, lowering her down to the couch.
“Don’t move. I’m calling 911.”
“No,” she said or garbled. “Just… dizzzy . I’m…okay.”
“You nearly passed out on me.”
“I’m fine,” she said, eyes closed to try to counter the way the room continued to spin. Adrenaline shakes kicked in next. Or maybe panic shakes. Were those a thing?
“Don’t move,” he said again.
She was vaguely aware that he left her, heard noises from the kitchen behind her, and then he pressed a glass to her lips.
“Don’t argue. Drink some of this. It’ll get your blood sugar up.”
She took a sip, the smell of orange juice strong in her nose before it hit her tastebuds. Elias cradled her head in his large palm, holding her at the right angle to drink and supporting her when she wasn’t sure she had the ability to do it herself.
Once she’d drained half the glass, he set the juice on the coffee table and stared down at her from his position kneeling beside the couch, a worried frown on his handsome face.
“I’m okay,” she said, using her palms to scrub at her eyes and the wetness that had leaked from them. She hated feeling weak. “It just all…hit me. I mean, I know what I did and how I did it, but when I was out there it was almost like it wasn’t me, you know? But when I saw it just now and it all kicked in, and…I got a little woozy is all. I was so high up. But I’m okay.”
“We need to get some real food in you. That’ll help.”
“I’ll get something from the bags. Just give me a minute.”
“I’ll fix you real food. You don’t move an inch.”
He made to stand, and she grabbed hold of his forearm, wondering if men had any clue how sexy their forearms could be.
Not the time, Quinnie.
“I’m sorry to be so much trouble. I’m sorry you’re stuck with me and that I jumped into your limo and— I’m just sorry .” Her voice broke, and through the tears stinging her eyes, she saw his jaw tighten and lock, the muscle flexing as though her tears and the show of emotion seeped beneath his stone-hard exterior.
Elias stretched out his hand, the arm she clutched, and gently tucked her hair behind her ear, away from her face.
“Of all the things you’re worrying about right now, I shouldn’t be one of them. You’re here, you’re safe, and you’ll figure things out. Now stay put while I fix you some eggs.”
He pulled away, his fingers stroking lightly across her cheek as he got to his feet. He grabbed the remote from where she’d dropped it to the floor and hit the menu to block the screen, quickly finding a station featuring Mayberry in black-and-white. He lowered the sound then and set the remote on the coffee table within reach of her before he moved out of sight behind the couch.
She stared at the television, at the happy, sappy faces of the characters going about their small-town existence with all the innocence the show was known for.
She heard the sounds of Elias cooking but tuned them out as she watched Barney do his thing, pretending to be a playboy about town.
She shifted and something dug into her hip. She fished it out, the forgotten pay-as-you-go phone she’d tucked into the pocket of the sweats for safekeeping looking every bit as intimidating as it had earlier. Only minutes ago. What seemed like a lifetime ago.
But calling Rhys was something that had to be done in private, and until she could haul herself off to bed behind a closed door, the call had to wait.
“Scrambled eggs and fruit,” Elias said, rounding the couch carrying a plate, fork, and napkin like a very sexy waiter.
Really, Quinnie?
“Thank you,” she murmured, shifting higher on the cushion and pillow behind her and hating how utterly weak she still felt. Her head still spun, her hands trembled, but the smell of the food left her stomach growling.
He handed over the plate and glanced toward the half glass of juice remaining.
“You should finish that.”
“I will while I eat.” She wouldn’t have thought the broody Elias would fuss at her—a stranger—like he was, but apparently her near-faint had rattled him. “What about you?”
“I’ll eat in the morning.”
The morning. She dreaded the moment she woke up and had to face the consequences of her actions with no other excuses.
“Quinley, eat,” he ordered. “Or I’ll feed you every bite.”
Oh, she was so messed up. What else could explain the thrill that shot through her at his words? Was he that controlling in every aspect of his life? That disciplined? To get a body to look the way his did, she had to think so. At least when it came to working out and food.
“Eat,” he growled again, shifting to lower himself to sit atop the solid wood table.
“Are you going to sit there and watch me?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
His gorgeous scowl deepened, reminding her of a few fictional book heroes she’d read about over the years. Read and fallen for as only a book lover could do.
“You don’t take proper care of yourself. That much is obvious.”
So if she didn’t eat, he’d…feed her? She almost wanted to push his buttons by not eating just to see if he’d follow through on his threat.
Don’t you have enough to deal with already?
This time she was the one frowning at herself and the weird connection she was beginning to feel for a man who’d made it obvious he didn’t particularly like her.
She stabbed a bit of egg with the fork as though that would pop her curiosity like a balloon. Then she took a bite, delicious flavor bursting over her tongue.
“Good girl.”
She choked at his words, at the huskiness of them, and wound up in a fit of coughing. He muttered something and gently pounded her on her back until she was able to regain control and breathe normally again. “Wrong pipe,” she squeaked.
He held the juice glass for her to take a drink and, once she had, nodded his chin toward the plate in her lap. Boy, he wasn’t going to give up, was he?
But how was she to know she apparently liked the whole good girl thing until he’d said it in that pure male tone of his?
Not.
The.
Time.
Or.
Place.
“You need to eat, get ready for bed, and sleep. Once you’ve done that, you can make those calls. I’ll text Cole tonight let him know you’re safe. That’s enough for now.”
“Don’t tell them I’m still with you.”
He stilled at her words, not even a blink altering his features, like the matrix froze or something.
“Why not?”
“It’ll just cause more questions, I think? Ana will want Cole to bring her here since I doubt he’ll let her out of his sight with everything going on.”
“They will want to know where you are and that you’re safe.”
“I know,” she said, foregoing the food when her stomach rolled at the thought of having to face Ana so soon.
That should tell her everything, shouldn’t it? That she dreaded seeing Ana and talking to her best friend almost as much, maybe more, than she dreaded seeing Rhys. Because once that particular conversation was over, she imagined Rhys would have nothing to do with her from then on, and their lives wouldn’t cross paths again. But Ana? Ana would have to interact with Rhys at least occasionally seeing as how her boutique was in the hotel lobby of Rhys’s latest pet project.
“I’ll handle them,” Elias said softly. “Now eat. Your food is getting cold.”
“I’m not hungry anymore,” she said, feeling kind of sick again because of the rampant bombardment of fear, the future and all things disaster-like.
Elias leaned forward and plucked the fork from her hand, lifting a bite of egg to her mouth.
“You will eat, then sleep,” he said, holding her gaze.
A shock wave rolled through her before she quickly shut it down. She was not that girl. She wasn’t going to leave one man and rebound with another in the same freaking day. Nope, not happening. Nope, nope, nope. Whatever it was she felt could be blamed entirely on the events of the day, her meteoric stress level, lack of food, and the emotional rollercoaster that still held her under water as it chugged along the ocean floor.
This? This was lack of air and nothing else.
But the fork approached, Elias’s gaze holding hers with a determined glint, and she parted her lips.
Good girl.