The weather had turned fast.What was supposed to be a quick two-hour drive for discount toys was quickly turning into a survival expedition.They didn’t make it to the wholesaler.
Instead, they followed a snow-packed detour up a barely plowed service road and found refuge in an old cabin tucked behind a row of trees.A leftover from the MC’s wilder days, Dasher explained as he parked in the drift-covered driveway.
It looked abandoned, but the roof was solid and the door unlocked.Inside was cold, but dry.The furniture was dusty but intact.A fireplace, old but functional, took up most of the far wall.
Ellie stepped inside, her boots crunching against the floorboards.
“Well,” she said, rubbing her arms, “it’s not exactly the Ritz.”
Dasher looked around, snow melting on his shoulders.“But it’s shelter,” he pointed out.
She turned, shivering despite the layers.“How do you even know about this place?”
“Used to come here when I needed to think,” he said, shrugging off his jacket.“Long time ago.We called it the Outpost.”
She watched him shake the snow from his hair, his jaw dark with stubble, his shoulders broad under that flannel he always seemed to wear like second skin.Something in her twisted.
They hadn’t had a real conversation since the toy run began, just casual small talk and road trip music.She’d kept it light on purpose.The almost-kiss still lived in the back of her mind, haunting every shared glance and brush of hands.
Now they were trapped together, miles from town, with no cell signal, no heat, and one creaky, dust-covered bed pushed up against the wall.Fantastic.
Dasher built a fire from the kindling in the bin, and Ellie stood near it, arms wrapped tight across her chest.The silence between them stretched long and taut.Outside, the storm raged.Inside, tension gathered like static.
“We’re gonna be here a while,” he said, his voice low.“Blizzard warning’s in effect ‘till morning.”
She nodded, throat dry.“Great,” Ellie said.
He glanced toward the back room.“There’s only one bed.”
She tried to laugh.“Of course there is.”
He didn’t smile.“You can take it.I’ll sleep on the floor,” Dasher offered.
Ellie looked at him then, really looked at the man who had once been her whole world, who’d left without a word, who’d come back and turned her quiet life upside down all over again.
Something cracked open inside her.
“Don’t,” she whispered.“Don’t act like we’re strangers.”
He flinched.“I’m not.”
“But you left me,” she said, her voice trembling now.“You walked away and never looked back.Do you know what that did to me?”
Dasher stepped closer, his expression raw.“You think I didn’t look back, Ellie?You think I haven’t thought about you every damn day since?”
Her heart pounded in her chest.“Then why didn’t you come home?”
“Because I was broken,” he said hoarsely.“Because I thought you deserved better.Because I didn’t think I could come back, not after what I did.Not after walking away from you.”
Tears stung her eyes.“I would’ve forgiven you,” Ellie admitted.
“I couldn’t forgive myself.”
The fire crackled behind them.The air between them went hot and tight.
“I never stopped loving you,” Ellie whispered.
Dasher exhaled like he’d been punched in the gut.“Say that again.”
