Carter and Sawyer exchanged sideways looks, the muscles in their shoulders tensing up. Bodie likewise shifted awkwardly.
“We have a cabin rented, up on Sugarloaf,” he admitted.
“Skiing?” I blinked. “Maine?”
“Yes. The powder there is crazy. We booked it three times already, and twice we had to cancel.”
“How come?”
“Bar things, mostly,” said Carter, “but other stuff too. Getting our schedules together used to be easy. But now, well… we haven’t gotten out of White Plains in like—”
“Forever,” Sawyer finished for him.
Shit.First I’d led an oversized gladiator into their lives, and he’d thoroughly trashed their bar. Now I was holding them back from their real first vacation in ages.
No. Fuck that.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” sighed Bodie. “We can’t leave now. Not while she’s in obvious danger.”
“Shehas a name,” Carter corrected him. “Remember?”
“Fine. Hayden.”
“AndHaydenwould like a say in this,” I jumped in. “I’ve ruined your lives enough; there’s no way in hell I’m letting you cancel your ski trip. At the very least, I owe you a juke box. At most—”
“Wait, I’ve got it! It’s simple!”
All heads turned to Sawyer, who was suddenly grinning. It was the kind of smile that could launch an armada of bad decisions.
“Oh yeah?” Carter groaned. “And what kind of—”
“We bring her with us.”
A new silence settled over the kitchen. Carter spent it devouring the rest of his sentence.
“That’s not bad, actually,” Bodie admitted.
“No, it’s not,” Sawyer confirmed happily. He turned to face me. “That human skidmark’s gonna be looking all over town for you anyway, right?”
I nodded, numbly.
“Then why not just take off with us for a few days, so he has time to cool down?”
Sawyer’s expression was childlike in its innocence, but still heartwarmingly genuine. The swelling around his eye had gone down, but now it was ringed with a dull purple. For some reason it looked sexy cool.
“As great as that sounds,” I stumbled awkwardly, “there’s no way I could possibly impose…”
“Actually, you wouldn’t be imposing,” said Bodie. “The place has four bedrooms.”
A cabin in the mountains,I thought to myself.An extra bedroom.
Shit. The idea really wasn’t half bad.
All the way north, in Maine. Hundreds of miles away from Cole.
I’d been afraid to turn my phone back on. By the time I’d turned it off, I already had eighty-six text messages and ten missed calls. Leaving town for the weekend was starting tolook more and more like a good idea. Even with three perfect strangers I’d just met.
“We also have four lift tickets,” Sawyer added quickly. “Do you ski?”
