“No,” said Chandler. “We use the satellite internet foreverything.”
“I thought satellite internet was notoriously patchy in bad weather?” Iasked.
Ellion looked offended. “It is, but we have state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line equipment. It’s never completely gone out before, and we’ve lived here for adecade.”
I guessed I’d offended his technologicalcapabilities.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m just sure my family will be worried.” I clasped my hands in front of me to keep from wringing them in consternation. “I’m Linda, by the way, and I’m guessing you’reEllion.”
“Pleased to meet you, Linda.” He spared me a glance, and his face softened. He must not have been too offended. “Can you go check the equipment on top of the house, Chan?” Ellion asked, attention back on his computer monitors. “I think I’ve done all I can do fromhere.”
“No can do. It’s brewing up bad out there. None of us are setting foot out of this house until the snow stopsfalling.”
“I can’t think what would be wrong with the receiver to make it go out like this. It’s like it died.” Ellion ran his hand through his black hair nervously and stood. He was barely taller than my own five foot three inches. Plenty tall for me, but a bit short for a guy, especially considering the height of his two friends. Well, one friend and oneemployer.
He was pale, reminiscent of someone who spent a lot of time indoors, but he didn’t look unhealthy or unkempt. He resembled a vampire. A sexy, geeky,sexyvampire. At least, how I pictured the hot vampire from my favorite series of books. I was a little awestruck besidehim.
I needed to leave that house, if not for fear of being mixed up in wealthy people’s drama, for fear of being attracted to all three of the men living under that roof. I might be comfortable with poly relationships but I highly doubted they were. Besides, Griffin was a completeass.
“Okay, so how long is this storm supposed to last?” Iasked.
Ellion cocked his head at me. “The last I saw the radar, we’re looking at three to four days of constant snowfall. We’ll get several feet. That wouldn’t be a big deal, but as you saw outside, we’ve already had several snowfalls thisseason.”
Chandler grinned. “Ellion knowsstuff.”
“Our heaviest month of snowfall was one hundred and fifty-two inches. This storm looks to bring enough snow to challenge that number. We’ve already had over a hundred inches thismonth.”
I gaped at him. “What’s that mean for me and getting out of here?” I felt my old friend, anxiety, settling in for avisit.
“It means you might as well get comfortable. You’ll be with us for awhile.”
I turned around and walked out the door, shuffling toward the living room. What was I going to do in that house for potentially a week with no internet, no access to my friends and family, stuck with threestrangers?
My anxiety whispered in my ear. What if they weren’t as nice as they seemed? I was at their mercy, injured. I had no way to defend myself without raisingsuspicion.
My guns were in my backpack in Chandler’s bedroom. Once I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t even seen it since I passed out in the driveway. Hopefully, they’d tucked it into a closet and hadn’t searched it. It’d be nice to have an element of surprise with my guns if they did turn out to be badguys.
Bad thoughts crowded bad thoughts. They’d been stuck in that wilderness for who knew how long, alone, not a woman in sight. Unless they were gay, they were probably a little sex deprived. I found my way to the couch and plopped, sucking in a deep breath when my action made my ribsthrob.
I tried to quieten my frazzled nerves with breathing exercises. Tears gathered. I wasn’tcalming.
“Are you okay?” I jumped when Ellion interrupted my pathetic attempt to relaxmyself.
“Not really. Are you guys ax murderers or rapists?” A laugh broke through the tears and caught in my chest. I ended up barking like aseal.
Ellion snorted. “No. Far fromit.”
“That’s what a rapist would say,” I saidwryly.
“I suppose it is. You’ll just have to find out. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” His voice was soothing. Sitting across from me on the love seat, he leaned back,relaxed.
I found myself mimicking his posture. “I’m from Atlanta. Lived there my whole life.” I drummed my fingers on my knees, panic pressing at my sternum and behind myeyes.
“I’ve driven through Atlanta,” he said. “The traffic made me never want to goback.”
“That’s the truth. But I lived on the outskirts, and if you know when to avoid the interstates, or how to navigate the back roads, it’s not so bad.” I gripped my knee and took in a deep, soothing breath. The panic moved a little, and the pressure went to my jaw and foreheadagain.
“I have a huge family,” I said. I began to describe my brothers and sisters, and before I knew it, I was telling him all about how unusual my family really was. He was an excellent listener, and I wanted to be honest withhim.
