“Bound took me in. I’ve been hiding out here.”
“All this time?” he says, sounding slightly hopeful.
“No,” I let him go and take a few steps away. “I’ve only been back for a couple of months.”
Now he just looks horrified, imagining all the horrors I’ve endured. I almost tell him about them. About the cabin and the men who gave me a home, but I don’t because I can’t talk about any of it without spiraling.
Loren returns to the hallway where Tyler and I are still standing and I almost laugh when I see him awkwardly holding a platter of sugar cookies. Loren was a trust fund baby who decided to forsake his family’s money and make it on his own, but he was still a silver-spoon kid at his core. He’s also ridiculously pretty and groomed to thegods. I’ve even heardBraxton call him princess a few times. “Come along, children. I have refreshments.”
We follow him into the living room where he sets the cookies on the table. There is already water, tea, milk, and coffee waiting. He quickly leaves us alone when he hears Coda awakening from his nap with a cry.
“So are you okay?” Tyler inquires softly.
“Am I o Tyler… I should be asking you that. I amsosorry about your leg. About everything. If I could take it all back—”
“But you can’t, Aurelia,” he interrupts before covering my hand with his. “And I don’t need you to. The crash wasn’t your fault, and neither was the avalanche. You can’t carry that with you forever, even though I know you’ll try. Besides, it’s just a leg, and this new one isn’t so bad.” He pats the prosthetic hidden under his jeans with a grim smile. “It could have been a lot worse if search and rescue hadn’t found me when they did.” Tyler swears and shakes his head as if warding off the memories. “I just wish they could have found you too.”
They did, I say to myself.In their cabin.But unlike they were with Tyler, my mountain men weren’t so eager to get rid of me.
“Has it been hard for you?” I ask. My stomach turns with dread as I wait for his answer, so I quickly grab one of the waters waiting on the table and take a healthy sip.
“It was at first,” Tyler answers. “I’m still waking up most mornings in a cold sweat. And when I rip back the blanket, I have to relive the moment I first woke up in the hospital all over again.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again when nothing else comes to mind.
“Don’t be.” Tyler chuckles and then glances down at his hand, but my gaze is still stuck on his face and that wistful smile. “It helps that I’m not waking up alone anymore now.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I’m…married now.”
I choke on my water when he shows me the gold band on his finger that I hadn’t noticed before. “Holy fuck! Really?” I snatch his hand to get a better look at it and then drop it like it’s on fire. “Already? What the hell, Tyler? It’s only been a year since the crash!”
He shrugs and chuckles again. “When you know, you know.”
All I can do is gape. I’m both happy for Tyler and flabbergasted. “Who is she? How did you meet?”
“Her name is Shauna, and I met her in physical therapy.”
I stare at him and notice he can’t quite meet my gaze, so I try to hear everything heisn’tsaying. “Was she your therapist, Ty?”
When all he does is blush, I cackle while feeling my respect for him grow. Tyler pulls out his phone and shows me a picture of her and then another and another. Most of them are of her sleeping. Boy iswhipped. “She’s beautiful,” I say when he finally tucks his phone away. “I’m impressed, Ty. Look at you bangin’ the pretty doctor like a good little patient. You’re always so straitlaced.”
He makes a sound like he’s insulted. “We’vefooled around, Aurelia. I don’t know why you’re so shocked.”
“Yes, well.” I swallow nervously. “I think it’s best if you never mention that again.” When Ty’s eyebrows jump and I see the question forming in his head, I quickly change the subject. “You should know that I only came back to confront my uncle. He’s doing and has done awful things, and he’s been using my name to do it. I have to stop him.”
Tyler’s body is strung tight as he sits up and swears. “How are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know yet. I can’t just return to my uncle’s side like nothing ever happened. I need to figure how to get close to him without tipping him off to what I’m up to.”
Tyler is pensive for a few moments before he speaks. “Your uncle always felt like you couldn’t survive without him. You needto create a scenario in which you need him. You need to make him believe he has complete control again.”
“How the fuck do I do that? He knows I can’t stand him. He’ll see right through me.”
“Not if you give him a crisis he can believe. Make him think you’ve fallen back into your old ways and you’re drowning without him there to fix it. People love to be proven right.”
“You mean another scandal.”
