“I’m sorry,” Tean said.
But hedidsqueeze through the opening Jem had left.
“But you have to eat something,” Mckell was saying gently.“You’re going to make yourself sick.”
“I can’t.”Nora’s voice sounded like something inside her head had been unplugged.“Tafton says I’m at my ideal weight.”
Then the group gathered in the chalet seemed to notice Tean and Jem.Mckell and Nora sat on the couch.Mckell’s blond hair had lost some of its volume—maybe her blow dryer didn’t work on the generators—and Nora’s Utah curls had definitely started to straighten out.Mckell’s hand was frozen mid-pat on Nora’s shoulder.Nora stared at Jem and Tean over wadded-up tissues.Dean, the one Mckell had said was her husband, stood behind the couch, his round face blotchy.Sawyer—the one Tean was pretty sure was Latino—lounged in an armchair.He gave them a strangely flat smile.There wasn’t any friendliness in it.
The only people who seemed pleased to see Tean and Jem—or at least not outright hostile—were Quinn and Beckett.If the men felt any embarrassment at how Tean and Jem had found them the day before, the only sign of it was a slight pinkness to Quinn’s cheeks as he raised a hand in greeting.Beckett smirked, looked at Quinn’s crotch, and then swung the smirk back to Jem and Tean.
“That’s trespassing,” Aiden said as he came up behind them.“This is unlawful entry.And you hit me—that’s assault and battery and—“
“Be quiet,” Sawyer said.
“But they can’t do that!There are rules!”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Aiden stopped talking.Tean angled himself to keep the wiry man in his peripheral vision, but all Aiden did was hug himself and begin to pace.
“Excuse me,” Mckell said.“This isn’t a good time.”
Jem crossed the room.He yanked shut the curtains over the big window.The light in the room dimmed.
Dean said, “Hey.”
Jem moved to the next window.The curtains rattled along their tracks, and the living room grew darker.
“Jem,” Tean said.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”Sawyer asked.
“This is why it’s illegal for someone to come into your house,” Aiden said, but it sounded like he was mostly talking to himself.“This is why we have laws.”
“Why are they here?”Nora asked.She was starting to cry again.“Somebody make them go away.I don’t want them to be here.”
“You heard her—“ Mckell began.
Jem kept moving.On the far side of the room, a sliding door—similar to the one in Brigitte’s chalet—opened onto a patio.Or where a patio would have been, if it hadn’t been buried in snow.
“Hey, dumbass,” Sawyer said.He pushed himself up from the armchair.“Get the fuck out—“
“Why don’t we all take a breath,” Tean said, “and we can—”
Sawyer reached for Jem’s arm.
There wasn’t anything fancy.No complicated move.No secret martial arts.
Jem twisted free and drove the heel of his other hand into Sawyer’s solar plexus.
Air exploded from Sawyer’s lungs, and he stumbled into an end table.The table, the lamp on top of it, and Sawyer all crashed to the floor.In the already dim room, shadows jumped and danced as the lamp rolled.Sawyer tried to rise and then fell back, curled up on his side, wheezing.
“What did you—” Aiden began in a shrill voice.
Jem yanked the final curtain shut.
Aiden cut off.
