Prologue
“Stop, oh God, stop!” He wouldn’t listen.
It was then that Pepper Wallace knew he was out to kill her. She’d finally summoned the courage to leave after days of him trying to force her into going further than she was ready for. Only, he’d rather beat her to death. Not for the first time, she feared this might be the end.
His grip in her hair was punishing.
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” he growled against her cheek, biting the flesh. The sting of ripping skin made her whimper.
“Please,” she begged again. Hope was dwindling. Blood dripped down her chin from the bite he just took out of her cheek and the bloody nose he’d given her.
His laughter rang loud in the otherwise empty chalet they were staying at. A supposed romantic weekend to get to know one another. She knew she shouldn’t have let her best friend, Tami, talk her into going. She should have trusted her gut. He was Tami’s brother’s friend, though, so she should have been able to have confidence in that.
“You’re mine, you fat bitch!” Grabbing the front of her sweater, he tossed her against the wall. The crack and vibration of her skull bouncing off it made her dizzy. Nausea rolled through her gut, and her vision blurred. “I’ve had my eye on you for longer than you know.”
Shrinking into the wall, she had no other option than to give into his demands until she could escape or die right then and there. She wasn’t ready to die.
For as long as Pepper could remember, she had always longed for a love so strong and so consuming that she couldn’t breathe. She wanted the love she read about in books. Unfortunately, as his boot came towards her face, she knew she was never going to experience that. Pain sliced through her skull like a thousand jackhammers. The nausea in her stomach became full-fledged vomiting, and the dizziness turned to black.
The last thing Pepper remembered was icy coldness.
Blinking her eyes open slowly, she watched as a heavy snow fell onto her, enveloping her in whiteness.
She didn’t even remember being moved outside.
Chapter One
Hungover from a night of too much drinking to drown away his pain, Nick Kelly winced as he heard a car door slam in the early morning light. The sound was like a small bomb going off in his head. Even breathing hurt.
He knew who it was, of course. Ace Mitchell. His brother from another mother. They were cousins and grew up together. Raised more like siblings until they found different directions in life. Being two years older than the other man, Nick felt like he was a little more cemented in knowing his place in life. Being S
heriff in Golden, British Columbia was the only thing he’d ever wanted. The law was his life; he lived and breathed authority.
Ace had always been slightly wilder. He craved action and adventure, to be bigger than he felt staying local. While Nick understood, he’d been sad to see his cousin leave. As teenagers, they’d been inseparable. Entering young adulthood, they’d learned the carnal pleasures of sharing a woman.
“Nicky!” Ace called to him, making him wince again as Roxie, his Husky/Pitbull mix, began her barking from the floor. Knowing his cousin, if he weren’t up soon, the big burly bastard would start pounding on the bedroom door.
“I’m coming!” Fuck, his voice cracked like some twelve-year-old punk hitting puberty. Harsh laughter met his words as Ace entered his room.
“What the fuck, man?” The fucker was bent over, almost in tears.
“Fuck off,” Nick grumbled, getting up scratching his rock-hard abs. Naked as the day he was born, he shoved Ace out of the way, heading for the bathroom to take a piss.
“Who shit in your corn flakes already?” His cousin followed in his footsteps, waiting outside the door.
“It was a rough fucking night.” Taking a piss with morning wood had him wishing he’d brought the chick home that had been all over him. Too bad her attitude sucked.
“Whatever, dude. Get your shit and let’s go.” Ace walked away calling Roxie to his heels.
He’d missed this man, but some days, he wished he’d never asked him to come home. He’d been a pain in Nick’s ass for the last three months. Christmas had just passed, and his father was doing better, but Ace seemed settled in his spare room with no plans to leave.