“What the hell has gotten into you?” Wilder hisses at me, and I push away from his hold.
“Nothing, just trying to get this done, and that little fucker is in my way.”
“Are you sure it’s not because that kid was the one trying to get with Evie yesterday?” He raises his eyebrows, daring me to deny it.
“Are we towing this back to the shop or what?” I ask, ignoring his question.
“Damn it, Connor.” He grits his teeth in frustration. “Don’t bring trouble up here.”
Glancing over at Carter as he talks on his phone, I can’t help but wonder if trouble has already found us.
“Where are the rest of them?” I ask, noticing the group of kids from earlier have gone.
“I told them about the forecast and the storm coming. Someone said they might be going home early. I’m not sure, but I know we need to get this pile of metal out of the road.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll turn around and hook it up to the back. We can pull it the rest of the way to the shop.”
It takes longer than we anticipate to get the snowmobile tied off and ready to go. When we drop the destroyed vehicle in the building behind the office, it’s almost dark. We go to the office to check on Natalie, and once inside we see she’s in a tizzy.
“What’s going on?” I ask, and Wilder shrugs as we watch her end the call she was on.
“Where the hell have y'all been?”
“Taking care of the snowmobile,” I say, and she rolls her eyes.
“And you can’t bother to answer your phone?”
“I didn't bother to bring it with me this morning since I was with Wilder the whole time.”
“The storm coming in is worse than we thought.”
“Don’t tell me we’re stuck with those shits for longer than a weekend?” I say, but Natalie’s face is serious.
“She’s gone, Connor.”
“What?” Wilder and I say at the same time.
“The kids all got their stuff, and one of them must have found out where Evie was staying. They made her get her gear, and they took off. I tried to call you and tell you, but they’re already gone.”
“She wouldn’t leave,” I say, trying to figure out how the fuck this happened.
“I don’t think she had much of a choice. Thanks to your confrontation with that Carter kid, his parents had his lawyer call and talk to her.”
“She’s over eighteen. They couldn’t make her go unless she wanted to.” Wilder looks at me, and I glare at him. “She didn’t want to go.” I know that deep in my soul. She may have been forced, but she would only have done it if there was no other choice.
“I’m sorry, Connor. There’s nothing I could do to stop them. Their plane left an hour ago.” Her eyes are sad when she looks up at me. “She’s gone.”
Chapter Thirteen
EVIE
I’m trapped. At least that’s what it’s felt like for the past three days. I’d been all but forced to leave the mountain with everyone, and to say things had been tense since then is an understatement. Carter was livid with me when he showed up at Connor’s cabin. You would have thought I was his girlfriend and I’d cheated on him.
I know for a fact he slept with Paige the night we’d gotten to the lodge. She was pissed that he’d been strong-arming everyone to make sure I got on the plane with the rest of them. He said if I didn’t, my host family would be kicking me out. I have no doubt the Bartons would cave to whatever Carter’s family demanded of them.
If he’d been so dang pissed at me, then why the hell did he care so much that I leave with the rest of them? He could have left me behind, but nope. Not only was I forced to come back, but Tyson and I both had to go back to Carter’s family's estate to stay since the Bartons are still on vacation and won’t be back for another few days.
I’ve done my best to stay the hell out of Carter’s path, but I think he needs to speak to someone about his mood swings. On the rare occasions I do run into him in the hallways or at the kitchen table, he goes from icy to sweet. It’s keeping me on edge.
“Would you stop that?” Carter comes out of nowhere and snatches the phone right out of my hand.
There are only two landlines in the house. One is in the kitchen and the other is in Carter’s father’s office. No one is ever allowed to go in there, so when I get the chance, I sneak down to the kitchen to use that one. I’ve tried calling the lodge to get a hold of Connor, but each time, the call doesn’t go through.