He opens the door for me, holds my arm as I climb in, and then closes it back up without saying a word.
The backseat driver-side door opens next, and he places the suitcase inside. Then he’s in. The frigid air goes still as we huff out steam and the engine turns over, and over, and over before it finally rumbles to life.
What the fuck am I doing here? “Where are we going?” He looks at me, annoyed. But I can’t take another rude response, so I interject before it comes out. “I know a hotel. Which hotel? Where are we going? It’s fucking freezing here!”
“Well.” He sighs, like I’m not on the verge of a meltdown. “It’s not five stars. And it’s not gonna have room service. But it’s better than the other option.”
“Which is?” I ask, as he guides the truck through the lot, opens his window to feed the ticket to the agent at the rental car gate, and makes any heat coming out of the vents obsolete.
“Thanks,” Bric says amicably as the agent raises the gate for us. He’s nice to him, but me? No. Apparently, I don’t deserve common courtesy.
“It’s a long drive, Nadia,” he finally says, once we’re on the road and heading… somewhere. “The ranch is a little over an hour west of here. But there’s a town nearby we can stay in.”
“Why can’t we just stay with your family?” I ask.
“Because I have eleven—” He stops. Swallows hard. Starts again. “I have ten brothers and sisters, Nadia. And every one of them has children. And all but two live on the ranch. So there’s no room, you see. I have no room there. There’s no space for guests. And I’m not fucking sharing a room with seven nephews today.”
Oh.
“You wanted to come,” he says, slipping me a sidelong glance. “You’re here. Congratulations. You got something out of me no one else has. Not even my best friends. But I’m gonna make you pay for this.”
“What?”
“Something dear. That’s what you said, right? When we asked you what you wanted as payment.”
I don’t actually know what to say to that.
“You want my privacy, Nadia? That’s why you drew your line in the sand?”
“Obviously.” I laugh, shaking my head a little. “You’ve been stewing about your decision to bring me along this whole time. And you’re sorry I’m here. So forget it. I’ll stay in that hotel and you do your little private thing, Bric. And then when I get back to Denver, I’m done with you. Done. With. You.”
“Fuck you,” he mutters under his breath. “I didn’t bring you all this way just to offer you an easy way out. I’m gonna give you exactly what you think you want. And then when we get home, I’m cutting all ties with you. Jordan can have you if he wants. I’m out.”
Chapter Twenty-Five - Bric
She’s a hell of a player, I’ll give her that. Because she had me going for a little while. She had me thinking this was real. But then the word Master came out of her mouth.
Rage filled me up when she said that word. Rage.
That she would dare to play me like this after that call came in. Luc is dead. Dead. And while I can still be rational about this, and I know it’s not my fault—that he had his problems and they had nothing to do with me—it’s still my fault. Because three brothers and one sister called me this week asking for my help and I blew them off.
“Why?” she says.
The truck is loud, the wheels crunching on the snow-packed road as I make my way west. The heater is blaring. So her voice is small and weak. And even though yesterday that would almost be enough for me… today everything is different.
I don’t answer her. She’s getting more from me today than she deserves. I refuse to expose myself further.
“Just tell me why you’re so mad, Elias.”
Elias. I laugh, it’s such a joke.
“I get it, you’re upset about your brother—”
“Fuck you,” I say. “Just fuck you.”
“What did I do?” she says, almost pleading. And I’m almost convinced. But she’s nothing but a very good player.
She gives up after that. She’s stuck here with me. But that’s what she wanted. She took herself out of her element and now she’s in mine. I have all the power up here in the north. She has nothing but me.
Almost an hour later, after sitting in relative silence the entire time—Nadia pressing her head against the frozen window, me gripping the steering wheel so tight my hands ache—I pull into the motel parking lot and put the truck in park.
“Wait here,” I say, getting out of the truck and slamming the door.
Inside the hot air from a heater blasts my face. I look around the tiny lobby, then find the girl behind the counter. “Hey, Elias,” she says, frowning.
My niece, Mandy. Abrem’s youngest daughter. “Hey,” I say. “Just got in and I’m really tired. Is the room ready?”
“Sure,” she says, craning her neck a little to get a look at Nadia through the window. “Are you coming tonight? You could give me a ride home so my dad doesn’t have to come pick me up.”
“Of course,” I say. “What time do you get off?”
“Six. We’re having dinner at eight.”
“Should be…” I’m about to say a good time. Pull out all my Uncle Elias charm. Be the uncaring one. The happy one. The distant one. But I can’t do it. “It’s gonna be OK,” I say instead.
She’s been crying, I can see. Her eyes are red and her face is pale. She just nods as she fills out the little paper form with my name. I hand her my credit card, she runs it, and then slides a key on a plastic keychain across the counter. “Room nine.” And then she points. “That side of the building.”
“I’ll be here at six, OK?” I say, placing my hand on hers.
She just nods again, so I give that hand a squeeze and then turn away.
“Everyone’s happy you’re home,” she says, just as I open the door and let the cold in.
I smile at her over my shoulder and lie. “I’m happy to be home too.”
Nadia says nothing as I pull the car in front of room nine. We get out, I grab the suitcase, and then we shuffle through the door and into the room. The heat is on, because it’s not an icebox in here. But I turn it up anyway.
The cold kills you up here.
“There’s two beds,” Nadia says.
“Yup,” I say back. “One for me and one for you.”
It’s an insult she’s not expecting because it makes her recoil.
I take out my wallet, throw two twenties down on the small table near the door, then place the truck key on top of them. “There’s fast food places in town. Knock yourself out if you’re hungry.”
And then I take off my coat, my suit coat, and flop down on the bed farthest from the door, face first. Praying that she takes me up on my offer and leaves me alone.
I have no idea what she does. I sleep. I sleep like a man who needs to forget. And when I wake, it’s my niece’s voice that draws me back to the living.
“Uncle Elias?” she says, shaking my shoulder.
“Hmmm?” I ask, taking a moment as the memory of where I’m at and why I’m here floods in.
“It’s after six. We have to go. Are you still driving me home?”
I look up and turn, taking in the room. “Where’s Nadia?” I ask.