Page 13 of Defying Ella
Although, any kind of access would be next to useless when the cars were covered.
A chorus of ‘shit’ filtered down the line as the girls heard.
“Are you okay?” Mel swore. “That was a stupid question. Of course you’re not okay. We’ll pull off at the next junction and find a hotel, figure out how to get you out of there. There must be an emergency plan for these situations, right?”
“Is it weird, being stuck up there on your own?” Nia called, her voice sounding far off compared to Mel’s.
To tell them or not to tell them. I chewed my lip, considering the wisdom of it. If they knew they might worry less about me being alone. Or it would make it all worse and they’d start worrying they’d find a body-shaped hole in the snow outside the deck when they arrived. Which of us would be in it would be up for debate.
“Ella?” My name dragged out as Mel’s bullshit radar turned on.
I sighed again. I had a feeling I’d be doing a lot of that before we escaped.
Funny how last night I never wanted to leave and now I dreamed of escape.
“I’m not alone.”
“What do you mean you’re not alone?” Mel asked, confusion lifting her voice.
“Ella, you little minx. Have you picked up a guy already?” Nia shouted.
Laughter drowned out my sister’s protests while I covered my face. I shouldn’t have said anything.
“I got in late, guys. There weren’t a lot of gorgeous strangers wandering around when I arrived.” I forced a jokey edge to my voice, but my face heated.
I didn’t want to share all the sordid details of my life with my older sister.
“But you said you’re not alone,” Mel repeated, her confusion deepening.
“I’m not. Jared’s here.”
A wall of noise blared down the line as they all erupted with questions. I held the phone away from my ear, grimacing at my stupidity.Think next time.
“How is he there?” Mel shouted.
“Did you invite him?” Alys asked, confusion deepening the lilt of her accent.
“How did he find out where we were going?” I could hear the scowl in Nia’s voice.
“Have you stabbed him with a fork yet?” Daphne asked, sounding positively giddy at the thought.
I snorted at that last one. “Not yet, but I’ll keep it in mind if he winds me up too much.”
“Seriously, Els, are you okay?” Mel’s concern calmed the ruckus questions on her end.
I pursed my lips and gave it serious consideration this time. Jared wouldn’t physically hurt me. That had never been a concern despite Daphne’s joke about me stabbing him. Verbally though, he could pack a punch and I’d already seen him ripe for it this morning….
Which was weird come to think of it.
Why had he just caved to my orders to collect firewood?
Normally, he’d ignore my demands for him to go away and dig his feet in. Today, he just went without a single word of argument.
“I can handle Jared. Don’t worry about me.” Bizarrely, I meant it. They weren’t just words to appease her. “Can you get hold of Andy and find out what we need to do in these situations? The lodge is fully stocked with water, food, and firewood. We still have power and running water for the minute too so we’ll be okay for a little while, but it would be good to know someone knows we’re up here.”
Or maybe not, in case you do push him off the deck…
“Of course. Nia’s already calling him. We’ll get you out of there as fast as we can.”
