Page 9 of Defying Ella
“First thing in the morning, you find somewhere else to hide for the month. The girls will be here by midday and I’d rather them not know you invaded our space.”
He stepped back, a small smile curling his lips. It made me want to kiss him.
“Mel will want to fumigate the place and I’ve gotten rather attached to it.” I stared him down, the insult tripping off my tongue with practised ease that I hated.
He didn’t react, which set me even more on edge. We’d hit a routine by this point. One barb for another, angry shouting, one of us storms out with the entire room staring at us.
Rinse, repeat.
This silence made me uncomfortable.
Especially when his face was shut down like that.
“We’ll figure it out in the morning,” he said, his tone not filling me with any sort of confidence that I’d won. He picked up his duffel bag and pointed toward the stairs. “Bedrooms down there?”
I nodded. “I took a room at the back of the house.”
“Then I’ll find my corner at the front.” With a chin tip, he dismissed me, and for the first time since he blew through the door, I noticed the wary lines marring his face.
I watched as he made his way to the stairs, head down, not taking in a single part of the beautiful space.
Something wasn’t right.
I mean it had never been right with him, but somehow it felt worse now.
Not that it mattered to me. Tomorrow, I would be rid of the nuisance, and my holiday could truly begin with some great friends to wipe away the toll of spending a month around his acidic mouth.
Content with that promise, I doused the fire, collected my things, and headed to bed. Climbing beneath the plush duvet, I marvelled at the peaceful tranquillity outside my window. Flakes still fell, dancing between the trees and toying with the moonlight. For the first time since I could remember, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
CHAPTER THREE
“Fuck!” Jared roared, his voice carrying through the entire lodge and waking me from a dead sleep.
I sat bolt upright in the darkened room, my heart pounding while my sluggish mind raced to catch up. My fingers curled in the soft sheets, and I focused on the glide of the material beneath my fingertips while my breathing evened out.
Jared didn’t shout again, so I settled back against the pillows, wide awake and frowning. Why the hell was he awake? It had been just before three when I crawled into bed. I didn’t know when the sun rose around here but it couldn’t be long now.
Yet I felt well-rested.
I glanced at the windows framing my room. The sight before me wouldn’t compute. I’d left the curtains open. It hadn’t been this dark when I went to bed.
Or white.
“Shit,” I muttered when the snow pressed against the glass registered.
My heart pounded yet again as I tossed off the sheets. It didn’t slow as I threw the door open. I cleared the stairs fast,my breathing erratic, but who the hell cared, if my suspicions were correct?
Racing across the open lounge, my attention zeroed in on the front door, I missed Jared until his voice boomed through the space making me jump for the second time in ten minutes.
“Don’t do it,” he ordered as I reached for the handle. I spun to face him, my eyes wide and a question on the tip of my tongue. “I already tried it and nearly covered the floor in snow.”
He stood at the breakfast bar, staring into a mug. Light streamed in, glaringly bright. It didn’t make me relax. It made it all worse. The lodge sat on two levels with the front at a higher elevation than the back and looking out over a steep mountain decline. For it to be daylight up here but pitch black down below, that meant we had to be…
I opened the door despite Jared’s warning, needing to see it for myself.
My jaw dropped and a gasp caught in my throat.
The wall of white stood taller than me.
