But now I see things in a completely different light.
A stark, bright, honest light.
I didn’t tell Vince because somewhere deep inside me, I knew he wouldn’t care.
A small hole opening in my chest tells me I am right. Vince wouldn’t have given a shit. Hell, he would probably pat the losers on the back and tell them they had good taste.
“Did you get a hold of your father?” Axel’s voice breaks into my memory, and the hole in my chest instantly closes.
“No. The phone lines are down. Apparently, the storm took out the exchange. I was told to try again tomorrow.”
Axel ducks his head to get a better view of the sky out of the windshield. “Looks like more bad weather is on its way. If the roads aren’t closed tomorrow, I’ll bring you back into town.”
By the time we arrive back at the cabin, it is snowing heavily.
Inside, I shrug off the new jacket I’d bought at The Emporium, and Axel throws another log on the fire. It roars back to life with a snap and crackle.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” I ask.
“Do you have a bridesmaid called Shanna?”
My eyes dart to him. “Yes, I do. How . . . why?”
“Vince was with her last night.”
“What?”
“I overheard his friends. They said he was with her last night. That it’s an affair he has no intention of ending once he’s married.”
I’m surprised. Not because of the affair. But because it doesn’t hurt like it should.
In fact, I’m relieved.
It all makes sense. The lack of sex. The less-than-satisfying performance when he did make it to my bed.
I start to laugh and Axel looks at me like I’m crazy.
But I’m not insane. I’m calm.
Oh, it hurts.
Betrayal always does.
But it doesn’t cut me deep. Because somewhere deep inside I’d already begun to suspect he was in it for the money and the status.
And it’s strange. I feel free.
I feel lighter.
Two-hundred-pounds lighter.
“There’s something else.”
My laughter fades. “What?”
“Vince is behind the plan to have you kidnapped.”
Shock ripples in the air between us, and I have to take a moment to let it pass.
That relief I felt a moment ago?
Yeah, it’s gone.
Replaced with a powerful surge of emotions.
“Are you sure?”
He nods. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Your fiancé paid three thugs to take you and hold you until the ransom was paid.”
I sink down onto a chair as his words settle through me.
“Boy, Vince really didn’t want to marry me.”
“It’s not about that. It was about the money.” His voice is empathetic, but also edged with anger. “The ransom was for twenty-five million.”
“Are you sure? And I mean, absolutely sure.”
“One of the guys said the wedding wasn’t going to take place. That means, Vince knew about the kidnapping. And why wouldn’t he stop it if he knew?”
“Because he was the one who planned it,” I say with cold understanding.
“That’s right.” He lets out a disgusted breath. “But even his plan being thwarted didn’t stop him from still making the ransom demand.”
I suck in a deep breath.
I’m angry. Frustrated. Hurt.
Confused.
Suddenly the walls are closing in on me, and I’m overwhelmed with a need to get out of there.
I stand up and hurry for the front door.
I need air.
But Axel is behind me in a flash and grabs my wrist. “Lauren …”
It’s instinct. I’m crazed by a need to get out. By a tornado of confusion storming inside of me. I wrench my arm free and shoot out the front door and down the porch steps. I have no idea where I am or where I’m running to. I just know I have to get away before I lose my mind any further.
I hate that Vince hired men to kidnap me.
I hate that he was doing it for the money.
Doing me for the money.
And I hate that being here makes all the sense in the world to me when it shouldn’t.
Axel makes me feel insane. I hate that I don’t fear him. That I spend so much time tight and needy around him, desperately wanting him to touch me.
I run for the trees. He’s behind me. He doesn’t call out. But he is coming after me. But I’m not afraid. I am angry at him. At me. Because this entire situation is a complete and utter mindfuck. I don’t hate that I am here. I hate that I want to be here so much. Worst of all, I hate that I want him to touch me so badly.
Above us, thunder rolls through the clouds.
“Leave me alone,” I call out behind me as I stumble through snow and into the deep forest.
I can’t make sense of any of it.
But the truth is, I’ve given up trying.
“Lauren.” His voice is gruff. “You need to stop.”
“Or what?” I swing around to face him. He is several yards away. “Or you’ll take me back to the cabin and do what to me…?
“It’s dangerous out here.”
“I don’t care!” I throw my hands up in the air as I storm away. “I’d rather be out here with the trees, and the snow, and the beasts—”
One second I am stomping through the trees; the next, I’m in his big arms as he reaches me and pulls me to the warmth of his body.
I try to fight. But it’s too late. I’m encaged by muscle.
“Let me go!”
“I know you’re upset—”
“You don’t know anything!”
“He’s hurt you, I get it.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t get any of it. Now let me go!” I pound my fists into his chest, but it’s like it’s made of stone and he barely reacts.
“Not until you agree to come back to the cabin.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He doesn’t argue. Instead, he hauls me over his shoulder and carries me back to the cabin. When he puts me down, I glare at him.
“How dare you!”
Tears stream down my face. I’m running head first toward my meltdown.
“I’m so sick of men telling me what to do!” I yell.
It happens so quickly. One minute I’m angry and spewing my hurt at him like a crazy lady. The next, we’re kissing each other fiercely and trying to rip our clothes off. I’ve lost my mind. But I don’t care. If this is insanity, then sign me up and give me the t-shirt. Because nothing about this feels wrong.
Nothing at all.
Chapter Sixteen
AXEL
I’m so hard it’s painful.
We’re kissing like we’re fucking starving for it. Her lips are as sweet as honey, and the feel of her body crushed against mine has me dizzy with lust. I’m about to lose my mind as I rip her clothes from her body, wanting to plunge so deep and hard into this gorgeous body of hers.
But in a rare moment of clarity, I find my last morsel of sanity and pull back from the brink, breaking off the kiss.
She looks up at me, dazed, her lips wet with my kiss, her eyes hooded and dark with lust.