Boom (24 page)

She let out a growl of pure frustration. “You’re not hearing me.”

“No, you’re the one who’s not listening, to me or yourself. You want to see him because you haven’t let him go. You’re still holding on.”

She took a half-step back. It was the only way to make room for her shock. “You can’t believe I still care about him, do you? I know you think I’m loyal to a fault, but I’m not stupid, Quinn. I know when I need to cut someone out of my life because they’re bad for me, and that’s exactly how I view Jackson. I want nothing to do with him now.”

“Except for the fact that you want to see him.”

“His
reaction
. Not
him
.”

“Just the thought of him dragged you halfway across a fucking continent. This piece of shit dictates how you live your life. He’s got that much power over you because you
allow
it.”

“You’re wrong. That’s not how this is.”

“I’m not wrong, because you
do
allow it. Shit, I thought you were stronger than this, that you could walk away from the thing that poisoned your life without craving its taste one more time, but obviously you can’t. You can’t because deep down you’ve got no spine. That’s how he got away with dicking you around in the first place. All you’ve got are strings, and every time you allow yourself to think of this guy, you get jerked around and wind up dancing to his tune like the pathetic puppet you are.”

Hurt rose in tandem with fury, but it was far easier to focus on the anger than how she was bleeding inside. “If you think my fighting for what I’m owed means I’m a puppet, then we’ve got a real problem.”

“We’ve got one hell of a problem, but it’s not that. You’re just too blinded by your need to see your ex to get what the real problem is, so fine. Go. Go see him. Get the hell out of here and do what you want. I don’t have time for this shit.”

Then he threw the papers to the floor, turned on his heel and left through the open door, not even bothering to give her another look.

Chapter Twenty

Mia was wrapped in a cocoon of numbness as she waited in the chalet’s warm vestibule, jacket and hat on, carry-on packed and waiting by her side.

She was leaving Whiteout Mountain.

Sick dread burned like acid in her stomach. It had all happened so fast. Soon after she’d had it out with Quinn she’d heard him leave, presumably for the main building and the work that always awaited him as Whiteout’s opening loomed large next weekend. She didn’t have a chance to try to bring things back to where they’d been, but even if she had, she had no idea what to say. There wasn’t too much that could be done when it came to countering someone when they threw you out. It was his place. She didn’t belong there. He’d said get out, because he was done with having her there.

So.

That was that.

It wasn’t over, she thought, her jaw knotting while she began to shiver in the warmth. She couldn’t let it be over. She was stubborn as hell and she always finished what she started; that was what had gotten her to this point in the first place. Finding Quinn in the middle of the Montana mountains was like finding treasure—rare and beautiful, and shining in a way that made her soul smile. No way in hell was she going to give that treasure up.

Go see him. Get the hell out of here.

Her shivering got worse. Part of her still wanted to get to Jackson so she could get the ball rolling on jettisoning him out of her life once and for all. But that wasn’t as big of a priority as it had been an hour ago. The priority that had bumped its way up her list to the number one spot was to not leave Quinn, even when he wanted nothing to do with her.

If she left now, she had a gnawing fear that she wouldn’t be welcomed back

Get the hell out of here.

Maybe… maybe it was over.

“Shit,” she whispered, while the shivering got worse and her stomach threatened to heave right out of her body.

The sound of a diesel engine seeped into her thoughts from beyond the front door. With a shaking hand she reached for the handle, sorry now that she’d called Olivia for a ride to the airport. Damn it, she didn’t want to go, not like this. At the very least she should leave a note promising that she would be back to talk things out.

Unless, of course, he didn’t want her to come back. Maybe the prospect of her returning would be the last thing he’d want to hear.

Then again, if he was so much of a spoiled brat that he tossed people out of his life just because they did things he didn’t approve of or hadn’t authorized, they were doomed from this point on. She hadn’t thought he was that kind of unbending, my-way-or-the-highway kind of man, but maybe she was wrong. She’d known him just a little over a week now. She’d only begun to scratch the surface of who he was and how he ticked. What she knew so far she loved, and she wanted the opportunity to get to know him even better, so she could love him all the more.

Damn it, she didn’t want to leave.

Icy air hit her the moment she stepped outside. But the temperature didn’t make her freeze as much as the sight of Jase rounding the front of a big, burly crew cab black truck with chrome accents and a plow-blade—currently lifted up off the ground—mounted in the front.

What that hell?

That wasn’t Olivia.

“Good morning.” She said it cautiously, while her baffled gaze bounced from Jase’s unreadable face to the empty cab of the idling truck and back again. Olivia was nowhere to be found. “Uh, Quinn has already left for the day, but I’m sure you can find him up at the main resort if you’re looking for him.”

“I’m not here for Quinn.” Bundled up in a black parka with the Kingfisher logo on the left chest and a matching black ball cap, gave her an odd, tight-lipped smile. “I’m here because of you. You ready?”

She stared at him. “For what?”

“To go to the airport. Olivia’s car might be fine for zipping around town, but it’s crap for winding mountain roads. You’re much safer in my ride.” He nodded at the carry-on beside her. “Is that all there is?”

“Yes.” She stepped back when he abruptly swung her case up and wheeled back toward the truck, clearly not waiting to see if she’d follow.

The Kingfisher men. When it came to charm, their damn cup runneth over.

The slam of Jase’s door made her wince as he settled in behind the wheel, and she remained quiet as she reached back to drag her seatbelt into place. Something told her that to speak now was an iffy proposition, and with one shouting match already under her belt this morning, she wasn’t looking for another.

“Before I pull outta here, you sure there isn’t anything you left behind that you’re going to start bawling about when we’re halfway down the mountain?”

Ugh. Men
. “No.”

“You sure? You sure you’re not forgetting
anything
?”

“I’m not the bawling type, and if I’ve forgotten something, I’m sure I can replace it later on.”

“Some things are harder to replace than others.”

For a moment Mia closed her eyes and fought the sudden, scary tightness in her throat. So that was what he was going on about. “I know what you’re saying, so let me just head this off at the pass. I’m coming back.”

Jase shifted back in his seat in clear surprise. “What?”

“I was on my way to Seattle to do something very important to me. Once I get that task done, my path is clear and I’m free to do whatever I want. Even if Quinn told me to get the hell out, I have every intention of coming back.” Though it remained to be seen how long she’d stay. Quinn was wrong about her when it came to not having a spine. She had one hell of a spine when it came to dealing with him. That was why she was going to come back, even in the face of his contempt. She would be back because she believed they had something to fight for. But, if he truly didn’t want her around anymore…

A tight fist squeezed around her heart. If he didn’t want her around anymore, then she’d have no real home left in the world. She’d have Chicago, yes. But that had ceased to be home for her. Home was wherever Quinn was, as crazy as that concept was, but she couldn’t fight it. She’d tried, but she’d failed in a big way.

Again, Jase shifted. “I thought you were on your way to Seattle to see you ex.”

“I was. I am.”

He shook his head. “Girl, what the fuck are you doing, going back to a man who’s a piece of shit, when you’ve got a perfectly good one right the hell here, ready to hand you the world on a platter?”

Mia cursed under her breath. Apparently hoping she could get out of there without entering into shouting matches with every Kingfisher who crossed her path was too much to ask for.

Outstanding.

She tried to keep her cool while she explained the situation with Jackson, the money she’d loaned him and the contract that bound them together. She was especially proud that she didn’t tell Quinn’s father to mind his own business before calling for a taxi to get her to the airport. She still wasn’t Jase Kingfisher’s biggest fan, so sharing her very personal life with him wasn’t the most comfortable thing she’d ever done in her life.

When she’d finished, she glanced over to find he had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking like he had no intention of driving her anywhere any time soon. “Is there something in that contract you wrote up that says you’ve got to deliver it to him in person?”

Geez, like father, like son. “No.”

“Then why are you going all that way? Give those papers to me, I’ve got half a dozen lawyers who can do this for you.”

“Why would I ask someone else to do this when it’s my mess to clean up? I can take care of this problem all by myself.”

“Because you’re not
all by yourself
,” came the answer that was so hard it was a wonder it didn’t break something vital inside her. “There are other people involved, and if your actions do something that hurts them, you should think twice about what the fuck you’re doing.”

She was thinking twice about it, so much so she was ready to head back inside and forget the whole thing. Only…

Get the hell out of here.

That didn’t sound like a man who had any lasting emotion for her. Unlike her, Quinn had obviously been smart. He hadn’t fallen in love during their fling. She was the only idiot in that particular boat. He could tell her to get the hell out without batting an eye.

“Look at it another way,” Jase went on when she didn’t answer, and his sudden persuasive tone made her slide him a glance that sizzled with suspicion. “How would you feel if your roles were reversed?”

“Reversed?”

“You’ve met Lorette.” The name made Mia’s attention snap fully to him, only to find he was watching her as if she were an interesting specimen he had in a cage that he couldn’t wait to poke. “You know she had her hooks into Quinn good and deep for a long time. Longer than you and that leech were together, anyway. Would it be okay with you if, after this hullabaloo today, you inspired Quinn to go and see Lorette?”

“Why the hell would he want to see…”
That cow, ho, bitch from hell, whatever
. “That woman?”

“No one thought you’d want to see that jerkoff, but here you are, ready to hit the skies. So reverse your roles and try to imagine how you’d feel if Quinn told you he needed to see Lorette. Not wanted to, but
needed
to, when you and I both know there’s no goddamn reason in the world he needs to see that drop of poison ever again. No reason, except that something inside him still
wanted
to see her. Realizing that, how would that make you feel?”

Along with feeling vaguely sick, a soul-freezing wave of horror flooded through Mia so fast it took her breath away. “Quinn… he doesn’t think that. I was very clear that all I wanted to do was deliver these papers and lower the boom on Jackson. Quinn couldn’t possibly have thought that I still want anything to do with my ex.”

“Why wouldn’t he think that? It’s what I thought when I heard you were flying off to Seattle.”

“I’m trying to finish what I started when I left Chicago. That’s all.”

“The only thing you’re finishing is what you started with Quinn. Congratulations, you got what you wanted.”

A distressed sound escaped her a scant instant before the roar of an engine snapped her attention up and out beyond the windshield. Her jaw dropped when she saw Quinn’s truck careening right toward them.

“Oh, shit,” she heard Jase mutter seconds before Quinn’s truck veered off the drive at the last moment and came to a stop in the blanket of snow sloping away from the drive. There was an ominous clunk as the undercarriage hit something hidden in the snow, but Mia barely even noticed as she hauled herself out of Jase’s truck, her heart jackhammering in her throat as she ran into the snow where Quinn’s vehicle had skidded to a stop.

“Quinn! My God, Quinn, are you okay?” Adrenaline pounded hot and heavy through her veins, making it tough to come to a graceful stop when Quinn surged out of his truck. If murder had an expression, he was wearing it as he slammed the truck door behind him, his breath steaming out of his mouth. If he’d suddenly breathed fire, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

“What the hell,” he gritted out very quietly, and the sound of it was the most ominous thing she’d ever heard, “do you think you’re doing?”

She froze, in part because whatever animal instincts she possessed told her that to move might make him pounce. But also, she had no clue what he was talking about. “Uh…”

“I just talked to Olivia. Did you really call for a ride to the airport?”

Oh, that. “Yes.”

His bare hands snaked out and caught her by the arms while he kept moving, and she had no choice but to move with him, backing up as he steered her so that she went up against the side of his truck. “You’re so eager to meet your worthless loser of a man, are you? Can’t wait to see him again, can you?”

Dear God, his dad was right. Quinn really had thought she wanted to see Jackson. “You told me to get the hell out, so I was getting the hell out.”

He ground his teeth so hard she could hear it. “You know you can’t talk to me when I first wake up. I don’t make fucking sense when I first wake up.”

The faintest glimmer of hope began to feebly glow way down deep. “So… you’re saying you don’t want to kick me out?”

“Do you want to leave?”

“No.” She took a shaking breath, and let go of everything that held her back from what she truly wanted. “Nine days ago, I only had one thought in my head—get to Seattle. It’s been a driving force long before I got on that plane that brought me here, until it became almost like an obsession. It’s hard to get over that kind of mental conditioning, Quinn. But I can do it,” she added hurriedly when he began to turn away with a look of profound impatience. That meager flare of hope grew when he turned back to her, eyes narrowed. “I kept thinking that getting to Seattle and Jackson was how I’d get control of my life back. Then eight days ago I met you, and every day the thought of Seattle became less important. Mainly because you were becoming more important, even though I know that’s crazy.”

“Why is that crazy? Makes perfect sense to me.”

“Of course it makes sense to you. You’re the crazy-like-a-fox risk-taker. I’m not.”