Fall From Grace(95)

Shane strode in after us and looked far worse than I did.  He dropped all of our belongings in front of him, closed his eyes, leaned back and rested his head against the wall.  “Lea, get her out of those wet clothes.”

“I’m fine,” I shuddered.  I was lying through my teeth. I could barely move and icy chills rocked my body.

His eyes snapped open and gave me a challenging glare.  “You’re impossible!”  He stomped towards me, picked me up with one hand, and flung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, again.  “Bring the bags for me, will you?  My hands seem a bit full,” he said to Lea.

He marched with me through the house, down a long hallway and into a dark room.  Lea switched on the lights for him and he threw me down on a beautiful king-size four-poster bed.  “Get out of your clothes!”  He walked through another door and came back with an armful of soft white towels.  He lifted his eyebrow at me, “Do you know what hypothermia is?  Get out of your clothes!”

I gritted my chattering teeth and began taking off sneakers and socks.  My eyes never left his harsh stare, but I did notice when Lea quietly slipped out of the room.  Oh, was I going to kill her for that!

Shane tore off his shirt and pants and stood in his boxers, leaning over his bag, searching through it for dry clothes.

With my bag slung over my arm, I slowly walked through the door where he had gotten the towels.  I didn’t care if it was a closet or a bathroom, it was where I would be getting changed so I wouldn’t have to do it with Shane’s eyes on me.

When I changed into dry clothes and blew dried my hair, I walked out of the bathroom into an empty room.  My guitar was in its case, propped up against the bed, but all of Shane’s things were gone.  Throwing my bag on the bed, I walked out of the bedroom and into the rest of the house.

The entire house was filled with bright lights hanging decoratively from high vaulted ceilings.  The walls were made of deep cherry colored timber. The smell of pine needles and wood chips filled the air; it was a real log cabin.  Walking into the living room area, I discovered Lea, Conner and Ethan sitting on soft brown leather sofas; antique wooden furniture lay sporadically throughout the room.

“How are you feeling?” Lea asked.

“Fine.  Thanks by the way, for leaving me in there alone with Shane.  Remind me to pay back the favor one day,” I sarcastically sneered.

“I guess I got the wrong idea about the whole situation, sorry,” she pouted.  “If you feel up to it, everyone is snowmobiling down to the resort bar for some drinks.  Blake, Tucker, Brayden and Shane are already there.”

“Yes, I’m definitely in need of a drink, although I have no dry coat to go outside with.”

Ethan bundled me up in his gigantic coat and stood back to laugh at me.  “Let’s go get drunk, shall we?” He hooked my arm in his and curiously smiled down at me, “And you must let me know what you did to get Shane all fired up, so I can repeatedly tease him about it.”

I shook my head, “Oh, I’m sure he’ll forget all about whatever it is I did or didn’t do once he finds someone to occupy his time.  I think I just got on his nerves on the long car ride here.”  I didn’t like how easy it was getting for me to spin a lie.

He tilted his head down towards me and tightened his lips.  “I hate that you think that you need to lie to me.”

I jumped on the back of the snowmobile and I sighed, “Well, hurry up.  Now I really need a drink.”