Page 6 of Let it Snow Queen
“Your boss is camping with you?” I asked skeptically. Something wasn’t adding up.
Fox reached over and gently pulled a tuft of thick snow from my long hair. My heart leaped in my throat at the contact. He rubbed it between his fingers, and it didn’t immediately melt. “Ice,” he signed.
“Shit,” I swore. “I’m supposed to be down the mountain and out of here in two and a half weeks. You don’t think I’ll be stuck here, do you?”
Gallow took my bag off my shoulder when he noticed me repositioning it for the third time. “Thanks,” I said, again impressed by . . . and attracted to . . . the sheer size of him.
He knelt to the ground and brushed away dead leaves and twigs, touching the dirt. Making a clicking sound with his tongue, he stood. “This ground’s going to freeze, alright. Especially with how cold it's been lately.”
“Do you guys have a four-wheel drive with you?” I asked in desperation. “Maybe I could hitch a ride to town—”
I stopped at the tree’s clearing, staring at my cabin.
“Sorry to say we don’t. We hiked up here on foot,” he responded. “What is it?”
Taking a few timid steps forward, I tried to recall. Did I leave a fire going? Maybe. Smoke was rising from the chimney. But I didn’t light candles . . . though a soft, orange glow radiated from the foggy windows. I looked around for Old Man Fish Fry, hoping that maybe he’d come to bring me down before the snowand ice rendered me cabin bound. But his rusty red truck was nowhere to be found.
“Someone’s in my house,” I said.
Fox and Gallow exchanged curious glances as we walked toward the front porch. I jumped back as the door suddenly opened. My mouth dropped, and I narrowed my eyes. “You. What the hell are you doing in my house?”
Still clad in his blue thermal shirt, he clutched a bowl of steaming soup and spooned some into his mouth before responding, once again regarding me like I was the odd one. Like I was the one who’d just waltzed into someone’s cabin and was eating their food. He glanced over my shoulder at the guys. I turned, pointing toward my intruder. “I ran into this asshole earlier, and now he’s in my cabin!”
The snow was picking up then, coming down in thick chunks. My ears were cold, and my body was wet. I needed to get out of these clothes before I caught a chill. Fox and Gallow looked pained as my intruder spoke up. “Myhouse, well, my friends’ and mine.”
“Excuse me?” Anger wasn’t an emotion I felt often. I’d inherited more of my papa’s cool-under-pressure demeanor. But rage bubbled to the service again. This guy just brought it out in me. I wanted to throw my bag at him, open my nowunsealedbear mace, and spray him until he cried like a baby. I hurried a look at the guys. “You know him?”
“This is our boss . . . and friend.”Fox shrugged.
Gallow rubbed the back of his neck. “Ruby, meet Koji Mukai.”
“I don’t care who he is. Can you get him out of my house?”
“This isn’t worth letting out the warm air. This is my cabin now. Come on, guys.” He motioned to his friends. They obeyed and made their way up the stairs, pausing at the entrance.
I caught parts of Fox signing something that I was pretty sure was not a friendly statement toward his friend. Gallow crossed his arms. “Koji, we can’t leave her out here. It’s freezing and snowing.”
Koji flicked me the slightest glance. “Then she better hurry her hike down the mountain before it gets worse.” With that, he ushered his friends insidemycabin, filled withmythings, and slammed the door shut.
Chapter 4
Istood frozen in shock and numbness as my pale-pink boots became steadily covered in white. I’d always known what to do in almost every situation. If I didn’t, I’d always had someone to help me—my dads, my moms. I was on my own with this one. And I waspissed.
I had to think quickly and decide my course of action. With the snow barreling down, I didn’t have much time. Walking around the side of the house, ignoring the loud voices inside, I found my target: a rickety old ladder.
“I didnotalmost die on the side of a waterfall only to die in the cold because some dick-head stole my house,” I angrily chanted as I marched up the cold prongs. “I didnotendure being abandoned by my son’s father,” I gritted out as I pulled myself up. “Only to come up to this godforsaken town tofind myself—or some shit—” I stood, wobbly but firm, on the roof. “Only to be kicked out by some—” I grabbed what I knew would be waiting: an ancient, black chimney sweep. “Asshole, know-it-all, fucking sexist thief—” I pushed the sweep into the chimney with all mymight, coughing as plumes of smoke and soot slapped me in the face. I heard a crash. Exactly what I wanted. Moments later, men were shouting outside beneath me. I walked over to the roof’s edge sat down in a pile of snow, and crossed my arms, letting my legs dangle. Fox had a hand over his mouth hiding his smile, while Gallow was doubled over laughing either at me covered in soot or for what I’d done. When I met Koji’s venomous stare, he matched my look . . . covered in black soot. “Better close the door. You’re letting the warm air out. Oh, wait . . . Did you lose your fire? Huh . . .Men.”
Gallow straightened, wiping tears of laughter from his face. “You have to hand it to the lady, she’s got balls.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Gallow walked over to the side of the house and extended his arms. It wasn’t a high reach for him; he was enormous. A lumberjack, sexy Irish snack of a man . . . “Come on, lass, let Daddy Gallow get ya down.”
Daddy Gallow.I liked the sound of that.
My muscles were sore and giving out as I slid into his arms, only he didn’t put me down. Instead, he scooped me into his hold and marched me up the porch stairs. “She’s staying,” he rumbled, breezing past a fuming Koji.
Gallow sat me gently on the worn sofa. “You want to go shower while I clean up this mess?”