Page 52 of Snowed Inn For Christmas
“My friend Keith, from Colorado.Once he confirmed Joel was in Silver Falls, I filled him in on everything that was happening.He made a call and had his friend, Elizabeth, come down to check things out.While Joel’s been sneaking around spying on Julie, she’s been doing the same to him.They knew when he checked out of the motel and that he was staying two cabins down from the inn.That’s why I went for a walk earlier, to make it look more believable that we juststumbledupon someone being there.As soon as Duke started barking, the lights inside the cabin went off, so he knew we had found him.”
“And you’re justnowtelling anyone about this?”
“It wasn’t the right time.”
“And sending your sister off to some psychopath’s cabin was the right time?”
While I was relieved that someone was watching Joel, it didn’t make me feel any less concerned about Julie and Daisy being alone in that cabin with him.Just because this person knew he was staying there didn’t mean they had eyes inside the cabin, so I wasn’t going to rest easy until I knew that both of my girls were safe.I also had no clue who this person was, nor did I trust that they would do anything if the girls were put in immediate danger.
“I couldn’t risk telling her about it.If she had known, she would have acted differently when she approached him.He’s smart; he would have caught on that something was off.The last thing I want is for him to lose his temper and hurt them.Julie needed to go into this exactly the way she did.”
“This feels incredibly reckless,” I said, forcing out a harsh breath to try to rein in my frustration.
“I know.”
“So what, we just sit here and wait?I don’t like being that far from them in case they need help.”
“We have no choice.I don’t know this woman, Elizabeth, but Keith said to trust her, so I am.It’s the best we can do right now.”
“I don’t like it at all.You can sit there and act like nothing is wrong while Julie puts her life on the line, but I’m not going to.”
I grabbed my coat from the hook hanging by the door and shrugged it on as I flung the door open and stalked outside, Duke falling in line right beside me.
“Gage,” Patrick called, jogging to keep up with me.“We can’t just storm in there.We need to wait until we have an all clear.Elizabeth is keeping Keith updated, and he’s going to call me when it’s okay for us to go get them.”
“Fuck that.Fuck Keith.Fuck Elizabeth.Fuc—”
My words were cut off as a gunshot rang out through the air around us.
Thirty-Six
Julie
“Take one fucking stepand the next bullet will go between your eyes,” I warned, holding my hands steady as Daisy stood behind me.The small handgun felt oddly comforting in my hands, and I sent up a silent thank you to Gage’s grandma for continuing to help me without even knowing it.I had found the gun and some ammunition for it when we first arrived at the inn, while I was putting stuff away for me and Daisy.I hadn’t told Gage about it because I had forgotten about it until tonight.I knew I couldn’t tell anyone I had it, or they would have tried to talk me out of my plan.
It hadn’t taken much for Joel to let me in and put the knife away.But the image of it being held to her throat was enough to make my blood boil, and the rage hadn’t stopped bubbling inside me.As soon as I was able to, I pulled her into my arms, hugging her as long as I could before I turned on Joel.