by Carmen Cook
“Damn, everyone’s here already,” Gavin muttered, the excitement pouring off him. He threw the truck into park and leaped out, tossing his coat into the driver’s seat, leaning in and giving her a hard kiss before hurrying across the clearing.
Regan shook her head. He’d gotten her bundled up to come up here and watch him play football. In the middle of the night. In the snow. And here he was, stripping out of his own layers. She dipped her head so her breath blew into her scarf and warmed her face. It was warm in the truck, but she was getting cold just watching him stomp around in the freezing weather.
She shook her head again as she watched him run across the field to meet up with the other players. They were obviously giving each other a healthy dose of crap, but she was too far away to hear what they were saying, even if she’d had the windows open. Regan peered through the gloom and tried to make out who the other players were. Connor, with his big build, was easy to identify. And the other one still wearing the coat might have been Mitchell, but she couldn’t be sure because he also had a scarf wrapped around his neck that obscured most of his face. She leaned forward to try to get a better look and nearly smacked her head against the dashboard when someone knocked on her window.
“You scared me to death,” Regan accused Bethany when she pulled the door open.
Bethany tugged her out of the truck before closing the door again. “I’m so glad you decided to come to the Snow Bowl,” she exclaimed as she led Regan through the other trucks and SUVs parked around the clearing. “I was hoping you’d be here. I almost called Gavin to make sure he was going to bring you, but Connor told me to mind my own business.”
“Since when have you ever done that?” Regan asked, trying to keep up with the petite woman. The snow was thicker here up the mountain than it had been in town. Funny how she hadn’t noticed exactly how much heavier it was falling up here until she’d stepped out into it.
“I know, right?” Bethany asked her before she paused in front of an extended cab Silverado and pulled the door open. “Look who I found!”
Poking her head into the vehicle, Regan saw Gwen and Erin huddled in the back seat sharing a blanket and a large Thermos. Something she had to assume was pretty potent, judging by the goofy grins on their faces. “Hey, guys,” she greeted.
“Regan!” Gwen exclaimed, swaying slightly. “So you and Gavin are going steady now. I knew it would happen when you came home.”
“Hoo boy,” Bethany breathed, reaching around Regan to open the back door. “Out you go, home girl. I have a feeling you’re going to need to visit the bushes before the night is over. You need to be near the door.”
Erin started laughing as soon as Bethany said “home girl” and sprawled across the seat when Gwen climbed out to visit the little girls’ bush. “That was funny,” she announced, still lying prone on the seat.
“What have you guys been drinking?” Regan asked, looking at her carefully.
“Spiked hot chocolate. It’s super spiked, so be careful,” Erin warned. “I’m going to have to go running to burn off all the calories from both the chocolate and the spiked stuff.”
Regan raised a brow. “Did you eat anything before you started drinking?”
“I had a salad for lunch. And a shake after rehearsal since I’d worked so hard.” Her words were starting to slur and her eyes were drooping.
“This one too,” Regan announced, reaching in and grabbing Erin’s arm. “You can’t sit back there and pass out with no way to the bushes if you need them.”
“I’m not going to pee in the woods,” Erin told her, somewhat stiffly as she climbed from the back seat. “What would people think?”
“I’m not talking about peeing,” Regan responded, keeping a firm grip while Erin found her footing. “I’m talking about the other option when you drink too much.”
“That’s not going to happen either,” Erin told her. “The tabloids would have a field day with photos of me throwing up in the woods.”
“There’s no paparazzi here,” Regan soothed. “And I won’t let anyone take any pictures of you.” Regan knew from when they’d gotten together last year that one of Erin’s friends had suffered at the hands of the paparazzi while she’d been trying to go through rehab and get her life together.
Having seen some of those tabloids at the checkout stands and believing at least part of what they’d been reporting, Regan had felt ashamed of herself. Fame wasn’t an easy burden to bear. She couldn’t imagine living under the type of strain that Erin placed on herself day in and day out.
“You promise?” Erin asked, sounding so incredibly vulnerable Regan’s heart clenched.
“I swear.”
Erin smiled as Gwen and Bethany returned from their brief sojourn into the woods. “Is this it?” Regan asked. “The four of us?”
“There are the girlfriends of some of the other Peaks guys in one of those trucks,” Bethany indicated with a wave of her hand. “But I wanted us to have some time to catch up.”
They all piled back into the truck, Bethany in the driver’s seat, while Gwen and Erin were strategically placed so they had access to the doors if they needed them. Bethany handed them each bottles of water and placed another Thermos on the center console. “Just because I don’t want you to throw up in my truck doesn’t mean I’m going to break tradition and not let you guys get completely hammered.”
“When did this tradition start?” Regan asked, peering through the windshield trying to catch a glimpse of Gavin. The men had started playing and were covered in mud and snow, laughing. “They’ve got to be freezing.”
“The stupid lugs love it,” Gwen reported from the back seat, sounding a bit more sober than she had a few minutes before. “They started this in high school. Senior year?” She directed that question to Bethany.
“Junior year,” Bethany said.
“Why did I never hear about it?” Regan asked, wincing when Gavin took a particularly hard hit that sent both him and Connor sliding across the snow.
Bethany laughed. “You didn’t hang out with these idiots in high school.”
True. Regan had been focused on getting out of Sapphire Creek and out from under the thumb of her parents. She had studied, played softball, and done everything within her power to make sure she’d get the scholarships in order to leave.
Glancing around the cozy interior of the vehicle, she couldn’t imagine why she’d been so eager to leave her friends behind. She’d missed them without even realizing it. Yet another part of her she’d sacrificed in her bid for independence.
“Gavin said that the wives and girlfriends come to watch. Who do you usually hang out with?”
Bethany smiled. “Depends on the guys who are around and what their taste in women is like. But the game didn’t happen for a long time. Really only started up again when Gavin moved back to town a few years ago.”
“Why’s that?” Regan was trying to listen to her friend, but couldn’t pull her eyes off the men slipping and sliding around the meadow. What had once been pristine white snow was quickly becoming a mud pit.
“Well, Connor was in the Army for a few years, you know that. Gavin moved to Missoula for law school, then met Kathy. My brother is still active duty and stationed over in the Sand Box. The rest moved, got married, started families. You know the drill.”
Gwen leaned forward and snagged the Thermos. “After his divorce, Gavin insisted that they start it up again and brought in some of the guys from Peaks to get enough players. Then Brandon came back too and they got really serious about it.”
Gwen poured some cocoa into the lid of the Thermos and handed it over to Regan. “You need to catch up.”
“Yeah,” Erin said, resting her cheek on the cold glass of the window. “Catch up with us. No one should drink alone.”
“You haven’t been drinking alone,” Bethany told her, trying to hold back her laughter. “You’re not going to fall asleep, are you?”
“No,” Erin replied, not moving from h
er relaxed position. “This is just so nice, having this time together.”
Regan twisted around to look at her. “You didn’t have girlfriends in LA that you got together with like this?”
“Sure, but it’s not like this,” she confessed. “There everyone is always so…on, if that makes sense.”
Regan had to feel sorry for her friend, who’d left Sapphire Creek when they were sophomores in high school and had quickly became a singing sensation. It had always seemed so glamorous, but she had never stopped to wonder about her friend being lonely.
“Well,” Bethany announced, pulling Regan from her thoughts, “I have an issue I could use some help with.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Squeals and laughter erupted throughout the truck as both Gwen and Erin drunkenly tried to get into the front seat to give Bethany hugs.
“Congratulations!”
“That explains why you won’t drink with us.”
“I’m so happy for you!”
Regan smiled as she watched her friends gushing, unable to hold back the dull ache of jealousy. And where was that coming from? She wasn’t ready to settle down again, not after what had happened with the butthead.
“How did Connor react? And Andy?” Regan asked, referring to Connor and Bethany’s son, who was twelve.
Bethany paused, the smile dimming a bit before she rallied. “He doesn’t know yet. I haven’t told him. Either of them.”
“Why not,” Erin asked, taking another gulp of spiked cocoa and wrapping her arm around the headrest of Regan’s seat so she could lean forward. “He’ll be thrilled!”
“Will he?” Bethany asked, tears in her eyes. “What if he doesn’t want another baby? The whole reason we got married is because I was pregnant with Andy. It’s why he went into the Army when he did, so he could make some money for us, so he could pay for school. So we could have a future. He gave up everything for us.
“What if he doesn’t want to be with me, but did it because it was the right thing to do. Maybe he was just biding his time. Now, having another baby and he’ll feel stuck. I don’t want him to feel stuck.”
“Oh honey.” Gwen leaned forward, wrapping Bethany in a hug from behind. “He doesn’t feel stuck, he loves you.”
“It’s obvious,” Erin told her. “He’s just as crazy about you now as he was when we were kids.”
“Why would you think he feels stuck?” Regan asked. “I haven’t been back for long, but from what I can see, he’s not a man who acts like he’s stuck.”
Bethany just shook her head.
“Okay, it doesn’t matter why you think it. What we need is a plan,” Regan announced.
What type of plan?” Gwen asked, reaching over and stealing the cocoa from Erin.
Regan couldn’t hold back her grin. “A plan to make Connor remember how much he loves Bethany so when she finally tells him about the baby there will be no question in her mind that he’s staying because he wants to.”
Chapter Twelve
The snow had finally stopped and the clouds cleared, leaving the sky full of stars. Gavin tilted his head back, enjoying the silence. The silence outside of the muddied meadow, anyway, where the guys were still laughing and ribbing one another about the hard hits and missed catches of the game.
“You’re unusually happy, considering we lost.” Jason stopped next to him, stripping out of his mud-caked shirt despite the frigid temperature. “I still think they cheated with that last play.”
Gavin had to laugh. “You got tackled by our own guy who was slipping around on his ass more than staying on his feet. They didn’t cheat.”
He watched as Jason tugged a clean thermal out of the Peaks duffle he’d dropped at the edge of the clearing. The chill of his own shirt was sticking against his skin seeping into his bones, but it was apparent that Jason had something he wanted to talk about, so he waited.
And waited. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, he broke the silence. “What’s on your mind?”
Jason looked at him. “What makes you think something is on my mind?”
“You’re nagging like an old woman.” Gavin grinned. “Even more than usual.”
“Shit,” he muttered, tossing the wet shirt into the bag. “Everything’s just going sideways lately, that’s all.”
Before Gavin could ask what he meant, Mitchell and Connor joined them.
“Problem,” Mitchell said, slipping to a sliding stop next to them. The mud was turning to slush, which made getting traction difficult. And for a guy from Southern California, traction on slush was a completely foreign experience.
“Seems to be going around,” Gavin muttered. “What’s going on?”
“Erin’s wasted.”
Gavin blinked once and could feel the grin spread across his lips. “Is that so?”
“You may not find it so funny when I tell you they’re all drunk,” Mitch replied sourly. “Every single one of them is falling down, giggling madly, completely trashed.”
The other men couldn’t hold back their laughter any longer. “It’s not unusual for the women while we play,” Connor told him. “The spiked hot chocolate is as much of a staple to this game as anything else.”
“Why is it a problem?” Gavin asked.
Mitchell shook his head. “There’s been a reporter that’s been snooping around Erin’s grandfather’s place. He followed us to the rehearsal hall too.”
“And?” Jason asked.
“And I’ve been part of her personal security team for three years. I’ve never seen her as intoxicated as she is right now.”
Gavin shook his head. “Why is it a problem?”
Mitch blew out a breath, a large cloud of condensation formed in front of him. “She hasn’t been herself lately. Typically, she remains in complete control of every aspect of her life. The letters have set her off kilter and she’s on a path I haven’t seen before.”
Gavin nodded. The letters had begun when? “You’re worried about her.”
“She’s my friend.”
“Are you sure that’s all there is to it?” Jason’s question had a bite that had Gavin’s head jerking up. What the hell?
There was a tension in the air that hadn’t been there before. A quick look at Connor told him he wasn’t the only one feeling it. Mitchell and Jason had squared off, facing one another. While Mitch’s stance was relaxed, Jason stood rigidly, fists clenched at his sides.
“What’s going on?” Gavin asked again, not really caring which of them answered. He was missing something and he didn’t like it.
This time Mitchell’s lips twitched, but he didn’t take his eyes off Jason. “It seems that someone isn’t all that happy that I’ve been spending time with Gwen and is trying to infer that there’s also something going on between me and Erin.”
“Wait, this is about my sister? I thought you were hooking up with Chloe.” Connor had started laughing at Gavin’s outburst, so he wasn’t prepared when Gavin shoved him, causing him to land on his ass.
Jason didn’t laugh with the rest, instead turning to look at Gavin. “I’ll talk to you later. It’s time we took a more serious look at what’s been happening around town and see if we need to beef up the services for our clients. I’ll start a proposal and bring it to you.”
Gavin nodded and watched as his partner stalked off. “Holy shit.”
“You had no idea he was into Gwen?” Connor asked, still sitting on the ground.
“Gwen doesn’t like him,” Mitch told him. “That’s why she’s been hanging out with us so much. She told Erin that he gave her the creeps, so Erin asked for my help.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell me?”
Connor was climbing to his feet and started laughing again. “You’ve been a little preoccupied with Regan since she got back. Maybe she didn’t want to distract you.”
“She’s my sister,” Gavin objected as he hauled Connor to his feet and the three of them began to walk back to where the
women were waiting. “She should know that she could come to me with anything.”
Again, Mitchell shook his head. “She didn’t want to put you in the middle. You work with Jason. He’s your partner and your friend. She knew that if she went to you and let you know he made her uncomfortable, you’d take her side. She didn’t want to cause any trouble for you.”
“You should have told me,” Gavin told him.
“I just did.”
Connor interrupted. “You need to think about this from her perspective. If there’s one thing I’ve learned being with Bethany for so long it’s that women overthink everything. Even the small things they weigh as though it was a matter of national security.”
He glanced at his brother.
“With everything you went through with Kathy, then getting Peaks started, it’s no wonder she didn’t want to cause any friction between you and your partner.”
Gavin admitted that they had a point. He didn’t like it, but he understood it. Turning back to Mitchell’s original worry, he asked, “What does it matter that Erin’s had too much to drink? There’s no press out here.”
“She’s been acting off, like I said.” There was a shrug in his tone, but the underlying worry was obvious. “There’s something bothering her, something beyond the typical worry about the tour or whatever monkey show her publicist wants her to put on.”
“Are you sure it isn’t just the normal woman stuff?” Connor asked again. “Bethany’s been acting strange lately, and she doesn’t have any of the types of stressors that you described Erin putting up with on a daily basis.”
“Yeah, because running a business and having a nearly teenaged boy is a walk in the park,” Gavin responded, bending to scoop a pile of snow into his hand before tossing it at his brother. For a smart guy, Connor was a dipshit about his wife.
