One Lucky Girl

by Natasha L. Black

  “No, but you ever drive in the snow, Texas boy?” Sean asked.

  “Oh, shut the fuck up. We all know Nolan's the most experienced in the snow,” I said, patting our friend on the back. “Ain't that right?”

  “Growing up in Buffalo came with a few advantages, yes,” he said. “But I don't have a truck.”

  Trevor tossed him his keys. “Drive mine. But be careful.”

  “Wouldn't dare hurt your baby,” Nolan laughed.

  “Damn right. She's the love of my life.”

  “I've never heard anyone speak about their truck that way, you sick bastard,” Sean said. “Maybe it's time you got a girlfriend.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe I'm just fine living the single life,” Trevor said.

  We all climbed into the dual cab truck. It was the heftiest truck I'd ever seen, and would be perfect for driving in the mountains, given that it was especially suited for rough terrain and all kinds of weather conditions. I just prayed that Nolan's experience driving in Buffalo would translate well to driving in the Appalachians during one of the worst snowstorms of the century.

  Either way, I was sure of one thing – we were in for an adventure, and we'd get to Elle or die trying.

  2

  Trevor

  “Fuckin' hell, man,” I muttered.

  I cringed and scooted over as Nolan veered too close to the edge. Again. As if scooting over would actually do anything useful in the event we went plummeting off the edge. In my head though, I kept picturing my baby driving over the ledge, diving off the cliff into the abyss below. Truth be told, the idea of dying didn't scare me all that much – I could just think of better ways to go than that. But, death itself wasn't an overwhelming fear for me. That's what happens when you face death day in and day out as part of your job – you kind of get numb to it.

  “Have you ever driven on the ice?” Sean asked Nolan.

  “No, but I don't have to be a world class ice road trucker to know you don't get that fucking close to the edge,” I said. “That's just common fuckin' sense, man.”

  Nolan shook his head, ignoring my pleas. He hadn't said much of anything since we loaded up and headed into the mountains to track Elle down. He'd focused on the road ahead of us, remaining quiet, and to his credit, we hadn't gone plunging to a fiery death at the bottom of that chasm next to the road. Yet.

  We'd been on the road for several hours already, and I was aching to be at our destination. Not only because I was worried about my truck and us, but I was worried about Elise. I'd met her boyfriend Brad, briefly, when they first started dating. I hadn’t liked him on sight. Not one little bit. There was just something about him that pinged my radar and set off warning bells in my head.

  Of course, Elise told me I was biased, that I wouldn't like anyone she dated, and I couldn't say she was entirely wrong. In a lot of ways, she was, very right, in fact. I thought my own feelings got in the way of the truth. They did that sometimes. Especially, when it came to Elle. When it came to her, my thinking wasn't always the clearest or most level-headed.

  Instead of freaking out about Nolan's driving, I tried to put my focus elsewhere. I closed my eyes, tried to block it all out, and tried to sleep. I let my mind drift back to the time when I ran into the two of them at the Happy Eggs Cafe near her house.

  Happy Eggs had always been a favorite place for the group of us to hang out – and, it was a place that honored Aaron's legacy with a photo and framed article about him on the wall. The staff at the café always had a table for us, no matter how busy they might be. It was no surprise Elle was there that day, but what had surprised me was the man she was with.

  He was older than her – and not just by a couple years either. He was at least a decade older, if not more. Successful businessman, sharp, and well put together. At least, I could respect that. The day I ran into them, he was wearing a crisp, finely tailored suit. But when I shook hands with him, they were extraordinarily soft, and proved to me that he'd never actually worked hard a day in his life.

  Sure, I guess you could call sitting at a desk and running meetings work. Sort of. It wasn't the type that'll put hair on your chest though. His nails were clean and well-manicured, and he had hair that reminded me of a shampoo ad. He looked handsome enough. A little thin, with a receding hairline, but otherwise, attractive enough. Except for that smile. It never went to his eyes. He seemed to be sneering or laughing at you on the inside. Then again, I'd met the man for all of ten minutes, it was probably easy to say I was a little biased.

  As I felt the hum of the truck's tires on the pavement below us, and I recalled all of the images from the past, I had a feeling in my gut. It felt like a brick that weighed me down. I should have said something sooner. I should have told her what I thought about him. Should have told her that she deserved better. Of course she deserved better than some knuckle-dragging tax accountant, or whatever the fuck he was. She deserved so much more than that. But, she'd tell me I was just jealous and acting like a fool. Maybe I had been, but I'd also been right.

  He wasn't the man she thought he was.

  I wasn't even sure what that meant, but I knew it wasn't good. Her parents had said she'd been crying when they talked to her, which really struck me. Nobody I knew had ever made Elle cry. That girl was one of the toughest women I'd ever met. She was just like her brother, strong and stubborn. Tough as nails and a fighter.

  Like most of us, she pushed her emotions down, and the only time I'd ever actually seen her cry was at her brother's funeral. So, to imagine some asshole boyfriend was hurting her badly enough that she broke down those barriers and cried? Hell no. No one made her cry. Not even I did that, and I admit that I was pretty shitty to her. But she'd never cried because of me.

  I opened my eyes and stared at the bleak, white landscape in front of us. No one in the truck knew what had happened between Elle and me – and they never would. It had been a mistake. Something that we shouldn't have done. Aaron had been my best friend, and Elise was his sister. It never should have happened, and yet, we'd ended up in each other's beds anyway.

  The guys would kill me they found out. Hell, it actually might be worse than that. At least death was simple, and it was permanent. No, if they found out, they might disown me, which would be a thousand times worse than death. No one messed with Elle. That was the rule, and that was the code of our group. Yet, I’d broken that sacred rule anyway.

  Not because I was a horny sleazebag wanting to fuck his best friend's little sister, but because I cared about her. I loved her, even. In my own little way.

  Truth be told, we all did.

  “Chill out, man,” Nolan said, glancing over at me, his face nearly as white as the snow on the ground outside the truck. “We're almost there.”

  “Why do you look so nervous then?” I asked him.

  “I'm not nervous,” he said, holding tight to the steering wheel.

  “Uh, that would be a lie,” Sean said, leaning up from the backseat. “I can smell it on you from back here, man.”

  “Seatbelt, now,” Nolan demanded.

  “See? What's up with you?” Sean asked.

  “The roads are really bad, that's all,” he said. “I'd rather be safe than sorry.”

  “Saying you can't handle some snow?” I teased.

  “No, I'm saying, this is more than some snow, dipshit,” he said. “More is on the way, and it's expected to be bad.”

  “How bad?” I asked.

  “Blizzard conditions,” he said. “So we need to get to the cabin and off these roads before the snow starts falling. Otherwise, we may be in some seriously deep shit.”

  As he said that, flecks of white dust started to fall from the sky, like his words unlocked the magic snow box in the clouds. The flakes weren't coming down very heavily. Not yet, at least. It was almost beautiful, actually. Just a dusting of soft, white, powdery, perfect, little snowflakes. Except, if he was right, there'd be much more on the way, and being buried beneath several feet of snow is quite th
e opposite of beautiful.

  “Better hurry then,” Chase muttered from the backseat.

  I glanced back at him. His eyes were closed, and he was curled into himself, trying to sleep. I wished I could have slept as easily as him, but now I focused on the snow outside, and thinking about having to race the elements, just to get to safety. Suddenly, it became less beautiful, as I realized the gravity and precariousness of our situation.

  “Fuck, can she be any farther out in the middle of nowhere?” I muttered as we slowly inched down a narrow mountain road.

  The snow was falling harder, the flakes thicker and heavier, making it even more difficult to see. If we thought the roads were bad before, the closer we got to where Elle was, the worse they became. Most weren't even paved anymore.

  “Almost there. We're almost there,” Nolan said, though he seemed to be trying to reassure himself more than anything.

  He was white-knuckling it, holding the steering wheel with both hands with narrowed eyes, and gritted teeth. I had to admit, I was impressed by his handling in the snow. I didn't like it, but they were right. I was a Texas boy, I had no idea what these roads would be like to actually drive on. It wasn't like we got a lot of snow down in Texas. No way I could have handled the truck the way Nolan did. Still, I could see the sweat on his brow, and the way his eyes were laser focused on the road ahead. There was no question, he was stressed the hell out.

  “How much farther?” Sean mumbled.

  “It's at the end of this road,” Nolan said. “Some stupid mountain resort that shouldn't even be open in weather like this.”

  “You can say that again,” Chase said from the back. “But we're almost there now, so it's cool.”

  “Yeah, and we're probably not getting out anytime soon either,” Nolan said. “We may be stuck for a few days.”

  “Great. Let's hope they have a few rooms open.”

  None of us knew what type of resort we were looking for. All we could see were the towering, white frosted trees all around us, and snow as far as the eye could see. That was it. It was hard to imagine a resort all the way out there. Had to be the type of place people went to unplug from the world and truly get away from it all. I couldn't deny that it sounded appealing at times, especially with the right woman at your side.

  “The road ends right up ahead,” Nolan said, leaning forward and squinting hard to see out the window. “But I don't see anything. I don't see a resort up there.”

  I leaned forward too, and in the distance, I could make out a thick plume of smoke coming from a chimney. It was hard to see, but it was there. One spot of warmth in the middle of this frozen landscape.

  “That has to be it,” I said. “Keep driving until we find a place to park.”

  Nolan did as he was told, and eventually, the trees thinned out, then cleared for a small parking lot. Only one car besides ours was in it. A BMW. I had a pretty good idea who that belonged to already. I guessed we were in the right place.

  Nolan parked the truck and shook his head. “We're not getting out of here anytime soon.”

  Given the rapidly deteriorating conditions, not a one of us could really argue with him. He was right. We barely made it in as it was, and with the snow coming down even harder – not to mention the fact that the sun was going down quickly – there was no way we'd be able to see to drive in this mess now. That wasn't even taking into account, the fact that the road conditions were just getting worse and worse.

  I opened the door to the truck and was hit by an unimaginable cold with a force that nearly took my breath away. I'd never experienced anything like it. The air in my lungs froze, and it hurt to breathe. I gritted my teeth, and put my head down, but didn't say anything. Both Sean and Nolan were used to cold like this, and I didn't want to seem like the soft one in the group. I glanced at Chase who seemed only mildly chilly, at best, and held it together pretty well. I only hoped I was putting up a front half as good as his.

  In front of us was a sign that read “Appalachia Falls Resort and Spa”.

  “Sounds fancy for a place tucked away in the middle of fucking nowhere,” Sean mumbled.

  I didn't see a resort. I saw a couple cabins. That was it. A sign that read, “Guest Check-In” in pretty, flowing, cursive writing marked the main building, so I started off that direction. The others followed. We hoofed it toward the main cabin, which was completely dark, and stared into the windows. It had a sign on the front.

  “Closed due to inclement weather,” Sean read aloud to us. “The fuck does that mean?”

  “It means no one is home,” Chase said.

  “Someone obviously is,” I said, pointing to the smoke coming from a nearby chimney. “Wanna wager a guess which cabin is theirs?”

  “How can they be here if the place is closed?” Nolan asked.

  “Good question. Let's ask them,” I said.

  This cabin was closest to the main building, so it really was only a few feet away. It was also the largest of the ones we could see. Only a couple smaller ones dotted the landscape around us, and they appeared as empty as the main cabin. I didn't doubt there were others out there though. Probably spread out a bit to give people the illusion of privacy.

  “Does anyone else feel like we stepped straight into the setup of a goddamn horror movie right about now?” Sean chuckled.

  It might have been funny, had it not felt true. I was on edge. Not because I sensed danger to us, but something wasn't right. I feared for Elise's safety more than anything, and I just hoped that jackass hadn't done anything to her. Since she was no longer answering her phone, and nobody had heard from her since that tearful call to her mom, it worried me. It worried me a hell of a lot. Also, the fact that they were apparently the only ones here and had been left all alone – and with no one else staying nearby – meant something bad could have happened to her. Something very bad – and nobody would have been around to see it or to help her.

  The others seemed to be worrying about the same thing as well. No one said a word until we walked up the front steps of the cabin, and I knocked upon the door. We all stood there, our bodies tense, our faces grim, waiting, and holding our breath.

  It was faint, but footsteps inside could be heard from where we were standing. It was a two-story cabin, and it sounded like someone was walking down the stairs – though, it sounded too heavy to be Elise. When the door opened, I found myself face-to-face with the man I'd met at the café that day, and he recognized me in a heartbeat as well. He frowned as his eyes moved among the group, and he stared at each of our faces.

  “Is Elise around?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

  Brad was shorter than all of us, by several inches. I towered over him, and yes, I used my size to my advantage, doing my best to intimidate him because I could. Petty? Maybe. But usually effective.

  “She's upstairs,” Brad said. “What's this about?”

  “We're here to see Elise,” I said.

  “May I ask why?” Brad said.

  Nolan stepped forward. Leave it to him to step in and mediate any situation. Brad continued to look at us, his expression alternating between nervous and annoyed by our intrusion. There was a darkness in his face – something in his eyes, that I didn't like. That really set the warning bells jangling in my head.

  Clearing his throat, Nolan spoke. “Her parents are worried about her,” he said evenly. “They got a call from her that concerned them. Then, after that, they couldn't reach her. Asked us to come check on her.”

  Brad rolled his eyes and sighed. “She's fine. There's nothing to be concerned about. Sorry you came all this way for nothing,” he said, trying to close the door.

  I held out my hand, and put it against the rough wood, preventing the door from closing.

  “We'll judge for ourselves whether she's fine or not,” I said. “Get her down here. Now.”

  Before he could argue further, the sound of more footsteps coming down the stairs rang out. I heard her voice before I her saw her,
thanks to the spiral staircase that was blocking my view. But, I knew, right away that it was Elise, and she was safe.

  “What's going on? Who's here?” she asked.

  She stepped into view, and a profound sense of relief rushed through my body. She was fine. She was more than fine, actually. She was beautiful – as she always was. Her honey blonde hair was cut shorter than the last time I’d seen her, grazing her shoulders in sleek, but soft waves as if she'd simply forgotten to straighten her hair that morning. Her blue eyes were wide and vivid, and dare I say it, she smiled when she saw us standing there. Her perfectly pink lips pulled back into a small smile, which she quickly hid from view the moment she realized it, and cut a quick glance at Brad, the look on her face saying she hoped he didn't notice it.

  “Trevor? What are you guys doing here?” she asked, her voice having just the slightest hint of an accent.

  She reached the bottom of the steps and I noticed that she was barefoot. Wearing only gray yoga pants and a pink t-shirt, she was still a vision. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if she were freezing.

  “Your parents wanted us to check on you,” I said gently. “After you didn't return their calls, they got worried about you, Elise.”

  Her face fell, and a darkness washed over her as she glanced at Brad. Her face was tight, pinched, and she looked scared.

  “Oh, yeah, my phone broke,” she said, holding herself even closer and tighter that before.

  Elise seemed to be drawing further into herself. My gaze fell to her arm where I noticed that a bruise peeked out from under her t-shirt sleeve. My blood boiled before I even knew what hit me and I stepped closer to Brad, grabbing him by the shoulders, a look of pure malevolence in my eyes.

  “What the fuck, man?” Sean said, grabbing me and yanking me back.

  “Look at her arm,” I grumbled.

  Elise pulled the sleeve down, hiding it from view. “Come inside, ya'll, it's cold outside,” she said, her voice wavering.