"Blitzen?" Drex's sleepy voice asked from somewhere in the bed beside me. "Why are you awake?"
"Because someone's alarm went off, Drex baby," I teased him, repeating what the snow bunny had called him the day before when I had first arrived in their absurd penthouse suite. Snuggling down into the blankets, I put my head back on the pillow we'd been sharing and pressed my nose to his.
"Why is someone's alarm going off, Drex?" I whispered, and his eyes cracked open to peer at me.
"Because it's time to get up," Slade rumbled from the other side of me, and rolled over to press his body down the length of my back. "Not that we really want to …"
"Mm-hmm, evidently," I chuckled, pressing my bare butt back into his hard-on.
"Mila love, you're not making this any easier," Slade murmured in my ear, as his hand cupped my breast and rolled my nipple between his fingers.
"Some might say, I'm making it hard," I suggested, and Drex's shoulders shook with laughter. He wasn't fooling me though. I could clearly see his eyes still cracked open and hungry as they watched Slade tease my nipple.
The alarm began beeping again, and Slade sighed heavily.
"Video conference?" Drex asked and Slade nodded. His lips pressed to the back of my neck, laying light kisses while my skin broke out in goose bumps.
"Come on, then. Let's get this over with so we can come back to bed," Drex groaned, and pushed himself up to sitting, then looked back down at me sternly. "Don't move an inch, Blitzen. Not an inch. I want you exactly like this when I get back."
"Guess I'd better stay too, then," Slade suggested, his lips reaching my ear and snagging the lobe between his teeth.
"Hah, not a chance, boss man! You set this one up, remember?" Drex whacked Slade with a pillow then smacked a kiss on my lips and hopped up to get dressed.
"I had better go wake the other two up. All three of them would sleep through a damn hurricane." Slade rolled onto his back and I shifted to face him.
"What's the video conference about?" I asked curiously. Since working out their whole bad boy image was just that—an image—I was really fascinated by their business strategies.
"It's just a preliminary meeting thing. Inked Pages wants some snowboarding stunts in their next music video, but I want to chat with them and get a clearer idea of what it's about. Too many people book 'stunts' without really understanding what's entailed." His fingertips trailed a lazy pattern up my back and I shivered.
"Inked Pages, huh? They're a pretty big deal. But I guess so are you guys … the Kings of Snow." I said it sarcastically. I couldn't help it; I'd made fun of them for so long, it was like second nature to me.
"Are you getting sassy with me, Mila love?" Slade murmured, raising an eyebrow, and I grinned. Call me crazy, but I could definitely see Slade as the spanking type.
"Slade! Get up! If we don't get to lay around with Mila-elf then neither do you!" Ryder yelled from the living room and Slade sighed.
"We'll be a couple of hours, max. If the initial meeting with the band goes well then we need to negotiate contracts and crap with their agent, which just takes a bit of time. Make yourself comfortable, order room service, whatever you want." He pressed a long, unhurried kiss on my lips then quickly yanked on some clothes and left the room as Ryder yelled for him again.
I flopped back into the pillows and folded my arms over my face, so didn't notice Ryder until his cold hands circled my waist and made me jump.
"Fuck, Ryder!" I gasped, glaring up at him where he leaned over me. "You scared the shit out of me; I thought you'd gone!"
"Almost," he smiled. "Wanted to say good morning." His lips captured mine in a gentle, caring sort of kiss that just left me confused as all hell when he winked and took off out the door once more.
Hmm, I wonder where Blaze—
"Babe," he greeted me, appearing in the doorway looking fresh from the shower with still damp hair and a to go cup of coffee in his hand.
"Blaze … I thought Slade said you guys sleep like the dead?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. He looked like he'd been up for a while already.
"Uh, yeah. Usually. I couldn't sleep though, so … got you coffee." He brought it over and placed it on the bedside table for me.
"Hey," I snagged his hand as he made to leave, and tugged him back toward me, "thank you. That's really sweet of you."
He gave me a small, half-smile that was almost bashful before leaning down and giving me a quick kiss.
"Anything for you, babe," he murmured, then took off after the other guys.
The front door shutting behind them echoed through the now empty penthouse.
Had that all seriously just happened?
So much for my grudge against the Kings of Snow …
Ugh, I am so screwed.
By the time I'd finished my coffee and taken a shower, my few meager belongings had been delivered by a bellhop who gave me a dirty look when I didn't tip. Fuck him, though. Even if I did have the spare cash, I wasn't tipping for getting kicked out of my room.
It'd been a couple of hours when a knock sounded at the door again. I'd been browsing job sites and sending out applications, and was actually feeling pretty good about a couple of them.
"Miss Grayson?" the sharply dressed hotel employee asked with a stuck-up look on his face.
"Who's asking?" I replied suspiciously. Surely Gary was done fucking me over by now? What else did he have up his slimy sleeve?
"Mister Knightbridge sent me to deliver this to a Miss Grayson." He held out a thick manila envelope. "So are you her?"
"Yeah, that's me." I nodded, frowning. Why would Slade have sent me something via douche-mail? Didn't he say they were only going to be a couple of hours?
"Thank you," the man said, handing me the envelope. "Have a good day."
His tone implied he really didn't give a shit if I had a good day or not, but he was gone before I needed to respond, so whatever.
Closing the door, I headed back into the living room where I'd been parked up on the couch with my breakfast and laptop, then tore the envelope open. Inside was a letter handwritten on thick linen paper, and several thick wads of money.
"What the fuck?" I muttered, flicking through the notes. There had to have been almost ten thousand dollars in cash there! A cold chill ran down my spine as I opened the accompanying note.
Mila, thank you for an entertaining evening. We've discussed our involvement with you and decided it would be best if you were to leave. The Kings of Snow don't share their women, and that will never change. Please find enclosed the money Drex owed you for damages to your camera. We politely request you be gone by the time we return.
Kind regards, Slade Knightbridge.
Mother. Fuckers.
Surely this wasn't for real? This had to be a joke. A bad one, sure, but a joke nonetheless.
Frantically, I scanned the note several more times then counted the money. Ten thousand one hundred and eighty eight dollars. The exact cost of my camera brand-new, the exact figure I had put on the 'invoice' I'd hit Drex with at Scruffy's Nightclub.
Those … wankers! How dare they? Jesus fucking Christ, they really were as bad as the media made them out to be. And to think I actually fell for their crap about it all being for show.
My fingernails curled into my palms and I clenched my jaw to keep from just going bat shit on the whole damn penthouse. As satisfying as it would be to trash their shit, I had way too much dignity to let them know how much they'd hurt me.
In saying that, I wasn't a goddamn saint, so quickly scratched out a reply onto the bottom of Slade's note and left it in the middle of the coffee table where they would be sure to find it.
All my worldly possessions were already packed up in a couple of boxes so leaving the penthouse was as simple as calling for a luggage trolley from concierge and then ordering a taxi at the front desk.
I was offended, not stupid, so had taken the money owed to me for my broken camera. If nothing else, having cash made my de
parture from The Ridge a clean one, and within half an hour of receiving Slade's note, I was gone.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Christmas day arrived looking as magical as a postcard. Even as I trudged to my new job in the half-light of dawn, I could still appreciate the beauty of the softly falling snow.
It'd been a week since I'd left The Ridge. A week since the most incredible night of my life, followed by the cold rejection that was Slade's note. I'd managed to find a job pretty quickly, and rented myself a room at a dodgy motel that accepted cash payment.
Most people would probably be pissed to have to work Christmas Day, but for me with no family, no friends and no loved ones, it was just another day. At least I wasn’t Mila the Elf anymore.
"G'morning, Mila," Jeanie, the old woman who owned the place, greeted me as I pushed my way through the front door.
"Morning, Jeanie." I smiled. My breath fogged in front of me and I rubbed my gloved hands together. "Heating taking its sweet ass time to kick in again?"
"Mmm, you know it. Shouldn't be too much longer. Here." She poured a steaming cup of coffee and handed it to me. "Merry Christmas, girl."
"Uh, thanks. You too." Christmases meant nothing to me, seeing as the last one I celebrated was before I became Mila. Before my world went to shit thanks to the Kings of Snow—the first time.
"Benny's whipping you up some breakfast now. Gonna be a long day." Jeanie gave me a warm smile. "Must have been my lucky day that you saw my ad when you did!"
A week ago, I had caught my taxi as far as this diner where I had stopped to get food and search for a place to live. Just as I'd been about to leave, Jeanie placed a Help Wanted! sign in the window, and I snapped it up. Her previous full-time waitress had just quit, leaving her high and dry, and I was more than happy to take the immediate start.
"Mine too." I smiled back. Jeanie was legitimately one of the nicest people I'd ever met, despite her battle-axe appearance and gruff exterior.
"You see this?" she asked, waving a trashy magazine. She was addicted to gossip, and always had a stack of tabloids on the counter to keep updated with the latest scandals in Hollywood. I'd made a conscious effort to steer clear of them too, just in case the Winter Wankers were back in the media.
"See what?" I replied reluctantly. Please don't be about them.
"That band you like never showed up for their concert in Saint Paul. Got caught in a blizzard and missed the whole damn thing." She picked up the magazine and pushed it toward me while I sighed in relief. Thank god. I don't think I could've handled seeing those beautiful assholes today.
As I scanned the article she was showing me, the heating finally kicked in with a groan and a whoosh that ruffled my hair and sent the pages of the magazine fluttering. I slapped my hand down on it to save it from getting knocked off the counter while the heating settled itself back down to less of a gale.
Oh for the love of—
The page I'd stopped it at was a double page spread of the four of them. Slade, Blaze, Drex and Ryder, looking for all purposes like they were on a photoshoot for Vanity Fair. I knew better though—the background behind them was of one of the bars at The Ridge, and the furious set to their jaws was nothing like their usual, careful, photoshoot faces.
"Oh yeah, you hadn't seen that?" Jeanie's voice startled me and made me jump. "Those boys have been all over the rags these past few days. Apparently beat the ever loving crap out of some hotel Santa, but won't say why. Santa isn't pressing charges either, so media is just having a field day with their theories."
"What the fuck?" I muttered, rapidly scanning through the article. It was exactly as she'd said, full of stupid media assumptions and hypotheticals, none of which probably came anywhere near to the truth.
"Yep, them boys have had the paps practically breathing down their necks ever since that got snapped on camera. That fancy ski resort is going to take one helluva suing for allowing them vultures in there in the first place." Jeanie shook her head in disgust. "I thought it was supposed to be one of them media free places? That these rich folk could let their hair down in?"
"It is …" I murmured, speed-reading the article again and still finding nothing to give away what had motivated their fight with Gary … Was it bad that I felt a small surge of excitement at this news though? I mean, the mystery girl that this particular magazine cited as having instigated the fight could have been anyone … but it was rather coincidental …
"Alright, let's get this place set up." Jeanie whipped the magazine out from under me and tidied it into the stack. Probably for the best, or I would've started obsessing.
"You got it, Jeanie." I nodded, and went about my tasks to set the diner up for the day's trade.
The day blurred past in a whirlwind of orders and hot plates and coffee refills, and by the time closing rolled around, I was half-dead on my feet. As the last customer left, I yawned heavily and took off my apron.
"Here, pull yourself up a chair and take a moment, girl," Jeanie ordered, plonking a cup of coffee and a slice of pie down in front of me. "You're a damn hard worker, I'll give you that. I'll be sad to see you go."
"What makes you think I'm going anywhere?" I teased, "Maybe I like it here and you're stuck with me for life?"
Jeanie barked a laugh.
"In this Podunk town in the middle of nowhere, working for minimum wage and shitty tips? Don't make me laugh, girl. No, I think you'll be moving on sooner than you think …" She winked at me and I gave her a frown. Weird old bird. Just then the front door bell chimed and I groaned. Clearly I had forgotten to lock it.
Heavy boots sounded on the floor from behind me and I sighed.
"Sorry, we're closed," I replied, putting my coffee down and leaning over the counter to grab Jeanie's keys that she'd left by the register. "I was just about the lock the do—"
"Mila." The man snapped, and I whipped around to face him. Them. Fuck.
"Slade." I replied coolly after fishing my jaw up off the floor. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Seriously, Mila?" Slade frowned, "You seriously think I would send you a note and money …"
"Clearly," I remarked, clenching my fists and desperately trying not to look at the other guys. The weight of their gazes on me was overwhelming though. Like they were mad. "Like I said, we're closed. There's another diner five miles south of here and they're open all night. I suggest you check them out."
Pushing off my stool, I tried to show them the door but Drex grabbed me by my arm as I pushed past him.
"Blitzen. Please just chill for a bit and hear us out, yeah?" His floppy blonde hair was drooping into his eyes and he had to shake it away before giving me the most perfectly practiced puppy face I'd ever seen.
"Why?" I asked, chewing my lip. "Slade's note was clear, and I think my reply was just as clear. This was a one-time thing on everyone's part, and it's over now. So why are you here?"
"I did not write you that goddamn note!" Slade growled and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Oh no? Then who did, Slade? Who else knew about our entertaining evening? Or had the exact dollar figure on my invoice to Drex? Or even knew Drex had broken my camera? Huh?" Okay, so I was still a lot more fired up about that fucking note than I'd really let myself admit. Obviously, it'd only been one night of great sex, but they'd fucking gotten to me in that time. I'd let them in, in a way I hadn't allowed myself to do in over six years, and they'd crushed me.
Slade sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Okay, yes. This looks bad, and I can see how you'd jump to conclusions—"
"Jump to conclusions?" I exclaimed, firing up and stepping closer to jab him in the chest with my finger. "That note held information that no one outside the five of us could've known. Unless you want to try and tell me Gary had cameras set up in your rooms or something?"
It was intended as a sarcastic comment, seeing as it was the only explanation I'd come up with after seven damn days of turning Slade's note over in my head. But it was way too
insane to be true.
"Get fucked," I whispered, seeing Slade's face pale and his mouth tighten. "He did not. You're messing with me …" I whipped my head around to look at the other three Winter Wankers. All of them held the exact same look of disgust and regret.
"Babe, maybe we can go somewhere more private to discuss this?" Blaze suggested gently, nodding to the kitchen pass where Jeanie and Benny were clearly listening in on our conversation.
"Um … no, I have to finish here." I shook my head, frowning. What the fuck? Gary was filming … oh god, I might throw up.
"It's fine, Mila girl," Jeanie called out. "We can close up. You go talk to your young men."
Blaze raised his eyebrows at me in a way that clearly said no excuses now, babe, let's go.
"Sure. Um. Sure." I was both babbling and lost for words at the same time. "Let me grab my coat …"
My hands were numb as I pulled on my winter layers and led the guys outside into the snow, and I said nothing as I followed them into their blacked-out SUV which was parked right outside.
"Where to, Mila-elf?" Ryder asked quietly as he slid into the driver's seat, and I pointed in the direction of my shitty motel. It wasn't far, only a five minute walk, so we were there in no time at all.
"This is where you've been living?" Slade demanded, staring around the room in disgust.
"Not everyone can afford penthouses at The Ridge, Slade," I snapped back. His condescending tone helped break through the haze of panic which was suffocating me.
"Not what I meant …" he muttered, then shook his head and sat in one of the dirty looking chairs near the window. The other boys all followed suit, and I took my time removing my coat, scarf and gloves while my mind ran at a million miles per hour.
"So … Gary …" I started, then ran out of words. What the fuck. This was all completely and totally fucked. For them, yes, but for me too … If that footage was released to the media …
A shudder ran through me and I hugged myself.
Billionaires, Boarders, and Bastards: A Limited-Time Collection of Reverse Harem Romance Novellas Page 18
