Page 17 of Mountain Trial

“It’s okay. I can see they care about you.” Luc didn’t say it actually felt good that they considered him worth grilling.

“Maybe we should―”

The words died in her mouth. Kat was no longer looking at Luc, but rather at something or somebody behind him. Luc spun his chair slightly―and found himself staring straight at Helmet, the snowboarder from the slopes.

He’s ditched the helmet.

The man looked slimmer now that he’d ditched his ski suit. In faded jeans and an old leather jacket, he looked―if completely underdressed for the weather―like one of the cool kids in school, fifteen years later. The man strode towards Kat, his long legs eating up the ground between them.

Luc’s hand went to the wheels of his chair. He was about to move his chair back and out of the way, to make space, before it suddenly clicked in his mind that the look on Kat’s face wasn’t one of interest, or expectation. It was a look of fear.

Kat

Kat felt her muscles grow stiff.

Even though she was in a public place, surrounded by people, and even though she understood, logically, that Jacques wouldn’t touch her, her body shook in fear.

Face him.

Don’t cower.

Don’t ever cower before him again.

The closer Jacques got to her, the less her other senses worked. She stopped seeing the people around her―stopped hearing what Luc was saying. She couldn’t even feel the ground beneath her feet anymore.

Jacques had always made her feel so small. And now he was back, and she couldn’t shake the dreadful fear.

Jacques’s hand stretched towards her wrist. Kat watched it happen as if it were happening to somebody else―unable to move back and out of the way, or even open her mouth to complain.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gael striding towards her, but he was too far away. And then, suddenly, Luc was there. He’d somehow spun his wheelchair in front of her, forcing Jacques to stop or trip all over him.

“She will let you know if she wants you to touch her,” Luc said, his voice rougher than she’d ever heard it before.

“You again? Get out of my way, you dim-witted cripple,” Jacques spat out, jumping back just in time to avoid getting run over by the wheels of Luc’s chair. “Do you think you’re safe just because you’re in that chair?”

Luc didn’t even bother replying. He shot Jacques a look of infinite contempt.

And suddenly, now that Jacques wasn’t moving towards her anymore, Kat found herself able to breathe and think again.

“I don’t want you here, Jacques,” she said.

“You heard the lady. I think you should leave now,” Gael said, moving to stand next to Luc.

“Or we could help,” Jens said, taking up position beside them, all three men acting as a barrier between her and Jacques.

Jacques stuck his thumbs inside his jeans pockets. His cold, dark eyes considered her for a moment―then he turned and went out the back door, as suddenly as he’d appeared.

Kat let out the breath she’d been holding.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Are you okay?” Luc asked. His hand searched for hers and held on. The heat from his touch went up her arm, warming her body more than it should have.

“I am. Thank you,” she said again. She looked around to include Jens and Gael in her words, still too relieved to feel embarrassment but knowing that would come later.

She held on to Luc’s hand for a moment longer, drawing strength from his rough, calloused hand. Finally, she let go.

“I’m sorry. I need some fresh air,” she said, stepping around them and towards the front entrance―the opposite direction to the one Jacques had gone in.