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“Come on up,” I called back, a little wobbly in emotion at hearing her.
Ben had obviously rang her, and she had a spare key for the external door.
I’d barely taken off my coat before my best friend was bustling in and wrapping me in a tight squeeze.
“Holy shit. You okay? What happened? I need details.” She drew a look up and down me.
I answered her first question by flinging my arms around her again.
I sank into the much-needed hug.
Daisy rubbed my back, her floral perfume filling my nose. It was familiar and comforting, and also reminded me how I hadn’t yet showered after a sweaty day of work on the slopes. Still, I needed the comfort for more than one reason. I had tea to spill, but it wasn’t the same as I’d share with the rest of the room.
Ben joined us a minute later, pursued by Valentine, the newest recruit to the bodyguard service. Valentine had long black hair back in a man bun and a frame so tall he had to stoop to get under our doorway. He and Ben were brothers, though I didn’t think they were all that close from what Daisy had told me.
I received a one-armed hug from Ben, who grumbled something about thanking fuck I was okay, then I curled up on the sofa that curved around the tower’s interior wall, waiting for everyone else to take a seat. There were too many bodies for the snug space. Or maybe it was just that one whose presence took up too much room in my head.
I summoned a smile. “Thanks, everyone, for going out to search for me tonight. Nice to know you all care, even if it was a false alarm.”
Jackson snorted, setting down a dining chair he’d taken from our kitchen. “That was no false alarm.”
I stared at his nose, not willing to either make eye contact or focus on his mouth. “Aside from my car being hit, nothing happened.”
“Someone crashed into your car and then searched it,” he retorted.
“Or it was an accident and they were hunting for driver ID.”
His jaw tightened. “Don’t minimise this.”
I bristled, suddenly annoyed by him, and overheated in the thermal wear I hadn’t stripped off yet. He was right, but irrationally, I didn’t want him to be.
“Was I kidnapped?” I snipped back. “Did you happen across me wrestling some creep?”
His expression dropped, revealing a flash of something unexpected.
A vulnerability my words had exposed.
Just as quickly, it was gone, and Jackson was all business again. “No, but that doesn’t mean any of us should be flippant.”
Ben cleared his throat. “Hold up. There’s a bigger picture. For the benefit of a proper debrief, Ariel, walk us through what happened. Jackson, you’ll get your say.”
My head buzzed with too many thoughts. “I left work and drove to the village to see one of my students, but my Mini broke down on the main road, so I finished the journey on foot. Next thing I knew was Jackson finding me in the street and telling me what had happened to my car. It had been fine when I’d left it.”
I avoided any talk of my insane kissing act but needed to connect the dots on Bridgette’s video. It had been live for three days.
Long enough for someone to come after me.
Jackson was going to love this.
He watched me, his jaw still tensed and his expression pissed off. “Question,” he said before I could continue. “Did ye lock your car?”
I pressed my lips together, a little chagrined. I often didn’t bother because of how remote we were here. “Probably not.”
“Did ye even take the keys out of the ignition? They were in the snow.”
“I can’t remember. But wait up before you start judging me. There’s something else to tell first. The reason I was in the village was to get my student to take down a video she made of me. It went viral online and included my name and face.”
There was an uproar of questions. Earlier, I’d saved a copy of the video, so I played it for everyone to see. They passed it around, the same annoying R&B song playing on repeat. Jackson viewed it last. While he grimaced, presumably at the sight of me in my underwear, my brother tapped my knee.
