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“I’m not going to hide, Lo.”
I tug harder, releasing my hand. “And I’m not going to be a pawn in some weird game between you and Wyatt.”
He pauses, swiveling his head toward me. His jaw tics, and I can see the anger burning in his gaze.
“That isn’t what this is. Not for me.”
I stay silent as we walk together back to the group, and Wyatt looks between us with a frown as we approach. He’s glaring at Zane with open disdain. The tension is palpable, and it stirs the ire within me.
With the beer loosening my lips, I speak my mind and put both men on blast. “I don’t know what’s going on here,” I say, motioning between Zane and Wyatt, “but stop putting me in the middle like I’m some sort of prize to be won in a competition. It’s annoying at best.”
“That’s not—” Wyatt starts, but I hold up my hand, stopping him.
“Itiswhat’s happening here. It’s obvious. And even though I don’t quite understand it, I don’t like it.” I turn to Benji, making up my mind in an instant. “Will you take me home?”
“Sure,” he agrees without hesitation, rising to his feet and pulling the keys from his pocket.
Wyatt starts to protest again, but I quiet him with a look. Zane just watches me. I can’t read his expression, and right now, all I want is space from both men. I have enough drama awaiting me at home. I don’t need more of it here, not when this mountain town is supposed to be my escape.
I spin on my heel and walk away without another word. Benji wordlessly falls into step beside me. He unlocks his car, and we climb in. The drive home is quiet, except for the gentle hum of the radio, and the landscape is dark through the passenger window. We’re a few short miles out from my place when Benji breaks the silence.
“Those two have a complicated relationship,” he explains.
I lean my head against the headrest and stare at Benji’s profile. “Why?”
“It goes back to our snowboarding days. We all grew up competing against each other on the circuit. It’s how I got to know those two in the first place. All three of us love the sport, and we were all talented. You have to be to get invited to most of those games. But Zane … he always stood out. There was something special about him from the very beginning. Everyone saw it. And it was a beautiful thing—unless you were the one losing to him.” He chuckles, but there’s no bitterness to it. “I think Wyatt felt like he was always one step behind Z, and he resented it. I don’t know if he’s fully let go of that.”
“But I thought you three were tight.”
“We are. We have been for years. But ghosts of the past have a way of creeping back in sometimes. Zane doesn’t have to try. He’s naturally athletic. He’s good at nearly every sport we play, but not just good … he’s usually the best. And women … women flock to him in droves without him even trying. I think it gets beneath Wyatt’s skin after a while.” Benji glances over at me. “You caught both their eyes that first night. And it just triggered this competition that’s always beneath the surface with those two.”
“I don’t want to be the reason there’re issues between them.”
Benji laughs again, shaking his head. “You aren’t the reason. You’re the excuse. If it wasn’t you, they’d find something else to compete over.”
I sigh. “I don’t think that makes me feel any better.”
He reaches over and squeezes my knee. “It’ll be okay. They always work things out, one way or another. And if you get sick of those two idiots … you always have me.”
I smile. “Thank goodness for that.”
Even when Benji jokes around, I never feel pressure to be anything but friends with him.
He drops me off a minute later, and I wonder how my life went from my taking a break from work—possibly a permanent one—to being in a weird love triangle in Sullivan’s Way.
Life is strange.
CHAPTER SIX
WILLOW
Something startles me awake, but when I look around the room is dark and silent. I glance at the clock on the bedside table to see it’s the middle of the night. I check my phone, but there’s nothing there. No texts or new calls. I settle back under the covers and stare at the dark ceiling, noticing again how quiet it is here in this little mountain town. In the city, there is always extraneous noise. Cars on the streets, cats prowling around, and dogs barking somewhere. Restless people walking the sidewalks. But here … there’s only peace.
I’ve awakened late at night before. Countless times really. Usually, it was the pager service erupting with a question from a patient or a nurse on the floor. Or sometimes, it was because someone else called me. Someone who probably shouldn’t have been calling me late at night for no reason at all.
My mind drifts back to a memory.
My cell phone started ringing, the familiar sound disrupting the silence of my dark bedroom. I turned on the lamp beside my bed and saw Dr. Cooper’s name flashing on the screen. I wondered if he needed to tell me something about the surgeriesscheduled for tomorrow. Maybe I needed to know something about a patient. He probably had a task he wanted me to do early in the morning in preparation for our day.
