Saved by the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Saved by the Blizzard

  Other books by Adele

  Adele Huxley Mailing List

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Devoted to the Blizzard

  Thank you!

  Excerpt from The Billionaire's Power Trip

  Excerpt from A Wicked Desire

  Saved by the

  Blizzard

  Adele Huxley

  This book is work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This book contains explicit material and is intended for readers 18 years or older.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademarked owners of any wordmarks mentioned in the following fiction.

  Copyright © 2014 by Adele Huxley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.

  All requests should be forwarded to: [email protected]

  Other books by Adele Huxley

  The Tellure Hollow Series

  Caught by the Blizzard

  Saved by the Blizzard

  Devoted to the Blizzard

  Troubled

  Trapped with the Blizzard

  The Billionaire’s Power Trip Series

  Books 1 - 5

  The Kael Family Series

  A Wicked Desire

  A Wicked Decision

  A Wicked Devotion

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  STOP!

  Don’t continue any further until you’ve read this!

  The Tellure Hollow Series is a two book series with cliffhangers. This means the story will be concluded at the end of Saved by the Blizzard,which is out now. Make sure you’ve read Caught by the Blizzard first or you’re going to be mighty confused.

  I've become a big fan of the two-book series. Readers can pick up the first book risk free, explore a new genre or author. Then hopefully they're happy to support the author by buying the conclusion. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to dive into a new book! The entire series totals more than 600 pages.

  These books contain swearing, sex, use of legal and illegal substances, and violence. In other words, this story is for mature audiences. Enjoy!

  Adele x

  I braced myself against Bryan’s taut body, waiting for the searing pain of the buckshot to tear through my skin. Never before had I felt so much like a hunted animal. As Bryan guided the snowmobile around the back of Rick’s truck, my eyes darted across the forest. He could be hiding anywhere, behind any tree or bush. Any sign or warning, even a fraction of a second, could be the difference between life and death.

  We rounded the corner in the road and a few moments later, the terrifying alarm of imminent death faded to a dull ring inside my head. There’s no way he’d be able to travel that quickly through the deep snow of the forest and on this snowmobile. We’d bought ourselves a little time.

  Bryan quickly coasted up the driveway, following the tracks Rick’s truck had left in the snow. He skidded to a quick stop and jumped off, flinging the door of the cabin wide open.

  As I followed him in, I began to tremble, shock and cold sinking in. All around us were the makings of a beautiful Christmas morning. Ingredients for breakfast lined up on the counter, our coffee now gone cold, the nest of blankets in which we’d slept in front of the fire. As I gazed around the little haven we had built for ourselves, I saw it for the illusion it really was. We’d never been safe here. Rick managed to tear it apart simply by arriving. We’d never be safe anywhere as long as he was around.

  “Grab all your stuff. We’re going back to town,” Bryan said as he whizzed past. But I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to. I refused. Rick had ruined enough for me and I wasn’t ready to let him destroy this as well. Bryan noticed my lack of movement and came over to me. “Liz, we have to go.”

  I shook my head, biting back tears. “No. We’ll stay. We’re fine here. Let’s stay and have breakfast.” I wanted to be chipper, excited, but it came out manic. I tried to sound like I didn’t have a crazy man following me half way across the country, chasing me through the forest with a shotgun.

  Bryan took my shoulders in his broad hands and stooped his head, meeting my eye level. “Liz, he’ll know we’re here. Even if he didn’t, this is the closest house to his truck. He has no place else to go...” he trailed off, chewing on the last part of the sentence. “He wants to hurt you and I can’t let that happen.”

  I broke away with a flourish, storming over to my suitcase. “So what? What’s the point in running anymore? Maybe I should just give him what he wants and then he’ll go away!” I shouted. As I yelled, I tossed my clothes back in the case, balling them up and punching them down with all my might. “You should go, just leave me here and I’ll take care of it. I shouldn’t have dragged you into it in the first place. It was selfish of me.” In a lower voice I mumbled, “I shouldn’t even be in this situation.”

  He came up beside me, putting a gentle hand on the small of my back. I froze, both in speech and movement, my outburst stayed by one touch of his hand. I realized I was crying, tears of frustration, anger, and fear rolling freely down my face as I yelled. I didn’t look at him as I took a deep breath. He didn’t need to reiterate the point. The longer we stayed in the cabin, the louder that survival alarm bell rang. “I’m fine,” I said in a strained voice. “I’ll be ready in a minute.” He cleared his throat in response, walking briskly away.

  It was like Bryan could move in fast forward, twice as quickly as me. He managed to turn off the generator, close the furnace, pack his things, and start the truck in the time it took me to zip up my bag. As he brushed the snow off the truck, glancing around the forest as he did, I took one last look at the cabin. I loved that he’d brought me up here, shared this with me. I could tell he wasn’t ready to talk about the car accident, but he’d folded me into his life just by bringing me to this place all the same. Whether he knew it or not, it meant the world to me. I’ll tell him all that as soon as we’re safe, I thought.

  I shut the door, feeling odd that there was no way of locking it. As Bryan took my bag and threw it in the back, I held my hands to the vents, hoping to warm my fingers enough to use my phone. In the stress, we’d become mechanical, pragmatic.

  “There’s no signal,” I said to him as he climbed behind the wheel. “Shouldn’t we at least call 911 or something?”

  His jaw clenched and I could tell he wanted
to leave Rick to fend for himself. “Cell tower probably came down with the snow. Keep trying.”

  I resisted the urge to look back as we coasted down the snowy drive. I wanted to tell him we could go hide up by the falls. Rick would never find us there...but we’d freeze. Besides, it was beginning to sink in that no matter what, I couldn’t keep running away. It obviously wasn’t going to work.

  The tension between us escalated as we approached the crash scene, the stress eating away at both of us. Just as we were about to round the bend, Bryan looked over at me. His face was so anxious, filled with fear. “You should get down in case...” He didn’t have to finish the sentence. It hung heavy in the air. In case Rick shoots.

  I shook my head and leaned forward, my hands on the dashboard. I looked out the windshield, catching the first glimpse of Rick’s truck. “No, I’ll keep a lookout for him.” I hit redial on my phone but still, nothing got through.

  For some reason, my eyes locked onto the license plate. Where I was expecting to see ‘First in Flight’ I saw a green and white mountain range. My brow knitted as I realized he’d swapped out the North Carolina plates for Colorado. Why would he have done that? I recognized the truck as the same one he’d had back home, right down to the dented bumper and custom rims. As we raced past, I didn’t voice my concern. It was more of an afterthought, a strange observation, maybe a detail to distract me from the stress of the situation.

  Bryan concentrated on keeping us on the road, even slowing when the unweighted tail began to swing. The last thing we wanted was to end up stranded with no signal and a maniac chasing us. Rick’s footprints trailed into the thick of the forest, disappearing into the underbrush. I didn’t see any blood, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt. Even if he’d hit his head and gotten a concussion, he could still freeze to death in a short time. To be honest, it surprised me how little I cared. I watched as the wreck disappeared behind us, the only reminder we had of the incident were the tire tracks Rick had left on his way in.

  “What are we going to do?” I finally asked in a small voice. “If he doesn’t die out there, he’s just gonna keep coming and coming.” I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering with cold and fear. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up until we were safe, but the question had been bouncing around my head so much it’d finally popped out.

  Bryan’s jaw tightened. “We’re going to the police like we should’ve in the first place. I don’t know why you didn’t report him the first time he showed up. After everything you’ve told me—”

  “Funny thing is, I don’t recall it being your decision to make,” I snapped. “I didn’t ask you to get involved, did I?”

  He glanced at me, his hazel eyes darkening. “No, you didn’t. I feel like I’ve let you down though, that I didn’t do enough to protect you.”

  I had to bite down my anger. I realized he wasn’t mad at me, he was upset with himself. Even though I never asked for the protection, I appreciated it nevertheless. I tentatively reached out and put a hand on his thigh. “It’s not your fault at all. If I’d been honest with you from the start, you would’ve known how dangerous he really is.” I shook my head and looked out the window. “I should’ve just been honest about everything.” The tense silence returned between us. With my phone on speaker, I sat in the passenger seat dialing and redialing 911. We were only five minutes outside Tellure Hollow when it finally rang. I nearly dropped it as the ring tore through the quiet.

  “911, what’s your emergency?” a bored man answered.

  I had no idea how to reply, which crime to start with. “Hi, uh, yeah. There’s been an accident and I think the driver’s been hurt.”

  “Okay ma’am, where exactly was this accident?” he said still sounding rather uninterested.

  “Shit, I don’t know what to tell him,” I said holding my hand over the receiver. Bryan waved his hand, gesturing for the phone. “Hold on, I’m handing you over,” I told the operator.

  “Yeah, hi. The accident was about two miles down 40, just off Coal Ridge Road...yeah...no. It wasn’t just an accident. The driver was threatening me and my friend, chasing us, when he went off the road.” Bryan hesitated, glancing at me. “He’s armed and there were a lot of shotgun shells in the cab...right, maybe a hunter, sure, but he was following us. Okay, thanks. We’ll be there in a minute.” He hung up the phone and handed it back to me.

  I tried to focus on the dire situation at hand rather than his labeling me a friend. Priorities, Liz, I berated myself. You can sort out your relationship status later. “So?” I squeaked.

  “He said they’re short-staffed today because of Christmas but they’ll send someone out as soon as they can.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and took my hand. He flipped the turn signal on and swung into the police station. There were only two cars outside the tiny brick building, one a squad car. He threw the truck into park and sighed. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s just...with everything that—”

  “I know, it’s okay. I totally get it,” I replied, squeezing his hand. “Hopefully this won’t take too long. He can’t have gotten very far. They’ll catch him and we can salvage whatever we can of the day.” My stomach grumbled audibly and we both laughed. “Maybe they’ll have donuts,” I giggled. He pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed it briefly, moving for the door handle. “No, screw that,” I said, pulling him back.

  I slid across the bench seat and pulled him close, our lips meeting for the first time since we’d gotten dressed earlier that morning. The stubble of his beard scratched my skin, but I didn’t mind. I loved being so close to him. His scent brought back memories of the night we’d spent in front of the fire, my body almost involuntarily reacting to his touch. I had to remind myself we were parked in front of a police station about to turn in my crazy ex for what, harassment? Attempted murder?

  I chuckled and broke away. I rubbed my nose against his with a grin. “Now I really hope this goes quickly.”

  He flashed me a charming smile. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  The building looked almost abandoned, so much different than the bustling police department I’d been dragged through in cuffs nearly a year before. And here I am again, all because of Rick. We stepped down the empty hallway, searching for any signs of life. One row of florescent lights was off overhead, adding to the deserted feeling. Christmas music tinkled faintly from down the hall. With a shrug, Bryan nodded forward, still holding my hand.

  A balding policeman sat at the desk, his feet kicked up, flipping through a hunting magazine. He blinked up dully as we entered, not even bothering to sit up. “Can I help you?”

  Bryan cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. I’d like to report a stalker.”

  The cop looked at me and smiled. “Are you sure? She’s too cute to turn in for stalking. I say go for it, bud.” It took me a minute to understand he was joking, apparently Bryan too.

  “No...listen. She has a guy after her, he followed us this morning. He’s already attacked her once,” he said, gesturing to my bandages.

  I glanced at his name badge as he finally sat up. Dylan. “Alright,” he groaned. “Where is this stalker right now?”

  “Hopefully dead in the forest,” I muttered. Both men looked at me in surprise. “What?” I shrugged at Bryan. Turning back to Dylan, I continued. “He crashed when we were trying to get away. We called for help as soon as we could.”

  A light bulb went off in the cop’s head. “Ahh, that was you. Yeah, we have a unit going out there to check it out. Okay, I’m gonna need to take down some of your information.” He sounded disappointed that we were presenting him with actual work. I couldn’t blame him, it being Christmas and all, but I felt a pang of irritation. Sorry my drama couldn’t wait until the New Year, bud. I rested my arms on the tall counter as Dylan stood. He handed us a clipboard and placed a pen on top. “If you can both sign in, I’ll take your statements and get you on your way. Hopefully by then we’ll have word about the accident.”


  I signed my name and passed it over to Bryan. “Do you think I should call my parole officer?” I asked in a whisper. He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the policeman to ensure he was out of earshot.

  “No, don’t call him yourself, have them do it. The more this goes through official channels, the better, I think.”

  Rubbing his shoulder, I slid my arm down his and interlaced our fingers. I loved the warmth and comfort even that small gesture could give me. I didn’t need his protection, but it still felt good to have him by my side.

  Dylan’s calmness was both alarming and reassuring. It might’ve been one of the most traumatic days of my life, but the fact that he didn’t seem all too worked up made me feel better. He came back and took a look at our names, reading them out loud. “So we have Elizabeth Croyden—”

  “Liz,” I offered.

  “And Bryan Marsh.” The policeman looked up, squinting at his face. “Wait, Bryan The Blizzard?”

  A vein in his temple pulsed slightly but he nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.” I looked at him in confusion but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. I’d never heard him called that before. The Blizzard? I wondered. He has a nickname? How could this guy know who he is? Before my mind could trip over this revelation too long, Dylan dropped a bombshell.

  The cop groaned and shook his head. “I’d heard you were in town...Jesus, I’m really sorry to have to do this,” he looked to me almost as if he were apologizing. His expression hardened as he returned to Bryan. “I’m gonna have to take you into custody. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

  “For what?” I said, thoroughly dazed now.

  Dylan pursed his lips slightly. “Assault with a deadly weapon.”

  Bryan put his hands up and stepped back defensively. “Whoa now, I’ve never done anything like that. There’s gotta be some kind of mistake.”

  “We had a Noah Richards in here a couple nights ago screaming for your head. Said you hit him in the face with a gun. Do you know anything about that?”