Devoted to the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 3) by Adele Huxley Page B

justifiably upset by everything that’s happening right now. And when you’re upset, you tend to lash out at whoever is unlucky enough to be standing nearby.”
    “So you’re telling me you feel like you did nothing wrong?”
    The fire in his eyes diminished slightly and he looked away. “I shouldn’t have shared the book with her, no. You were right to be upset. I am sorry you saw that.”
    I shouldn’t have been, but I was taken aback by his sudden change in attitude. Bryan always had a way of diffusing a tense situation. He wasn’t the type of guy to carry on a fight just to prove a point. When he was wrong, he admitted it, which usually doused the flames of my anger straight away.
    “Thank you,” I muttered. No matter how calm he was, I was still upset.
    “We’re a team, you know,” he said. He slipped a hand under my sweater and rubbed the small of my back. “It’s us against the rest of the world, like always.”
    The rest of my anger melted away. “I know.” I scooted over and rested my head on his shoulder. “I just feel so helpless, and it pisses me off. I want to know who it is so I can carry on with the rest of my life.”
    “You’re far from helpless. I feel sorry for the person who decides to mess with you. They’re a freakin’ idiot.”
    I laughed, fighting through the confusing web of emotions to find a little humor in the situation. “I didn’t tell Henry, but when I was looking around the locker room for the person who left the letter, I had a fist full of keys.”
    “See?” Bryan chuckled, giving me a squeeze. “You’re dangerous. This person obviously doesn’t know who they’re taking on.”
    An hour later, before we turned off the lights, I rolled over onto my side and slid my hand along his chest. “Can you promise me you won’t go to that bar anymore? I’ll meet you someplace else, I don’t care how far away. I just don’t feel comfortable with you seeing that girl anymore.”
    “That doesn’t sound like the strong, confident Liz I know and love,” he replied. It was too dark to see his expression, but I could hear the frown in his voice.
    “I know. I can’t explain it, but please? It’s not a ton to ask, right?”
    He sighed and patted my hand. “Not at all. Now come on, let’s get to sleep.”
    I rolled over, wondering why I was afraid to admit my real suspicions. Bryan would probably just think I was being jealous, but is that enough reason to hide my gut feeling about Paige? I have been right before…
     

My crash happened when I was in my early twenties. Before that I’d been fearless, invincible, unstoppable. Nothing got between me and my goals, least of all my abilities. I was strong, young, and capable. And then I hit the ground at seventy miles per hour, and my whole life got flipped upside down.
    Going from peak physical condition to being bed and wheelchair bound was a humbling experience, to say the least. I gritted through it, telling myself that if I did the physical therapy, if I put in the hard work, I’d get back to where I’d been before. My dad might’ve been gone, but the work ethic he’d instilled in me remained. Determination wasn’t the problem… my body was. No amount of grit could patch my scarred body back together again, at least, not in the same shape it had been.
    After the second accident, it became abundantly clear that I was never going to return to professional skiing. Excuse the analogy, but that mountain was just too steep. All the surgeries in the world wouldn’t repair my hip and knee to a competitive level.
    Yet I pushed through the PT every day with the same dogged determination I’d always had, going through the grueling exercises like it was in the cards for me to compete again. I had to look at it that way or I’d spiral into depression again, a darkness Liz helped pull me from. If I approached my physical therapy as something I needed to do just so I could function like a normal human being, I’d lose my