Chapter 7

Seven

JAKE

T he last thing I wanted to do this year was to be with my family for Christmas.

I loved them and normally enjoyed every holiday we got to spend together. But this year, as Christmas Eve drew closer, my mood got shittier and shittier.

Last year ended as the best year of my life. I made the Olympic team and married the woman of my dreams—granted, we were pretty drunk, but we were plenty sober for the next couple of days.

Hannah had been a little freaked out when we finally woke up on Christmas Day. At first, she didn’t remember the night after our drinks with Keen and Meena. But when she spotted her ripped dress on the floor…it seemed to come back to her.

She shifted between panic and laughter for a good ten minutes before a calm came over her. She’d smiled with blatant invitation and sashayed her sexy ass into the bathroom to start the shower.

We didn’t leave the hotel room for two days straight. Her pussy should have been raw after the nonstop fucking we’d done. She had been insatiable. Not that I had any complaints but it had seemed just a little off. I ignored it because I was too damn happy and didn’t want to burst the bubble we were in. I knew we both had to leave soon, and we wouldn’t be able to be together much before the Olympics. The year would be tough to find time for our marriage, but it had never occurred to me that we wouldn’t make it work.

The day came for us to leave Vegas, and Hannah had acted like one of us was dying. She’d only shed a few tears, but I could see the agony in her pretty brown eyes. I hated seeing it and told her I would make sure to find time for us during the next couple of months. I had no clue how I would pull it off, but I would do whatever it took to make my wife happy.

But when I tried to call her after I arrived at my training facility, she didn’t answer. Nor did she answer any time I called for the next two weeks. Finally, I said screw it and hopped on a plane to Colorado Springs. I didn’t know where she lived, but I figured I’d find her at the rink.

Staying more than forty-eight hours would put me in breach of contract with a sponsor. However, when she didn’t appear within those two days, I was tempted to do it anyway.

I talked to my best friend, Lincoln—a retired pro-snowboarder turning head instructor at the Winter Falls Resort—who was the only person I’d told about Hannah. He was married to the former mayor of Winter Falls, who was a close friend of Raven and Cammie’s, so I had to make him promise not to tell his wife because she would tell my sisters, and they would tell everyone else.

He talked me into fulfilling my commitments and being patient with Hannah.

Then one day, her number had changed. It sent me into a fucking rage, and then a drunken stupor until my coach contacted Lincoln, who came out and sobered me up. I would have pulled myself out of the hole I was in eventually, but my friend kept me from blowing a hole in my training schedule and risking my shot at the gold.

When the Olympics arrived, I was determined to find her there. However, the timing was always off. Even at the opening ceremonies, obviously, we were in the same group—representing the USA—but we’d ended up at opposite ends from each other.

I won my gold medal early in the games and spent the rest of the time in meetings, press conferences, photo shoots, and a whole lot of other bullshit. When I had a spare minute to look for Hannah, I could never find her at the right time.

Then she skated her way to a gold as well. I’d been in the audience but hadn’t been able to talk my way into the area where the athletes went before and after their performances. I was so fucking proud of her and pissed as fuck that I couldn’t tell her. Or celebrate with my wife the way we should have been celebrating.

After her performance, I saw her in clips on the news coverage, and that was pretty much it. I wasn’t sure if my luck sucked or she was deliberately hiding from me. I had a feeling it was the latter.

Which was confirmed when I received an envelope containing annulment papers a few weeks later. I’d written return to sender and tossed them back in the mail. No way in hell was I letting her out of this marriage.

I wished like hell I’d thrown caution to the wind and told her I loved her before we’d separated in Vegas. But I’d been afraid to scare her off. I didn’t know if it would have changed anything, but it certainly couldn’t have made it any worse.

For the next nine months, I went through the motions, participating in the competitions I’d agreed to and winning almost all of them. And fulfilled my commitments to professional events, sponsored events, photo shoots, business meetings, etc, etc, etc. Focusing on that shit was the only thing that kept me sane while I searched for, and failed to find, my wife.

“Just come home for the holidays,” Lincoln said when I called him right after my last career win.

“Trust me, no one wants me there to ruin the holiday,” I grumbled as I tossed my shit into a suitcase. I had an early flight back to the States in the morning.

“Your crazy family will keep your mind off everything. And it’s better than brooding alone for the holidays. I’m not going to fly out last minute to keep your ass sober a second time without coming clean to my wife. And I’m not missing Christmas with my kids for my idiot friend who could have come home for the holidays and been miserable where I can help without disappointing my family.”

“If you’re just going to be logical about everything, you can’t help me.”

He laughed, then insisted, “Come on. Come home. I’m sure that Raven can put you up in a cabin, so you’ll have plenty of time alone to be morose and pathetic.”

I sighed. “You’d be singing my tune if it was Bethany, Linc,” I muttered.

He was silent for a minute, then grunted, “Touché.”

“Since you seem to be so full of answers. You have an idea for how I’m supposed to get away with staying at the inn rather than with my parents?”

“Yeah,” Lincoln mumbled. “That’s a tough one.”

“I’m all ears.”

“You could tell them the truth,” he offered.

“Have you lost your fucking mind, Linc?” I shouted.

“Okay, so maybe not all of it,” he acknowledged. “Tell your mom you need privacy in case you have a special visitor and decide to ask her an important question.”

“You really think that will make her back off instead of making it a-fucking-million times worse?”

Lincoln chuckled. “It will if you make the argument that you’ll leave and find somewhere else if she doesn’t agree.”

It could work, but… “That’s an awfully big risk, man. And my sisters won’t let me off that easy.”

“Then tell them about your concussion.”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see it. “The doctor cleared me two weeks ago.”

“They don’t know that. You never even told any of them about the injury in the first place.”

His plan sounded plausible.

“As much as they’ll want to hover, you know Raven and Cammie will back off if you really ask them to.”

He was right. My sisters could be as nosy about my life as I was about theirs when I felt the need to play the protective big brother. But we’d always respected each other too much to cross the lines our mom had no problem obliterating.

Eventually, I decided to take Lincoln’s advice, and after I handled some business matters, I’d surprise my family by coming home for Christmas a couple of days early.

I’d spend some time with them, but maybe Lincoln was on to something else as well. Some time alone in a cabin might be just what I needed to devise a plan.

Not only to find Hannah but also to figure out what I wanted to do next in my life.

I wouldn’t even consider a future without Hannah, though. Once I had her in my arms, I’d do whatever it took to convince my wife to stay married. As much as I wanted to put down some roots, I would go with her if she wasn’t ready.

Thankfully, over the past fifteen years, I’d saved most of the purses I’d won at events and invested the income streams from my endorsements and other engagements. My net worth was high enough to live comfortably and never have to work again. I’d probably be bored out of my mind, but I would do whatever it took to make Hannah happy.

Surprisingly, Lincoln had come up with an idea that had real merit…although it would have sounded insane to pretty much anyone else. I needed to kidnap my wife. If I could just get her alone, with no way of leaving for at least a little while, I was sure I could convince her we were meant to be together.