Zane sighed. “Nah, you can go. Can you take the trash out before you leave? The kitchen got a big order in and I need to check on a couple of tables.”
“Sure.” She would happily empty all the trash if it meant getting her out of yet another humiliating position. She would take it out and run like the coward she was.
She grabbed her coat and emptied the trash. The kitchen was bustling and warm, the smell of the day’s special scenting the air. It was Zane’s beef stew, which he served with cornbread and a side salad. How many times had she been grateful for that winter treat? She was going to miss this place if she got the job.
But sometimes that was what happened. She’d thought about turning Cole Roberts down because she would miss this little family she’d formed here at Trio, but she had to trust that she could come back, that they wouldn’t forget her entirely.
Like her mom had.
She shoved through the back door and stomped down the stairs that led to the dumpsters. Was River right and she had deep-seated reasons for holding back from Ty? Did she still believe at her core that she wasn’t loveable and no one would stay with her, so why bother trying?
The snow was starting to accumulate. It would be gone as soon as the sun came out tomorrow, but up in the mountains it would stick and add to the winter paradise that was the lodge. In a few weeks even the valley would be blanketed.
Would she and Ty even be talking by then? Or would they pass each other in the hall and nod politely while he went on with his life, went back to his partying ways? As for Michael, she might not see him at all. He would be alone and cold in that cabin of his.
She made her way to the big dumpster and tossed in the bag.
“Hello. I should have known you would be hanging around the trash,” a masculine voice said.
She turned and felt her eyes narrow. Brock stood there in the moonlight wearing an expensive-looking coat, jeans, and sneakers that probably cost more than her car. She started to move back to the building when he cut her off.
Fear made her spine straighten. “What do you want?”
“I think you know what I wanted, but you’re too much of a bitch to give it to me.” He held up his hands as though trying to prove he wasn’t dangerous. “But hey, I know when I’m not wanted. I figure you probably don’t even like men, and that was my mistake. But your mistake was humiliating me.”
“I was defending myself,” she countered. Luckily there was a security camera looking her way. No one would be monitoring it right now, but at least they would know what happened. “Do I need to do that again?”
Brock chuckled, an unamused sound. “Not at all. You’re a violent little thing. No. I won’t play your games again. I think you should play some of mine though. The sheriff refused to arrest you for assaulting me, but I think I can do better than putting you in jail. Or we can come to another arrangement.”
“I thought I was a lesbian.”
He shrugged. “All I care about is my siblings seeing that I get what I want, and nothing stops me. You put me in a position where they think I’m pathetic, and I can’t have that. Go out with me and maybe I won’t feel the need for revenge. If they think I had you and cut you loose, I might not care what you do with the rest of your small-town shitty life.”
“Fuck you.” She wasn’t about to play his games. She was so sick of assholes who thought they owned the world. “Maybe you should be afraid of me. Maybe I’ll sneak into your room one night and you won’t wake up in the morning. At least not whole. You like your dick where it is, Brock? Then you better leave me alone.”
She moved around him and started up the steps. If he wanted to attack her at least up here the kitchen staff would hear her scream.
She opened the door and ran straight into a mass of muscle.
The door slammed shut behind her and she found herself looking up into Michael’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?” The question came out on a little gasp.
Then a great big one because he leaned over and picked her up, tossing her over his broad shoulder like she was a bag of flour. “Asking you to join us for dinner.”
Before she could protest, he started for the dining room.
Well, at least she was going to get to eat that stew.
Chapter Seven
Ty looked up when half the dining room started to cheer.