She’d seen that up close and personal.
“Then you have decided to run again?”
“Put the microphone away. I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t want to think about it.” She took another sip of cocoa, her stomach cheering when the waitress zipped by and dropped off a basket of fries. “I think I’ve lost my edge, anyway.”
“What edge? Oh, you mean your ability to talk anyone into anything?”
Ella gave her a look.
“What? You’re incredibly good at getting people to see your point of view.” Brette untangled a fry from the gooey cheese.
“That’s another way of saying I pester people until they give in.”
Brette grinned. “That’s my superpower—spin.”
The country crooner on stage ended his song, and as the cheering died, she heard voices lift from the end of the room.
“Leave them alone!”
It piqued her lawyer ears, and she couldn’t help but glance around, find the source.
Her breath wheezed out in a sigh when she spotted her brother, his dinosaur hood pushed back and his red hair on end as he stood up to some ski patroller.
“What has he done now?” She let the words escape even as she found her feet. Brette slid out of the booth beside her.
The crowd around them stood two and three people thick, but her brother was tall and animated, his face betraying surprise as he talked with the local law.
The ski patrol had his back to her and now pulled off his helmet.
Brown curly hair hanging behind his ears to the scruff of his neck.
Wide shoulders, a stance that said he didn’t back down from trouble.
Oh no.
She froze. Drew back from the altercation.
But the crowd had stilled, apparently listening to the confrontation. And then she heard it.
“Gage Watson, that guy from Outlaw.”
She pressed a hand to her stomach. Ground her jaw to Gage’s words about people getting killed. About him knowing that better than anyone.
She wanted to cringe.
Yes, yes he did.
But she could have cheered when he ordered Ollie and Bradley off the slopes.
Then he turned, ready to charge through the crowd.
She whirled around, her back to him. Just in case he hadn’t forgotten her.
The thought took her by the throat. Like he ever would.
Hard to forget the woman who betrayed you.
“You okay?” Brette said. “You look—”
“Is he gone?”
“Is who—”
“The ski patrol.”
Brette glanced in Gage’s exit direction. “Yeah. He’s gone. He’s standing by the door with his other ski patrol pal. Now they’re leaving.”
“Good.” Ella turned back around and headed for Ollie.
“Ella, what’s going on?”
But she didn’t stop to explain. Could barely speak past the fist in her throat. Still, she muscled past it and managed to find words for her reckless brother.
“Ollie!”
Her voice arrested his attention, and he winced as he spied her pushing through the crowd toward him.
“Just calm down, sis. It’s no biggie. I’ll get another pass—”
“What did you do this time?”
“Nothing—he’s just—I mean, he’s one to talk.” Ollie picked up one of the beers and brought it to his mouth, and Ella grabbed it away.
“Last time I checked, you weren’t old enough to drink.”
She said it loudly enough that the girls in the booth snickered.
Ollie turned red. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem.”
“What’s the deal with the whole world turning to hypocrites? Hello, I remember you chasing your own powder a few years ago. You’re the one who introduced me to freeriding. In fact—wait, did you see who that was?”
Ella didn’t answer him.
“Who who was?” Brette said behind him.
“That ski patrol,” Bradley said, “Ollie recognized him. It was Gage Watson. Don’t you remember—the guy who skied Terminator Wall on the backside of Outlaw three years ago? His partner was killed following his line?”
“It wasn’t his partner,” Ella said and instantly regretted it. But she was already too far in. “It was a punk kid from Vermont named Dylan McMahon. And he should have never been up there in the first place.”
And now she’d said way too much because Brette turned to her, investigator’s eyes shining. “Really?”
“I can’t say anything else, except that Dylan didn’t have the experience to freeride the Terminator. And Gage knew it.”
Brette raised an eyebrow. Ella could practically hear her journalist mind ignite.
“Which was why the press took him apart,” Ollie said. “He was sued by the family and pretty much ousted from all freeriding competitions. Lost his sponsorships and everything. Brutal.”