A Matter of Trust(73)

And he’d lost it all. Certainly he could figure out a way to get it back. He was different now—there was something wiser, more controlled about him.

Before, he’d been a phenom. Now he would be a real-life role model for kids like Ollie.

Fame didn’t have to be a bad thing, did it?

She pushed off, right behind him, ignoring her aching body as he dove into the forest, following Ollie’s line. The wind had followed them into the canyon, shaking the trees. Snow drifted down and sprinkled her face as Gage pushed away branches.

“We’re not stopping, okay?”

She could have kissed him for that. But if they didn’t find Ollie soon, they’d be following him in the inky folds of night, and—

“Ella!”

She looked up, saw Gage pointing. The forest had thinned, and despite the shadows and the clutter of trees, she spied a form in the snow.

Lying on his stomach, arms out, sprawled on the ground, his board still attached to his boots, as if he’d simply fallen over.

“Ollie!”

Gage reached him first, had his board off in a second, and dropped to his knees beside Ollie’s prone form. Gage pulled off his goggles, took off his gloves, and reached for Ollie.

He’d already found his pulse by the time she caught up.

“Is he—”

“He’s alive,” he said. “Unbuckle his boots.”

She lifted off her goggles, then snapped Ollie’s boots off the bindings and helped Gage roll him over.

Ollie’s cheeks were white. “Oh, Ollie!” She pressed her hand to her mouth, fighting tears.

Gage put his hands on Ollie’s cheeks, then opened his jacket and placed a hand on his chest.

“We need to get him warm and call in the PEAK chopper for help.” He got up, scrambled for his pack, and pulled out his walkie.

“PEAK HQ, PEAK HQ, this is Watson, come in. Over.”

Ella knelt next to Ollie. Despite the layer of patchy whiskers, he still looked impossibly young, terribly innocent. She took off his goggles, leaned down, and kissed him on the forehead. “You’re going to be okay.”

“PEAK, this is Gage. Come in!”

She looked over at him, and he shook his head. “I think the trees are disrupting the signal. Too much clutter. We need to be higher, or at least in a clear space. There’s a final ridge once we clear the forest, but that’s . . . that could be hours away if we have to carry him.”

“I could go—”

“No, Ella. You have no idea where you are.” He came back over, knelt down next to Ollie. “But I could go . . .”

“Really? Because it’s going to be dark soon, and even you—”

“I’ll be okay.”

She swallowed. Nodded.

“I don’t want to leave you here.”

She hated the hot tears that flushed her eyes. “But Ollie needs help, and I can do this. I’ll pitch the tent, make a fire . . . I can do this.”

He reached up, cupped his hand against her cheek. “I’ll come back—as soon as I get a signal, I’ll be back.”

“I know,” she said, trying to keep her voice from wobbling.

And that’s when he kissed her. Just grabbed her by her jacket and pulled her to himself. Not a sweet, champagne powder kiss, but hard and solid, the kind of desperate kiss that said what she needed to hear.

He really didn’t want to leave her. And yeah, he might be a little scared too.

So she kissed him back exactly the same way, tasting salt on her lips as he backed away. He got up then, walked over, and snapped on his snowboard. “Get the tent up, get him inside it, and build a fire. There are matches in my pack.”

“You need your pack.”

“No. I just need this.” He held his walkie in his hand. “And these.” He dropped to his knees, opened an outer zipper, and pulled out what looked like thick ribbons. Then he grabbed his compact ski poles, which were folded down and secured with Velcro on the back of his pack. “My skins and poles. So I can hike back to you.”

She nearly wept at his words. Especially when he stood up and pointed to his head. “I remember every inch of this mountain. And I’m going to figure out how to get us out of here.”

Then he pushed off.

And if she’d forgotten how amazing he was on his board, if she thought she’d been keeping up with him, she saw the truth as he arrowed through the trees.

She watched him until he disappeared into the fold of shadow and branches.

Please hurry.

She wiped her cheek, then turned back to Ollie. He hadn’t moved. She stumbled over to Gage’s pack, opened it, and dug out the tent, and in a second, she’d shaken it out of the case.

It snapped together automatically, and she used the shovel to dig out a base, just like Gage had done last night.