Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

And yet, even with his threat hanging above my head, I still didn’t want to let her go. The thought of Sarah with another guy made me sick, even more so than the thought of my father finding out about us.

As the liquor hit my stomach, liquid fire worked its way through my veins. What the hell did it matter what Dad thought? I was an adult now and so was Sarah. What was the worst he could do? Write me out of his will?

I’d started investing the moment I turned eighteen, turning the inheritance my grandfather had left me into a small fortune in its own right. Even if Dad tossed me out and never gave me another dime, I still had more than enough money to live on without his help.

So it wasn’t like I had to worry about relying on him to live. I could easily find a new house and afford to take care of myself, even if it wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to do. Not like that, anyway.

I was close with Dad and didn’t want to ruin my relationship with him. But, more than that, I didn’t want to ruin what I had with Sarah. I didn’t want to push her away and make her feel like she was just some cheap girl I picked up for a weekend of fucking.

She was more than that to me. Even now, I was considering risking everything for her. Even if I had enough money, that recording could still cost me quite a bit. Not many people would want to do business with a guy who fucked his own sister, even if she was only my step-sister.

But she was worth it, I decided as I downed the last of my drink.

Sarah was worth everything I had and more. Now I just needed to tell her that and hope to god she wasn’t still pissed at me for this morning. I paid off my tab and headed back to the room, determined to make things right with Sarah.

When I went to the room though, Sarah was gone. I frowned as I looked around the empty room, wondering where she’d disappeared to. Then I noticed a paper on the table, which I snatched up, frowning as I read it.

“If you can’t even talk to me, then I guess we’re done. I’m not going to be your weekend entertainment. You can find some other girl to fuck for the rest of the trip.”

Fucking hell!

She must’ve thought because I’d gone down to the bar for a drink that I didn’t want her. Fucking hell. Why hadn’t I gotten my head out of my ass sooner? Why hadn’t I just told her what I was feeling?

I slammed the note back onto the desk as I cursed under my breath. Where the hell could she have gone? Had she gone to Kelly’s room? That would be the most obvious place for her to hideout if she was avoiding me.

Heading back down the hall, I went to Kelly’s room, pounding on the door. I shifted from foot to foot as I waited for someone to answer the door. It seemed to take forever before Kelly appeared. She blinked at me, obviously confused at why I was there.

“Have you seen Sarah? She left while I was out, and I can’t find her.”

“Yeah, I saw her not long ago, down in the lobby.” Kelly covered a yawn. “Seemed like she was upset over something, but she didn’t want to talk about it. I was exhausted, so I came back up to take a nap, but she went out to the slopes with one of your friends. He said something about fresh powder.”

I sighed, cursing at myself mentally. “Do you remember who she was with?”

“Billy, I think his name was. The one who face planted in the snow the other day? Him.”

“Damn! Sorry, I mean thanks for letting me know. Get some rest okay?”

Before she could respond, I was heading down the hall. I stopped by my room and threw on my snow gear and grabbed my board before practically running out of the lodge. The moment I was outside, I saw what Billy had meant by fresh powder. The storm had broken sometime in the night, leaving the ground glistening with fresh snow.

But when I reached the ski-lift, my heart sunk. It wasn’t moving, despite the lights all still being on. So that meant it wasn’t a power issue. I headed over to the little booth where a man stood. He turned as I approached, an apologetic smile on his face.

“I’m sorry sir, no one else can go up right now. The last riders went up ten minutes ago.”

“What’s going on? Why isn’t the lift running?” I leaned against my board, frowning at him.

“There was an avalanche on the next ridge over. Nothing major, we just had to shut down as a precaution, to check the snow pack and keep people off the backcountry, that’s all.”

“My sister and a friend are up there!” I shouted. “You need to turn the lift back on so I can make sure they’re okay!”

The man shook his head, his smile turning into a frown. “I can’t do that, sir. I’m sure your sister and friend are just fine. Ski patrol is already up there making sure all of the riders get down safely. Don’t worry.”

Fucking Hell!

Billy loves the backcountry. Every time we’d come up here before, he’d gotten tired of the main slopes quickly. It was one of the reasons he wasn’t thrilled with coming here instead of some of the other resorts. If it was just him and Sarah, he was bound to take her off the main slope, even if she was still a relative beginner.

I clenched my fists and ground my teeth, trying to figure out how to get to them, how to make sure she was okay. I couldn’t walk up the mountain. That would take way too long.

Then I spotted the bright red ski patrol snowmobile parked next to the ski lift, the sunlight reflecting off the keys. I frowned as I stared at it, but no other option came to mind. Dropping my snowboard, I ran over to it and hopped on. As the lift owned yelled at me, I cranked the engine and took off up the mountain, the stubby man trying to chase after me for a few feet before giving up and running back to his little shack.

Skiers passed me by as I drove up the mountain, but none of them wore the bright pink gear Sarah did. For once, I was glad she’d chosen the most outlandish outfit she could find, since it would make her easier to spot

But by the time I made it up to the lodge at the top, I still hadn’t spotted Sarah or Billy. Fucking hell, they really had gone off trail. I was going to kick Billy’s ass when I found him. He should’ve known better than to take a beginner off the main trails.

When I pulled up next to the small building, a ski patrolman stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at me. My face flushed but there was no way I was going to be apologetic for being worried about Sarah, especially since now I definitely knew they were somewhere on the backcountry.

The man stalked over as I pulled to a stop. He had a walkie-talkie in his hand, which explained how he’d known I was on my way up. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Look, my sister is missing. I think she may have gone off-trail with another guy.”

The man nodded. “A couple went off trail not long ago. We’ve got people out looking for them. Now get off the snowmobile and let us do our jobs.”

I opened my mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by a rumbling sound. A sound I knew all too well. Both the patrolman and I turned just in time to see the wave of snow cascading down another one of the ridges, right by where they’d have been if they went off trail.

“Get on!” I yelled to him, cranking the engine again.

The guy didn’t argue, just hopped on back. The moment he was seat, I hit the gas and we were off in the direction of the avalanche. The entire time, I kept looking for something, some sign of where she’d gone. Something that would at least give me a clue.

“There!” the patrolman shouted, pointing to the right.

I couldn’t tell when he was pointing at, but I turned the snowmobile that way anyway. As we got closer, I saw the tracks – a snowboard and a set of skis. That was most likely Sarah and Billy, if I had to take a guess.

The tracks went toward where the avalanche had just hit, disappearing beneath the snow. My heart pounded as I followed the tracks as best I could, hoping we’d find them soon. I slowed the snowmobile down as my head was on a constant swivel, looking for tracks or anything that might help.

“Over there! I see someone!”

I looked where he pointed.

Squinting, I could just make out a mark of red or pink sticking out from beneath the snow. I gunned it again, coming to a stop a few feet away. Immediately, the two of us jumped off and ran towards what I could now tell was a glove.

We started digging, pushing the snow out of the way. Moments later, Billy’s rose out of the snow, panting and gasping for air. I cursed as the patrolman and I lifted him out.

“Where the hell is she?” I shouted. “Where’s Sarah? God damn it, where is she?!”

Billy coughed and shook his head, then pointed to his right. “She was a few feet next to me.”

Leaving Billy in the care of the patrolman, I started searching, digging around in the snow every few feet. Finally, I found one of her ski poles, and I started digging in that area, yelling her name the entire time. When I finally found her, she was completely buried beneath the snow.