Bennett on the ice (Boston Bay Vikings #2) - Lexi Buchanan

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Prologue – Bennett

“Fuck me!” Wyatt shouts.

My head snaps in his direction. He glares at the phone in his hand while trying to keep the car on the road. I can’t make out what’s got his attention, but something has.

It’s been close to forty-eight hours since we last saw the girls. After they were snatched, we’d followed one lead after another, grasping at straws. Camden had suggested Lancaster County, as that’s where Molly was raised. So here we are now. I’m holding on to hope that we find Scarlett, and of course, Molly and Riley. I never knew a woman could get under a man’s skin the way Scarlett has mine. She isn’t even my type.

Keep telling yourself that.

When I first saw the girl, she’d been with puck bunnies, one of whom turned out to be her stepsister. However, Molly had decided to step in when she noticed how out of place Scarlett had looked. Molly had been right in her assumption. Scarlett didn’t want to be there. For some reason, she got under my skin from the start, and because I act before thinking, I now have the woman living with me. We have separate bedrooms, of course. I’ve discovered Scarlett is shy around the other guys and me without Molly there to act as a buffer, and I don’t know what to do about that. I only hope I get the chance to work it out. My stomach is in knots thinking about what she is going through.

Only half listening to what is being said, my ears perk up when Wyatt says, “Riley’s tracker has just come back online. She’s close. About five miles away.” Riley is his eighteen-year-old daughter, who happens to have a thing for Ethan. Although nothing has been said to me, I feel Ethan returns what is going on between them, which Wyatt certainly knows about at this point.

“He’s not lying. He’s tracking Riley,” Ethan says and goes quiet for a moment. “He’s tracking her phone.”

Camden watches Ethan closely, as do I, and then Camden erupts with laughter. We turn to him, but it makes him laugh all the more. “We’re all fucked.” He laughs and then mumbles, “Fucked!” He laughs even harder.

“Camden!” Wyatt snaps. “Pull your fucking self together. No one is fucked.” He glares at Ethan. “No one,” he mutters.

In the next moment, Ethan yells, “Stop! Riley!”

Wyatt hits the brake, taking us from ninety to zero in seconds. The car slides across the road. Ethan jumps out before we come to a complete stop. He’s running toward Riley, shouting her name. Camden is right behind him. Wyatt and I get out and run to catch up.

Ethan reaches Riley first, scooping her up into his arms. They’re wrapped tightly around each other.

“What the fuck!” Wyatt hisses.

I watch as Wyatt approaches them. He places his hand on Riley’s back and whispers to her.

Ethan kisses the top of her head before setting her down. They remain connected through intertwined fingers as Riley moves to her father, who watches Ethan over the top of her head.

Riley sniffles into her father’s chest and then pulls away and turns to Camden. “Molly’s hurt. Scarlett is with her while I ran for help. We have to hurry.”

“Where?” Camden asks.

Riley turns with her hand in Ethan’s and runs back in the direction she was coming from. Wyatt is immediately on his phone. I freeze at the sound of approaching dogs, then I get moving.

I run hard, following Ethan and Riley. The moment I spot Scarlett on the ground crouched over Molly, I fall to my knees and wrap my shivering girl up in my arms from behind.

Camden drops to the ground beside us, and Scarlett looks up at him. “We have to get her out of here, Camden. Can you carry her?”

Camden lifts Molly into his arms and holds her against his chest. Molly sighs and turns her face into his neck. Over the roar of blood in my ears, I hear her whisper, “I knew you’d find me.”

She knew more than I did.

I can’t stop touching Scarlett as we follow slowly behind Camden and the others. The relief I feel at seeing her unharmed is strangling me. I don’t like the feeling, but I can’t seem to stop it. It’s there. Wrapped around me like a snake, squeezing the air from my lungs. I make a weird noise, causing Scarlett to glance up. Her eyes widen and she stops. “Breathe,” she hisses as she cups my face. “Bennett, you need to