Snowballed

Snowballed K.G. REUSS Copyright © Snowballed 2023 by K.G. Reuss All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover by GetCovers.com Formatting: Books From Beyond Proofreading: The “Write” Editor For all my good girls who fuck with bad boys. Contents 1. Violet 2. Noah 3. Riley 4. Zack 5. Noah 6. Violet 7. Noah 8. Zack 9. Violet 10. Riley 11. Violet 12. Riley 13. Violet 14. Zack 15. Riley 16. Noah 17. Zack 18. Riley Epilogue Part One Epilogue Part Two About the Author Also by K.G. Reuss CHAPTER 1 Violet Being stuck in a car with Noah Grace for hours was a fucking nightmare. But add his two giant, manspreading friends too? Forget about it. I was ready to get out of his Jeep before I’d ever gotten in. “Can you turn the heat up?” I called out, shivering in my leather seat. A thick layer of fog clouded the windows, making my ability to look out impossible no matter how many times I kept wiping it away. “You cold, Violence?” Zack asked, grinning over at me from his seat next to mine in the back. Violence. He’d been calling me that since the day I’d had to get physical with him. I was sixteen. He was seventeen. Him, Noah, and Riley, their third friend, had cornered me outside in the backyard before homecoming and pushed me into the pool in my new dress. I’d only just moved into the house a week prior with my mom after she’d married Noah’s dad. Everything had been ruined. My dress. My hair. My life. I’d gotten out of the pool and stormed at them, reaching Zack first. I’d kneed him as hard as I could in his groin. He hadn’t been expecting it. Hell, I hadn’t expected it. He’d fallen to his knees with a groan as the other two assholes backed away with wide eyes. Truth be told, I wasn’t as strong as I appeared that day, but I’d put on a brave face because I knew anything attached to Noah Grace could shred my life to bits. I was forced to meet his bullying ways head on. I’d have been crushed beneath it all if I’d have rolled over and sobbed like I’d wanted to. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t,” I muttered. I caught Noah’s hazel eyes in the rearview mirror. “It’s hot, Vi. It’s sixty in here. Put your coat on,” he said. Great. He sounded like his dad Peter. “Fine.” I made to grab my coat, but Zack reached out and snatched it away, his dark eyes sparkling. My stomach clenched. Zack was really beautiful. All muscles, flirty smiles, and blond hair. They were all pretty like Zack. But damn. . . with beauty came brutality. They all made sure I knew it. “Zack,” I warned. “What’s wrong, Violence? Going to attack me?” He raised his brows at me, a teasing smirk on his face. “Maybe,” I said, trying to remain calm. And strong. God, I needed to be strong. I’d been late to leave to meet my mom and Peter and they’d had to go without me, but I’d only been late because Noah had parked behind me and blocked me in on our college campus. Of course, he hadn’t answered his phone when I’d tried to call him. It had all ended with me phoning to tell my mom I wouldn’t make it and to go without me. It was how I ended up in the backseat of Noah’s Jeep on a road trip to our family’s cabin in the mountains for a long week of vacation. There was skiing not far from our cabin, so I knew that was why Noah and his friends were eager to go. I planned on just hanging out and reading and avoiding my wonderful stepbrother and his pack of wild animals as much as possible. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen since I was stuck in that damn vehicle with them for the next few hours. Riley turned the radio up from his spot in the passenger seat as Zack continued to withhold my jacket from me like a damn child. We were in our twenties for fuck’s sake. My twenty-first birthday was soon, and I knew my mom had every intention of making it a big deal at the cabin. “We’re looking at least twelve inches of snow by eleven tonight. Complete whiteout conditions are possible. This storm, if it continues to build, could slam us with twenty-four or more inches of snow, making travel impossible.” I blinked as I listened to the weather. “Sounds like we might get snowed in,” Riley said in that low, growly voice of his that always twisted my insides into a hot mess. Riley was the quieter of the three. Black hair, vibrant green eyes, and. . . dark. His lip, nose, and ears were pierced. He didn’t speak much, but when he did, it tended to not be good things. His words hurt me more than his actions. He was intelligent too. He was head of his class, won scholarships, and scared people. But hell, they all scared people. I think I’d die of surprise if I ever saw Riley wearing anything other than black. Even today he was shrouded in his darkness. He was the complete opposite of Zack, while Noah fell somewhere in the middle of the two. “We’ll stop and pick up some groceries,” Noah muttered, looking to the darkening sky. We’d been on the road for an hour already. I shuddered, worry coursing through me. I had a fear, although somewhat irrational, of being stuck someplace like this damn cabin our parents insisted on buying, and dying there because we became trapped. Maybe we’d