Bear Trapped (Bear Creek Grizzlies #5)

32. Lauren

LAUREN

L auren hunkered down near the fire and tried to keep her fingers from freezing solid. The satellite phone hadn’t done what she expected and didn’t end up connecting to anything, no matter how long she listened, but it wasn’t clear whether it was her fault or the satellites were behind clouds or maybe solar flares got in the way. That was a thing, wasn’t it? Solar flares affecting GPS?

The longer Finn didn’t return, the further and faster her thoughts spiraled. She’d almost gone out to look for him at least half a dozen times, even going so far as to step outside and walk a few feet toward the trails, but inevitably she lost her nerve and retreated to the safety of the cabin. She wasn’t brave even on her best day, and if someone like Finn thought he would be back in an hour and wasn’t…who the hell was Lauren Tucker to try and show him up?

Still, though. She didn’t like it. She’d steeled herself to try the phone again when the damn thing blared an alarm that nearly stopped her heart. She grabbed it up as fast as possible to keep it from making more noise and maybe proving someone occupied the cabin, and dropped it twice as she tried to answer or silence it.

The second she hit a button and the ringing stopped, a gruff voice snapped, “All right, asshole, what the fuck is your problem, sending a message like that? Zoe is out of her fucking mind and that means I am having a shit day, so?—”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she blurted out. Lauren gulped for air and retreated away from the blustery corner near the door. She didn’t quite whisper but she definitely didn’t shout like the man who’d called the phone. “I don’t know where Finn is.”

The other end of the call silenced, not that Lauren could have heard anything over her pounding heart. Her hand shook as she touched her forehead, turning in a circle to see whether Finn had miraculously reappeared. It sounded like he’d reached out to his friends after all. Did that mean he was in trouble? But how had he even messaged them without the phone she held?

“All right, let’s start over.” The man on the phone took a gusty, deep breath that made Lauren feel like he stood right in the room with her. Noise surrounded him, like he stood in the wind, but at least his words came through somewhat calmer than that first opening salvo. “I’m Simon. What’s your name?”

“L-Lauren.” At least he used the name Finn had given her as someone to trust, so she didn’t feel quite as bad about talking to the guy. “Did you hear from Finn?”

“He sent a message but his phone is off now. It’s fine, I’m sure it’s just bad reception.”

Her eyes narrowed as she frowned at the cabin wall and one of the busted-out windows Finn tried to cover with a tarp. Except that Simon guy shouted something about a woman named Zoe being upset by whatever Finn messaged when she first answered the call, so his claim about everything being fine didn’t add up. Of course, Finn also claimed everything was fine when he left, but it didn’t sound like it.

“Where are you now?” he asked, still too loud into the phone. It made her heart jump with every word, too close to being yelled at by her mom and teachers and boyfriends and bus drivers and just everyone in the world who didn’t have time for Lauren being too sensitive.

“The cabin,” she said. She looked around, as if an address would magically appear, and tried not to cringe. “By the park, near—near the town. There’s a road and it goes into the trees and when it curves, there’s…”

“I know which one,” he said.

Her teeth clicked together and a knot in her throat made it more difficult to breathe. She felt smaller than she had in a long time, since being arrested and marched in front of a judge and a courtroom full of scoffing rich people. Her shoulders hunched forward and she waited for him to just tell her what to do. That was how it usually worked.

Some kind of argument happened in the background, the wind and noise too much for her to pick out individual words, but the end result was a woman speaking into the phone instead. “Hi, honey. My name is Kira. Simon is…having a rough morning. We’re on the way to get you but it might be a little while. Are you safe where you’re at?”

It should have reassured her, except in Lauren’s experience women could be meaner than men. They were just better at hiding it under smiles and fake concern. She wasn’t going to let her guard down. She almost would have preferred the predictable barking and threat of the guy, but at least it was still over the phone and they couldn’t shake her in person. She just had to make sure she left before any of them got there. They’d blame her if anything happened to Finn, and if he wasn’t there…she didn’t have a reason to stay, did she?

“Lauren, honey. I need to know if you’re safe.”

She jerked back to the present, and cleared her throat a few times so it wouldn’t sound like she was about to cry. Other people hated that and she couldn’t ever explain why she wanted to cry, sometimes it just happened. “Yes. I am.”

“Good. We’re very glad to hear that, and we’re all very excited to meet you.” The woman took a deep breath, another conversation happened, then she added, “It’ll take us a bit, but…”

“Why?”

“We’re a little far away, trying to get through the park is a challenge but…”

“No, I meant why are you excited to meet me?” She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong, that maybe it was a trap. No one was excited to meet her. Ever. She was a burden and a distraction at best. The only person who’d ever smiled when she walked in the room was Finn, and Lauren hadn’t managed to keep him around, either. He said he’d come back. Maybe it was all a ruse.

“Why are we…” The woman trailed off and Lauren braced for a withering condemnation or an explanation of how they’d been burdened with the requirement to scoop her up and deliver her to the actual bounty hunters. Then Kira went on without sounding as annoyed as she probably was. “Because Finn is excited for us to meet you, and he wanted to make sure we found you. He likes you a lot, so we like you a lot because we like him a lot. It all works out.”

Did it, though? Lauren wasn’t so sure. But she’d learned not to express those kinds of doubts right to someone’s face. It was better to agree and then leave before they showed up. She’d have a head start, at least. Maybe Lauren could figure out where Finn went, and he could make the decisions so Lauren didn’t have to. “Okay.”

“Okay? You’re okay waiting for us at the cabin? We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

“Sure.” Lauren didn’t know what else to say. Her attention went to the door and the wind whistling outside. Finn was out there somewhere. Maybe he needed her help. She’d helped him before when he hurt his leg, and even though he got out of the trap on his own, he definitely wouldn’t have made it back to the cabin unless she dragged him. She’d done that right, at least. Even Finn admitted it.

A long pause was the first response, then some of the noise diminished and Kira’s voice came through much more clearly. “Hon, Finn wants you to stay put until we get there. Okay? There’s some other stuff out there that might be dangerous and we…”

“The drug guys,” she said. Lauren peered through one of the larger gaps between the logs that made up the walls, and found nothing but snow outside. “We ran into them already.”

“You did? Do you know where they are?”

“Finn had an argument with someone about them.” Lauren backed away from the cold and scanned the cabin for anything to take with her to find Finn, then to bug out. She obviously couldn’t stay at the cabin because very soon Kira and grumpy Simon and God only knew who else would steamroll in and then she wouldn’t have much of a say in anything. “First they tried to kill me and Finn stopped them and then…then he had to…get rid of a few of them, and we were back at the cabin for a while but it didn’t sound like everything went the way it was supposed to. Some guy called this morning and told Finn he had to do something, I think, because then Finn left and he said he would be back in an hour but it’s been more than an hour and…”

“So Finn went to look for the drug runners?” Kira exhaled in annoyance, and Lauren braced for a lecture on decision- making, but instead the woman added, “That absolute shithead. He knows better than that.”

Shithead? Lauren couldn’t imagine anyone calling Finn a shithead. He was almost the exact opposite. Obviously he could be stubborn and probably arrogant in some situations, but since he was really capable at everything so far, it wasn’t like it was undeserved. She frowned at the wall but spotted the shotgun propped up against the wall next to the mattress. Finn left it for her, which made her chest tighten with worry. He’d at least taken the rifle with him.

“Lauren,” Kira said. “We’ll be there in thirty minutes, maybe a little more. Just stay put. I’ll call when we’re a few minutes out so we don’t surprise you, okay? There are a bunch of not-great people out in the forest right now, even more than the drug runners, so it’s best for you to stay put.”

She’d heard that all her life. Just stay put, don’t do anything, don’t try to help because you’ll fuck it up more. How had that worked out for her so far? She had a bounty on her head, literally, and a very long stay in prison waiting when she got caught. She had no friends, no home, not even a high school diploma. Just trouble. Debts. Bad decisions.

And Finn. Maybe she had Finn, if he was still out there and he still wanted her.

Lauren wasn’t going to give him up without a fight. She’d watched everything else go away without much more than a whimper, but for Finn… She wouldn’t be able to live with herself, even if that life was in prison, if she didn’t at least try to find him, to help him. If he died out there because she was too chicken to leave the cabin, then she deserved to go to prison.

But Kira said, “Lauren, babe, I need you to tell me you’re still going to be there when we arrive. Okay? Please. Just promise me you’ll be there.”

“I’ll be here,” she said. It didn’t sound very convincing, though. Lauren forced herself to smile, even though she was alone in the cabin, because sometimes that helped convince people she meant what she said when she didn’t. “I promise. I’ll be here.”

“Finn will be very, very mad at us if anything happens to you,” Kira said. More shouting in the background sounded like Angry Simon calling Finn names and trying to convince someone else to go faster, but Kira snapped at them and the big scary men went silent. She sounded annoyed, but smoothed her tone over as she went on. “Thirty minutes, okay? Less than that if we can find… It’s fine. Just please stay where you’re at and I’ll come and get you.”

Lauren kept the smile fixed on her face, though it made her cheeks ache. “Sure. I’ll be here.”

Kira didn’t believe her. but she muttered something under her breath instead and the call ended. Lauren frowned at the phone and tried to figure out how to turn it off, so it didn’t ring again and give her away. That would have been terrible, if she managed to sneak up on some drug runners or whoever wanted to hurt Finn and then the phone got them all killed. She shook her head and absently rubbed her cheeks, then started to pack everything up so there wouldn’t be much mess when Kira and Simon and whoever was with them showed up. She didn’t want to get yelled at for that, at least, if for some reason Lauren was still there when they found out. Or maybe it would all be fine and Finn would be back and he wouldn’t let them yell at her.

Lauren shook her head and focused on getting everything together, then pulling on layers of clothes to stay warm. The snow slowed down but still fell, and the wind whistled through the cracks in the logs. The last thing she needed was frostbite and numb fingers leaving her less graceful than normal. She set her jaw and tried to focus.

Finn, I’m coming.