Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was a scratching noise that pulled Amber from her light slumber.
She sat up with a start and automatically brought her hands up in case she needed to shield her face from incoming blows.
Thankfully, they never came.
But she heard that sound again. Her eyes shifted to the clock atop the nightstand near the lamp. It was shortly after ten, meaning she’d only been asleep for about fifteen minutes. Just in that short amount of time she’d had a disturbing dream about being chased through the forest by some unseen malevolent force.
Had it been an omen of some sort?
She shuddered and rubbed her arms.
“Honey? Jazzie? Should I call him?”
She sighed and sat up slowly. Her gaze swept methodically across the room, looking for a sign that someone might be lurking in there. There wasn’t really any places for someone to hide.
Unless…
There was a small sliver of space between the sliding closet door and the doorpost. Was someone in there watching her?
She leapt from the bed and ran past the closet, out of the room, and to the kitchen where the phone was mounted on the wall. Guilt surged through her as she realized she’d left Honey and Jazzie alone in the room, but she’d just have to go back for them in a minute.
Right now, she needed to call Sawyer.
He answered on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”
He’d barely finished the short question before she was blurting out, “Daddy, I need you!”
She winced. “Sorry. Uh, I know you’re not my Daddy. I just?—”
“We can talk about that later. What’s wrong?”
“I think someone’s in the cabin!”
“I’m on my way. I want you to stay on the phone with me and?—”
Amber didn’t hear what Sawyer said after that because two eyes lit up in the hallway, causing her to scream in terror.
Time had run out.
Sawyer’s Bronco tore through the night, bounding over the hills and crunching rocks into the hard-packed earth.
He’d been on the road for a minute, but he knew a shortcut that would get him to the Collier cabin quicker—it just required a bit of off-roading. His vehicle was equipped for it, and even if he was too hard on it, oh well. He’d worry about all that later.
Right now, all that mattered was reaching Little Amber quickly.
“Dammit! I shouldn’t have left her alone!” he growled.
His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel in utter rage. He reminded himself to keep a cool head. This was far from his first dangerous situation. He was experienced enough to know that you had to keep your wits about you, no matter what was going on.
That was the first rule of survival, after all.
Panicking or flying off the handle never made things better.
But if anyone hurt Amber, they’d have hell rain down upon them. They were in for one royal ass-kicking and pain they didn’t even know was possible.
Heck, just for scaring her they had an ass-kicking coming.
He just prayed he wasn’t too late.
The Bronco got some air as it soared over one final hill. It bounced violently when the wheels connected with the ground again, and Sawyer felt the jarring impact in his bones. He heard something clang against the ground loudly, telling him that the truck had lost something, but he’d figure that out later. It was most likely nothing too important. Probably just a hubcap or something else nonessential, because the vehicle was still going and that’s what mattered. He just gritted his teeth and kept barreling straight ahead, the headlights now revealing the front Amber’s place.
The scene illuminated before him was pure pandemonium.
Amber was being chased, her shrill screams splitting the still mountain night as she ran onto the porch, down the steps, and into the patch of land directly in front of the cabin.
All hell had broken loose there, and Sawyer needed to act quickly.
“Shit! Shit! What the fuck?” Amber yelled.
She threw a glance over her shoulder to see her pursuer was hot on her heels. This caused her to yell another string of profanity that she didn’t even know she was capable of. She strung words together that ought not be and created whole new phrases that would make a sailor blush.
“Help me!”
It was a relief to see Sawyer on the scene and already out of his truck, but his sudden presence wasn’t deterring her pursuer.
“Amber! Don’t run inside!” he yelled.
Too late.
She’d already ran several circles outside, bounded back up the porch’s steps, and charged through the open front door. In all the commotion, she checked again to see if her pursuer had kept pace.
He had.
“Oh, fuck me! Holy shit!”
She jumped onto the couch, reached for the end table, and grabbed the lamp that rested on it. Yanking it toward her, the plug tore from the outlet, but that didn’t matter right now.
Amber needed a weapon.
She angled it down and swung it from side to side.
“Stay back! I’m warning you!”
“Amber. Don’t hurt it! Just stay still.”
She looked up to see Sawyer standing in the doorway, his hands raised in an effort to bring calm to the situation.
She looked back down and saw the furry little raccoon staring up at her in bewilderment. It was the first time she’d really appraised it for any length of time and now she felt sort of bad for brandishing the lamp at it.
It made a series of soft chirping noises.
“Does it w-want to h-hurt me?” she asked.
“No, honey. He just came in looking for food,” Sawyer replied softly, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Did you leave the door open at all today?”
“Yeah. When I was hauling stuff out.”
“He probably wandered in then,” Sawyer said. “Stay still.”
Amber watched as the man crept cautiously toward the animal. “Come on, little fella. Go on. Outside.”
“Should I lead him out with food?” she whispered.
Sawyer shook his head. “If you give him something to eat, he’ll remember. He’ll always associate this place with a good meal and will keep coming back.”
“Why did he chase me?” she whispered. “Is he crazy? Does he have rabies?”
Sawyer chuckled. “Honey, you worked him up in a frenzy. He was feeding off your energy.” He turned his sight toward the animal. “Go on. Shoo. Go now.” He got behind it and walked forward slowly, ushering the critter toward the door.
“Wait!” Amber said.
She put the lamp down, got off the couch, and trudged cautiously toward the uninvited guest. Only moments before she’d been scared beyond belief. Now, though, she felt too guilty not to say, “I’m sorry, Mr. Raccoon. You can’t eat in here. It’s not safe for either one of us. But I know what it’s like to be chased away when you’re just looking for food. I hope you find something to eat.”
She sighed and turned her gaze to Sawyer.
“May I feed him outside? Please?” She let a second pass before adding, somewhat embarrassed, “Like I said, I know what it’s like. He’s just hungry.”
She could see the wheels turning in Sawyer’s mind. Finally, he relented with a nod. “Grab some crackers or something. But don’t feed him in here. He’ll never leave.”
Amber skipped off toward the kitchen, thankful to be helping the hungry critter.
And thankful the intruder turned out to only be a cute, furry new friend.