Chapter 3
Levi
I woke up the same way I did every morning, with a burn of anger deep in my chest.
I got up and headed straight outside, only stopping to put on my boots, an old hat, and a pair of underwear.
It had only taken one time for a wood chip to flick out and hit me in the dick to realize why I shouldn’t chop wood naked. Sometimes clothes had a purpose other than just making us presentable to society. Now I kept the goods protected.
My dog, Comet, followed me outside, whining about the delay in breakfast.
But he knew the routine.
I’d chop wood for a few hours until my arms were burning and my shoulders were on fire. The physical exertion would cover up the pain inside me long enough to help me get through the day. That’s when we’d have breakfast.
I picked up my axe and headed out the door. I chopped wood for everyone on the mountain, splitting it fine so it would fit in even the smallest of woodstoves.
People always joked about my low prices. But the money was only part of it. Sure, it kept the heat on inside my cabin and paid my truck insurance. But more than that, I needed the physicality of it to keep me under control.
Without it, well, without it I was liable to fall back into old thoughts about lost friends.
Fresh snow had fallen last night, and there was a tranquil hush over the woods today.
I wasn’t the first one out. I could see the tracks of a doe and her fawn meandering through the snow. And another set of squirrel prints. And at least three wild turkeys that had wandered by at some point in the early morning hours.
I scanned the woods as I hefted my axe, a rare moment of peace flooding my heart.
Some people might think I was crazy for chopping wood in the snow almost naked. But luckily for them, I lived so far out in the middle of fucking nowhere that they’d never have to know.
The truth was, I liked the cold on my skin. It made me feel alive.
I steadied my first piece of wood on the block, gripped my axe tight and swung a hard and steady arc. The wood split into a satisfying spray of pieces.
I positioned the next chunk and swung. Then the next. And the next.
Comet found a spot in the snow, circled three times and laid down. He was made for snow. He had so much fur.
It must have been two hours later, sweat pouring down my chest, when Comet’s barks caught my attention.
I looked up mid-swing and almost took my foot off.
There was a woman standing not twenty feet away, with a tiny lapdog in her arms.
She was a vision of beauty with long dark hair and curves that made my dick ache.
She was wearing a white and red striped winter hat, along with a red sweater that highlighted her curvy breasts, and a pair of delightfully tight white pants.
To finish it all off, she had a tiny holly choker around her neck.
She looked like Christmas come to life.
“Who the fuck are you? And what are you doing out here?” I growled out at the same time Comet ran over to investigate.