Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
BILLIE
I made it to Smoke River in record time. When I reached the covered bridge that led to town, I stopped and called Mason.
He picked up right away. “He’s not here, honey,” he said. “I’m looking.”
“Did he take off?” My heart raced. I felt sick at the idea of missing him.
“Not yet. I’ve been calling, but I think his phone is turned off.”
“I’m going to the cabin,” I said, turning away from the airport. Piles of dirty gray snow framed both sides of the road.
Mud pelted the sides of the truck as I drove down our drive. I slowed as I approached the cabin, my heart pounding like a steel drum.
The porch light was on, but otherwise the house looked dark. I parked, jumped out, and slammed the door shut. I ran to the kitchen door. It was locked.
“Axl?” I pounded on the door and waited, hearing nothing inside. “Axl, are you there?”
He didn’t answer. Cam’s black-and-white nose was nowhere to be seen. My hands shook as I took out my key. I unlocked the door and went inside .
“Axl?” I called again, looking around the empty kitchen and great room. My voice echoed through the house. “Axl? Cam?” There was no answer.
The place where Cam’s dog bed sat was empty. The fireplace looked so forlorn without it. The fishing and flying magazines were gone from Gran’s antique depression bowl. A dust cover lay across the black-and-red couch.
Panic filled my body. My heart thundered as I ran into the back bedroom and the bathroom. Every drawer in the bathroom was empty. I felt sick. The closet doors were open. Axl’s stuff was gone. Where was he?
I bit my lip and ran back into the great room. His obnoxious, yellow Jeep wasn’t parked by the south field. I stared at that empty parking space, my chest shaking. Tears filled my eyes. Was Axl really gone?
I took my phone out to dial, finding no bars.
“Axl!” I shouted in the empty cabin. Blinking my tears back, I walked outside, slamming the kitchen door behind me. A plane buzzed overhead, and my stomach lurched wondering if it was Axl and Cam leaving Smoke River forever. My eyes shielded, I squinted at the plane overhead, fearing it was my last glimpse of him.
If he was gone, I had a feeling that Axl was a man who left forever. He thought he wasn’t good enough for me. I’d done a damn fine job of convincing him he was right. I needed him to know that he was wrong.
What would Gran do? I wondered.
I finally whispered words out loud. “I wish I knew where he was, Gran. I wish I could find him.” I closed my eyes and tried to calm my beating heart. Gran didn’t answer. Instead, I heard the rustle of the wind moving through the trees, the quiet of the south field, and in the distance, the white noise of the distant river.
Walking back to my truck, I heard a single bark in the distance. I froze.
Another bark cut through the quiet of the outdoors .
“Cam?” I whispered, standing totally still.
Another bark followed, then another. Heart pounding, my eyes scoured the trees for a flash of black-and-white fur. Seeing nothing, I walked toward the sound.
“Cam?” I called. Walking faster, I followed the path along the south field toward the woods.
I heard another bark, louder this time. I broke out in a run, cutting across the uneven south field. She barked again.
“Cam!” I shouted. “Where are you, girl?”
My feet thudded across the gray snow in the back field. I almost lost my footing on the slope before the trees. The roar of the river grew louder. The water was much higher than before. Cam’s barking increased. She did not sound like she was playing. Cam sounded alarmed.
I ran through the trees. My breathing short, legs pumping. I wasn’t cold. I wasn’t hot. I was focused on one thing. Finding Axl. Finding Cam. Something was wrong. I just knew it.
I wove along the muddy path that Axl and I had walked days before. Water dripped off the tree canopy. Sagging branches intruded onto the path, heavy with snow.
Cam’s barking was closer, but I still hadn’t caught sight of her. I reached the edge of the woods and stopped where the path reached the steep bank of the river. A flash of black-and-white jumped by the edge of the river.
“Cam!” I yelled, clapping my hands. I maneuvered down the slope. Cam looked back at me and continued to jump and bark at the edge of the river. Her fur was wet and muddy. I followed her gaze. Axl clung to a rock just below her in the icy water.
Fear gripped me. The water was deep and cold. “Axl!” I shouted. I sidestepped carefully, inching my way to the snow-covered boulders at the edge of the river.
Axl was wedged between rocks, his big arms gripping the edge of a slippery boulder. He tried to raise himself up, but there wasn’t enough traction for him to get out of the water. He heaved himself up, then sunk back down into the white water. His eyes darted to shore and met mine.
“Hold on!” I shouted, looking around the shore for a branch, for something Axl could hold onto.
“Billie!” he gasped, pointing behind me. “There! Right there!”
Cam faithfully dashed back and forth marking Axl’s spot in the water. I knew that dog wasn’t moving until I had her master out.
Behind me, I saw a big log stuck in the snow and the mud. I moved to pick it up and saw Axl nodding. We both had the same idea. My arms shook, but I managed to lift the log and drop it between the boulders above Axl’s arms. It locked into place.
“It won’t move!” I shouted, my voice shaking. I walked over and thumped it with my foot. My body was hot and pumped full of adrenaline.
Axl nodded as he looked up at me. He didn’t speak. I figured he was saving all his energy for climbing out of the river. His face tense, Axl held onto the rock with one hand, and as I stood on the log to make sure it didn’t move, he lifted his other arm, and with a heavy thud, gripped the branch.
“Hold. On,” he grunted, raising himself out of the river with a roar.
His jacket was gone; he wore only a long black shirt, pants, and boots. Hand-over-hand, he pulled himself slowly up onto the rock before rolling off and onto the muddy bank of the river.
“Axl!” I jumped off the log and dropped to my knees. I grasped his face with my hands. Tears racked my body.“What were you doing?” I shouted. “You almost died. You almost died, you idiot.”
He smiled and put his hands over mine. He looked pale and tired and he coughed a bit. “I was making a goddamn wish,” he said, looking up at me.
“You what?” I whispered, rocking back on my knees.
“I promised your gran,” he gasped, his breath coming out in spurts. He’d propped himself up on his elbows. “I promised her that I’d make a wish in this damn river. Cam fell in. I got her out. ”
“Oh, my god,” I said, laughing and crying. I pressed my face to his quivering chest. He was damp and cold. “You are such an idiot.”
“I told you,” he said. He put his hands in my hair.
I leaned over and kissed him. Our lips collided. His face was cold, but his mouth and tongue felt hot against mine. “I came back,” I said, gasping between kisses.
“I wished,” he said. “I wished for you.”
My lips against his, tears streaming, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and never let him go. I wanted to warm his cold body as he shivered.
“Let’s get you inside,” I said. “You need to warm up.”
I held Axl’s hand in mine the entire walk back to the cabin. Once inside, there was no time to light a fire. I turned on the hot water, stripped off his clothes, and filled the bath. He climbed in and shivered until the water rose over him.
I leaned over and kissed his temple. “I’m getting you something warm to drink,” I said. Cam followed me down the hall into the kitchen. I put the kettle on, then ran back down the hall to the bedroom. I sat beside Axl, stroking his hand as his shaking subsided.
“Did you forget something?” he said, giving me a half smile. “Or did you come back here so I could beat you one more time at poker.”
I laughed, tears filling my eyes again. “No, I read your emails.”
His eyes widened, and he squeezed my hand. “Billie, you were right to leave me.”
“Shh,” I said, putting a finger to his lips. “It’s my turn.”
He nodded. I sunk to the floor beside the tub, sitting beside him the way he’d sat beside me when he’d rescued me from the snow. “I have trust issues that aren’t your fault.” I looked straight into his deep-green eyes. I didn’t want to hide from my truth any longer.
“When I told you about my dad and my bad radar, that was only half the story,” I said. “I think a part of me has picked the wrong guy because I knew it would end. On some level, I wanted it to end. I didn’t think I deserved a happily-ever-after, but I do. Maybe you and I aren’t so different after all.”
“I should have told you the truth,” Axl said. He held my fingers in one hand, the other trailing over the water. The color back in his cheeks, his breathing steady, I felt my anxiety lessen. He’d been in the river long enough to scare me, but we’d dodged hypothermia.
“You should have, but I should have told you the truth, too. I didn’t tell you about Gran. I had my walls up, Axl. I had my walls up, and you found a way to bust them down.” Then I said, my voice a whisper, “Gran found you.”
“She did.”
“I think she knew that I needed you, that Smoke River needed you. I’ve spent my whole life proving to myself and to the people in my life that I don’t need anyone. I’m so tired, Axl. I’m tired of being alone. I’m tired of pretending I can do everything on my own.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice gruff.
“I need you. I need you so much.” I cried, tears pouring down my face.
“Come here, baby,” he whispered, wiping my tears away. “Get in this water.”
“You’re crazy,” I said. “This tub’s too small.”
He reached over and pulled me into the water. We kissed, our bodies tangled together, water soaking through my clothes. His hand on my back, his mouth against mine, I reached down and felt his cock in the water. I stroked him until he was as hard as a rock.
Eyes hooded, Axl’s head rocked back. I climbed out of the tub, and as he watched me, slipped out of my pants.
I climbed back into the water and straddled him. His hands gripped my hips as I lowered my aching pussy onto his hard shaft. He slid into me, and I cried out at the sensation of being filled by this beautiful man.
“Mine,” he growled, his cock driving into me.
I moaned in reply. His lips found mine again. He held my lower back, and we rocked together in the water. His cock rose up and rubbed my clit with every thrust. My climax came hard and fast.
“Now, now, now,” I gasped, my head rolling back as an orgasm shook my body.
He roared and came inside me with steady pulses. Our movements slowed, and I lay my head on his shoulder, safe in the arms of the man I loved, the man who believed in wishes, just like I did.