Chapter 10
Fact or Fiction?
Lumberjacks can fuck right off.
Luke
Split me like a good girl is on repeat in my head as I grip my axe and set up for the wood chopping competition taking place in a few minutes. I glance
down the line of twenty other lumberjack contestants standing in front of their stumps. We’re to cut through a two-foot-wide
tree truck section starting on one side and then switch over to the other side until it’s cut fully in half. My research showed
that good lumberjacks can get this task done in under a minute. In my practice sessions, I never beat ninety seconds.
I guess there’s a first time for everything.
And with the simmering irritation I feel over Roe and her shirt and the fact that some of these lumberjacks have possibly
split her like a good girl . . . I have a feeling I could crush this competition.
“Woo-hoo, Luke!” a voice calls from the distance and I look up to see my sister-in-law Cozy cheering for me. She’s next to
Max and the rest of my family who are currently occupying two full rows of bleachers. There’s Max and Cozy sitting by each
other with Ethan standing on his seat, then Calder, Dakota, my mom, Wyatt, Trista, and little Stevie. My insides damn near
melt when I catch sight of Stevie dressed in a flannel shirt with a matching stocking cap.
God, if I could pull a win out on my first competition, that would give me all the momentum I need to take me through the rest of the day.
Let’s fucking go.
My eyes scan the crowd for Roe and when I see her sitting beside her dad, I feel every muscle in my body come to life. She
smiles and waves at me as I prop my axe on the ground. Without hesitation, I hold her eyes as I spit into both of my palms
before rubbing them together to show her how serious I am. Within seconds, she’s no longer smiling.
She looks bothered.
Good.
That makes two of us.
“Addison!” The lumberjack next to me yells her name, tearing our eyes apart. I look over to see him waving enthusiastically.
“Ivan?” I hear Roe call back from the crowd.
Who the fuck is Ivan?
He smiles and props his axe on his shoulder, looking way too at ease for my liking. My eyes flick between them as they seem
to be having a silent conversation and the hairs on the back of my neck begin to prickle as I examine him more closely. He
has a good fifty pounds on me and a nose that could hunt for fucking truffles it’s so big. This can’t be her type . . . right?
The announcer begins the countdown and I snap my head back to my wood, feeling distracted and irritated and wondering what
the fuck my best friend has done with a guy like that. The buzzer goes off, and I have a delayed reaction before I lift my
axe and swing sideways into my log, the sharp crack of steel meeting wood ringing out over and over as twenty split pieces
tumble to the ground. I rear back and swing again, my mind bursting with thoughts that are about anything but this fucking
wood I’m working over.
What is Roe’s type? I don’t know because we’ve never discussed it. Probably a safe bet it’s not me. Which means she’ll have to fall for my personality before anything else. I might as well give up now.
My adrenaline surges when I notice both guys on either side of me have switched sides of their logs after what feels like
no time. They start chopping into the fresh side to meet the weakened middle and I begin to panic.
Fuck, I’m behind. I’m way the fuck behind.
I swing harder, my movements becoming erratic and uneven as the soft patter of wood chunks fling into my face hitting my clear
goggles.
Finally, I reach the center of the log and rush over to the other side to begin and it’s in that moment I realize Big Nose
Ivan next to me is done. I swing and swing, desperate to not come in last, my brain splintering harder than the wood as I
struggle to keep my pace, my muscles burning as the smell of freshly chopped pine overwhelms me.
By the time my log finally breaks off and lands with a heavy thud to the ground, I am gassed out. Hunched with my hands propped
on my knees, I look over, fighting for my life as Big Nose stands there looking barely out of breath.
The announcer begins reading off the standings, Big Nose in first and me in last. With a growl, I kick my foot out to knock
over the bottom half of my log. This kind of fit could rival Evil Ethan.
My eyes find Calder standing at the water table, so I make my way over, ready to hear all the shit he’s about to talk.
“Well, that sucked ass,” Calder says with a laugh.
“No shit.” I yank my hat off and shove my damp hair off my forehead as the palms of my hands ache from how hard I squeezed
the axe. I take a cup from the table and drink it before throwing the rest on my face. “I feel like that whole heat lasted
ten seconds.”
Calder tips his head and scratches his beard. “Guy next to you finished in fifty-five seconds. I was timing it. Who the hell is he? I saw him waving at Addison.”
“Think his name is Ivan,” I grind through clenched teeth and look over my shoulder to find him talking to my best friend.
Of course he is.
“They look friendly.”
I crack my neck while shaking my head. “Yep.”
“This is worse than I thought.” Wyatt’s deep voice breaks through my inner torment.
I glower over at them. The way he’s leaning into her makes me suspect that Big Nose has seen her naked. I consider how hard
I’d have to swing my fist to break Big Nose’s nose. Is it easier to break a big nose or harder?
Calder gives me a light shove. “We need to change tactics.”
I eye him curiously. “What did you have in mind?”
Competition number two is the axe throwing event and I feel relatively confident, which is probably delusional of me. But
precision is the name of the game here as competitors throw a double-bit axe as close to the center of a target as possible
from a set distance away. It was one of the easiest tasks to practice with Max and Ethan on the mountain, but after getting
my ass kicked on the first event, I realize that the training I did is likely no match for the years of log work these bros
have on me.
Which is why after a quick convo with Calder, we decided that my side game has to be stronger than everyone else’s. They’re
all here to win a competition. I’m here to win my future wife.
Two contestants compete against each other until one is left standing. My first enemy is some guy who looks at least a decade
younger than me. I walk over to him, my eyes laser focused on Roe as she flirts with a couple of flannel fucks.
“Hey, there,” the kid says to me, tipping back his corny trapper hat that looks like it’s made for a toddler.
“Where you from, man?” I ask as he stretches and checks the blade on his axe.
“Denver.”
“Nice . . . right in our backyard.”
“Yeah.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to focus on him and not my best friend. “How good are you at this event?”
The kid smiles. “Pretty fucking good.”
I wince at that response. “How much for you to throw this heat?”
“Huh?” He frowns back at me.
“You heard me. How much?”
“Forget it.”
“Come on . . . everyone has a price.” I tilt my head and eye him head to toe.
He screams . . . I saw this on the internet and obsessively taught myself how to do it but have no idea how to operate a real tool.
“I own a construction company with my brothers . . . I’m sure there’s something you need done in Denver. We’re a quick drive
over. Name your project.”
The guy’s brows furrow as the scorekeeper prepares the board. “You any good at custom shelving? I have this gaming setup that’s
a mess and a whole vision board for how I want to lay it all out in my apartment to look sick.”
I smile gleefully. “Oh, I got you covered.”
The kid keeps his promise and throws the match, doing a good job making it look convincing. I introduce him to Calder afterward
and I see the kid showing Calder photos on his phone for the shelving unit he wants created. I feel bad making this my brother’s
problem but it was his idea to try to figure out other ways to win this competition.
Wyatt watches the other heats and determines I can beat everyone except maybe Ivan and sure enough, I make it all the way
to final two.
And the fact that Addison couldn’t keep her eyes off me through the entire competition is all the fuel I need to finish this competition.
Now I’m in the championship round against none other than Big Nose.
Damn it anyways.
I can’t bring myself to try to bribe him out of a fair match because one way or another, he knows Addison, and I do not want
this getting back to her. He was talking to her the whole time during my matches, so I’m lucky I landed the axe on the damn
bull’s-eye at all.
“Hot one out here, eh?” Ivan asks with a loud sniff, his accent bleeding through.
“Yeah sure,” I murmur, barely giving him my attention as I twist my hat backward.
I grip my axe and focus hard on the bull’s-eye. I’m five throws away from sending this guy back to whatever Canadian city
he hiked out of, so I can’t let him get in my head right now.
The match begins and we both stand side by side and toss at the same time. First toss we both hit a direct bull’s-eye, his
a little high, mine a little low. Five points each. We toss again, both of us nailing the center right on target. We do it
three more times, each of us hitting bull’s-eyes every time.
I glance over to Max, my eyes wide with disbelief because in all the practicing we did together, I never hit five in a row.
I’m on fucking fire. Between that and the crowd roaring all around me, and the feeling of Roe’s eyes on us the whole time,
the pressure is on.
We switch lanes and have to toss another five times in the opposite bull’s-eye and we both land bull’s-eyes again.
“Kill him, Uncle Lukey!” Ethan yells and I hear the whole crowd laugh at the small boy with such vicious words.
I smile and release my axe, wincing when I see that for the first time, I didn’t hit the bull’s-eye. I hit the three ring. “Fuck,” I murmur under my breath, gripping my hat to my head in horror as I look over and see that Big Nose nailed his bull’s-eye.
We have one more toss to go and even if we both hit bull’s-eyes, I’ll lose. And with how Ivan is tossing, the odds are good
he’s going to nail it.
“Redemption,” I call out and the scorekeeper moves toward us holding her hand up to pause the play of game as she walks up
to the boards.
“Player has called redemption.” She points to the green dots on the upper right and upper left side of the board, outside
of the target ring. “If player hits redemption circle, the match will go into sudden death one-throw playoff.”
The crowd cheers loudly, clearly enjoying the fact that I’ve upped the stakes. We’ve got a real nail-biter at Man of the Mountain
today, I guess.
“Good luck, eh?” Ivan says as he holds his axe out to me to tap.
“Thanks,” I mumble, and twist my hat around to face forward, glaring at him under my bill as we clink our blades together.
I glance over at Addison, who gives me a hearty thumbs-up but then I look back over my shoulder and see Big Nose waving back
at her. Is she tossing those thumbs to me or this fucker? Goddamn it, who’s her fucking friend here?
“You got this, Luke!” she calls out as I hold my axe up and her voice feels like a wave of comfort rolling through my body.
God, I have it bad for her. When did it get this bad? Where was I? Was I a willing participant or did fate just say fuck it . . .
you can’t figure it out yourself, we’re going to force this on you?
Ivan gets his blade off first, landing smack-dab in the center.
Another perfect bull’s-eye. The crowd goes wild as they wait for me to throw.
My pulse thumps in my ears and with a deep breath, I toss my axe and wince when it thunks into the upper right corner.
It’s close, but I can’t tell if it’s touching the green for sure.
The crowd goes quiet as the scorekeeper walks up to my bull’s-eye and inspects it, even pulling a flashlight out of her fucking
pocket to shine on the blade for a better look. After what feels like an eternity, she turns around and makes a zero signal
with her fingers, indicating I did not hit the green dot, and the crowd goes fucking wild.
I smack the top of my hat, yanking it down over my face. “Fuck,” I growl under my breath, kicking my boot into the ground
and wondering why the fuck my own damn town is cheering for this outsider.
“Heyo . . . good try, man.” Ivan holds his fist out to me, and I bump it, feeling my skin crawl as we connect.
I skulk my way over to my family, ready to hear them lay into me about fucking up, but Addison steps into my path, draping
her scent all over me. “Shit, you were so close to winning that one!”
“I know,” I huff, my whole body vibrating with irritation.
“You still did really good though,” she says, falling into step with me.
“Not good enough,” I bark, wincing at the ache in my shoulder as I try to move past her.
“What’s with you?” Addison reaches out and grabs my arm, forcing me to turn around to face her. “Why are you taking this so
seriously?”
“You know why,” I bite, narrowing my eyes on her.
“Seriously, Luke. You don’t need to do this. I know Ivan from a few years back. We’ve been catching up and he’s unattached,
so—”
“That’s not how today is going to go.” I lick my lips and step into her space, my body radiating protectiveness as I fight the urge to wrap my hands around her waist and claim her as mine in front of everyone here so fuckers like Ivan back the hell off.
“If I win this shit today, you’re marrying me, not him. Got it?”
Her jaw juts out as confusion shifts to rage in her stormy hazel eyes. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
I stare down at her lips, swallowing the knot in my throat as I wonder for the hundredth time what that soft mouth might taste
like. “Just being a good friend.”
The two lines between her forehead deepen as she pouts her reply, “And that requires you to bark orders at me?”
“Maybe once in a while, you need to be told what to do.” I pin her with a scolding look before I lift my chin and turn to
walk away, feeling her eyes on me as I move. I have no idea what she’s thinking. Nor do I want to. I just have to get through
the next four competitions to get this Ivan fucker out of the game.