22. Cat
22
CAT
The drive to Vince’s cabin was relatively quiet. Vince didn’t seem to mind, or maybe he was doing the same thing I was, which was thinking about what had happened, the plan going forward, and everything else in between.
When we pulled off the exit and began driving through winding mountain roads it finally occurred to me I knew nothing about where we were going. Might as well spend this time in the car setting my expectations right on where we would be spending the next few days.
“Where is the cabin? Is it far from where your parents live now?” I probed, hoping he would share a few details.
“It’s in northern Georgia , up in the Blue Ridge Mountains , which in the summertime is great because it can be a good ten to fifteen degrees cooler than it is in the rest of the state, especially Atlanta ,” Vince divulged. “ The cabin is just outside of a place called Himmelberg . It’s a Bavarian -themed town, so it can get very touristy throughout the year.”
I smiled, thinking of how quaint the little town must be. My brain, however, brought me back to Archer’s comment about the cabin we would be staying at.
“So, Archer said this place is a rustic cabin in the woods,” I began. “ Is it fair to assume this place has indoor plumbing, or is this cabin of yours a little bit more basic and do I need bear spray every time I need to go to the bathroom?”
“You know what they say about people who assume,” Vince teased me with a grin on his face.
“Touché,” I chuckled.
“Archer said that because he likes to give me shit,” Vince shared. “ The cabin is actually a sixteen-hundred-square-foot A -frame house. It sits on three and a half acres of wooded property, and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms—plumbing included.”
He emphasized the last part, and I felt like an idiot for even thinking that it wouldn’t have that.
“Did your parents have this when you were kids?”
“Yeah, they bought the property right after they got married and then had the house built right after my sister was born.”
“Did you come up here a lot, or just for holidays or something special?”
Unlike all the other questions I had asked where he answered very quickly, this time he paused, and in a way where he seemed to be weighing the correct way to answer. I didn’t get the impression he didn’t want to tell me, but rather, he was trying to find the right way to explain, so I waited to let him answer on his own time.
“When my dad was a cop, he would sometimes get threats from the people he would arrest. When that happens, the police department will provide increased security and may even monitor the communications of the person who made the threat to see if it’s actually a credible one or just someone saying things when they are pissed off.”
That made sense, and I imagined that happened more frequently than people thought.
“When my dad left the force and went into bounty hunting and private investigations, he still got the threats from a lot of the skips he captured, but no longer being a cop meant he didn’t get as much additional protections or insights.”
My heart sank, wondering if something terrible had happened to his dad.
“My dad was always concerned for my mom and us kids. Most often, the reason a person skips their court appointment in the first place is because they know there is a lot of evidence of their guilt, and they know they are going to prison, so they run. When my dad, or I , or any bounty hunter, catches them and arrests them, they are usually pissed because we’ve erased their get-out-of-jail-free card. They can, and sometimes do, retaliate. Even if it isn’t them directly, but an associate, friend, or fellow gang member doing the retaliation.”
I knew what that was like, having someone retaliate. When I was shot, it wasn’t from the men at the robbery but loyal friends who wanted to protect them.
“That’s where the cabin came in,” Vince continued. “ It was private, away from prying eyes, and the ownership of the property was technically registered under a trust for my sister and me, so if someone was looking for my dad, it would make it very hard to find us.”
I was impressed with the amount of thought that went into the privacy of their home, but having spent the last seven years trying to hide out, I understood and appreciated what Vince’s dad had done.
“So, to answer your question, yes, we mostly came up here for holidays or summer, but we also came up here any time my father thought there might be a threat to us.”
“And why you felt comfortable bringing me up here,” I surmised.
“Yeah. My dad also installed a bunch of cameras around the exterior of the home, motion sensor lights, perimeter fencing, and trip wires around the property, so we can see if someone is coming.”
Holy crap. His dad had really taken the security seriously. A normal person might be nervous that there was that much done to the property, but given my history, plus the current threat, I was actually happy this place had that level of security.
We pulled off the main road and came up to a large gate. Vince typed some numbers onto the keypad, and the gate opened to a narrow drive with large pine trees on either side.
As we made our way down a gravel driveway a few hundred yards later, the house began filling my view, which was stunning. This A -frame was not a simple structure. It looked like it belonged on the cover of an architectural magazine. The wood frame was the color of cedar. The front was filled top to bottom with framed black windows and a large front porch that stood another twenty feet from the entry. A black metal roof was the perfect complement to the black frames on the windows, and there was a chimney that stuck out of the side closest to us, made completely of stone.
When Vince’s car came to a stop, I waited for him to come around before I got out and began to walk closer to the house. Walking up the three stairs to the deck, I could see a picnic table next to the entry door. On the other side, closest to the railing that overlooked a creek in front of the house, there were two forest green Adirondack chairs to lounge in. On the far side of the patio was what looked like a black plastic tarp or cover of some kind.
“What’s under there?” I asked, pointing to it.
“Hot tub,” Vince said from behind me. When I turned to look at him, I could see the grin spread across his entire face. “ Looking forward to using that with you, Kit - Cat .”
Despite the temperature outside being very close to freezing, warmth spread through my body at his comment. Just picturing him shirtless in that hot tub where I could touch his amazing body had me breathless with anticipation.
“I like where your thoughts are right now, but let’s get inside first and bring all our stuff in, and then I’ll turn the hot tub on.”
It boggled my mind that Vince could read my mind so easily.
“I’m not reading your mind,” he teased. “ Your thoughts were written all over your face.”
I scoffed playfully but felt my cheeks warm and turned my attention back to the cabin. If the outside looked this nice, I couldn’t wait to see the inside. I turned around and went back to the car to help unload our bags and Harry .
Vince was ahead of me and had the door unlocked and open when I made it to the entrance. He’d had just flicked the lights on when I took a full look around, and it was beautiful. I walked into an open-concept living room, dining room, and kitchen space. Cozy furniture surrounded a stone fireplace. A rustic wood dining table with two wooden benches on either side flowed into the kitchen, which looked recently updated. Red wine-colored cabinets with tan granite countertops gave the kitchen a rustic but modern feel.
“It’s beautiful,” I said to Vince as he came up beside me.
“I’ll give you a tour of the rest of it in just a second, but I need to know where to put the bags.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant. Did he mean Harry’s things?
Vince, likely seeing the confusion on my face, gently tucked a wayward curl behind my ear. “ Babe , as much as I want you in my bed with me tonight, I don’t want to make assumptions if you aren’t comfortable with that. For safety purposes, I want you in the same room with me, but you have a choice. The room down here has a king bed that we can share, or the room upstairs has two twin beds. Your choice, but I need to know where to put the bags.”
This man had no idea what he did to me. How much he meant to me. I wanted nothing more than to sleep with him again, wrapped up in his arms like last night, but his deference to me only endeared him to me even more.
“The king bed,” I replied.
He grinned back at me. “ Got it. Let me put these in the room, and then we can figure out dinner.”
Vince’s mom kept some frozen pizzas and a few other items up here just in case they had to come up at the last minute, so we took advantage of that since it was getting late. I also wasn’t sure how many places delivered food up here since we were so remote.
We put a pizza in the oven, and then Vince gave me a tour of the place. It was incredibly charming. The steep angle of the roof allowed the whole space to feel open and airy, but it was decorated with a rustic flair that made it feel very homey.
We ate dinner on the couch in front of the fire Vince had started. We chatted about some of his childhood memories at this cabin, and it made me love the place even more.
“As I got older, I didn’t want to sleep in the same room with my sister, so I told her I found a bunch of spiders in the loft bedroom upstairs where we slept,” he recounted. “ I would tell her I was pretty sure I killed most of them, but she freaked and would sleep downstairs on the couch instead.”
“You were a little terror as a child, weren’t you?”
“Really, only with Jenny ,” he confirmed. “ My mom was sharp as a tack, and my dad was great at reading people, so he could see through my bullshit pretty easily.”
I giggled, picturing him trying to pull a fast one on his parents.
“For almost a year, Jenny wouldn’t go on any of the trails around the property because I convinced her there were wildebeests that had been spotted.”
“I didn’t think those were native to North America .”
“They aren’t. I just wanted her to stop following me onto the trails all the time.”
“Oh my God , you were incorrigible.” I rolled my eyes and felt sorry for his parents and all he likely put them through.
After we finished eating, I still felt a bit unsettled, so I decided to check in on my sister.
I pulled up my phone and texted Val to let her know we had made it, and she let me know that Ellie met her at Jack’s place and helped her “clean out the nasty guy smell.”
Cat:
How was your shift?
Val:
Good. We were busy, but that meant great tips!
Cat:
Great! Did you lock your doors?
Val:
No, Mother . I left the door wide open for anyone to get me.
Cat:
I’m sorry you think that me caring about you and checking on your safety makes me a mom.
Val:
Unless someone scales the walls like a ninja Spider - Man , I think I’m safe.
Cat:
Fine. What are you up to for the night?
Val:
Count Chocula and I are bonding right now.
Cat:
Val, chocolate cereal is not a healthy meal.
Val:
I beg to differ. Now stop worrying about me and enjoy your mountain cabin getaway with Vince .
Cat:
I can enjoy it and check in with you at the same time!
Val:
Not if you’re hovering over me by texting every 5 minutes. Go snuggle with your stud muffin soldier and leave me and my cereal boyfriend alone.
Cat:
I don’t text you every 5 minutes.
Val:
You’ve literally texted me 4 times in the last 60 seconds. Go find Vince and carry on with Operation Cabin Cuddles . Love you. Goodnight .
Cat:
Love you too. Go lock the doors.
Val:
OMG BYE
My lip twitched as I put my phone down on the couch cushion next to me and stared over at the fireplace. The soft, crackling fire was beautiful to look at but also soothing. I needed that.
Vince, having left the room at some point while I chatted with Val , walked back in the room and sat down next to me. “ You okay?”
I sighed, knowing he was likely reading the expression on my face and knew something was bothering me.
“Realistically, I know Val is safe, but it’s hard not to be worried given what happened,” I shared with him.
“I get it. Let’s go get in bed, watch a movie and just relax,” Vince said holding his arm out for me.
I grabbed it and followed him back to the bedroom. I took the bathroom first, changing into a loose T -shirt and soft cotton pants to sleep in then washed my face and brushed my teeth.
Vince was already in bed with the TV on when I came back into the room.
I crawled into the bed, and he pulled me into his side. He was shirtless with some flannel pants on, and he looked like a rugged mountain man. I snuggled up close to him and wrapped my arm around his waist, my other arm tucked up against his side.
His hand began to play with my hair and massaged my head.
“Everything will be okay, Kit - Cat . I’ve got you,” he muttered into my forehead, placing a kiss on top.
The stress of the day must have finally crashed over me. I relaxed into him even more as he massaged my scalp and lulled me to sleep.