Chapter 2
Ihowl and screech and kick, but his hand is too big.
I’m barely making any noise at all, and my hope is swiftly slipping away. There’s no one around to hear me anyway. We haven’t seen another soul on the trail in close to an hour.
Please,I sob, begging the universe for mercy with everything in me. Please let someone have heard me scream. Please, please, please. Please, don’t let it end like this. I have so many things I still want to do. So many dreams I want to make come true. So many adventures I haven’t had the chance to take. Please. Please!
At that exact moment, just as a sunbeam cuts through the leaves, blinding me for a second, I hear a deep voice ask, “Hello? Is someone back here?”
Nerves electrified with sudden hope, I scream louder, but Carl’s hand tightens at the same time, muffling the sound.
“Shut up,” he hisses into my ear. “Be quiet or I’ll break your arm.”
Trembling, I sob and wail even harder, snot spilling from my nose onto Carl’s hand as I frantically shuffle my feet in the leaves beneath us, making as much noise as possible.
And then, something miraculous happens…
A man appears around the bend in the narrow trail, and not just any man.
It’s someone I know! It’s Wesley McGuire, my boss, Melissa’s, older brother, who just happens to be a lawyer. And sure, he’s a divorce attorney, not a criminal prosecutor, but he’s a goddamned lawyer, a man sworn to upholding the law, which somehow makes me certain everything is going to be okay.
The fact that he’s as tall as Carl, with equally broad shoulders, doesn’t hurt. Wes might be a little less girthy through the thighs, but he’s strong and intimidating, a fact I can tell hasn’t gone unnoticed by Carl.
When Wes’s gaze lands on us, taking in the scene with obvious horror, Carl freezes like a murderous deer in the headlights.
“Tessa?” Wes says, sending my heart soaring. He remembers me! We’ve only met a few times at holiday parties for the catering company, but he remembers!
And aren’t all people more inclined to stick their necks out for people they know than complete strangers?
I whimper against Carl’s hand and nod, begging Wes with my eyes to get me out of here.
His gaze going black with rage, Wes shifts his focus to Carl and says in a soft, menacing voice that lifts the hair on my arms, “Let her go. Right now.”
“We’re okay,” Carl says. “Go away. We’re on a date.”
“Let her go,” Wes repeats, dropping his large backpack on the ground as he steps forward, his hands curling into fists. “This is your last chance. Let her go and run that way as fast as you can.” He points over Carl’s shoulder before letting his arm fall back to his side. “If you don’t, I’m going to make sure you won’t be walking anywhere for a very long time. The police will have to airlift you out of the forest on a stretcher.”
The way he says it, so calm, but so completely confident, is chilling. It leaves no doubt in my mind that he’s capable of crippling another man without hesitation.
Apparently, Carl is equally convinced. A beat later, the pressure around my throat eases and the repulsive heft of Carl’s body vanishes from my back.
I lurch forward, choking and sobbing as I hurry toward Wes. I glance over my shoulder as I go, so grateful to see Carl hauling ass up the trail that I start crying even harder.
“Are you all right?” Wesley asks, gathering me against him, his strong arms comforting and safe, the opposite of Carl’s crushing grip.
I nod, but I can’t stop sniffling and snotting all over the place. I suck in a breath, swiping my sleeve across my dripping nose as I pull myself together enough to say, “Yes, thanks to you. Thank you so much. Thank you.” I snatch at the sleeve of his brown canvas coat. “But we should run. We have to run. He might come back.”
“If he does, I’ll take care of it,” Wes says, adjusting his belt.
I glance down, my jaw dropping as I spot a serious-looking knife in a brown leather sheath at his waist. “You have a knife.”
“I have a knife,” Wes confirms calmly. “Is your friend armed?”
I shake my head, but almost instantly second-guess myself. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I didn’t see anything in his pack when we stopped for lunch, but I could be wrong.” I glance anxiously over my shoulder again, the urge to run punching inside my stomach. “So, we should go. Now. Fast. Please?”
He nods and grabs the strap of his large camping pack. “Let’s go. You first. I’ll follow behind and watch our backs.”
Trembling with relief, I snatch my daypack off the trail a few feet ahead and hurry toward the ridge. I scurry forward in silence for several seconds before glancing back over my shoulder to whisper, “And Wes?”
“Yes?” he rumbles, in that same calm, confident voice that’s like a balm to my frazzled nervous system.
“Carl isn’t my friend, not even close,” I say. “He’s basically a stranger and that was the worst second date of my life.”
His lips curve in a grim smile. “Good. That will make it less complicated when we file a report with the police.”
A report with the police…
The thought is shocking at first, but of course, Wes is right. We have to go to the police. Carl didn’t technically do anything awful to me, at least nothing awful enough to land him in prison, but if Wes hadn’t shown up…
I shudder and walk faster, not wanting to think about what would have happened if Wes hadn’t shown up. If we hurry, we can be back at the parking area not long after dark and at the police station at a decent enough hour that they might be able to question Carl tonight.
But by the time we reach Walrus Rock, the sun is already slinking behind the ridge on the other side of the valley.
I skid to a stop, my stomach dropping. “Shit. It’s so late. I had no idea.” I guess I was wandering that trail and wrestling with Carl way longer than I thought.
“Yeah, and the trail back to the ranger’s station won’t be safe in the dark,” Wesley says. “But it’s okay. We can find a secure place to hole up for the night and hike out in the morning.”
“We’re going to spend the night out here?” I squeak, my terror at the thought obvious enough that Wesley’s hand settles on my shoulder.
“It’s okay. I doubt Carl is dumb enough to come after you again, but just in case, I know a hidden camping spot. In five years of camping out here, I’ve never seen another soul there.” He squeezes my shoulder gently. “Come on. If we hustle, we can get everything set up before nightfall and I’ll make you a nice dinner.”
My ears perk up at that. Even when life is dark and scary, the way to my heart is apparently still straight through my stomach.
“Okay, thanks,” I say, a shiver of something different than fear working through me as I meet Wes’s steady green gaze. God, he’s dreamy. All the McGuire brothers are gorgeous, but Wes is…more than that.
He’s strong and kind and not as easygoing as everyone seems to think. When shit gets scary, so does Wes, and something primal inside me finds that very interesting.
I remind that primal part of me that Wes is six years younger than I am and my boss and best friend’s brother. Even if he were interested—which I’m sure he isn’t after seeing me covered in snot—he’s romantically off-limits.
Off-limits, off-limits, I chant silently as we make our way to a hidden fork in the trail a bit farther up the ridge.
But the primal part of me isn’t so easily silenced. And when she realizes that Wes and I are going to be sharing a sleeping bag?
Well, let’s just say she’s excited enough to banish the last of the fear from my encounter with Carl, setting my body to humming in a much more pleasant way as we gather firewood and settle in for a night in the woods.