9. Vanessa
9
VANESSA
I bounce from foot to foot as I wait for them to show themselves again. I know that I’m probably overstepping my bounds as well as breaking several national laws, but I can’t pass up this opportunity to see what’s going on with them. I’m sure I am going to get told to leave, but hey—a girl has to try, doesn’t she?
And when Jake greets me with that exclamation of surprise, I can tell I’m going to have to do some serious smoothing-over. I thought that lovely dinner we had together might have gone some way toward softening the blow of my presence, but clearly I’m not going to get that lucky.
“Hey, I’m so sorry to bother you,” I tell them as Mason and Killian emerge from the forest behind Jake. My heart flips when I lay eyes on Killian—truth be told, part of the reason I came here was to make certain he was really taking care of a call and not just dumping me after he got what he wanted, but I can see now he was telling the truth. Or just really committed to the bit.
“But I wanted to make sure the three of you were okay,” I say, gaze flicking between them. It’s not entirely untrue. I couldn’t help but wonder if something serious was going down, if all three of them had to go out there to manage it—after all, when I visited Mason, just Killian and Jake had been out to deal with those lost hikers.
“Well, we’re fine,” Jake replies. He’s smiling, but I can tell he’s annoyed that I’m here. I mean, I can’t say I blame him. Having someone turn up out of the blue like this and just make themselves part of your night when you come back from work…I doubt it would delight me too much either.
But if I am going to do this story, then I want to get them when they’re ready to talk. When the adrenaline from a call is still pumping. Of course, I will have to get permission from them to use this in the story when I eventually admit that I’m writing it, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to give me that if they see it’s for the greater good…
“What happened? I mean, should Callie and I be worried?” I offer. I need some reason to stick around here, some reason to keep asking them all these questions, though it’s obvious that Jake wants me gone more than he’s able to put into words.
“No, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Killian replies, striding up beside me and letting his shoulder brush against mine. The grin he flashes me as we touch is enough to tell me that he’s still thinking about earlier tonight—though right now I can’t allow for more than the barest shiver of pleasure in response.
“Yeah, but what about?—”
“You seem to have a lot of questions about us, Vanessa,” Mason remarks as he reaches the doorstep, turning around to face me and staring me down with a serious expression. “You want to explain why that is?”
I hesitate. Okay, so they’ve put me on the spot. I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t think they would make for a great story. After all, it’s actually kind of a compliment, isn’t it? Saying that I think they’re interesting enough for a whole feature piece on them?
“I’m a journalist,” I admit, after a long pause. “And I—I thought that the three of you would make for an interesting story.”
Jake scoffs in shock, throws his arms in the air, and heads inside, leaving the door open behind him. Killian shoots me a look, one that tells me we’ll talk about this later, and then goes to follow his brother.
But Mason stands there, staying put on the doorstep, and looks down at me.
“You telling the truth?” he asks, and I nod, sloping up the steps toward him.
“Yeah,” I confess. “I know I should have told you sooner, but?—”
“Is that why you moved into the cabin?”
I stare up at him, surprised. For a moment, I’m about to laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement—but then I see it from his perspective, and I clam up. Because he’s got a point. If this woman had just turned up out of the blue and started trying to ingratiate herself into the household, I might think that she was there for one reason and one reason only.
“No, no, that’s not why I came here,” I assure him quickly. “I—I have other reasons. I won’t get into them. But I just met you guys and thought that you must have such an interesting story, and I want to bring it to life, you know?”
He runs a hand through his dark hair, and I catch sight of just a glimpse of silver. He shakes his head. “We’re not doing this for publicity,” he tells me firmly. “We’re not doing this because we want some kind of hero worship or?—”
“No, I know that,” I promise him, taking another step toward him. “And that’s not what I want the story to be about either. I can tell that you guys have some amazing things to say—and you can get them out in front of a big audience if you let me do this story on you. You sure there’s not a message you’d like to send out to the world? Something that would make your life easier? Something that you wish all the tourists who came here would know?”
“They should already know,” he mutters. “After the fires ten years ago, I don’t know how anyone can possibly not care about this shit. The damage it did to the people, the community, the local environment…if they had any idea, they would never get into half the shit they do.”
“And that’s what I’m saying,” I reply. “I can get that message out there. Tell the people who come here to understand what they’re fucking with, and how they can protect it. You’re telling me that you wouldn’t take the chance to make sure people knew that?”
He looks down at me, studying my face for a long moment. I realize I’m holding my breath. I don’t know what to say. But I get the feeling that landing on the wrong side of these guys, as I might have done with the revelation of the story, could land me in more trouble than I knew what to do with.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” he tells me, after a long moment of silence. I fight the urge to punch the air. That might be a little too forward, given everything that’s going on.
“Yes! That’s amazing,” I exclaim, unable to contain my excitement completely. “How about you come down to my place tomorrow? During the afternoon?”
“I guess so,” he sighs, but there’s a small smile on his face. If there’s one way to get someone in on a story, it’s by making them feel like they’re going to have the chance to speak uninterrupted about something they’re passionate about.
“Anyway, I think you should go,” he adds, glancing over his shoulder. “I don’t think…”
“Yeah, it’s okay, I get it,” I reply. “Jake doesn’t want me here. I need to get back to Callie, anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
I wave to him as I head off, not wanting to give him the chance to reconsider the answer he’s just given me. Because, as of right now, I have someone who’s willing to speak to me for this story. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I have something new to look forward to.
And as long as I’m out here, I want to find as many things to look forward to as humanly possible.