Chapter 3
Three
Julie
I hadn’t been prepared to see Gage, which likely explained why I had felt so flushed and antsy since we arrived.
My plan had been simple: wake Daisy up in the middle of the night after I packed only what we needed, and drive the seven hours to the cabin in the woods.
We would arrive by early morning and have the day to get settled in.
Only it wasn’t just a cabin in the middle of the woods.
It was an inn that my brother’s best friend’s grandmother had owned, and we would spend every summer there growing up.
There were at least ten bedrooms and a large dining room that opened up into the beautiful living room that had huge windows that looked out into the forest. About half a mile away from the cabin was a lake that we would spend our days at.
The boys would try their luck fishing, but would always give up after a few hours and join us as we took turns jumping off the tire swing that hung from the large maple tree.
I loved that I could still see Daisy from my spot at the dining room table, but what I didn’t love was the look on Gage’s face as he returned and took a seat right beside me.
“Do you need anything before we get started? Water? Food?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you,” I said softly as I leaned back in the padded chair, finally noticing how tired I felt.
“What’s going on, Julie?” he asked, cutting straight to the chase.
“Nothing. I just needed somewhere to go for a few days.”
“Bullshit. Don’t fucking play games with me, Julie. You know I will find out, so you might as well tell me.”
“It’s nothing. I promise. I have it handled.”
“Have what handled?”
I rolled my eyes, hating—but also secretly loving—that he thought he could force me to talk.
Gage had been a lot to me over the years, but mean was never on that list. Not that he was being mean right now, but I also didn’t want to cross him.
I knew that he wasn’t someone to mess with after the falling out he had with my brother.
“Julie,” he warned, leaning back slightly in his chair, just enough that the corded muscles in his arm showed as he rested it on the table.
When had he gotten this muscular? Had his body always been like this? There was no way I would have survived my teen years with him looking like this, so it must have happened after I stopped coming around. Probably a good thing because I wanted to climb him like a tree...
He cleared his throat, forcing my attention back to him as his deep, dark brown eyes stayed focused on me.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said with a shrug. “Like I said, I didn’t know anyone would be here. Now that I do, I will be out of your hair as soon as possible.”
“What are you running from?”
An icy chill snaked down my back as the blood drained from my face, giving me away.
While I hadn’t been able to stop obsessing over everything on our way up here, I wasn’t quite ready to talk about it.
Doing so meant that it was real and that I couldn’t just run from the nightmare and pretend it didn’t happen.
“Okay—let me restate that. Who are you running from?”
I swallowed hard, looking over at Daisy as she ate her popcorn and watched the movie. I would need to figure out something healthier to feed her for lunch since it was apparent that I wasn’t getting that popcorn back from her anytime soon.
“My boss.” I lowered my eyes and refused to meet his gaze.
“Your boss? Did you embezzle from them or something? Am I harboring a criminal here?”
I could hear the faint hint of humor in his voice, but refused to lean into it. I didn’t need anything to feel too comfortable right now, including him. As much as I wanted to joke and let things feel light again, I couldn’t risk the distraction.
“No. He’s been mildly obsessed with me. I didn’t realize the gravity of it until I found him in my apartment the other day when I got home.”
His eyebrows rose quickly as he leaned forward and stared at me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I were,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“Start talking. I want to know everything.”
“Gage, we don’t need to do all of this. It’s fine. I just need a few hours to reset, and then we will be on our way.”
“Like fucking hell you will,” he growled. “If you honestly think you can show up here and tell me that some asshole is obsessed with you and think that I’m going to allow you to leave, you are seriously mistaken, Julie.”
“You can’t force me to stay here.”
“No. You’re right,” he said, shaking his head as his jaw clenched tightly. “But that storm outside can. Or did you not notice it on your way in?”
I looked out the window he pointed to, watching as the snow fell heavily in sheets.
Not only had I noticed it on the way in, but I had lost traction on the road several times and thought I was going to crash by the time I pulled up to the cabin.
I had been so thankful to get here that I must not have noticed his vehicle parked outside.
Had I seen it, I might have made a different decision than to try to break in and hide out here.
“There’s no way you’re going anywhere in that storm, Julie. Not until it passes and the roads are safe to drive again.”
“We can’t stay here and impose on you,” I objected, throwing my hands in the air.
“You were planning to stay here before you found out I was here,” he countered. “So don’t play games with me, Julie. You made the arrangements you needed because you knew you would be here for a while, didn’t you?”
A faint blush crept up my cheeks as I tried to look away.
He was right. I had been packing the car with food and necessities for weeks once I started to notice the change with Joel.
Deep down, I knew I would end up leaving but I couldn’t risk tipping him off before I was ready to flee.
Every time I went grocery shopping, I would buy more than we needed and hide some items in the back of the car under blankets so no one could see what they were.
I had packed enough food to last us a month or two and prayed that we would be lucky enough to have access to running water and electricity once we arrived.
I had no idea if things had been shut off after Gage’s grandmother died, but I didn’t have any other option than to run to the only place that had ever felt safe.
“Where is the rest of your stuff?” he asked, folding his hands in front of him as he watched me. “The stuff you planned to use while you stayed here?”
“In the trunk of my car,” I replied softly, staring down at the floor.
“Give me your keys. I’ll go grab everything before the storm gets worse.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Julie—the keys. Give them to me.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled them out, sliding them across the table and ignoring the jolt of electricity that ran through me as his fingers brushed mine.
Staying with Gage brought a sense of security that I hadn’t realized I needed. It also brought a sense of dread because there was no way I was going to be able to constantly be around him and hide the feelings I had been harboring for years.