Chapter 4 Jackson
JACKSON
Stubborn boy.
Why couldn’t he admit defeat and return? I’d only sent him to find wood because I needed a few minutes away from him after that indecent display of his ass. He deserved to be out there searching. Maybe he would think twice about showing off his body like that to me again.
Did he expect me to go looking for him after his rudeness? He was a depraved little shit to offer his ass to his stepfather like he’d done so casually. Had he figured out the conflicting emotions I battled with? Was that the reason he teased me, almost flirted with me whenever we argued?
I have to keep my distance from him, or that boy will drag me straight to Hell.
I bit into the cut of beef I’d roasted, but it tasted like dirt. I couldn’t get the foul taste out of my mouth. My appetite was ruined by the image of my stepson’s perfect, peachy ass in that black thong.
So round. So fucking perfect.
Growling, I flung the piece of meat onto the ground a few yards away from me. A waste of good beef. And now I would have to go searching for it. Couldn’t leave meat out like that, or we would wake up tomorrow surrounded by coyotes.
As if materialized from my thoughts, a coyote appeared in the dying light, its amber eyes glinting and its fur rippling.
The scent of the meat must have caught its attention.
Growling, the coyote pounced on the fallen morsel.
In the blink of an eye, the animal seized the meat in its powerful jaws and darted away into the dying light.
Fuck.
Aiden.
I stormed toward the RV and yanked the door open. I grabbed my backpack, ripped the zipper open, took out my gun, and jammed the magazine into the handle. Aiden was out there alone with a hungry coyote in the vicinity. He didn’t stand a chance on his own.
I raced out of the RV and ran into the darkening desert, ignoring my pounding heart and shallow breaths. I had to find Aiden before it was too late. Had to protect him. Where had he gone?
“Aiden!” I yelled, hoping to frighten away any coyote within the distance. “Goddammit, Aiden, you better not be playing with me. Where the hell are you?”
He couldn’t have gotten far. He had to be close. Oh god, why had I let him go off on his own? If anything happened to him, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.
I loved that boy something awful. Too much, in fucking fact.
Please, god. Please, let me find him. If I find him, I swear I’ll stop lusting after him. Don’t take him away from me this way. Just let me fucking find my boy.
“Aiden! Where are you?”
“Jackson!”
I turned to the left, following the sound of his terrified voice.
Finally, I spotted his silhouette in the distance, standing still, pinned in place by a coyote in front of him.
From its mangy coat and the sunken belly, the animal hadn’t eaten in a long time.
No wonder it hadn’t run off, even though it would have heard me coming.
“Aiden, stay calm.” I stopped and raised my gun.
“Jackson, I’m scared.”
“I know, baby.” I could have bitten off my tongue, but his safety was more important than what I’d slipped up and called him. Thank fuck, he seemed too terrified for the implication of what I’d said to sink in.
“Close your eyes,” I told him.
“But what if he attacks me?”
“Please trust me, Deni. Close your eyes. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Ever.”
He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed. When he closed his eyes, I aimed at the coyote and pulled back the hammer.
The animal gave a wounded cry and ran off.
“Is it gone?” Aiden asked.
“Yes. You can open your eyes now.”
Aiden blinked, then glanced around. “Jackson!” He ran toward me and threw himself at my chest. I clicked the safety in place, let the gun drop, and held my boy’s trembling body against me.
“You’re all right,” I said. “I told you, I won’t ever let anything hurt you.”
“I was so scared.” A sob choked out of him. He wrapped his arms tight around my neck, so I hugged him back. How his legs reached around my waist next was anyone’s guess. I placed a hand on his ass to support his weight.
“Deni, calm down. You’re okay.”
“I want to go home.” Tears trickled down my neck. “I don’t want to stay here. Please take me home.”
“All right.” Usually, I’d belittle him, call him a wuss for bailing out on day one, but he was shaking too much, and I was still wound up from seeing him as that coyote’s meal.
Fuck, I could have lost him.
“Let’s go back to the RV. We’ll head out first thing tomorrow.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
A loud explosion shook the ground under our feet. What the fuck was that?
“Oh my god! The RV!”
I spun around, Aiden still clinging to me. The RV was on fire. How the hell had that happened?
“Aiden, get down.”
He hopped down. I ran toward the RV, but he grabbed my arm.
“No! It’s useless.”
“Everything we own is in there!”
The fire was rapidly spreading, but I had to save something. Our devices were inside. Our food. With the RV up in flames, we were already at a disadvantage with nothing but our feet for transportation. In a fucking desert.
I shook Aiden’s arm off and ran toward the vehicle. An angry boom splintered the windows. The force of power behind it lifted me off my feet and slammed me into the ground. Blackness threatened to engulf me.
A ringing in my ear had me shaking my head. The wilderness transformed into heavy, oppressive air. All around me, men were running, shouting as explosions and gunfire erupted around us.
No, this isn’t the present. This isn’t now.
But I couldn’t keep the memories at bay. Flashbacks from that day swept into my head as I struggled to get up from the ground: gunfire, screams from injured comrades I needed to reach… to save. But my right side was on fire.
With a hoarse cry, I beat at the flames while the world around me turned black.
As consciousness slowly returned, I found myself lying on the ground, disoriented and groggy.
My throat felt raw, as if I had been screaming.
My vision cleared, and Aiden’s face materialized.
His eyes were red-rimmed and filled with worry.
Soot streaked his cheeks. My gun was in his small, trembling hands.
“Jackson!” Aiden cried, relief clear in his voice. “You’re awake!”
I struggled to sit up, but pain shot through my side. I looked around, trying to make sense of our surroundings. In the distance, the RV, no longer on fire, was charred and covered with dirt.
“What happened?” I rasped, my voice hoarse. “How did I get all the way over here?”
“I had to drag you.” He sniffled. “I was afraid the fire would spread. When you wouldn’t wake up, I didn’t know what to do.”
A mix of emotions—gratitude, pride, and a tinge of guilt—overwhelmed me for exposing my stepson to such danger. But in that moment, as I spotted the determination and bravery in his eyes, immense pride swelled inside me.
“And the RV? The fire’s out. You put it out?”
He nodded. “With dirt. It was the only thing there’s plenty of in this godforsaken desert.”
“You remembered?”
We’d been camping when he was fourteen. I’d turned my back for a second, only for him to come running. He’d pulled a stick out, and it’d fallen on a dry bush. That day, I’d taught him that when no water was available, sand or dirt could put out a fire.
I’d never thought he would remember such details.
Aiden nodded. “I never forget what you tell me.”
Including all the horrible things I’d said to him to push him away, convincing myself that loathing him was better than wanting him because what did it say about me that I couldn’t get my stepson out of my mind? That I had intense, carnal thoughts about him?
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
“Stay put for a day and hope someone saw the fire.”
“And if they didn’t?”
“Then we’ll have to rescue ourselves.” I rose to my feet and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Who would have thought this spoiled, childish boy would be so incredibly brave and save the day?
Just as I’d feared, there was a lot more to him than the shallow guy who chased dicks around.
Life would be so much simpler if he were.
He’d saved my life. If he hadn’t held me back, I would have been caught in the blast.
“You did well, Aiden,” I said, my throat choking up as I acknowledged what he was to me. No matter how much I wished otherwise, he was my stepson. I had to deal with it. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“I had no choice. I’ve said I hated you a lot of times, but I actually don’t. I should never have said that.”
“It’s all right.” I’d said horrible things too. “We have more pressing concerns.”
How to get the hell out of this desert alive?
And as fast as possible. Aiden wasn’t built to withstand these dire circumstances like I could.
He couldn’t be exposed to the elements for too long.
If it’d taken us over an hour to drive to this spot from the RV park we’d passed, it’d take us days on foot.
But it was our best bet since I’d deliberately driven to this spot because the trail wasn’t popular.
It could be months before anyone found us out here.