The Beekeeper

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

ARLOW

My sleep was restless and I’m on my second cup of coffee when Lee texts me.

Lee

Wake up. I need a ride from Silver’s place.

Lee doesn’t date or do relationships but unlike me, he isn’t a stranger to random one night stands. Lacey must’ve dropped them both off at Silver’s. I’m not surprised, but I’m not going to miss the opportunity to fuck with him.

Me

Wrong number.

Lee

Arlow I swear to fuck.

Me

How bad were you if she won’t give you a ride home?

Lee

Her car is at Calli’s. Someone picked her up for work. Just get your ass over here.

Me

On my way.

It’s quiet over at Calli’s cabin when I leave. She’s likely still asleep. I’ll catch up with her later to apologize for last night and say goodbye before she leaves for the next few days.

Lee stalks down the steps the second I pull into Silver’s driveway. “She put me out on the porch like a damn cat!”

The indignance in his voice is hilarious. “It’s probably a little early in the relationship to give you a key. Don’t worry, you’ll get there.”

He pulls open the driver’s side door as I slide over into the passenger seat. “Frustrating ass woman!”

My phone buzzes as we back out of the driveway, and I’m surprised to see Calli’s number. She always texts. As soon as I accept the call and before I can say a word, her panicked voice is in my ear.

“Arlow! There’s a man in the woods. He’s following me.”

Her shout was loud enough for Lee to overhear, and he jerks his head to look at me, then makes a quick turn toward my place.

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know.” Her words are filled with despair and interrupted by her heavy breathing. “I got lost. I’m heading north and I think I’m behind my cabin but I’m not sure!”

“Keep running. Keep going. We’re right around the corner, do you hear me? I’ll be right there. Can you see him?”

“No, I might have lost him. I don’t know.” Her voice cuts in and out as the signal falters. “Please hurry.” The terror in her pleading tone tears a strip from my heart.

“Stay on the phone with me.” Lee already has the pedal to the floor, but it doesn’t stop me from shouting at him. “Hurry the fuck up!”

Her next words are chopped into unintelligible pieces before the call disconnects completely. “Goddamn it!” I dial her back and get sent straight to voicemail three times.

Lee makes the turn onto my road and floors it again while I curse myself for not having my gun in the glovebox. After our vehicles were broken into before, it didn’t seem like a good idea to keep it there. “Do you have your pistol?”

“Yes, do you have any idea who might be out there?”

“I told you Chris Handleman is free. I don’t think—I didn’t think he would, but…” My fingers scrape through my hair. “I don’t know. If he touches her, if anyone touches her, I’ll fucking bury them.” I’m nothing but turmoil, ready to burst out of my skin. She’s out there alone and terrified, being pursued through the woods like prey. If she’s hurt, I’ll plant whoever is responsible in my graveyard before the night is through. “Just get to her.”

Lee slows a little when we near my place and I bark at him, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“If she’s lost and running north, I don’t want to hit her if she pops out of the woods onto the road.”

It’s a good point, but the last quarter mile seems to take forever before he turns into our shared driveway while I keep trying to get a call to go through. It finally rings through as we park in front of the cabin. “There she is!” Lee exclaims, pointing to our left.

Calli emerges from the trees on the east side of her cabin, and I run toward her. She barrels into my chest, throwing her arms around me. Her heart hammers between us as she gasps out her words between heavy breaths. “I don’t know…where he is.”

I hug her tight then hold her out at arms length, so I can look her over. A thin rivulet of blood runs down the side of her neck and there’s a tear in the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”

The shake of her head is a relief. “He never caught up with me. I saw him start toward me and I took off.”

Her slight injuries are from running full speed through the unforgiving forest.

Lee has his gun in his hand, glancing around us, and paying special attention to the area where Calli exited the woods. “Did you see what he looked like?”

“He’s wearing a ski mask.”

He looks over at me, his assessment clear in his expression. No one up to any good is going to be out in the woods in a mask.

“I need to grab my gun and we’ll search the woods,” I tell him, still holding onto Calli’s arms. Before he can respond, a motor bursts to life near my barn. We all spin around to look while I shove Calli behind me.

My ATV charges across my backyard, briefly disappears into the thin line of trees then emerges on the road. “Keep her safe,” I order Lee, darting for my truck. Calli calls my name, but I’m focused on catching up to this guy. I need to know who it is. Especially if it’s Handleman.

By the time I get into my truck and out on the road, the motor is no longer audible. There’s no sign of him and it’s impossible to know where he may have turned off into the woods or onto someone else’s property. Damn it. After driving the length of road twice, I stop and slap the steering wheel in frustration.

Adrenaline courses through me at the fear I felt for Calli mixed with the outright rage that someone would dare come after her. If it’s because of me, I’ll never forgive myself.

Calli and Lee wait beside her car when I return. “I couldn’t find him.”

“You only saw one person?” Lee clarifies.

Calli nods. “That was the same guy. With the mask and denim jacket. I guess he must not have been chasing me, but I swear, he stared at me and started in my direction, so I ran.”

“He’s not doubting you,” I reassure her.

Lee shakes his head. “Not at all, but we need to have a look around and make sure there’s no one else. Just because he didn’t pursue you after you ran doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.”

“First, get the cops out here.”

Lee frowns, looking over at me. “For trespassing? They aren’t going to do anything.”

“I know, but that was my ATV. They can at least take a report in case it shows up for sale or at the pawn shops. It might help us figure out who it was.”

“Oh shit. Alright. Let’s go check if anything else is missing first.”

Lee’s right. Calling the police is largely a waste of time. The same cop who showed up when our cars were vandalized, Officer Fulton, arrives and takes Calli’s statement. The flippant way he talks to her is infuriating, like she’s a hysterical woman who got frightened in the woods.

“So, he wasn’t following you then?” he says, writing in his notebook. Keeping his head down, he raises his eyes to look at her.

“I guess he wasn’t since he couldn’t have made it over to the barn without us seeing him.”

“Mm Hmm. And when you believed you were being chased, why did you call your neighbor instead of nine-one-one?” A hint of accusation resides in his tone.

“My phone couldn’t keep a signal and when I saw it had service again, I just…I don’t know,” she confesses. “He was the first person I thought of.”

Those words wrap around me, squeezing tight. In her blinding fear and panic, she wanted me .

“We got here a hell of a lot faster than you would have,” I point out. “Why wouldn’t she call her neighbor?”

“Just trying to ascertain what took place.” He flips his notebook shut. When Calli excuses herself and walks toward her cabin, Officer Fulton regards me. “Do you think she might’ve had a part in this?”

The question stuns me, and he stares at me while I blink at him. “What? She was standing right in front of me when the guy rode off with my ATV.”

His expression says I might be the dumbest person in existence. “I’m sure she has friends. It wouldn’t be hard to make up a damsel in distress story to distract you while her buddy does his thing. Seen it a million times.”

It’s so ridiculous. “I wasn’t home. Why would she call for me to return then? He could’ve just taken it and I wouldn’t have known.”

“I couldn’t tell you, but I know I’ve been out here twice since she moved in, and you never had any trouble before.” He starts back toward his squad car, calling back over his shoulder. “You can pick up the police report in two days if you need it for insurance purposes. You know the routine.”

Lee glances over at me and shakes his head.

“What?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“Don’t say it or do it. Whatever you’re thinking.”

“Fucking prick,” I mumble. “I need to get some cameras and trail cams. I don’t know if this was Handleman but twice doesn’t feel random.”

“Get your gun and let’s have a look around.”

Calli insists on going with us back into the forest. It’s fine by me. I don’t want to let her out of my sight. She leads us back to where she saw him and a few footprints are visible in the soft earth, but it’s impossible to tell which way he came from or headed. A further search of the woods and fields turns up nothing.

As we’re crossing my front yard, an unfamiliar truck turns into the driveway and Calli wraps her hand around my arm, stopping in her tracks as it veers off to park in front of her house. Before any of us can say anything, Silver gets out of the passenger side. The driver gives a wave and drives away.

With a relieved sigh, Calli lets go of me and jogs down the driveway to meet her friend. Judging by the flying hand gestures and Silver’s reactions, she’s filling her in on everything that just happened.

Lee glances over at me as we take our time catching up to them. I’m sure he didn’t expect to see Silver again so soon. “You can wipe that smirk off.”

If he thinks I’m not having fun with this, he doesn’t know me at all. “This is my normal face.”

Silver turns and crosses her arms, leaning against the bumper of her truck. “Imagine seeing you here.”

“I found him abandoned on a doorstep. In the Arms of an Angel was playing on his phone. It was pitiful,” I tell her before Lee can speak.

Calli turns her head, but not quickly enough to hide her laugh.

Lee ignores me and steps closer to her. “I thought you had to work.”

“I got off early. You know how that is.” Silver’s lips twitch up.

“The hell I do.”

“Okay,” Calli says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward her cabin. “We’ll give you two a minute.”

“Hey, things were just getting good!”

“Let them work through that day after awkwardness.” She picks up the bag that she discarded on her porch while we were waiting on the cops, and I follow her inside.

I’m surprised to see her pull the cardboard urn of ashes from the bag and return it to her mantel. That’s what she was doing in the woods today? I hate that she was interrupted doing something that must’ve already been hard for her. “You were going to scatter your mother’s ashes?” I ask softly.

Her only response is an absent nod before she ducks into the kitchen. She returns with two bottles of water, handing me one.

“I’ll go with you if you want, to spread the ashes.”

“Thanks, but I’ll wait.” Her tone is firm and it’s clear she doesn’t want to talk about it. “I’m sorry about your ATV.”

“It’s alright. I’ll get another one if it isn’t found. I’m just glad you’re okay. That scared the shit out of me.”

“It was terrifying, but I made it worse thinking he was after me and then getting lost. I am clearly not good in an emergency. At least I didn’t twist my ankle or fall. I’d hate to be a cliché.”

“Hey.” I pull her into a hug, unable to get close enough to her after the scare. “You did exactly what you should’ve done. But how would you feel about getting a gun?”

“I will when I get back from my trip.”

“Good. I’m going to get some trail cams set up. We should put some cameras at our front and back doors if thieves are going to become a problem for us. I can look into which ones work well and order them while you’re gone.”

“That’s a good idea. You can let me know what I owe you for mine.” She peeks out the window at our friends and chuckles. “I think it’s safe to go out.”

Silver waves when we get out to the porch and calls to Calli. “I’m going to take Lee home. I’ll text you later.”

“Look, she did the chivalrous thing after all,” I tease him.

“I don’t know. She might put me out on the side of the road.”

“Only if you keep talking shit.” They start toward Silver’s truck, the argument continuing when Lee announces, “I’m driving.”

“You are not driving my truck!”

Calli and I look at each other, and she grins. “Your friend has met his match.”

“I could say the same thing.” I nod toward the truck, where Silver has handed over her keys and opened the passenger door. “I want you to stay with me tonight.”

She blinks at me. “I doubt the thief is going to come right back.”

“I know.” Her anxiety shows in the way she keeps fingering a lock of her hair and pacing around. She’s not okay, only pretending to be. “But you leave for a few days in the morning anyway, and I’ll sleep better tonight knowing you’re down the hall just in case.”

Her lips curl up a little as she averts her gaze. “Alright, but you have to let me pick up dinner.”

“Deal. Now, I need to go check the hives and harvest the last of the honey for this year. You’re recruited to help.”

All I want to do is wipe away that tense look on her face and it’s a good way to distract her, maybe help her forget the day she’s had, but it isn’t only for her benefit. The terror in her eyes when she ran to me earlier won’t get out of my head. I need to keep her close to me.

Calli watches as I load the necessary tools into the steel wagon and wheel it out of the shed. “Can I pull it?”

“Sure, but it might be too heavy when we get to the hill.”

“Psh, you underestimate me.” Her eyes twinkle with amusement as she takes the handle, and we start toward the graveyard. “After this, I need to get packed for tomorrow.”

“Are you excited?”

A brilliant smile raises her cheeks. “So excited. I love festivals, and I haven’t seen my concert friends for a long time.”

“Tell me about your friends.” We wind our way through the gravestones, the wagon rolling easily, until we get to the base of the hill. It takes about three steps for her to realize the wagon is heavier than it looks, but she doesn’t complain.

“There are twelve of us that keep in touch online, but we don’t all go to every event, of course. Freya, Leo, and Calvin are going to this one with me. They’re kind of my little group within the group, I guess. We hit more of the concerts in this part of the country. They’re a lot of fun. Sometimes Freya’s aunt Helen joins us—she’s in her sixties and has seen about every band you can think of live. She’s supposed to be there on the third night.”

The jealousy that strikes at the sound of the men’s names is sudden and sharp. Does she share a room with them? A bed? It’s none of my business, but I have to bite my tongue not to ask. She’s slowing down, struggling with the wagon. “You alright?”

“Fine.”

“Stubborn ass,” I chuckle, grabbing the handle.

She flashes a grin at me and moves her hand a little so mine can fit tucked alongside hers. We crest the top of the hill and continue down the other side through the field of clover, stopping when the hives come into view.

“Okay, time to suit up.”

She dresses in the suit then picks up the gloves. “Will you help with these?”

The memory of how she melted against me when I touched her last night won’t stop running through my head, how she shivered when I kissed her neck. My mouth dries out when she looks up at me expectantly until I take the gloves. “I’ve got you.” Zipping her hood closed first is a self-preservation to keep me from kissing those lips.

She hasn’t mentioned anything about the moment we had, probably dismissing it as a drunken mistake. Mistake, yes, but my attraction to her has nothing to do with alcohol.

Once we’re both suited up, we continue to the hives. “Okay, these are for you,” I tell her, handing her the smoker and the bee brush. Picking up the hive tool, I move the wagon a little closer and open the storage container for the filled frames.

“Go ahead and start smoking them while I take the lid off. We want to keep them nice and calm.”

She stays right at my side, bathing them in smoke. “Are those stuck?”

“That’s what this is for. You have to go slow and easy.” She watches as I use the hive tool to pry a frame free and pull it out.

“Oh wow, that’s full.” The awe in her voice is almost as cute as her expression. She loves this.

“Yep, they’ve been busy. Okay, take the brush and sweep the bees off the cells. Gently. They’ll take off when the bristles touch them.”

Her face crumples into a look of concentration, her tongue peeking through her lips as she follows my directions. “Perfect. Now give them some more smoke.”

As she does that, I place the frame in the storage box. We continue through the rest of the frames the same way. “Will they survive the winter?” she asks.

“Sure. They have plenty of nectar and honey stored. We’ll check on them and if they do run low, I can feed them some nectar patties to help, especially if spring comes late.” She watches me secure the lid on the storage container. “We have to cover this because they will come after their honey.”

“You can’t blame them.” She holds the smoker up like a gun. “We’re robbing them at smoke point.”

“Do you think they’re up here plotting their revenge?”

“There’s a thought. What if they covered the house in honeycomb and trapped us inside?”

Chuckling, I put the lid on and grab the handle of the wagon, pulling it behind us as we put some distance between us and the hives. “I’m insulted that you think I couldn’t fight my way out of honeycomb.”

“They’d swarm over us and build a giant hive around the house. It’s a horror movie in the making.” Once we’re out of the danger zone, she spins around. “Are there any on me?”

“No. You’re good.”

We both strip out of the suits and deposit them in the wagon. Before we can get moving again, a honeybee appears and lands on her forearm. Most people’s instinct is to swat at them, but she doesn’t react that way or flinch. Instead, she watches as it crawls lazily down to her wrist, then grins at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a good look at a bee up close. Hey there, Bee-nadict. Don’t sting me, okay?”

“Bee-nadict?”

“Bee-nadict Honeybatch. Look how cute he is.”

“You’re cute.” The words spill out without forethought, and she gives me a shy glance. The bee flies off back toward the hives. “Okay, let’s get this to the shed before the rest of them get wind of it.”

She wraps her hand around the wagon handle beside mine again on the walk back. The shed has warmed up considerably in the hour since I turned the little space heater on. “Cold honey takes forever to spin, but fresh out of the hives like this and in a warm environment, it’ll require a lot less effort.”

“Put me to work,” she says, watching as I pull the top off the tangential extractor. I love how excited she is and I’m eager to teach her.

A single bee emerges from the storage box, flying straight at me. This one isn’t happy. As soon as it touches my neck, it stings me, getting caught in my skin for a second before I brush it off.

“Did it get you?” Calli asks, stepping up close to me.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

Her breath wafts over my neck as she looks closer. “Do you want me to get the stinger out?”

“You can try scraping your fingernail over it and see if that works. If not, I’ll get it later.”

She presses her hand on my head to tilt my neck and runs her finger tenderly over the swelling skin. Christ, her touch. So light and heavy at the same time. Her thumbnail scrapes over the sting and my eyes fall closed. Don’t get hard, for fuck’s sake.

“Am I hurting you?”

Such concern in her sweet voice. “No, Peach.” I’d cover myself in stingers to feel her hands on me.

Steadily, she runs her nail over the same spot until the stinger comes free. “Got it.” The tiny barb sits on her thumb as she holds it up to show me, then brushes it off. “You had them crawling all over your hands when you were pulling the frames but only got stung by a rogue stowaway.” I want to kiss the impish grin from her lips as she adds, “It made a beeline for you.”

“It was definitely a premeditated attack.” The air is thick with more than the heat as she looks up at me, and I know I’m not the only one who feels it. It takes me a few seconds to break away and step back to reach into the storage box again. “Alright, let me show you how to uncap them. Will you grab that black bucket?”

Propping the frame over the bucket, I take the large, flat knife and show her how to drag it across the surface to remove the beeswax. After flipping it over, I hand her the knife and she takes over, uncapping the other side and scraping the wax into the bucket. “A few of them aren’t covered in wax,” she observes.

“There are always some like that but as long as about eighty percent of the cells are capped, then it’s ready. If we take them too early with too many of them uncapped, it’ll be more nectar than honey, and that can ferment. So, you have to let it ripen to this point first.”

“Does it matter which way it goes in the extractor?”

“No, you spin one side then the other. Just slide it into the slot.”

With a wide grin, she grabs the next one, moves it over to the bucket and starts uncapping it. Once we get the extractor loaded with frames, I grab the honey bucket, set the strainer on top of it, and place it under the spout.

“Now turn the crank to spin the honey out. It’ll drip down and gather at the bottom.” I flip a five gallon bucket over and pat it. “You can sit here. I’ll take over when you get tired or bored of it.”

She turns the crank slowly, glancing at me.

“Faster, there you go. Just like that.” Her tongue makes an appearance again, tucked between her lips, and I don’t manage to cover my smile fast enough.

“What?” Continuing to crank, she regards me with a curious look. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. You’re doing great.”

She rolls her eyes, then narrows them at me. “You were laughing at me about something.”

“I wasn’t laughing. You stick your tongue out when you concentrate. It’s endearing.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “My teachers used to tease me about that when I was in school. It’s a habit I’ve never broken. Kind of like the way you dip your eyebrows and rub your collarbone when you’re trying to figure something out.”

“Touché.”

We take turns spinning all the frames while the honey slowly begins to ooze into the filter. “Okay. It’ll take a couple of hours for it to strain so we’re finished for now.”

“Then what’s the next step?” she asks, getting to her feet and stretching.

“That’s it. It goes from the honey bucket into jars.”

“This was fun. Maybe I’ll learn how to keep hives too. If I’m still here next summer, you could teach me how to get started.” Her last statement is more of a question accompanied by raised eyebrows as she waits for my response.

“If you’re still here?” Does she plan on leaving?

“I signed a year lease. I’ll have to decide then whether to stay, assuming Silver’s mom still wants a tenant.”

The overwhelming alarm I feel at the thought of her leaving is a huge flashing warning that I need to keep some distance between us. A warning I’m going to ignore. “I’d love to teach you.”