Chapter 17
“MISS INDEPENDENT” BY NE-YO
Sometimes, the crunching of leaves underneath my bicycle tires mimicked the sound of my first hitting the walls of my uncle’s barn stalls. I was addicted to the way my heart pulsed as I flew down the hiking trails just east of Coven.
I needed to clear my head, and Amanda wanted me to try exercising Lukas more to work on his impulse control.
It was a win-win for Lukas and me. While I could get every ounce of energy out of me, my Doberman could burn his spazzes out.
Besides, there wasn’t hope for my lying in bed all weekend, waiting for the memories of the gun I held to Quinntessa’s head to fade away on their own.
Spending a little time with the dog wouldn’t hurt.
I took deep breaths with each pump of the petal.
An occasional bark came from Lukas beside me as he flew down the trail along the woods, his dumb tongue hanging out of his mouth.
The burning in my calves reminded me of the aches in my legs from crouching with a bow in the woods, waiting for men to run by in hunting exercises.
The old hiking trails weren’t often used during the chillier months. The October chills played with my senses around the rare sunny days, keeping Indiana afloat from the approaching cold fronts.
Light pink strands whisked rapidly by with each twist and turn around the trail. Every ray of available sunshine peeked through the canopies above my head. Years ago, Anastasia would warn me about biking downhill too fast, especially on trails marked for runners, but I couldn’t have cared less.
I needed the escape. I needed the control. I needed the freedom.
My black and silver bike wasn’t built for the trails, but it toughed it out as I neared the bottom of the downward winding path. I could buy a better bike, but then I’d have to find another handrail and seat that fit as perfectly as this one.
As the gravel at the bottom approached, I groaned in frustration when my Doberman soared down the wrong path at the fork in the road. He continued sprinting up and out of sight over the hill, his little nubby tail disappearing.
“Lukas!” I shouted.
My brakes squealed as I tried to slow down and give him time to catch up. I craned my neck in search of him, but he was long gone.
That little fucker. I swore, he was more trouble than he?—
When I faced back to the trail, someone came running at full speed around a large tree trunk near the water.
I cut my wheel to the left and attempted to save myself in the collision. The gravel caught the front wheel of my bike and threw me forward as the momentum carried me over the handlebars. In all my years, I had never fallen off my bike.
Let alone into the river.
A yelp was ripped from my chest as my shoulder slammed into the sliding loose pebbles along the edge of Miller River. I rolled down the bank, landing in the shallow end of the fast-moving waters with a loud slash.
“Oh my—What are you doing?”
I lifted my head and groaned when I realized who was picking themselves up from the dirt. Here I was, biking through the woods to avoid thinking about her, and Quinntessa Dawson just happened to be going for a run this morning.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I asked, standing in the water and yanking my phone from my pocket. Its black screen taunted me as I tapped the glass, pressing every button I could. “You have got to be kidding me! I just got this.”
“It’s a bike-free trail.” Quinntessa brushed herself off.
“It’s a bike-free trail when I’m not on it.” I scoffed and dragged my feet through the water to the end of the river. “You broke my phone.”
“Take some responsibility,” she spat, shoving my bike closer to me with her foot. “You could have hurt yourself a lot worse than falling in the river. It’s a bike-free trail because it’s a dangerous spot for bikes. It’s to keep?—”
“I have a mother, but thank you for being so concerned about me.” I stepped up onto the bank and went to shoot her my signature smirk, but the earth underneath me betrayed me.
The rocks on the side of the river tumbled down into the water, and the chunk of land I once stood on broke apart. It pulled my foot down with it, sending me off balance and back into the water.
I hit the ground butt first and groaned as pain shut up my tailbone. My eyes slowly raised when I heard Quinntessa giggling.
“I could die in this river,” I reminded her. “It’s a dangerous river.”
“You could die biking on a trail not made for bikes.” Mustang smirked. “You make dangerous choices because you’re dangerously unaware of your surroundings.”
“Oh, I’m unaware of my surroundings?” I pulled myself up and out of the water, this time making it up the bank.
“I think I said that, yeah.” Quinntessa brushed the loose curls framing her face out of her eyes and fought off a smile.
I took the chance to really take in her attire while she was distracted by her amusement.
Her hair was a little frizzy in a high ponytail, two strands of curls framing her face.
There was a light amount of make up over Quinntessa’s face and that heart icon by her eye.
Her lashes were long and full, and her eyes were a brighter shade from this distance, under the beaming rays of the sun creeping through the trees.
I was lucky enough to get a closer peek at her army green joggers with the elastic ankles.
I’d seen her jog by Erica’s house a few times in them.
Her ass was fucking amazing. Though now that I was standing in front of her, I thought about the way they hung snuggly on her hips a little more.
It complimented the natural curves of her body.
Quinntessa’s face was flushed pink. Her pastel pink, long sleeve hoodie stuck out to keep her signature color trend going. I had yet to see her without a speck of red or pink since we met.
She stepped forward to meet me halfway, a hesitant smile on her lips. It was at this distance I noticed she was holding her arm to her stomach, a slight reddish color smeared on her hoodie.
“You’re hurt.” I reached for her arm, but she pulled away. “Mustang, cough it up. Let me see.”
“I can handle my own, but I appreciate you being kind after breaking the rules of the trail,” Quinntessa said all in one breath, still holding her arm from me.
I walked toward her again and frowned when she backed up from me.
“Let me see your arm,” I insisted.
“No,” she stubbornly declined. “I-I’m heading home anyway. I’ll be fine.”
I curiously eyed her as she backed up from me toward the trail. Making a quick decision, I grabbed my bike handles and pulled it up from the gravel, bent squeaky wheel and all. I fell into line with her and walked toward the trail.
“I was heading out too anyway.” I smirked when she rolled her eyes. “I can escort you. Maybe a step or two behind will be fine, so I can make sure no one sneaks up on you.”
I made a point of dropping my eyes to tease her. The usual smirk I used on girls didn’t work this time as Quinntessa broke out into another fit of giggles.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Quinntessa stopped walking, sending me a stern squint.
“No.” I didn’t waste a moment to reply. “I think you’re very smart. It’s the attitude that puts me off.”
I turned to face her and frowned at the way she anxiously held her arm close to her body. Carefully, I reached out for her wrist and sighed in relief when she let me take a look.
“I’m okay. It happens more than I’d like to admit.” Quinntessa insisted. Her eyes lowered to her shoes, embarrassed by whatever had happened. “I fell on the trail earlier. Wrong step.”
Her arm was scrapped up from falling on the gravel. Not to the point of needing stitches, but badly enough that her hoodie was torn. Blood trickled down her arm as I carefully examined the small, catlike scratches along her soft skin.
The tip of my finger traced down the scratch.
Her eyes stuck to the side of my face as I swiped a droplet of blood away from her arm with my thumb.
Another rolled down, faster this time. My finger brushed it away from her silky flesh.
Her skin was sweet as nectar, and her curious eyes settled into my soul.
Without thinking, I brought my finger to my mouth to clean her blood off me. My thumb itched to caress her knuckles. I settled my thoughts and gently tucked my fingers under hers, meeting her surprised eyes.
“That’s a little gross.” Yankee Doo blushed. “I could have an STD.”
“Do you?” I asked, her fingers stuck in mine.
“No.” Quinntessa rolled her eyes. “But I could. That’s the point. You don’t just go?—”
“Enough.” I rolled my eyes and groaned dramatically. “No need to school me. You should have said something about your arm.”
“No offense, Quinn, but I can handle my own.” Quinntessa took her hand back and turned away, fixing her loose hair behind her ears. Her face, already flushed pink from the cold, turned a deeper red. “It’s only a scratch.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but movement over Quinntessa’s shoulder caught my attention. Lukas was making his way back over through the woods. He curiously stalked down the hill where I was standing at the bottom of the opposite pathway with Quinntessa.
“Right, well, you should go clean that!” I insisted, lightly turning the girl toward the hill. “I’ll see you later. Wear a bell next time you’re down here.”
“You’re not?—”
“No, I’m going to ride the trails now that you’re leaving.
” I waited for her to give me her signature frustrated face.
Her nose scrunched and her fanned brows pulled together.
I flashed her a cocky smile and chuckled.
“I’m kidding. Go home, Dawson. Hasn’t anyone taught you how dangerous it is to leave blood trails in the woods? ”
Quinntessa looked down at her arm and shrugged. She took a few steps away from me and stopped. She turned as if she had more to say but opted to weakly smile and continue up the hill.
I watched her jog up at a decent pace, turning the corner in time before Lukas appeared in the trees. He tried to bolt after her, but I hissed a command in Russian and halted him in his tracks. The blueish-black Doberman pranced in my direction, his tongue fumbling out of his mouth.
“You can smell over a mile away, but you couldn’t tell me she was here?” I scoffed. “Useless. You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Lukas’s tail wagged happily. He spun in a circle, sitting back down quick before I could correct him.
“You bastard.”