Chapter 6 #2
And since Connor made me leave my phone at my apartment, there isn’t any way to call for help even if I managed to get service up here—which is spotty, at best.
Shit.
He might have been joking about strapping me to the roof, but he sure as hell wasn’t about tying me up if he needs to. Something tells me this man would get some sick pleasure from that.
Which doesn’t leave me any choice…
I slowly turn to face him, only to find him looking straight ahead rather than at me at all. “Fine. I’m coming, but I want you to answer a question first.”
He turns his head toward me. “What’s that?”
“Why are you doing this?”
I don’t understand what he hopes to accomplish.
There’s no way he’s going to talk me out of doing this story, and we both know it, so I don’t understand what his goal is. It sure as hell isn’t “keeping me safe” like he said earlier.
Connor McBride doesn’t give two shits about what happens to me.
He shakes his head. “I wish I fucking knew. Now, get in.”
CONNOR
The higher I drive up the mountain in the small ATV, the more tense and thick the chilly night air between me and Raven grows. Only the sound of the engine breaks the uncomfortable silence, but I know she would be giving me an earful if she could.
She sure as hell did on the way to the homestead…
And she has every right to be pissed.
Fucking Christ.
What the hell am I doing?
I just grabbed Raven Perry and forced her to come with me. But it was like the moment she admitted that she was doing a story about the Lorells, something just snapped inside me and I knew what needed to happen.
She may not understand it. Even I don’t. She may hate me for it. And God knows she does. But this is the only way.
If I had left her sitting in her unlocked apartment writing this story, completely oblivious to the world around her like she always is, it would take no time for the Lorells to silence her permanently.
And for as often as I’ve wished Raven would just shut the hell up, the thought of that happening wasn’t something I could stomach.
I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, and in the moonlight streaming in front of the ATV, I can see her perfectly pink lips twisted in a scowl that seems permanent when I’m around her. With her arms crossed defiantly over her chest, she looks like she’s preparing for a fight.
She and I have perfected this dance over the years though, throwing verbal punches. Ducking and weaving around each other like prize fighters in a ring. But this is different now.
The game has changed.
It did the moment I took her from her apartment.
Her gaze remains locked on the trees passing on either side of us as we bump along the path that will end very soon. As soon as we get up to the river, we’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.
Even if the side-by-side could get up to where we’re going, I wouldn’t take it. And not just because I want Raven to have to suffer through the lengthy, arduous hike.
On foot, it will be much harder to track us.
I don’t want to leave any evidence, any trail for anyone to be able to follow.
We are going to disappear onto the mountain.
From the river, there are any number of places we could have gone, and no one, not even Killian and Liam, will be able to find us where I’m taking her.
Which is exactly how it needs to be.
If anyone knew, it would put them at risk, too.
They’ll worry when both of us disappear—and I don’t relish having to deal with the fallout after this is all over—but I won’t put anyone else in danger.
Knowing where we are would do just that by making them targets for anyone who might be trying to silence Raven and who are willing to do anything to find her.
I take a long, deep breath and release it, attempting to physically and mentally prepare myself for what’s about to happen as I stop the vehicle near where I plan to stash it but leave the engine running.
Raven glances at me, then scans around us. “Why’d we stop?”
“Because this is where we get out.”
“Here?” She tries to see through the inky darkness of the thick trees. “There’s nothing here.”
I motion ahead. “The river is about a mile that way.”
Her brows rise. “So, we’re going to the river?”
“No.” I shake my head. “This is just where we leave the ATV and switch to foot.”
She unbuckles her seatbelt. “I wasn’t joking, Connor. I don’t hike.”
Her incredulous tone grates on my already fried nerves.
“Well, you will tonight because I’m not carrying you up the fucking mountain.”
She scoffs. “As if I’d let you.”
Her earlier warning about not touching her rings loud and clear in my head.
She’s on her fucking own.
I bite back another retort as I round the vehicle and pull out my bag, tugging it onto my shoulders. The heavy weight settles there as Raven comes to stand across from me, hands on her hips, looking intensely pissed in the moonlight.
“I’m going to break an ankle out here at night, Connor.”
“Don’t do anything stupid and you’ll be fine.”
“No, I won’t.” She shakes her head, and her wildly windblown hair floats around her face flush from the drive. “I would’ve been fine if you had left me alone in my apartment, where I could, you know, take a shower, lay in my soft bed, and work on my story.”
I issue a low warning growl.
We are not having this debate right here.
We are not going to get into the discussion of her story and how fucking stupid it is for her to be writing it when we’re in the woods in the middle of the fucking night.
“Grab your shit. I have to move the ATV deeper into the brush to conceal it, and then we need to keep moving.”
Her brow furrows. “Why?”
“Because this is the time of night that the predators are out.”
Her back stiffens and she whips her head from side to side, searching the woods. “Like what?”
“Bobcats, bears, coyotes…”
Fear creeps into her gaze and she shudders. “And they’d attack us?”
“Maybe you.”
“Ha-fucking-ha, Connor.” Her voice cracks slightly. “Are you being serious?”
“Dead serious.”
Though, it isn’t the predators who live on McBride Mountain I’m actually worried about.
They’re mostly afraid of humans and avoid confrontation with us, when possible.
It’s the type of predators who came onto the homestead that night with nothing but killing in their heads and sinister intent filling their hearts that worry me.
I followed Raven easily to Atlanta…
And because I had no idea what she was up to, I didn’t even think to be concerned that someone else might have been doing the exact same thing.
I watched our backs the whole way to the homestead to ensure we weren’t being tailed, and there’s no way anyone came up behind the ATV without me knowing, but we need to get somewhere safe.
Fast.
“Get your stuff.”
She inches toward the back of the ATV and slowly reaches in to grab her stuff as she continues to scan around us, searching for any signs of danger.
I return to the driver’s seat and maneuver the small vehicle into a tight area of bushes and trees to the left of the barely visible trail where it will be less obvious should anyone come up looking.
I climb out and grab several large fallen branches from the surrounding area to try to help conceal it further, but anyone who comes looking will find it eventually.
When I get back to her waiting on the trail, her annoyance level hasn’t abated.
She taps her booted toe, her arms crossed and chin tipped up. “You understand how unhinged this is, don’t you?”
I snort. “Believe me, I do.”
What I’m doing makes sense in my head.
Sort of.
But if I said it out loud, it wouldn’t.
Not to her.
Raven won’t understand why this is necessary because she wasn’t there that night.
She didn’t see those commandos sneaking around the homestead with enough firepower to wipe out the entire town.
She didn’t see Brent Lorell’s brutality when he fought Liam in the barn.
So, whatever objections she will undoubtedly voice constantly every fucking second we’re stuck together won’t sway me.
Nothing will.
“Let’s go.”
I set out through the trees, making my way toward the river. We’ll cut across the large clearing near it before taking to the thicker forest, where the dense trees and other vegetation will help cover our trail.
Raven mutters an unintelligible curse behind me and follows, her heavy footsteps that sound more like stomping echoing through the night.
I learned long ago how to move through the woods undetected, but there isn’t any point with Bigfoot behind me making all the noise. “Are you trying to draw predators our way?”
She stops. “Doesn’t sound scare them off?”
I shake my head. “Not always. Some animals, like bears, are naturally curious. They may come to investigate.”
“Shit.”
The fact that Raven has spent her entire life living in McBride Mountain yet hasn’t bothered to learn a single thing about the wildlife that lives here shouldn’t surprise me.