53. Chapter 53
Chapter 53
VIVIAN
M y patience lasts approximately three days.
Declan sends minimal responses to my texts and does not take my calls. I also start to go stir-crazy in the tiny cabin, and have read all of the books that are in it. I get angrier by the minute, and I make up scenarios in my head of how I will demand he return me to civilization when and if he ever comes back.
I walk around the cabin multiple times a day, but I’m a city girl, and the noises scare me. I get brave on this third day though, fueled by my anger, most likely, and go farther on one of the paths by the house. I find a creek down a small hill, and I kick off my flip-flops and walk into the cool, slowly flowing water. I shut my eyes and inhale the fresh air as the sun pours down on me and the cool water rushes over my feet. I feel a peace I haven’t felt in days.
I enjoy the serene feeling for a few minutes before I hear something that draws my attention back to the here and now. Someone is shouting. I run back up the path toward the cabin and see a car there. I freeze, not recognizing the vehicle, and then I hear the shouting again. It’s my name, being bellowed from inside the house.
I go to the door and run into Declan, who grabs me and pulls me into him. “Holy fuck,” he says, squeezing me. “I thought someone took you,” he mumbles into my hair. I can hear his heart hammer in his chest, and he moves me back. “Where were you?” he demands.
“I went down to the creek on the trail—”
He pulls me to him again. “I’m so glad you are okay.”
The peace that I always have with him is there, but I can’t just focus on that. “Declan, we have to talk.”
“Okay,” he says, still holding me in his arms.
I twist out of his hold and go to one of the rocking chairs on the small porch. I need to be out of his arms and not connected to him. It messes with my frequency. Declan walks over and leans against one of the posts of the porch.
“What do you want to talk about?”
I balk at him and his idiotic question. “Declan, you left me here,” I say. “You just dropped off the face of the earth and didn’t give me the time of day. I’m not real fucking happy to see you!”
“I’m sorry,” he says, looking one hundred percent not sorry, “but—”
“Don’t you fucking feed me some line of bull about keeping me safe, or that it was what’s best for me.”
“I’m here to take you home,” he interrupts. I just stare at him. “I came to bring you back.”
I sit glued in place, wondering if I should still push for more information. I am geared up and ready for the fight I had anticipated us having. But honestly, I just want to get the fuck out of here. “Okay,” I say, and get up to go and get my things.
I come back outside in less than two minutes and get into the minivan that Declan brought to get me. I honk the horn when he just stays on the porch. He turns and locks the cabin door and then gets inside the car with me. Neither of us says a thing.