Chapter 9 #3
Cass laughs and runs off, taking advantage of his legs being longer than mine, but I’m not far behind him.
Gathering a fallen branch with a swoop of his arm, he turns toward me with the piece of wood raised above his head as if it were a massive sword.
But as he moves, ready to fight me off, my gaze settles on a pale shape on the other shore of the creek, and my stomach drops.
This can’t fucking be, but a mountain lion the size of a large, crouching man emerges from behind a rock, staring at my best friend.
“Cass, look to your left very, very slowly,” I say, freezing in place with my stomach so tight I'm getting nauseated. Within seconds, we are in the kind of danger that makes my mind razor-sharp. I want to jump in front of Cass and run all at once.
I have no idea what to do, but I now wish I also had a branch to hit the wild cat with if need be instead of a bunch of leaves. Even a rock would have been better.
He does as told and turns to face me again as soon as he spots the animal. “Oh fuck. Stay calm,” he says but raises both arms now. I follow his example, dropping the leaves as my stomach retracts, pressing to my spine.
"How the fuck am I supposed to stay calm?" It comes out as a whimper. Do whimpers attract mountain lions? I have no fucking clue.
“It’s okay, there’s two of us, so it’s not likely to attack.
Make yourself look bigge—don’t bend or crouch,” he adds sharply when I look down in search for a branch of my own.
“Don’t turn your back at him either. We’ll slowly retrace our steps facing it.
It’s gonna be fine,” he says, calming me with that velvety voice, even though I’m sure he’s never encountered a mountain lion either.
The wild cat is massive, at least a hundred and sixty pounds, and if it chose to attack us, things might turn out very badly.
“What the hell is he doing here?” I whisper as Cass takes a step back to join me.
“They’re rare in Indiana, but there are sightings. As majestic as this one is, I can’t wait to be back in the car.”
I wish I could just admire this beast, but I’m losing my shit, and only Cass’s presence is helping me stay sane. It follows us with attentive eyes and I pray to God there’s no cubs around. I don’t even know when they breed.
“Fuck… Fuck… Cass, I need you to be honest,” my voice trembles. “How likely is it that it attacks? Only true facts, please.”
He’s at my side, and the warmth of him takes the edge off my fear, though I barely keep in a shriek when the cougar leaps over the creek, following us.
“Not likely. It’s alone, and we’re two big dudes. It’s gonna be fine,” he says, and his fingers grasp mine as we move in unison, with him doing the course correcting while I stare at the predator who, despite Cass’s reassuring words, keeps trailing us.
“What do we do if it does attack? Play dead?” I utter, holding one arm up to make myself seem bigger and squeezing Cass’s hand so tightly I’m afraid I might break his fingers.
“No, we fight it. We’ll use your jacket for protection, because it’s so thick, and I’ll hit it with the stick, and we’ll go for the eyes first,” he babbles, but there’s a raspy edge to his voice as he squeezes back. “You and me against this one beast? It can’t not work.”
He makes me believe it despite the mountain lion baring its teeth for a split second. Is it hungry? Desperate? Hopefully not enough, because in this moment I realize that if it attacked, I’d step right in front of Cass, to protect him from those sharp claws.
Our slow, backward trek is endless. Every second feels like an hour, and my nerves are in tatters, but Cass’s strong grip anchors me.
He’s the only thing keeping me from turning around and running.
My logic knows I wouldn’t stand a chance in such a chase, but my instincts beg me to go as far and as fast as I can manage.
By the time we reach the parking lot, I’m drenched in sweat, and while I love Cass’s old Jeep, I want to curse it for not having an electronic key.
We can no longer see the cougar, and I expect it to come at us out of nowhere, but at last, my hip touches the cold step of the vehicle.
In goes the key, and several excruciating seconds later, we lock ourselves in, so overcome with shock that for a moment neither of us says anything.
I pant like an animal and seek his hand again even though we’re out of immediate danger. “Can I still hold your hand for a bit?” I ask, despite my embarrassment. I’m no coward, but this has to be as close to death as I have ever come in my life.
“Yes, thank you,” he responds and squeezes his sweaty hand around mine. “Fucking hell. It’s a miracle we were so close to the parking lot!”
It takes time for my breathing to slow down, but then I let out a laugh fueled by adrenaline. “My mom would kill me if I died like this.”
“I would have killed myself if you died because I felt like going on a hike with you,” Cass mumbles and rubs his face with his free hand. He’s so tense I want to give him a massage.
Is that a gay thought?
I’ve got no idea.
I chuckle. “Oh, Cass… You held your shit together. I didn’t even know if I should run or play dead.”
His eyes open as he rolls his head over the backrest and looks at me. Fuck, stubble is so hot on him, and after being in what felt like grave danger, I feel the attraction even more strongly, as if my body is telling me that I might miss out if I don’t mate right about now.
“What a clash with mortality, right?” he asks.
I nod and relax my grip on his hand without letting go. “Any new items on your bucket list?”
He nods, smiling. “I don’t know how, but I am gonna find the troll.”
I don’t know why I was hoping for him to say he wants to kiss me.