Chapter 15 #3
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m taking over a hike for Dave and I need to get changed.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Go and do what you need to do, and I guess I’ll see you later.” She turned and walked away, and Nora felt a little guilty about brushing her off, but the last thing she wanted was to stand there talking about all the ways Milo kept letting her down.
By the time she met up with her group, her mind was fully focused on the hike and all the things they were going to do. All thoughts of Milo were carefully put aside.
At least…she hoped they were.
“Hey, everyone! I’m Nora and I’ll be your guide today,” she said cheerfully.
Her group consisted of five men and three women, who all looked to be in their twenties and seemed genuinely excited to go on the hike.
For the next few minutes, she went over all the safety rules, made sure everyone had what they needed in their packs, and that they digitally signed all the contracts and waivers that the resort required.
“Okay, now that we have all of that out of the way, I hear you’re all at the Lakeview Harbor Resort for a family reunion. That must be fun!”
She began leading them down the first path as everyone shared stories about how they decided to come here for the reunion, the things they’ve done so far, and how they’re all related to each other.
They seemed like a fun group, but about an hour into the hike, one of the guys—Kevin—fell into step beside her.
Normally that wouldn’t have bothered her, but the conversation jumped from flora and fauna to personal territory far too quickly.
“So, Nora, do you have a private cabin of your own here at the resort?”
Like she was going to tell him. “No,” she lied sweetly.
“Really? That’s got to be disappointing. All these cabins so close by and convenient and you have to drive into town?” he prompted. “Got an apartment there?”
Ignoring the question, she turned to the group.
“This area of the state is home to black bears, cougars, bobcats, coyotes, porcupines, and a variety of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. Black bears can be found on nearly every mountain in the region, which has the highest black bear population in New York State. Cougars and bobcats have been spotted much less frequently, but you should always be very aware of your surroundings.”
“Have you ever seen any black bears, Nora?” one cousin asked.
“I have,” she agreed as she kept her gaze forward. “It’s important that you’re always looking around, and if you see one, it’s equally important not to panic.”
“What should you do?” someone else asked.
“You should pull the person closest to you close,” Kevin said, hauling Nora into his arms with a smarmy laugh. “And use them as a shield!”
Panic hit her hard for a brief second before she elbowed him in the ribs. He dropped her, but when she turned to him, she could see he wasn’t amused. “First of all, don’t ever do anything like that again, understand?”
Stony silence. Even the cousins were stunned speechless.
“Second, you never use anyone as a shield—or touch them without their permission,” she said carefully, even though all she wanted to do was haul off and throat punch him.
“And lastly, if you see a black bear,remain calm, don’t run, and avoid direct eye contact.
Make yourself look large, make loud noises like clapping and shouting, and back away slowly to give the bear space.
If the bear approaches, stand your ground and use bear spray.
Don’t throw food at it or try to climb a tree. They will follow.”
And with that, she turned and resumed the hike, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Kevin. That worked fine on the rest of the way up, but when they stopped for a break before heading down, he came over to her again.
“Hey, listen,” he began sweetly, “I didn’t mean any disrespect earlier. I’m sort of the joker in the family, so…I hope we’re cool.”
He seemed sincere, but she’d been in this sort of situation before and knew they rarely were.
“I appreciate you saying that, but I’d prefer it if you just stayed closer to your cousins for the rest of the hike.” She used her professional tone that should have relayed that she was all-business, but he merely smirked at her before nodding and walking away.
While she had a moment to herself, she took out her walkie-talkie and walked a few feet away from the group.
“It’s Nora. Over.” She let out a long breath and simply said, “Dragonfly.”
She knew Slater had a walkie-talkie with him, and Lexi always had one on in the lodge office. Dave would usually have one, but he was probably on his way home now.
Dammit.
For the next few minutes, they finished their snacks and drinks while Nora answered more questions about the resort and some of the other activities that were available.
“Which ones do you mostly handle?” Kevin asked, and she had to fight the urge to groan again.
“Depends on the day,” she said evenly. “Okay, let’s get our stuff cleaned up and start the trek down.
” This was the point that she typically stayed behind the group, but honestly, she felt like that wouldn’t be ideal with this particular group.
So when they all started walking, she pulled out her walkie-talkie one more time and simply said, “Dragonfly.”
Then, she got right in the middle between two of the female cousins and pointed out the view of the lake, and a few other random facts as they started their hike down.
It took a little over ninety minutes before she could see the path to the shed office, and she hadn’t felt this level of relief in a long time. As soon as they were off the trail and onto the main path, Nora made her way to the front of the group and smiled.
“Thanks so much for joining me today, and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your family reunion weekend!” Waving, she watched them all walk away and cringed when Kevin stayed toward the back and gave her a creepy smile.
She didn’t breathe easily until they were completely out of sight. “Good riddance.”
The logical thing to do would be to go to her cabin and relax, but she was still a little tense and knew she needed to burn off some of the negative energy.
The best way to do that was a ride on a jet ski.
The weather was a little cool for it, but that wasn’t a deterrent right now.
So she put her pack away and put the walkie-talkie back on the shelf so it was there for the next person.
They had a supply closet where they kept changes of clothes, bathing suits and wetsuits, and Nora opted to grab a wetsuit. Glancing at the schedule, she saw there were no water activities planned for the rest of the day so she’d basically have the lake to herself.
“Perfect.”
Wetsuit in hand, she grabbed her phone and keys and locked up the shed office before heading down to the boathouse.
There was a small changing room there, and she felt it was the better option for her to use.
She was already feeling the tension leaving her body the closer she got to the water.
It was after four, and if she timed it right, she’d get a good hour on the lake before the sun started to go down.
After that, she had no idea what she was going to do since Milo was clearly a no-show.
The bastard.
“Okay, no negative thoughts. Only positive. A ride on the jet ski will help clear my mind,” she murmured as she stepped into the boathouse.
In a matter of minutes, she had changed into the wetsuit, had her hair up in a ponytail, and was putting her clothes and phone into a locker when she heard a noise.
Peering out the changing room door, she saw someone walking in the shadows.
The gasp was out before she could stop it when she spotted Kevin lurking around.
Son of a bitch…
As much as she told herself not to panic, she was panicking.
Doing her best to make little to no noise, she quickly pulled out her phone—cursing the fact that she didn’t take the damn walkie-talkie with her—and immediately went to the group text.
Nora: Dragonfly! Dragonfly! I’m in the…
“Hey, Nora,” Kevin said as he barged into the room. Her phone went flying, and she had no idea if she hit send, but he wasn’t paying any attention to it. His eyes were firmly on her. “I thought maybe you and I should talk.”
Oh…God…
Carefully, she inched her way around him until she slipped out of the changing room.
But as soon as she went to make a run for it, his arm roughly grabbed her arm, hauling her back to him.
His laughter sent chills down her spine, and she knew she only had a matter of minutes before this situation took a dangerous turn.
Please let someone get that text…