3. Chapter 3 - Hadley
Chapter 3 - Hadley
Stranger
W here was I?
The giant lumberjack sitting next to me on the bed didn’t answer or move an inch at my question. Well, all but one part of him stayed still. I saw movement in his lap and peeked to see his erection under his shorts twitch at my voice. It was then I realized his hand was heavy on my thigh.
What the hell happened before I woke up?
Feeling the alarms ringing through my system, I instinctively closed my legs slightly, causing him to jolt and release his grip on my thigh as if snapping out of a trance.
He cleared his throat before he pulled the heavy blanket up to cover me. When I attempted to free my arms from under the blankets, a sudden jolt of pain ran through my hand and up my wrist, causing me to let out a hiss .
He quickly folded the blanket back and cradled my hand in his as he pulled it out to sit on top of my stomach.
The trap. I remembered giving up hope of getting the trap off. Did he get it off?
“Shh, easy. I can get you something for the pain now that you’re awake, but it’ll put you back to sleep.” The powerful vibrations of his deep voice surrounded me, which filled me with a pleasant, tingling warmth. He seemed so incredibly large, filling up every inch of air around me, but for some reason, I didn’t fear him. Which was so fucked up, in reality. I didn’t think a man his size had it in him to be gentle at all. But there he was, nurturing and being gentle and kind.
“Where am I?” I asked again and watched as his entire demeanor changed again, morphing into something guarded.
“My house.” He answered with his back to me as he simply walked from the room without a parting word.
“But where is that?” I yelled out after him as he descended the stairs quickly. I could hear him walking around downstairs, the railing along the room at the end of the bed led me to believe it was a loft with living space below. The combination of pine walls, ceiling, and steel furniture created a rugged and masculine atmosphere.
The bed I was in smelled masculine as well. Not in a cologne way but in a fresh air and woods way. Exactly how he smelled when I got a whiff of him as he leaned over me to stand up.
I was in his bed.
His.
The lumberjack.
He was tall, I noticed when he left the room. Probably six feet and a couple of inches. His body was ripped with muscles from his jaw to his feet. He wore basketball shorts and a flannel shirt, but didn’t have any socks on. He had striking dark features, with his dark hair, a rugged looking almost black beard, and piercing dark brown eyes.
Brooding like.
Which meant I wasn’t doing myself any favors by laying in his bed completely defenseless, waiting for him to return, so I got up, at least if I was on my feet, I’d be more alert.
When I tugged the blankets off, I discovered all I had on was a baggy, long-sleeved shirt that didn’t fit me properly. Perhaps his ?
It didn’t matter though, because when I saw the bruises marring my bare legs, all the memories of the last few days flooded back at once like a dam let loose.
Every slap.
Every punch.
Every kick.
Every sadistic word grunted into my ear while he was on top of me.
Every moment spent in the freezing cold.
My body looked like it went through war and back in one day flat. And that was exactly how I felt laying there. Moving was necessary. I had to keep moving.
Pulling myself up by the blanket to sit with my feet dangling off the tall bed, I tried to force the world to stop spinning. Finally, when it did, I slid down to the plush carpet, enjoying the sensation of my toes sliding through it.
I looked around the room for my clothes, but they were nowhere to be found. The shirt I was wearing went down to my knees, meaning it would have to be enough because I needed to get out of the bedroom.
Survive, Hadley. You’ve come too far to lose now .
As I descended the stairs, I noticed that the wall across the living space below consisted entirely of windows that overlooked the forest.
Trees and snow surrounded the house I was in. It did not differ from the entire last week of my life. The very landscape that nearly killed me the last time I escaped surrounded me.
Did I need to escape this place like I did the last? How long had I been here? Was I in danger here too?
I didn’t stand around contemplating it any longer, though. I put one foot in front of the other as I made my way down the stairs, one step at a time. Every movement made me nearly scream out in pain, I had to wrap my arms around my middle and mash my teeth together to keep silent.
When I got to the bottom step, I looked around the open floor plan of the living space distractedly.
It was beautiful.
Elegant and whimsical, reminding me of a cozy cottage in the woods you’d find in a fairy tale. Was the roof covered in thatch, with white puffy smoke billowing from the stone chimney? What a pleasant change it’d be to find myself on the good end of a sweet fairytale instead of trapped in the horrific nightmare I’d been in .
I put my foot out to step off the last stair as the mysterious man came around the corner with a pill bottle and a wet washcloth in his hands.
“What are you doing out of bed?” The sheer force of his tone startled me, making my hands tremble and my grip on the banister loosen. Unable to maintain my balance, I sank to my knees, the hardness of the tile floor jarring against my skin.
As soon as I landed on the floor, a massive black animal pounced towards me, making me scream and instinctively raise my hand to protect myself from its looming attack.
“Dev, heel!” The lumberjack bellowed from across the room, causing the animal to stop mid-stride before sitting down and looking back at the man.
It was a dog.
Sweet Jesus, a big fucking dog. But a dog, nonetheless.
Inhaling sharply, I watched as the lumberjack advanced towards me, his footsteps reverberating against the hard floor, and then the agony seared through me as I fell to the unforgiving ground. I sagged forward on my good hand, keeping my bad one wrapped around my stomach, trying to hold my ribs in place as I fought hard not to cry.
The man fell to his knees in front of me and quickly slid his fingers through my messy hair to push it out of my face, cupping the back of my neck as he searched my face. “Are you okay?”
The sobs threatened to spill out of my mouth, but my locked jaw held them back. I managed a brief nod; all the while trying to calm my breathing and ease the intense pain in my ribs.
“That dog is massive,” I whispered, finally catching my breath as I sat down on the bottom step, feeling the pain pulsating through my body. I kept my eye on the giant animal, even though the lumberjack was between us.
He looked so menacing, just like his owner.
“You don’t have to worry; he won’t hurt you. He’s the one who found you, so I think he’s actually pretty fond of you already.” The man said as he held out his hand to help me up. “You really shouldn’t be walking around right now, you’re too injured and too weak.” He was still squatting in front of me on the floor, his face even with mine as I sat there .
He looked sincere as he said it, but there was something else there too, buried under his gaze. Almost as if he was annoyed that I was too weak to even walk. And that thought instantly pissed me off.
So I grabbed the railing and, as gently as I could, pulled myself up to stand, blatantly ignoring his offer for help as I did. As I watched, his brow furrowed even more, revealing his growing irritation at being snubbed.
Yeah well, I didn’t appreciate the disdain, big guy.
“For two days, I walked in the forest in sub-freezing temperatures. I can handle walking around this house.” I spat out.
He stood up then, instantly towering over me once again. “Two days?” He asked incredulously. “I’m surprised you survived the night, let alone two days.” Grimacing at me, he cast a disdainful glance at my small, hunched-over frame. “How did you get out here, anyway? I found you miles from any road or house, there isn’t anything around these parts. But somehow you ended up buried under the snow, with your hand stuck in a trap, wearing clothes better suited for spring,” His eyes drifted down my body once more, taking in my bare legs under the hem of his shirt that I was wearing. The path his eyes took left a warmth across my skin like he had caressed me with his hands again. “And your entire body looks like it went through ten rounds with a grizzly,” he said, his eyes widening in disbelief. “So, do me a favor and explain how you ended up on my property like you did.”
“Not until you answer some of my questions.” I raised my nose defiantly at him, not able to give an inch. If he thought I was being rude, so be it. It was better than him knowing the truth.
He huffed as he stepped back and motioned for me to sit in the armchair next to the fire. I didn’t want him to know it, but I was incredibly grateful for the reprieve from standing on my battered legs and craved the warmth of the flame. As I hobbled over, he took a blanket off the back of the chair and draped it over my legs before sitting on the coffee table in front of me, leaning with his elbows on his knees.
“What do you want to know?” He said curtly.
I opened my mouth to start, but he stopped me quickly by putting his hand up. “Know that for every question you ask, you answer one and that there is an expiration date on me humoring you with answers. ”
As he nodded for me to start, a wave of uncertainty washed over me, leaving me unsure of what questions to ask. I couldn’t answer his questions, of that I was sure. Even so, I needed some answers, so I figured I’d ask only super essential ones.
“Where are we?”
He answered with no hesitation. “I told you already. My house. You were on my property when I found you.”
“No, I mean where, though. What town? What—state?”
He just stared back at me for a second before leaning further forward. “How do you not know what state you’re in right now?”
I had to tread carefully right now. I didn’t know if he was friend or foe yet and couldn’t risk telling someone too much. “Answer me first.”
He took a deep breath and watched me intently as he stated. “Utah. Outside of Provo, south of Salt Lake.”
“Utah,” I whispered as I tried to wrap my head around it while not giving anything away on my face. My gaze fell from his as the reality of that made my world spin again .
“What happened to you?” He asked quietly. His voice took on a calm, gentle edge I hadn’t heard yet, and his face relaxed with sincerity.
But I couldn’t tell him.
I had to take it to the grave.
And that grave had already been dug for me.
So instead I lied. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.” He answered instantly.
I didn’t look back up into his eyes as I stated. “That’s not a question. Or an answer to one.”
“Fine. Why are you lying, then?” When I didn’t answer or look at him again, he tipped my chin up with his fingers until my eyes met his. “Tell me what happened to you or tell me why you won’t be honest.”
“I don’t know how to answer that.” He looked ready to interject again, so I held my hand up between us, “Truthfully. I don’t know what happened to me exactly. I don’t—understand it. Therefore, I can’t answer you with anything other than I don’t know right now.”
He mulled that over again as he dropped his hand back to his own knee. “But someone did this to you?” He asked as he waved his hand toward my battered body. “It wasn’t a car accident or something, right? Someone put their hands on you and beat you to a bloody fucking pulp, right?”
“Yes,” I answered quietly again and dropped my gaze to my hands folded in my lap.
“Was it your boyfriend? Or an ex?” He asked rapidly, trying to make sense of everything.
“You’re not letting me ask questions,” I said to cut him off.
He took a deep breath before rubbing his hand over his face exasperatedly, and then sat back and nodded for me to proceed.
“No, it wasn’t a current or past boyfriend.” He nodded again, then, just one curt nod, like he already knew the answer to that.
“I don’t take you for the kind of girl to let a man beat up on her regularly and I don’t take you for the kind of girl to date someone who would try.”
“You’re right, I’m not and I wouldn’t. But enough about me for a second. I don’t even know your name.”
He hesitated briefly, deciding if he would answer. “Kip. You?”
“Hadley.” I didn’t give my last name, seeing as how he didn’t .
“How old are you?” He asked quickly as he looked back over my body again, as if he was trying to tell how old I was by that alone.
“Twenty-three. Yourself?” I pulled the blanket up to cover my chest a little as his eyes settled there, no doubt having an easy view of my breasts through the thin shirt. They weren’t small, leaving them hard to hide without a proper bra or baggy sweatshirt.
He noticed my moves, and no doubt knew why I was doing it, realizing that he had been caught. “Thirty-five.” He stood up and walked over to the fire and put another log on it and I welcomed the heat.
He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and walked back over to me with it, holding out a pill in his hand for me to take as well.
I took the water, but eyed the pill suspiciously. “What is it?”
He chuckled slightly, showing laugh lines around his eyes quickly before his face settled back into the somber gaze he was so frequently sporting. “Do you think I’d drug you? I already had you unconscious in my bed, had I wanted to do anything to you, I could have done it then.” He paused like he was waiting for me to tell him I didn’t think he would do that, but I couldn’t give him that. “It’s Vicodin, probably going to make you groggy, but it will help with the pain.”
I had to trust the man because he was my only lifeline. I had no alternative but to trust the man, and I was ready to do almost anything for relief from the suffering. Swallowing the pill with a gulp of water, I sank back into the chair, wrapped in the cozy blanket and basking in the warmth emanating from the crackling fire. However, I remained vigilant, observing his every move as he busied himself around the house, signaling the end of our Q he could be a bad person .
“Go to sleep bambina , you’re safe here.” He breathed into the darkness as if he could hear my fear through the air.
I rolled over, placing my back towards him, and laid there for a while, spinning every bad-case scenario through my head before the pain medication took effect and pulled me under the serenity of slumber.
But he chased me through my dreams relentlessly.
Not the man in plaid with a scowl so fierce it made his smiles earth-shattering, but the man who smiled constantly, making his scowls even more terrifying than the pain he inflicted while wearing them.