Chapter Seven
Kelly
“Move along, bitch!”
My parents warned me that my first heartbreak would be brutal.
They saw me as their late-blooming child and worried over the fact that, unlike my siblings and cousins, I never took much of an interest in boys through high school or college.
I never mentioned a crush or a potential boyfriend to them because one didn’t exist. Their efforts to set me up with their friends’ sons didn’t pan out because I just wasn’t interested in relationships.
That was before my near-death experience. As I ran through the woods and then rolled down the ravine, one of the loudest thoughts was the fact that I had never been kissed before. Never had a boyfriend or experienced what it was like to have feelings for someone.
Then Walker happened.
And I had my first kiss and with him, my first everything. I fell hard, like a boulder rolling downhill. There was no way for me to stop the process, not until I was at the very bottom with a bleeding heart.
That I could fall madly in love with a man after only knowing him for a few of days is madness. And now, my parents are never going to hear about that crush and my unrequited love. They’re never going to get the chance to comfort or soothe me after my first breakup.
“Do you think that fucker will come looking for her?” a voice calls from behind me.
“He’ll probably think she left when he doesn’t find her in the cabin.”
I turn to the fools, surprised. It’s just my luck that I would be killed by idiots. Any man with half a brain will look at the mess in the cabin and know that I didn’t leave of my own free will. If they wanted to sell it, they could’ve at least cleaned up. Unless....
Unless they’re planning to go back once they’re done with me.
My head shoots up from my wet shoes, and I look to the path we’re walking.
I stop when I realize how close we are to the same ravine I fell into a few days ago, and then it dawns on me.
They’re going to shove me over the edge and hope I break my neck or something.
I won’t be able to climb back up and will freeze to death, and it’ll all look like an accident.
It could work.
It will work if they shove me and make it back to the cabin to clean up. Anyone looking at me will think I left on my own and fell. And after the fight Walker and I had this morning, if one could call it that, it would make sense that I’d want to leave.
With Walker gone for who knows how long, I could be dead before he comes back and discovers me gone…
“No,” I murmur, stopping in my tracks when I realize they’re not as stupid as I thought and that their plan could work. “No...please, no.”
“What the fuck is wrong with this bitch? Walk!”
A hand shoves me from behind, and my injured ankle buckles beneath me. I pitch forward, face-planting into the soft pillow of snow.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I beg, staring at the men pleadingly. “I didn’t see anything, I swear. Please let me go.”
I don’t see the backhand coming, but it connects with my cheek, sending me right back to the snow.
This time, I don’t turn around but instead bury my face in my arms and let the tears fall. I don’t care. I’m not moving; they’ll have to carry me the rest of the way to the ravine.
“We need to get rid of her soon. Fucking hell, I’m tired of this place,” another voice chimes. “This bitch has no idea how long we’ve been looking for her. Caught a damn cold because of her!”
“Yeah, fucking good thing we found the cabin. Sucks that we had to wait through the storm for that fucking Neanderthal to leave so we could get her.”
“Let’s make quick work of this, boys, then head back and deal with the mess before he comes returns.”
“Fucker will probably be gone for hours. No way he’ll make it down and back soon. I give him three hours tops.”
“Twenty bucks says four hours.”
“I’ll take that bet for forty.”
Someone whistles, low and impressed. “I want in too,” calls out a hard voice that sends my head whipping up. Standing behind the three men is a very angry Walker and the quick jump of a muscle in his jaw tells me he might be beyond that. “Fifty says the Neanderthal is already here.”
The men whip around just in time to watch one of their own, the biggest of the group, meet the blunt side of the ax with his forehead. His eyes roll back, and he drops to the ground, hard. The other two stare at their fallen friend, and I see them debate with themselves on whether to run or fight.
Stupid.
No, I was right about them being stupid as their calculations lead them to believe one man, ax or no ax, is vulnerable against two.
They don’t see the murderous look in Walker’s eyes as they both rush him at once.
Walker grips the handle of his ax, anticipating them, and I flinch as the blunt end connects to one man’s legs before it’s swung around to the other man’s back.
They cry out, their sounds ringing through the woods as Walker delivers punishing punches that send one curling into a ball on the ground and the other crawling away, panic and fear written in his eyes.
“Which one of them hurt you?”
It takes a second to realize he’s talking to me. “Huh?”
“The blood in the cabin. Which one of these men hurt you?”
The expression in his eyes, one that should scare me but as I look into those golden-brown eyes, I feel anything but fear.
“It’s not mine,” I murmur. “I... When one of them tried to grab me, I broke a glass over his head…” I look around him and my eyes connect with the man crawling away.”
When Walker’s head whips around, the man whimpers, grappling for a broken stick and holding it out like it’ll save him from the ax.
“I could cut you into pieces,” Walker threatens, taking a step toward the weeping man. “I could kill you right here for touching her!”
“Fuck man, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean...Jesus, you’re crazy. Don’t come near me!”
“Crazy?” Walker asks casually, swinging his ax. “I’ll show you crazy.”
Someone screams, maybe it’s the man weeping on the ground or maybe it’s me. The sound is loud, pitching through the forest as my panicked eyes shift from Walker to the terrified man on the ground, then to the ax lodged in the tree above him. “W-what the fuck, man. What the fuck!”
“You touch her again, and next time, I won’t miss!
***
The rangers arrive after Walker radios them in.
I learned that they’ve been trying to track the trappers down with little success and the snowstorm only slowed their investigation.
We turn in the evidence of the men setting the traps as I watch the three of them practically run to the rangers, tossing terrified looks at Walker.
“He’s crazy,” one of them cries. “That man is sick in the head. Fucking psycho threw an ax at me.”
No one seems to believe him as he doesn’t have any serious injuries to speak of. I watch, fascinated, as the men show obvious relief at the prospect of being taken into custody, but who could blame them? Walker fight all three with an ax without breaking a sweat.
“Miss Summer, you’re not hurt, are you?” one of the rangers asks after I’m done giving my statement. “I can give you a ride to town. Get you checked up at the hospital.”
“She’s fine,” a rough voice calls out, and I notice the ranger’s brows rise as his eyes move from me to Walker. “I checked her myself before you arrived.”
“I’m fine,” I assure the man. “Besides, I left a few items at the cabin. My camera for one, and I need it for work.”
“I can send someone later to retrieve it,” Walker says.
I turn around to look at him with his blank expression. It’s hard to tell what the man is thinking right now, but more than that, I have questions I cannot ask with company around. I want to know why he spoke the way he did to the trappers. Why he looked at me so possessively when he did.
“It’s fine,” I tell the ranger. “Thanks. Walker can help me back. I appreciate the help.”
The man nods and walks away. I watch as the rangers clear the scene, leaving just us two standing in the cold.
I rub my arms, fighting the chill creeping into my bones, and I question if I should have left with them.
They had vehicles, for Christ’s sake, and I wouldn’t have to hike down the mountain.
“I’ll just grab my bags and…whoa!” I gasp when I find myself swept off the snowy forest floor. I instinctively grab onto his shoulders, eyes wide with shock as I turn to the man. “W-what are you doing?”
“Your shoes are soaked through,” he grinds out as he walks to the ax and yanks it from the tree. “You’re freezing too. Let’s get you all warmed up.”
I could argue and stubbornly insist on walking on my own, but I’m not sure he’d listen.
Besides, I’m freezing and my ankle is sore after being forced to walk through the snow.
Instead, I keep my lips pressed tight as Walker carries me back to the cabin and sits me in front of the fireplace.
I don’t argue with him when he hands me a T-shirt to change into and get out of my wet clothes.
I strip off and slide into it then curl up in front of the fire that’s still burning.
When he leaves, I hear him cleaning up the glass on the floor and more movement, but I don’t turn around. When he returns, he’s holding a blanket and a cup with some kind of steaming beverage. “It’s hot chocolate,” he says, offering the cup to me.
“Thanks,” I mutter, taking the cup from him, but I don’t drink from it as I soak in its warmth. I stare into the amber flames that burn the same way his eyes do whenever we touch. I don’t turn when he settles next to me, and for long moments, neither of us says a word.
I have questions but I’m not sure he’ll answer them, and my feelings… Christ, maybe I should have left when I had the chance. Now we’re stuck in this awkward silence and back to the same spot we were this morning.