CHAPTER SEVEN
Blue
“You got any chicken breasts in here?” Marcus asks from where he’s bent over and staring into my freezer, Lilith winding around his feet because she loved him at first sight. “Do you eat anything other than frozen dinners?”
“Leave her alone.” Francis pats my head. I’m laying on the couch with my head in his lap. “She’s had a rough week.”
So rough, I haven’t had time to take down all the stupid decorations Garrick put up, except for the ridiculous bedspread with his face on it. Honestly, I’m growing kind of fond of the decorations. They make my apartment feel lived in. And I’ll admit that to him over my own dead body.
“I’ve had a rough year,” I say, fully wallowing now. “Everyone hates me. Even you two couldn’t make people hang out with me.”
It was probably stupid, but I thought taking my two best friends from Vegas out to the Christmas market on the town square would make me seem more approachable to the locals. I even dressed in my cutest, most fun outfit. I thought if people saw me as someone other than the stuffy mayoral version of myself, they’d relax around me.
No such luck. I barely even got smiles out of the locals manning the booths. The council is making everyone think I’m the problem. They’re screwing over their own town just to make me look like the bad guy.
“Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just quit.”
“Nope.” Marcus shuts the freezer door and puts his hands on his hips to stare me down. With his head shaved bare and his muscles practically popping out of the neon green Henley he’s wearing, he looks good enough to help me forget all about this town and the people who hate me. Unfortunately, Marcus and Francis are both gay. Sex would ruin our friendship if they weren’t, anyway. “You aren’t going to run scared just because of a—”
The roar of some sort of engine interrupts Marcus. His eyes go wide and I sit up.
“Is that a chainsaw?” I ask.
“Sounds like it’s right outside your door.” Francis doesn’t move from his seat. Calm as he ever is.
I get up, intending to cross the room and look through the peephole, but the door bursts open and a giant chainsaw flies into my apartment.
There’s probably a person attached to it, but all I see is the chainsaw. “This is it. This is how I die.” I race to the kitchen, past Marcus, who’s frozen in place, to the window that overlooks the fire escape.
Francis screams and something crashes to the ground with a loud bang.
Lilith lets out a screech to wake the dead and leaps onto me, her claws landing right in my butt cheeks through my short dress as she hangs on for dear life.
I pull her off my butt and cradle her in my arms, even as she flails around with claws out. “Hold on, baby. I’m getting us out of here.”
Last year, I received death threats that gave me more than a few nightmares. The guy who sent them is currently serving time in jail, but I still have the occasional nightmare.
And I have thought in great detail about how to escape if someone ever shows up to kill me.
I wasn’t expecting a chainsaw to be the instrument of my death, but I’m ready. Right outside this window is a very large tree with a branch that extends under this window.
I’ve never been a tree climber, but I’m climbing that tree today, with Lilith in my arms.
“Need any help?” Francis says behind me. “He’ll have to get through me to get to you.” He’s so close behind me his body is blocking mine.
I never need any help. “Got it.” I flip the lock and shove the window up with one hand.
“I’m calling the cops,” Marcus yells as he leaps onto the counter and tosses a plate at the chainsaw killer. He misses by a mile.
Behind us, the chainsaw stops. “What the fuck are you doing with my girlfriend?” a very familiar voice asks.
“You have a boyfriend?” Francis asks. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Red flags all over this guy, sweetie,” Marcus says.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” I spin from the window and stalk over to Garrick, my heart still pounding like death is after me even though my brain has registered there’s no real threat. Garrick’s standing in the middle of my living room, chainsaw hanging limply in one hand, while he glares daggers at my friends. “This is the asshole I told you about. The one who’s making my life hell.”
“You didn’t tell us he’s gorgeous,” Marcus says.
I turn a glare on my friend, but he just grins. “Crazy doesn’t negate hotness.”
“Which is exactly why your last three boyfriends were mental cases,” Francis says.
Garrick’s glare slips and his brow crinkles in confusion. “Oh, dear,” I say. “Were you hoping to cockblock me again?”
Behind me, Francis and Marcus guffaw.
“What the hell is going on here?” Garrick asks.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but Francis and Marcus are my friends. They’re visiting from Vegas. If you were hoping to chase them away, good luck. They’re not so easily cowed.”
“Is this guy an actual threat?” Marcus asks. “’Cause I’ve got 911 on speed dial.”
If there’s one thing I’m sure of when it comes to Garrick, it’s that the guy would never actually hurt me. He’s had many opportunities, many reasons, and he’s never even raised his voice to me.
“He’s harmless,” I say.
“We’re going to hang in your office. It seems like you two have some things to work out.” Francis waggles his eyebrows as he walks by. I roll my eyes. He thinks every straight guy wants to sleep with me.
I glare at Garrick, who looks like he’s wishing to be anywhere but here. “I didn’t realize they were your friends.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Would that have made any difference? You wanted to scare the shit out of me? It worked.”
He sets the chainsaw on the floor. “Maybe I went too far. This whole thing has gone too far. Can we just call a truce?”
I tap my fingers on my arms. “After you’ve terrorized me in my home? Now’s when you want to call a truce? You’re delusional if you think I’m going to agree to that without some sort of formal apology or jewelry, probably both.”
He sighs. “If we don’t end this now, we’re just going to keep trying to outdo each other.” He points at the pile of I hate Christmas stickers on my coffee table. “How many times were you planning to stick those back on my truck?”
“As many as it takes for you to stop telling everyone in this town I’m a terrible mayor.”
“I’m not telling anyone anything.”
I stare him down and just wait. Lilith pushes off my chest and I let her hop down to the floor, where she immediately winds around Garrick’s legs like he’s her best friend.
His shoulders slump. “Fine. I might have told a few people you’re determined to ruin my business, but it’s not like I’m lying.”
My chest feels funny and I rub it. “You don’t know me, Garrick, and you’ve never even asked me why—”
“I don’t care why. All I need to know is you’re the reason I can’t get the permits I need. You’re the reason I had to cancel a tour last week, because I’m no longer allowed to borrow city vehicles. You’re the one coming in here, wanting to change this town, before you even understand how it works.”
He is unbelievable. My hands are shaking with the adrenaline let down after he scared the crap out of me and now he’s going to insult me? “This is your idea of calling a truce? Your negotiation skills could use some work. No wonder demanding more permits is the only way you can come up with to expand your business. There’s not enough land in the world to entertain guests if you can’t offer them a compelling expedition.” I’m really just talking out of my ass now. I know nothing about his business, but I know a man who thinks a chainsaw is a good way to open a dialogue probably never paid attention in business class.
His cheeks redden and his jaw ticks. He throws up his hands and stomps toward the door. “Fine. Forget the fucking truce. I’m not stopping until you’re out of office, Demon. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to save my town and my business. You don’t like that? Get ready for the fight of your life.”
I crinkle my nose like I’m unimpressed. “You seriously think your little pranks are going to scare me enough to make me quit my job? There’s nothing worse you can do to me than you’ve already done.”
He grabs his chainsaw and looks back at me with an expression so full of anger and frustration I doubt my own words. “You have no idea, Demon. Absolutely no idea.”
“You’re the one who has no idea, Garrick. You seriously don’t want to mess with me.” I stuff my shaking hands in my pockets and pretend a confidence I definitely don’t feel.
He pulls open the door. “You’ve brought this on yourself. I’m not even going to feel bad about it when I take you down.”
“You’re going to feel terrible when I take you down.”
He slams the door behind him and is gone.
“That went well,” Francis says as he walks out of my office, Marcus behind him.
“We need a new plan.” My mind’s already whirring over the possibilities. “One that will convince him to leave me the hell alone.”
Marcus grins. “I knew it. You like him.”
Francis and I stare at him. “What about any of that makes you think I like him?” I hate Garrick Evergreen with every fiber of my being. What kind of asshole looks hot wielding a chainsaw?
“If you didn’t like him, you’d just ignore him and hope he goes away. Clearly, you’re only continuing to play his game because you want an excuse to see him more often.”
“That’s ridiculous.” He might have a point, but I’ll admit it when Yuletide celebrates Halloween instead of Christmas. If there’s any truth to what Marcus is saying, it’s that playing this game with Garrick is a pleasant distraction from the disaster that is my first term as mayor. “I don’t let anyone treat me this way. He’s going to pay.”
“We’re here for you, girl,” Francis says. “Whatever you need.”
***
I stop mid-trail and study the map again. It seemed so easy to follow when I was safe in my apartment with it spread out over the coffee table. It’s considerably less easy to follow in the woods, with birds hooting and some weird honking sound that could be a moose or a grizzly bear. Probably a moose, since bears should be hibernating right now. Based on my Internet research, moose are just as dangerous as grizzlies.
I tilt the map and look up the trail, but I still have no idea where in the hell I am. And I was supposed to have reached my destination and gotten everything set up over an hour ago. There’s a very good chance Garrick’s already past the spot I’d planned for my surprise, and I’m going to die in the forest without ever getting him back for threatening me and my friends with a chainsaw.
I sink down to sit in the snow, my snow pants clad legs stretched out in front of me, my snowshoes making it look like I have giant feet. A tear tracks down my cheek and I sniffle.
“I’m such an idiot.” The plan seemed so solid when I was hanging out with Lindsay and she told me all about this snowshoe tour Garrick’s doing today. She probably thinks I’m crushing on him.
Not that it’ll matter after I’m dead.
“I don’t want people to think I’m a stalker.” Which is exactly what it’ll look like when my body is found with a map printed from Garrick’s company website, the trail of his current snowshoe expedition plotted in red ink.
People will see the rope and duct tape in my bag and they’ll definitely think I had plans to kidnap him and keep him as my sex slave or some shit.
I quickly scan through my options. Search and Rescue can find me, but I’ve seen the bills for their services. I’m not going to let taxpayers fund my rescue. I’ll never live it down.
There’s one person who’s already out in the woods and might be somewhere close by. And he probably won’t kill me. I hope.
Amazingly, I have cell service. My phone rings through to Garrick’s and a tiny smidge of hope lights my soul.
“I can’t talk right now, Demon. Bother me later.”
I can’t believe he actually answered my call. “Don’t hang up, Garrick. I’m lost in the woods.”
He snorts. “Sure you are. I’m with clients. I don’t have time for your nonsense.”
Damn it. He’s not going to believe me unless I tell him everything and, if I tell him everything, he might decide to leave me here. “I got the map from your website. I found out you were leading a tour today, and I came out here to, um, you know…”
“Ah, fuck. You’re serious. Where the hell are you?”
“If I knew that, Evergreen, I wouldn’t be calling you.”
“Shit. Don’t move. Give me two minutes and I’ll call you back. You’re lucky we’re almost back to headquarters and I’ve got Tony with me.”
He hangs up before I can say anything else. The odds of him actually calling me back are low.
Somewhere, a wolf howls. Or maybe it’s an owl hooting. Why do all the damn animals around here sound alike?
On line, it said a hiker should sing to alert animals to her presence. I start with my favorite Christmas carol.
He’s not going to call me back. Why should he? He hates me.
He’s hated me since he met me and found out I was running for mayor. He’s a small-minded man who can’t imagine anyone from outside this town could run it efficiently.
If I die out here, he’ll probably throw a party.
I’m going to have to call search and rescue to find me and the whole town’s going to be talking about how I wasted taxpayer money. They’ll probably use it as an excuse to kick me out of office.
I’ll have to move back to Las Vegas and Peach will forget all about me and I’ll be all alone and—
My phone vibrates in my hand. I’m so excited to see Garrick’s name flash across the screen, I swipe at it too quickly with my gloved finger and accidentally dismiss the call.
I rip off my glove with my teeth and call him back. “I’m sorry,” I say before he can speak. “I don’t know how to use the phone with gloves on.”
He chuckles. “Or you just enjoy the power trip of ignoring me.”
“Seriously. It was an accident. Please don’t hold it against me. I don’t want—” I pinch my lips shut before I get anymore ridiculously emotional. “Please help me.”
“I got you.” His calm tone settles something in me, but for some crazy reason, that makes more tears stream down my cheeks. “What do you see around you? Any landmarks that might let me know where you are?”
I clear my throat and swallow around the lump. “Um, I don’t know. I thought I was on the blue trail, but I haven’t seen any trail markers for a while. The trail I’m on has definitely been tramped on, but I don’t see…” I look around for anything. “I passed a small, frozen stream on my right about twenty minutes ago, but the trail veered away from it, going deeper into the woods.”
He doesn’t sigh or groan. “Okay. That’s great. Do you see anything else? Anything at all?”
I stand and turn in a circle, looking for anything. “There are fewer aspens here, more evergreen trees. There’s a huge holly tree with bright red berries. I thought Holly didn’t grow here?” At least that’s what Everett Brown said, snootily, when I suggested Holly branches as decorations for a holiday dance. He’s one of the council members who hates me.
“How the hell…?” Garrick says, awe in his tone. “I know exactly where you are. I’ll be there in… It’ll be at least half an hour. Stay warm and hydrated. Do you have water?”
“I do, but if I run out, I can just eat snow.”
“It shouldn’t come to that. I’ll be there soon.”
I find a spot in the sun and settle back down to sit on the snow and wait. The cold seeps through my snow pants, but I’m too tired to stand for the next half an hour.
A rustling in the distance reminds me how not alone I am out here, so I start singing again. It’s a Christmas song Peach loves. She always changes the lyrics into whatever sex-fueled party she can make it, and I sing her twisted words just to feel less alone.
I lean my head against a tree trunk and belt the lyrics until the lump in my throat eases and the sick feeling in my stomach is fooled into thinking everything’s going to be okay.
When I hear a roar in the distance, I go still, my heart racing. Is that a wolf? A grizzly? A mountain lion?
But the roar gets closer and I recognize it for what it is: a snowmobile. Garrick’s on his way.
I leap to my feet and yell at the top of my lungs. Not that he can hear me over the engine, but I’m going to try, anyway. I don’t dare leave my spot near this holly tree he somehow recognizes.
Before I’ve even caught my breath, the snowmobile charges over a hill and makes its way to me. Garrick swings it to a stop and hops off. He hurries over to me like he’s worried. Like he actually cares that I might have frostbite.
The concern on his face looks real as he pulls off his helmet and scans my face and body. “You okay?”
I nod. I’ve never seen this kind, worried side of Garrick. I like it. It gives me warm fuzzies to realize he doesn’t truly wish me dead. “I’m fine. Still have all my fingers and my toes.”
He nods once, all business. “Good. That’s good.” His expression shifts like clouds wiping out the sun. His brow creases, his eyes narrow into a glare, and his mouth forms a line so hard, the scar on his upper lip turns white. “What the actual fuck were you thinking, Demon? Why are you out here alone?”
“Francis and Marcus had to work. They’re back in Vegas.”
He just stares at me. Then he tosses his helmet on the ground and grips his hair with both hands. “You are seriously going to be the end of me.”
“I wasn’t supposed to get lost, okay? I can get around any city in the world, no problem, but out here, the trees all look the same.”
“Uh-huh. So why didn’t you stay in your nice, warm office or your apartment?”
Now probably isn’t the best time to tell him about the prank I planned. “I wanted to see the sights?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Lindsay told me you were asking about my schedule for today. She’s under the impression you have a massive crush on me.”
“So much for girl code,” I mutter.
“She told me because she’s worried about you, Demon. Everyone’s worried about you.”
“Everyone?” Shit. This is bad. This is so, so bad.
He steps close enough that I have to tilt my head back to look up at him. “I’m not buying you’re out here because of a stupid crush. Why are you really here?”
There’s no story I can make up that he’s going to believe. I sigh and take a step back. He gets into my space again.
“Can’t I tell you once we’re back in civilization?” I ask.
“We’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you were planning to do.”
“I hate you.”
“Noted. Now talk.”
“Fine.” I throw up my hands. “I was going to set up a booby trap. One of those trip wire things where the rope will wrap around your ankle and pull you up into the air. I wasn’t going to release you until you agreed to a truce. A real one.”
He stares at me, very intensely, for several long moments. His upper lip twitches, then he bursts out laughing. He laughs so long and hard he falls over.
“It would have worked.”
“You don’t even know what it’s called.” He pulls himself out of the snow, wiping tears from his eyes with his gloved hands.
“I don’t need to know what it’s called for it to work.” I consider dodging him while he’s still laughing and stealing his snowmobile, but I don’t actually know how to drive it.
He crosses his arms over his chest and rocks back on his heels, which are sinking into the snow at an alarming rate. “First, you’d need some sort of pulley system, do you have one of those?”
“No, but I—”
“You wouldn’t be able to lift me off the ground without one. Second, there’s snow on the ground, Demon. I would see your tracks all around this booby trap and I’d see where you sunk the rope under the snow.”
“I was going to sweep the snow and—”
“Wouldn’t work. You got lost in the woods and had to be rescued for a plan that was never going to work in the first place. Was it worth it?”
I think the plan could have worked, but he makes valid points. I might have gone in way over my head with this one. “Knowing that you’re never going to let me forget that you had to save me, it’s definitely not worth it. Any chance we can call a truce?”
He rubs his chin like he’s honestly considering it. “Unlikely. Come on, let’s get you home.”
I follow him to the snowmobile and take the second helmet when he offers it to me. I pause before putting it on. “What’s the story with the Holly tree? How’d you know where to find me?”
He stops, helmet in hand, and looks over at the majestic, colorful tree. “That tree’s a bit of a legend. It doesn’t belong here and yet it somehow thrives. No one knows where it came from or who planted it, but it’s been here for decades. Some people believe it’s good luck, some people believe it’s bad. I have no idea how you even found it. None of the trails go past it.”
“But I was on a trail. I was definitely following a trail.”
He snorts. “You were following a deer trail, Demon. It’s possible a few locals have trekked out to the tree recently, though it’s against town regs to take any berries or branches. Either way, you were definitely not following the trail. Hadn’t been for several miles, I’d say.”
That’s disheartening. I pull on the helmet and get on the snowmobile behind him. Thank goodness there’s a handle on either side of my seat, so I don’t have to wrap my arms around his waist.
I scoot as far back as I can and hold my breath as he puts on his helmet and gets on without looking back at me.
He takes off and I grip the bars tight, trying my damnedest not to slide forward and touch him. It’s a lost cause. He goes down a slight incline and I slide forward enough that our thighs touch. We’re both wearing snow pants. I shouldn’t be bothered by this at all, but for some reason, being in Garrick’s space feels intimate, even when it shouldn’t.
I hate that I’m attracted to him, but I can’t make it stop. My body is a fucking traitor.
We bounce up onto a packed trail, clearly one designed for snowmobiles, and the flatter terrain allows me to scoot away from him. It’s not enough.
It feels like days before he parks in front of his headquarters and I feel like I’ve been hugging him for all that time, even though we barely touched. It’s the first time he’s done anything even remotely nice for me, and it’s too much.
I hop off the back of the snowmobile and shove my helmet at him. “Thanks for rescuing me.”
I’m around the front of the building and staring at a small parking lot that doesn’t contain my vehicle when I remember I didn’t park here.
It’s only a five-mile walk home. I can make it.
More likely, I’ll get lost and need him to rescue me again. I turn slowly and walk back over to him. He’s standing next to the snowmobile, waiting, clearly aware of what I’ve just figured out.
I clear my throat and stare up at the overcast sky. Maybe one of his employees would give me a ride to my car.
“Need something, Demon?”
I drop my gaze. I hate this so, so much. “Any chance you’re leaving and might be able to drop me at my car?”
His smile is the definition of shit-eating. “I’m not leaving. I’ve got another group arriving for an overnight trek in an hour.”
“Right. It’s fine. I’ll call my cousin.”
He smirks and his hazel eyes seem to glow. “You think I’m dumb enough to let you wander around my headquarters on your own?”
He walks past me toward the lot.
I follow because I have no other choice.