Page 3 of The Mountain Man's Girl

Yeah, well, Kelsey’s only carrying a few granola bars and like two outfits. Plus, her pack is half the size of mine. My pack was heavy even before he put the food in.

Maybe this was a bad idea. We’re only a half a day in, and I’m already miserable and he’s already annoyed. I wanted to impress Carter and show interest in his hobbies, but I think this is going to be one hobby he does on his own or with his buddies.

“I’ll try to walk faster, Carter, if you try to be a little nicer.” He’s been rude since the start. As soon as I showed up in sneakers, he was annoyed, saying I should’ve bought some hiking boots. I reminded him again that I’ve never done this before. And it’s not the shoes. I doubt I’d be walking any faster in big clunky boots. It’s the ginormous pack.

“I am being nice, Tarryn. But I’m not going to baby you the entire trip. We need to toughen you up.”Toughen me up?But I thought he liked me soft and sweet. “You need to get out from under daddy’s credit card and learn some survival skills.” Wow. I had no idea he felt that way. He’s acting like I’m a spoiled brat. I survive just fine on my own. My dad didn’t teach me wilderness smarts, but he did teach me street smarts and business smarts: skills I think are more important.

“Seriously,” Kelsey agrees. “You need to learn how to do something other than shop.”

Wow. So they both share this opinion? I wonder how many times they talked about me when they were planning out the details of this trip, because they’re both looking at each other shaking their heads. I’ve lived with Kelsey for three years and she’s never been so rude. But ever since I started dating Carter, she’s been making it a point to cut me down in front of him. It’s like she’s determined to embarrass me for some reason.

“Come on, you guys. We need to get moving,” Jeff grumbles. And now they’re all mad at me. Awesome. I shove past Kelsey and start walking up the trail again. I’ll prove exactly how tough I can be.

“Look,” Kelsey says, pointing to a sign nailed onto the tree, and I practically jump for joy when I see it. It’s my saving grace. “That sign says private property. No trespassing.”

“It’s not private property.” Carter steps around me, going up to the thing. “This is public land.” He turns and holds up his GPS device to show his screen. “We’re right here.” He points to the dot on the map. “It’s a national forest. These are public trails. No one can own the land.”

And yet, that sign says private property. Maybe this is where the public trail ends and everything beyond this point is for government officials only. Here’s hoping that’s the case.

“Yeah, but this part could be restricted government land or was sold off,” I state. It’s not completely unheard of. There could be a cell phone tower up there or an air tower or something.

“I doubt it.” He shakes his head. “It’s not like they’d have a public trail leading right to private government property or someone’s front door. Someone probably just put it up as a prank.”

Really? How many pranksters are coming out here and nailing up private property signs onto trees? It could’ve been put up as a warning because there’s treacherous land up ahead and they want to deter hikers from going farther up the mountain. There could be a chance of boulders falling or it could be someplace at risk of a landslide.

Carter turns and continues up the trail, ignoring the warning sign. The other two follow suit, not questioning a thing either. I hesitate, having my reservations. My gut is telling me we should turn back now. But as they start getting further ahead, nearly out of sight, I tuck away my doubts and work to catch up. There’s no way I’m getting left behind. Without Carter’s GPS, I wouldn’t know how to navigate my way back down on my own. We took a lot of turns. Went on a few offshoots. And I was too busy watching the ground, making sure I didn’t trip on any rocks, that I didn’t memorize any landmarks. Which means I have no choice but to go with them even if it is against my better judgement.

Finally, we get to the spot where we’ll be staying for the night. I drop my pack, feeling like I can barely stand up straight. By the end of this week, I’m going to turn into a hunchback. My chiropractor is going to have to work a miracle.

I turn and breathe out on a gasp as I see the view of the mountain ridge and the valley below. It’s spectacular. Easily the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. And it’s so quiet up here. No traffic noise. No hustle and bustle. Just the sound of the leaves fluttering in the breeze—and of course the three behind methat don’t know the meaning of the wordsilence. They’ve been talking nonstop on our entire trek up the mountain.

Until today, I never really gave thought to how much Carter likes to talk. But now, I’m realizing that he’s always monopolizing our conversations. Always talking about himself. He bragged and bragged for the last hour about all the treacherous hikes he’s done, but I wasn’t impressed. Kelsey was, though. She was hanging onto his every word, kissing his ass with all of her compliments. And I wasn’t the only one taking notice of her interest. I think Jeff has realized that he’s not the one she has a crush on. It’s more than obvious now it’s my boyfriend she wants to be with.

“All right. Why don’t you girls start putting together that tent while we work on this one,” Carter says, dropping two big sacks down on the ground. Of course, Kelsey quickly rushes to his command to get started. She’s eager to impress. Eager to show him that she’s a tough, rugged outdoorsy woman who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. She’s eager to prove that she’s better than me every step of the way. All she’s proving though, is that she’s not a good friend.

Little Miss Girl Scout empties the contents of the sack before my feet and I feel like I’m staring at a tarp with a bunch of poles, and there aren’t any instructions in the heap of stuff. The guys are busy getting their tent put up, and I start studying every move like I’m watching a how-to video. Studying where they’re putting the poles, and which end goes where.

“Come on, Tarryn,” Kelsey snaps. “It’s going to get dark soon. We need to get this up before we can’t see.”

She starts grabbing poles and snapping ends together, so I pick one up and copy her actions, but it doesn’t work for me and snaps right back. “Careful. If you break one, we’ll be screwed.” She takes the thing from my hand, giving me a look like I’m incompetent. Maybe if I had an instruction manual, I wouldknow what the heck I’m doing, but I’m going blind here. And everyone is mocking my naiveté. Carter has stopped what he’s doing and is now looking at me like I’m an idiot.

He gave me the same look earlier when I put my pack on and nearly toppled forward. And when he gave me the compass so I could have a job and be our directional guide, he shook his head like I was a moron. Sorry, but I couldn’t read the thing. And when I freaked out over a spider, a giant spider that looked like a black widow, they all rolled their eyes, grumbling how it’s going to be a long trip with Little Miss Prissy Pants.

All day, I’ve seen a new side to my boyfriend that I haven’t enjoyed. He’s a bit bossy with all this stuff. And he’s not very considerate or sensitive to the fact that this is all new to me. He’s acting like I should already know how to put a tent together, yet I’ve never owned one so how the heck would I know what to do? But if I ask, it will just prove that I’m some pampered princess with no survival skills.

Coming on this trip was definitely a mistake. I’m not even sure Carter and I are going to make it out of the woods as a couple.

4

Traeger

Ican’t get home fast enough. Winding up the mountain road, getting deeper into the forest, farther away from the noise and the lights. Away from the smog of the stress that radiates in everyone’s eyes. Finally, the tension is subsiding and I’m starting to feel like myself again. It was good seeing Ryker though, catching up with him. But hearing him talk about all the shit that’s going down at his station is the exact reason I don’t need the government in my life anymore. The shit he was telling me was making my nerves itch.

I’ve definitely got some work cut out for me. It’s gonna take me hacking into the police mainframe and scouring through the code for all the erased surveillance footage for me to find the evidence he’s looking for. But I should have what he needs within a day or two.

I take the final bend up into my private drive and park right in front of my cabin. As soon as I’m outside, I breathe in, needingto fill my lungs with that crisp clean air, but it’s thick and heavy this evening, twinged with the scent of smoke. It smells like there’s a fire burning somewhere close. I leave my mountain for a few hours, and I’ve got trespassers on my property. Go fucking figure. It’s not the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

I rush inside and pull up my surveillance cameras, looking to see who’s squatting on my land. Sure enough, I’ve got four on the west ridge. All sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows. Looks like a bunch of college students from what I can tell. Kids will come up here and ignore the signs saying this is private property. Youth these days have no respect for the law. But after I’m done with them, they will.

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