Page 49 of Doctor's Demands
He looks around, gasping for air too. “I think we’ve lost them.”
“No shit.” I look behind us to see only thick-as-shit forest. “I think we’re lost too.”
Owen looks up, then from one side to the other. “Yeah, maybe. But we can figure shit out. No one is going to find us in here.”
“And we’re going to eat, what? Sleep where?” I hold out my arms and turn all the way around. “Any bright ideas about that? I mean, you do realize that our cell phones were in the car, right. Those reporters will know that was us in that van. The van that you rented. That’s all easily traced.”
“Fuck!” he shouts, then sits on the ground.
“You have a way of making yourself look so completely guilty, when you’ve done nothing wrong.” I sit down next to him. “When I said your name, you freaked and fled. And now you’re doing the same thing. What we did isn’t illegal. It might be misunderstood, frowned upon, and even ridiculed, but it’s not against the law.”
Looking down at the ground, he picks at the moss that’s covering the granite rock. “Have I lost you?”
“Why would you even ask that?” I reach out and run my hand over his bearded cheek.
Sad eyes find mine. “Because I make stupid decisions. I get myself in predicaments, and now I’m dragging you into them too. I’d understand completely if you want to call this whole thing off.”
“You would?”
He nods. “I would.”
“You wouldn’t miss me at all?”
“I’d miss you like crazy.” He takes my hand and holds it in a loose grip. “But I love you, Petra. It’s an honest love, a pure love. I can’t take you through my shit storm of a life.”
“So, you’d leave me out of it all?” I pull our hands up and hold them to my heart. “You’d walk away from me to protect me. Is that what you’re saying? Are you saying that you’d let me out of the contract, give me the money, and leave me alone?”
He nods, and I drop my head. I don’t know what to say to him. He’d cut his own heart out, rather than stand up for himself. He’s weak.
“I love you so much, it’d kill me to see you hurt by all of this. There’ll be Dena on the news, telling the world how I got drunk and screwed her almost every Saturday night for three fucking years. That’s pretty bad right there. Add in the reporters, saying how they found me going back to the BDSM club that Dena said she saw me coming out of, and you have another strike against me. If I keep you, then people will call me a child molester, because you’re twenty-one and I’m thirty-four, thirteen years older than you.”
“Fuck, Owen. You make things sound terrible.” I get up and throw my hands into the air. Looking at the blue water below, I decide to do something crazy to try to get to him. “Bye.”
He looks up at me with a confused expression. I step to the edge of the cliff and wave at him, then jump. I can hear him screaming as I fall and look up to find him watching me.
Hitting the water with my pointed feet, I start kicking as soon as I can and begin to come up to the top. The water’s nice and cold and just what I needed. I hear a splash as soon as my head breaks the surface.
Wiping my eyes, I look up at the cliff and see Owen’s gone. Waiting for him to come up, I start to get worried. Then I scream as something touches my leg and yanks me under.
Eyes wide open, I find Owen has me and moves up to wrap his arms around me as we pop up. Both of us are breathing hard as we tread water, then he kisses me. We laugh and splash water at each other, then swim toward the shoreline, that’s not too far away. Climbing onto one of the large granite stones that dot the shoreline, we lie back and look up at the trees that filter the sun’s light.
“And you call me dramatic,” he says, then reaches out to hold my hand. “You scared me.”
“Good. You were scaring me. I got you back.” I give his hand a squeeze.
“For a man who should have it all together, I don’t have anything together.” He sighs and turns over to face me. “I’m not about to go on a pity party again while you’re around.”
“Good,” I say, then turn on my side to face him. “And you need to know that I’m not going anywhere. Better get over having those kinds of parties for yourself anymore.”
“Can we just hide out here in the Oregon woods forever? I promise I can build you a home out of logs. I can catch fish for dinner and find berries for breakfast. It’ll be like our own little Eden.” He trails his finger over my lips. “You can be my Eve, and I’ll be your Adam. What do you say to that, baby?”
“That actually sounds damn good, Owen. Just you and me, wearing fig leaves. Wait, does this forest even have fig trees? I mean, if it doesn’t then what would we wear?”
His smile makes my heart thump in my chest. “Bearskins?”
“Oh, hell. There are bears in these woods, aren’t there? Damn! And wolves too, Owen.” I sit up and look around, suddenly feeling like we’re being watched. Most likely by wild animals that are looking at us like dinner.
He sits up and laughs, then pulls me to him, kissing me, then holding me tight. “I won’t let anything hurt you. You should know that by now, Petra.”
