Page 11 of Entangled in the Woods
Glancing at his watch, the man looked at me and then back at Wilder. “No time. Your boyfriend was supposed to be at Camp an hour ago now. As much as I would love to drive you home after your date night, I can’t. I need to get this idiot to Camp right now.”
Smacking Wilder on the arm, I made him look at me as he pulled on his clothing. “You’re not leaving me here for three days. I don’t know where the hell I am, and I don’t have a car to get back to my house.”
Wilder pushed his hair back from his face as if I was now a problem that he didn’t want to solve. I looked at the man for help, but he just shook his head.
“Trouble follows this kid wherever he goes.”
I did a double take at his face. It was a little fuzzy, but I was almost certain this was the same guy from the bar last night that had been staring. He had the same golden eyes, the same beard—if not a little longer today, the same shaggy hair, and I flushed as I remembered the wayward thought I’d had about running my fingers through it.
The man’s biceps bulged as he grabbed Wilder’s arm and pulled him through the house to the front door. Looping my purse across my body, I followed them, dodging empty cans and food boxes that the man knocked over, dragging Wilder through the house. This had been such a mistake. What had I been thinking last night? Now I could be stuck here for days with a couple half-eaten leftover burgers for sustenance.
Wilder struggled to stay on his feet as he stumbled down the stairs of the house. I tried to be as careful as I could, stepping down the loose stair treads, trying not to fall too far behind. How I hadn’t broken my neck last night was a miracle.
Parked at the end of the drive was a black SUV with tinted windows. The man opened the back door and all but threw Wilder into the back seat. He turned around and faced me. I tried to stand up tall and look commanding, but I was sure my wrinkled sweatshirt and uncombed hair made me look ridiculous.
“I’m not staying here,” I said, trying to make my voice big, but I detected a shake in my vocal cords as I spoke.
“Sure, you are. There’s nowhere else to go. Get back in the house.”
The man climbed into the driver’s side and slammed the door closed. The window slowly rolled down, revealing his face, staring at me, daring me to defy him. I looked around outside the cabin. My memory was fuzzy about the car ride home from the bar. It had been about a ten-minute car ride with no definingroad markers. If I knew what direction the cabin was in, I could get home, maybe by lunchtime.
I looked up at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun while still reading its position in the sky. It was probably early morning, the sun not yet risen to its highest point. If I assumed the sun was facing east, I would just need to head south the eleven miles back to the cabin. I could do it. I’d run far distances in the past. My toes disagreed, wiggling in Jenny’s borrowed wedges. Shit. Maybe I could make them work.
I took one look back at the SUV carrying the serious man and my flop of a one-night stand, and I decided to run. Expletives rose from my wake as I heard a car door slam behind me. I tried for speed. My purse hit the side of my body in a rhythm that matched my footsteps. The muscles in my legs had woken up not ten minutes ago, and I profusely apologized to them as they strained to warm up to support my speed.
I tried to keep an eye on the placement of the sun, but there wasn’t time between dodging rocks and navigating the uneven ground. I leaped, dodging a tree root that had briefly escaped the dirt before diving back down into the worms. Midair, an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled out of the air. My back hit a warm wall of muscle before my feet found the dirt. I didn’t make it very far.
“You’re fast.” I recognized the man’s voice. He was breathing heavy. “Even in those ridiculous shoes.” He swung my body so he had me in a suitcase carry on his side, his arm still holding me around my waist.
“Put me down!” I yelled and kicked, but he held me securely against him, not seeming to notice my struggle. I stopped struggling, trying to catch my breath. It was hard to breathe with the pressure of his arm against me.
It took several minutes to get me back to the car that he had left running. He set me down on my feet, loosening his grip onme, and I immediately took the opportunity to get away from him. A few feet away, I bent over, my hands on my knees, finally able to take a deep breath.
“Fuck.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as if I was yet another headache in this migraine of a day. “Get in the car. You’re coming with.”
“I’m not getting into the car with you,” I said, my hands still on my knees.
“You have three choices,” the man said. “One, you go back into the house and stay there for the weekend. Two, you keep running and I keep catching you. Or three, you get in the car.”
I lifted my head to look at him. He looked larger standing next to the car than he had in the house.
“Maybe I’ll go back in the house just until you leave. I think my odds of finding my way home are pretty good.” The man looked at me, glancing down at my shoes and up my body. I felt the heat of his gaze even through my clothing. His eyes looked yellow from where I was standing, but maybe it was just the reflection of the sunlight.
“I think the odds of you running into something unsavory in these woods on your way is quite high.” Okay, so he’d read my bluff. I didn’t know where I was. But I thought running still might be the better choice…
Turning my head, I looked back at the house. Did it even have running water? I glanced down the trail the man had just brought me back from. Maybe if I tried again, I could lose him. Who was I kidding? I was fast, but he was much faster. And in these shoes?
The man was still standing there when I rotated back to the car. Damnit. The choice to get into a car with ultimately two strangers seemed like the only option. I took a step toward the man, who smirked at my choice, happy he had won.
I quickly climbed into the back seat next to Wilder. He wouldn’t even look at me. The man closed the door and climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. This car was much nicer than the car Wilder had taken me home in. The cool leather seats grounded me as I let out a breath.
The man glanced at me in the rearview mirror before accelerating quickly down the road. He turned up the music as he drove well over the speed limit. Gravel flew up, creating a tan cloud around our car.
I looked at Wilder again. He looked straight ahead, obviously angry that someone had awakened him and forced him out of his house. Where was the guy that I’d been with last night who couldn’t break eye contact with me? Now he wouldn’t even glance my way.
“Where are we going, Wilder?” I kept my voice low enough that the driver couldn’t hear. Wilder continued to stare forward as if I wasn’t in the car. “Wilder!” I said, a little louder. This caught the driver’s attention, and he glanced at us through the mirror. He shook his head as if he expected nothing less.
Wilder jerked his body toward mine, nothing but annoyance on his face. “You should’ve gone home last night.”
