Page 1 of Wild Runaway
1
JOSEPH
The half a deer carcass in the back of the pickup bumps up and down as I drive over the uneven surface of the mountain road. I watch it in the rearview mirror, wondering if I should have strapped it down better or if it’ll jump right out of the crate.
It’s a fresh kill from today, and I’m making good on my promise to give a shank to Kobe. He’s got a baby on the way, and I don’t mind sharing my meat with others on the mountain who need it.
The private gravel road that leads to Kobe and Hailey’s cabin is lined with tall pine trees and scraggly bushes that scrape against the pickup as I turn in.
The driveway opens up to the front of their classic log cabin, and as I pull up out front, I note that Kobe’s pickup isn’t here. I guess I should have called ahead, but I like doing things the old-fashioned way. I grew up in the mountains, and if you wanted to visit your neighbor, and by neighbor I mean any other mountain dweller, you just turned up.
As I cut the engine, I realize there’s someone sitting on the front steps.
A woman is hunched over on the stairs that lead down from the front porch. She’s clutching something close to her chest, and her brown eyes are wide and staring. She’s as frightened as a deer in the forest, and the way she’s poised, with a hand on the banister and one foot on the bottom steps, ready to leap up at any moment, is just as flighty.
We stare at each other, her breathing hard, clearly wondering if she should make a dash for it, and me paralyzed by the vision before me. Because she is a vision. Sunlight dances off her long golden hair as it cascades over her shoulders. She’s got pale, smooth skin and full, youthful lips. Hell, she’s at least ten years younger than me, but there’s something in the set of her eyes, a wariness that makes her look older.
I don’t know who she is or why she’s here, but my instinct tells me any sudden movement could scare her off.
Instead of getting out of the car, I wind the window down and we stare at each other. My mouth goes dry as I drink her in. I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful, and I’ve got no clue what to say to her.
I clear my throat, and she startles. Christ, the woman’s jumpier than a newborn fawn.
“Are you a friend of Hailey’s?”
I take a guess that she’s here for Kobe’s wife. They look about the same age, and I figure if I drop Hailey’s name she’ll realize I’m not a stranger.
The woman pulls her eyebrows together and adjusts whatever it is she’s clutching to her chest.
“Who are you?”
Her voice is bold, and I like that. She may be trembling like a deer, but she’s putting on a show of bravado.
“Name’s Joseph. I served with Kobe.”
She relaxes a little. Being ex-military has that effect on people. They feel they can trust you because you served their country. But the things I saw people doing to each other over there made me lose all hope in humanity. It’s why I live deep in the mountains, why I only come out for my motorcycle club or to run errands like this.
The rest of humanity can go to hell. I’ve seen too much madness. I’ve seen what people can do to each other, and I’d rather keep my own company with the animals of the forest.
If it weren’t for the Wild Riders MC, I’d never leave my patch of forest at all. I hunt or grow most of the food I need and live off the grid with my own set-up. There’s not much I need people for. But Kobe was a brother in arms, and we hunt together sometimes.
“Do you know where Kobe and Hailey are?” the woman asks without telling me her name.
She’s afraid of something or someone, I’d bet my best gun on it. A wave of protectiveness hits me so suddenly that I sit back in my seat. I don’t know this woman, but I want to keep her safe from whatever she’s scared of. I just need her to trust me.
“Dunno. I stopped by to drop some meat off.”
Her shoulders sag, and the thing she’s holding to her chest moves. She glances down at it and readjusts herself. She’s got something alive there, I’m sure. Maybe a puppy or something she found in the woods.
“You been waiting long?”
She stares at me long and hard, and I get the feeling she’s assessing me. I tug on my beard, not sure how I measure up. A grizzled mountain man with half a deer in the back of his pickup. If I’d known I was going to meet this beauty today, I would have trimmed my beard and put my best flannel on.
Still, something must work in my favor, because she lets out a long breath and relaxes a little.
“I’ve been waiting for a few hours.”
As she says it, a breeze rustles the surrounding trees, and whatever adrenaline she had warming her veins when I showed up dissipates, because she shivers and hunches over.
