“Are you thirsty?”
“No, thank you,” I said. “I’m Ava Lucas.”
The man cocked his head, almost as if he was studying me. His eyes danced along my rigid form as I laid on the couch cushions and his hands gripped the armrests of the chair. Was something wrong? Had I said something to upset him?
Shit, was this guy some kind of serial killer?
He didn’t look like one. There was a kindness behind his amber eyes that denoted a sense of compassion. Psychopaths weren’t capable of that, right? I mean I was no psychologist or anything, but I was pretty sure psychopaths weren’t capable of caring. But I had nothing to go on. I had no idea where I was, how far away I was from California, and when this rain was going to let up so I could get the hell out of here.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“Kettle, Washington. Just outside, in the mountainous terrain,” Travis said.
“Great,” I said with a sigh.
“Where are you wanting to be?”
I looked up at Travis and he was still staring at me. He was relaxed in his seat and his hands were now in his lap. Every time I looked over at him, he seemed to grow in size. The flames of the fire casted sharp shadows upon his features, making him look more intimidating by the second. His beard reflected colors of gold and red even though the hair on his head was brown and red. Like the hardwood floor I laid on as I tried to get dry.
“California,” I said.
“Still a ways out from there,” Travis said.
“Figures.”
I couldn’t do anything right. I couldn’t even fucking run away from home right. Kettle was, what… maybe an hour outside of Seattle? I had run away for all of sixty minutes before I got lost and found myself in trouble. Maybe my father was right. Maybe I was only suited to bear children and keep a home. I couldn’t even take charge of my life correctly when given the opportunity to.
“Any reason why you were scaling the mountains during a storm?” Travis asked.
“Wasn’t intentional,” I said.
“Wrong turn devolves into several. Sounds intentional to me,” he said.
“Well, good thing you don’t know anything about me, then.”
My voice was harsher than I had intended it to be and guilt began to take over. Which was another fun little trait my mother had instilled into me. Even if someone patronized me, I always had to be polite. Anything less than respect for anyone who paid me the time of day was considered grounds for a day-long guilt trip festival party.
“I didn’t mean that as harshly as it came out,” I said.
“You did. But it’s fine,” Travis said. “And to answer your other question, I don’t know.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Your stuff. Your car. We can’t get out there tonight, and there’s a slim chance that we’ll have an opening tomorrow. I don’t know if your stuff is going to be okay. Do you have insurance on the car?”
“My parents do,” I murmured.
“If things get damaged and your insurance company—”
“I know how insurance companies work, but thank you for assuming I didn’t.”
I turned back over onto the cushions and faced the fire again. I felt tired all of a sudden. Like someone had sucked all the energy right from my bones. I allowed my eyes to close as I peeled the blankets back from my body. They needed to dry by the heat of the fire because I sure as hell wasn’t taking them off. I had nothing to put on and I wasn’t about to wear some strange clothes some mountain man with a beard had in his closet. His knees acted like they had a restraining order against one another and there was this playful glint behind his eye.
Like he was somehow enjoying the fact that I was flailing in a new situation.
Shit. Was that a trait of a psychopath?
“I’ll help you with your car in the morning, if it’s safe,” Travis said.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Would you like me to help you to the guest bedroom?” he asked.
“I’m fine here,” I said.
“It’s got a comfortable bed.”
“I’m sure it does, but it’s farther away from the front door in case you turn out to be crazy.”
“Fair enough. I’m going to bed,” he said.
“Night.”
I heard him get up from his chair before his movements stopped. His presence loomed over me. Watching me with those bright amber eyes. I slid a little more of the blankets back, trying to get my pants to start drying off. The lower half of my body was still soaking wet and I knew I would never get to sleep until it was dry. Travis’ body cast a shadow over me and I stayed focused on the fire, trying to make it seem like I wasn’t clocking his every move. Finally, he moved, his body making its way for the hallway as I relaxed. I listened as his footsteps trailed off into the distance before a door opened. And when it closed and muted his footsteps, I quickly got up off the cushions.
I tiptoed over to the window to look at the rain. It came down so hard I could hardly see the porch. There was a miniature river running through what was supposed to be the driveway, and I groaned as I remembered the ditch I had turned my car up into. It was going to flood with water, which meant the engine would be ruined by the time the morning came around. And even if I was in some cabin with some burly man with sharp features and beautiful eyes, that didn’t mean he would know how to work on cars.
Chop some fucking wood, maybe. But mechanics probably eluded him.
Thankfully, all of my stuff had been in the trunk. So even if the ditch did flood, my things were safe. The only issue would be if the moving river of water dislodged my car and the tires sank back down to the ground. Water might get in the trunk then, or worse… wash it down the damn mountain.
Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder cracked right after. I jumped and slapped my hand over my mouth, trying to stifle my yelp. This storm was one of the worst I’d ever seen, but with the way Travis had acted, it seemed like a regular occurrence up here. I turned from the window and studied the cabin I was in, taking in its beautiful form.
The living room with the fireplace was illuminated by the glow of the fire. The cherry mahogany hardwood floors went seamlessly from the living room to the kitchen, which was all open and unimpeded by walls. There were bright marble countertops and state-of-the-art kitchenware, which reminded me of my parent’s home.
Whoever the hell Travis Benson was, he had money.
There was a hallway that split the cabin in half. I slowly walked down it, studying the gray-colored walls and the white crown molding. Everything in this cabin was decadent. Not at all like the man I had just encountered. There was a door on the right that had a light underneath it, and I paused as a shadow stood directly in front of the door.
I held my breath as I listened out for Travis. This must’ve been his room. I could see the shadow of his stature underneath the bottom of the door, blocking out the light source as he stood there. My eyes danced along the door as I muted my breathing, hoping to the heavens he wouldn’t open the door and find me standing here.
Then his body moved away from the door and I made my quick escape.
On the left was another door before the hallway took a right turn. I started walking down it, finding yet another door on my right and my left. This must’ve been the guest bedroom he was talking about, which meant there was a good probability the other door was a bathroom.
What I didn’t know, however, was what the door at the end of the hallway contained.
I approached it slowly as the thunder continued to crack outside.
The door was solid and it looked heavy. The doorknob on the door looked almost like an antique. It was odd to see something so out of place in a home that was so beautifully decorated and updated. I was curious as to what was behind the door, but as I reached out for it something stopped me. It was as if I was muddling through jello at that point. Like some force had reached out for me and wrapped around my wrist. My heart thundered in my c
hest as I slowly lowered my hand, resolving myself to whatever inward command stopped my movements.
I turned my back on the door and scurried back down the hallway, making my way back for the cushions and the fireplace. I needed to dry off and get out of here in the morning. Escaping wasn’t happening tonight and that was something I needed to come to terms with.
But I would sleep with one eye open. Just in case this Travis guy tried to pull anything stupid.
Four
Travis
She thought she was being quiet, but she wasn’t. The moment she stood outside of my door, I knew she became curious about the place. I was glad her body had thawed a little bit, but I wasn’t appreciative of the fact that she was snooping around last night. I would’ve been more than happy to give her a tour of the place.
I understood her reservations. I knew what I looked like and how I came off to other people. I had no intentions of hurting her, but I also had no way to prove that to her. She was a scared young girl trapped in a storm she had no idea how to deal with, so it only made sense that she would be on high alert.
But I did get nervous when I heard her turn down the hallway last night.
What was behind that door was for my own personal use. It was a room that didn’t get used often, but when it did it was a way for me to lose myself. A way to escape the fights my family battled over this land. It allowed me to release the anger and the hurt I had endured at the hands of so many people, including the woman I once loved. I had added that room on as a later addition after my father had this cabin built for me, and it was under lock and key. Even if she had tried to open the door, she wouldn’t have been able to open it.
The mere fact that she was curious, however, was why I stood and listened.
I listened to her explore the cabin. I listened to her run her hands along the wall. I listened to the little gasps I was sure she had no idea she had made, and I listened as her footsteps walked down the damn hallway. I rolled my shoulders back and readied myself to intervene, just in case she started looking around for a way to open the door. I kept the key on the top of the doorframe. Easily accessible but hidden away in case the door needed to stay closed.
But if she went searching for it, I was ready to step out and get her to stop.
There was silence for a little while before her feet ran her back down the hallway. She ran past my bedroom and I heard her collapse back onto the cushions. I hated that she was so afraid. There was nothing to be scared of in my cabin. She seemed brave enough, but her emotions were getting the best of her.
What was a young girl like her doing racing off to California by herself?
I tossed and turned while I slept as dreams of a former life plagued me. When my eyes finally shot open, it was still dark outside. The sun hadn’t yet broken through the trees of the forest that surrounded us, but there was one sound I expected to hear that I didn’t.
Rain.
It was no longer raining outside.
I got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. No use in taking a fucking shower when I was about to fix a damn car. I promised this young woman that I would help her get back on the road and that was what I intended to do. The sooner I could get her on the road, the sooner I could have my fucking house to myself.
I walked toward the front door and grabbed a coat to throw over my shoulders. The fire had dimmed to nothing but sparkling embers as Ava laid there on the couch cushions. I saw her pants hanging over the couch and something in my pelvis roared to life. There was a young woman with no pants on wrapped up in my blankets and lying in front of a fireplace.
In another place and time, I would’ve slipped right underneath them with her and pulled her close to me.
Shaking the thought from my head, I opened the door. I set out the same route I had walked last night, my eyes searching for her car. I walked a little farther than I had last night, but when I came across the car I felt the slightest bit of relief flood my body. The water had washed it down the ditch that followed the road until the ditch disappeared and became level with the trail. It sat on its tires on the side of the road as if nothing had ever fucking happened to it.
Man, this young woman was lucky.
I opened the car door and took stock of the inside. Nothing seemed to be damaged and there wasn’t any trapped water on the floorboards. I sat down in the seat and tried to crank the car, but it took me a few tries before I could get it going.
The engine wasn’t completely waterlogged, but there were some things that would need work.
I drove the car back up to the cabin and got to work on it. I went and rolled my toolbox out into the driveway and popped the hood of the car. There were a couple of busted pipes and a lot of the parts under the hood were still wet from the rain. I took off my jacket and removed my flannel shirt, so I could start soaking up some of this water.
I hunched over her car as the sun began to rise above the trees and got to work. I cleaned out the engine and made sure it was still good to run. I changed out the busted pipes and cleaned down the alternator. I had to loosen up a belt in order to get it back on its track and there was a small dent in the fender I worked out with my bare hands. The car just needed some tough love to get it back in working order, and I was just about to slide into the driver’s seat and crank it up when I heard the door of the cabin open behind me.
I looked over and saw Ava standing there in the clothes I found her in last night. My eyes scanned her body as I turned her name around in her head. The name “Ava Lucas” had hit me like a ton of bricks the night before. I wondered if she had any relation to the Lucas family who was trying to scout this area for a gas line. If she was related to them, then they owned half the fucking town in the first place. A family out of Seattle that owned property scattered all over the Washington State area. Her name had thundered through my mind all through the night until dreams of my previous life surfaced, but seeing her standing on my porch renewed my sense of fear.
I had to get her out of this fucking cabin just in case she was a trap.
“How’s the car?” Ava asked.
“Not as bad off as I expected. About to crank it up and see how the engine runs,” I said.
She nodded her head and I cranked up the car. It sputtered and roared to life as a grin crossed my cheeks. The look of shock on Ava’s face turned into a broad smile, and she clasped her hands over her mouth as her eyes sparkled. She looked positively radiant at the fact that her car worked. Such a simple thing for someone to be this overjoyed about. There was a slight twinge of something in my chest.
Something almost akin to pride.
I turned the car off as she came down the porch steps, her feet carrying her as fast as they could. She came around the door and reached into the car, popping the trunk so she could get to her things. I heard her rummaging around as I got out of the car, holding out the keys for her as she pulled a new outfit from her suitcase.
I got just enough of a look into the trunk of her car to see that it was stacked to the brim with her things.
“How long will you be in California?” I asked.
That quizzical look in her eye soon came back, pushing away the gratitude and happiness that had just been there seconds before. But her wariness was right. It was none of my business where she was going, why, or for how long. And taking an interest in her life might make it seem like I wanted her to stay.
Which was the farthest thing from the truth.
“You really wanna know why I’m heading to California?” Ava asked.
“None of my business,” I said.
“It’s because of my family,” she said.
I handed her the keys to her car as she wandered back over to the stairs of the porch.
“They want me to live a… particular lifestyle I don’t agree with,” she said.
“Sounds rough,” I said.
“It is. I’m heading to California because they announced that they would be marrying me off to a wealthy banker. Twice my a
ge, too.”
“Is that a thing that still happens?” I asked.
“Apparently so,” she said. “My parents expect me to marry young and have children and make a home for a man to come back to. I stopped going on their blind dates they were setting me up on, so they gave my hand away to the next man they thought would be good for me.”
“A man twice your age,” I said.
“Yeah. Comes from a well-off family. My mother said he would make a wonderful provider for the children I would raise, and it made me sick. When I argued with them, things got rough, and I was told I could either follow along with their plans or continue to go on the blind dates.”
“So naturally, you ran,” I said.
“Look, you might live up here in your cabin away from the world, but down there money doesn’t make everything better. We live in the twenty-first century, yet I’m expected to operate as if we still live in the stone ages. Where women are property and marriage are a business transaction. And you know what? Dating in high school wasn’t really an option. I’ve got three overprotective older brothers that were ready to beat the shit out of any boy who looked at me funny.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You should be. Judging me the way you are.”
“I wasn’t judging you,” I said.
“Well, it felt like you were. You wanna know what I think it is?” she asked.
“What?”
“I think my parents are tired of supporting me. I can’t work a job, but they’re tired of paying my bills. They don’t think it’s appropriate for a woman to be working, so they’re marrying me off so I’m someone else’s problem. Even though I’m a problem they willingly created. And against my will, at that!”
“Have you ever thought about college?” I asked.
“What?”
“It seems like you don’t have a plan for when you get to California. Have you thought about college?” I asked.
“Of course I have a plan for when I get to California. I’m going to start my own business helping women like myself get away from families like the one I grew up in.”
6+ Us Makes Eight_A Teacher and Single Dad Romance Page 46
