by E. F. Jacks
Around Ellis’s age, and handsome, with shaggy blond hair and golden skin, the guy’s dressed in earth toned hiking gear and a dark nylon jacket. Virile pops in my head, the same word comes to mind when I ponder Ellis. Yet the guy’s face is awash with tears as he says hello to me, and his misery seems genuine. Rainwater drips off his hair into his distressed blue eyes. From his unshaven face, it appears as though he’s been waiting out here for a few days.
The state he’s in doesn’t look contrived. Rather, he seems a little like me, a regular person who’s found himself in an uncanny situation, and is dependent on strangers for assistance. In my case Ellis is the stranger. Or was.
I hesitate, and then one side of my mouth bends up in a half smile. “I’m Pauline.”
The guy leans forward to shake my hand and winces as his foot moves forward with him. “I’m Nick.”
He looks down at his socked foot and lets out a low groan like he’s in pain. There’s relief in his eyes as he glances from me to Ellis, as though he’s glad we found him and can help him. I hope we can. I have a feeling Ellis’s gruff exterior is concealing a big heart, but I also have a hunch the last thing he wants to deal with right now is carting an injured stranger up and down the mountains with us to town, and having to protect not one but two susceptible people.
Nick’s mouth curls up one side at a time in a lazy grin as we shake hands. His cursory glance at my figure is a little off-putting considering the situation. His cocky smile seems a bit familiar. Maybe. Maybe not. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“I don’t think so,” he says.
I drop his hand and shrug off his gawking. Ellis’s gaze hardens as his eyes move from me and land on Nick.
My concentration returns to Nick. “I could swear I…Forget it.” I think of the text Mom sent about that Evan guy. Should I tell Ellis? The fact that I think I recognize Nick’s face keeps bugging me. “Where did you go to college?” I ask him.
“I didn’t go to college.”
Ellis shoots me a curious glance. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I was mistaken.” My gut’s not as confident, however.
Ellis explains to me what Nick told him, that Nick was hiking solo when he sprained his ankle. Ellis asks Nick a few more questions like, how experienced is he?
Nick details that he’s not a novice hiker, has traveled this route before, and found himself in trouble after falling and twisting his ankle. Through his pants his ankle looks quite swollen.
“Until you guys came along, I thought I was gonna die. Thank God for you guys.” Energy bar wrappers are littered around Nick. He’s been living off them while he waits. His eyes soften and widen as he watches us in gratitude and holds up and shakes his empty water bottle. He expects us to save him.
We must. I nudge Ellis and tell him to offer Nick one of our energy bars and some water. Ellis parts with our food as reluctantly as if it was a large diamond. Nick nods thanks and munches heartily. I glance away for a moment, and when I look back he’s finished eating it. Ellis stops him from drinking too much water.
I peek at Nick while I speak to Ellis in a quiet voice. “The fact that he’s out here seems a little odd. Do you believe his story?”
Ellis raises his shoulder and blocks Nick from my view. “I believe him as much as I can believe any stranger. We have very little supplies left, but we can leave him with a few things and send for help once we reach town.”
“I don’t think we can leave him here. He’s got no radio, and neither have we. And he’s wet from the rain. It’s cold out here at night. He could freeze.”
The pained look on Ellis’s face conveys that the last thing on earth he wants to deal with is an injured hiker.
And after everything that’s gone on, I don’t blame him one bit. But we can’t let it become every man for himself out here. Even though society’s rules don’t always apply out in the wilderness, we should show civility. We have to do our best to assist Nick. Because it’s the only way I know how.
Ellis presses his hands to his forehead and I can’t see his eyes. His silence lasts for so long that I start to think he’s going to disagree with me and we’ll have to abandon Nick after all. Because I’m not the leader, I can’t go against Ellis’s rules, or can I? Though we don’t know Nick at all, the idea of leaving him to fend for himself for the time being strikes me as unkind and heartbreaking. I ready myself for a challenge. “Ellis…”
Ellis’s throat moves as he swallows. He breathes out a hoarse groan as his finger swipes across my face in a tender stroke. “Okay. You win. I’m not babysitting him, though, because you’re enough for me to deal with. He can follow us, but he makes his own way as much as he can.”
I plead with my eyes. “What about his ankle?”
“He can hop.” While Ellis’s smirk is hot, I wonder what idea is coursing through his mind. “Or you can carry him.”
“Very funny.”
Because of Nick’s injured ankle, without us he’s as helpless as I would be without Ellis. Suddenly, I really do want to help Nick. I narrow my eyes at his large frame. He’s well over six feet and broad-shouldered. I couldn’t carry him, but maybe I could assist him with walking.
“All right,” I tell Ellis. “I’ll do everything that involves helping him. You do what you do best—guide us.”
He gives me a smug grin. “Oh, I will. I don’t know how he’s going to fit in the tent with us.”
“There’s two of you and one of me. I’ll sleep outside. You guys can take the tent.”
“No. That’s way too dangerous. You’d be completely exposed out there for anyone to...I don’t even have to say it because it’s not happening.”
“Well, I’m not sharing the tent with him.”
From the ground behind us Nick lets out a low whistle. His head moves back and forth as he watches us discussing him.
“You won’t have to. You can sleep inside. He and I will bunk outside,” Ellis says.
“He’s injured, and…”
“He’ll survive. He’s been out here for, what, a couple days?” Then, with a brazen stare Ellis turns to Nick. “You can help guide too, buddy, since you’ve done this route before.”
I touch Ellis’s sleeve and tilt my head toward Nick. “What are you doing?” I ask quietly.
Ellis doesn’t respond.
Nick’s nonchalant expression doesn’t change as he shifts his weight and speaks to Ellis. “Absolutely. Ellis, right? I’d be happy to help guide.”
I bend and pick up the bar wrappers ringing Nick’s seat. There’s nowhere to deposit them, so I sculpt them into a tidy pile and leave them. A few seconds later a gust of wind sends them flying and scatters them in the woods around us. The wrappings are silvery flecks in the distance. “I can’t win.”
Nick looks over at me with one eyebrow higher than the other. “Excuse me?”
I don’t answer him. I crouch by his side and proceed to slip my arm under his. Ellis cuts in and lifts Nick up so he’s favoring his uninjured foot.
Ellis winks at me. “You didn’t actually think I’d make you carry him, did you?”
Nick frowns and doesn’t thank Ellis, as though he’s disappointed I didn’t assist him. What is it about being out here that turns guys primal, into alphas, as if I’m the last woman left for them to claim?
I run my hand across Ellis’s arm and his firm muscles quiver under my touch. My lips brush against the side of his face. “Thanks,” I whisper.
Ellis’s eyes lighten and he gives me a curt nod. He pretends he isn’t a gentleman when he is. I gather Nick’s backpack, which is very heavy, more so than mine, and pull it over my shoulder that’s not bearing my own pack.
Ellis’s gestures to my back. “Here, let me take that.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m fine. You have him and the other bags to carry.”
“You can’t shoulder both of them the whole way. He’s not that heavy. Let me take one.”
Nick slides a look at Ellis. “I
f I’m not that heavy, then why are you straining?” His voice is unfamiliar, yet his arrogant, boyish smile is somewhat recognizable.
Ellis shakes Nick like he’s as light as a piece of string and jolts him upright.
Nick’s face is purple from surprise as he glares over at Ellis, who is supporting a good deal of his weight. “Whoa, man, take it easy. I’m sorry, all right? You don’t have to be so rough.”
Ellis grunts at Nick, then smiles at me.
Nick can’t put his boot back on because of his swollen ankle so I tie it to the backpack and take it with us.
We make our way out of the woods back to the trail, with Ellis assisting a hobbling Nick and also carrying multiple backpacks and our tent speared through the holder on the side of one pack. His strength has far surpassed my imagination. As I sweep fine-needled tree branches out of my face, Ellis tells Nick a little about what’s been happening to us along the way. The recent rain brings humidity, and before long beads of sweat dribble down my forehead. Ellis and Nick wait for me while I stop to tie Ellis’s jacket around my waist.
Nick’s face whitens in shock when Ellis finishes the story of our journey so far. Ellis has to yank him to get his feet moving forward again.
“I guess that answers my next question,” Nick says. “You guys really don’t have a raft.”
Ellis’s stony expression remains unchanged. “Yeah, once we get back on the trail, we’ll be walking the rest of the way to the town.” As though this fact doesn’t bother him.
“Do you know anything about what happened to our raft?” Ellis asks Nick.
“Ellis,” I mutter. “Don’t.”
“I don’t. It sounds very traumatic,” Nick tells him.
We’re out on the trail again. “Ellis. Let’s not go there. Let’s get going. Nick needs medical attention, and you said so yourself, we could be three days from town.”
Nick gestures at me that Ellis’s questions are okay, and his face takes on a contemplative expression. “Are you sure you guys didn’t get spooked by some of the wildlife out here? I know I got freaked out a lot while I was waiting for someone to help me.”
“Wildlife aren’t as smart as the guy or guys who’ve been following us,” Ellis replies.
“Bears can be smart,” Nick says. “And you’re sure it’s a guy?”
I jump to Ellis’s defense. “I guess it’s a guy who’s on our butts. He, or they, have arrows.”
Nicks seems to take my answer as definite, and we ease into a brisk pace, as much as we can, up the winding mountain path.
Chapter Eighteen
Pauline
We made it through the night, with me inside the tent and Ellis and Nick camping outside. The only startling noises were the ones found in nature, and Nick’s snoring. I’m pretty sure it was Nick. Ellis never snored when we slept together.
Ever since we found Nick it’s been quiet out on the trails and the campsite. I’m not sure whether he’s our good luck charm, or if we have managed to evade whoever’s tracking us.
Last night we didn’t have a fire. The air on this early morning has a very cold bite to it, so Ellis decides to build a fire and put it out before we set off for the day’s hike.
He hunkers on the ground and searches around us for dry wood, not picking up even one piece, and frowns.
“Something wrong?” I ask him.
Ellis rests his hands on his thighs and lifts himself up. “The wood around here is damp from the morning dew. It won’t make much of a fire. Maybe we should forget the whole thing and head out.”
“We should warm up. It’s chilly, and I didn’t bring gloves, and…”
“You can have my gloves.”
I tilt my head at Ellis. “You brought gloves with you?”
“Well, no, but…”
“So, there. We do need to have a fire. Please? A quick one?” I gather Ellis’s hands in mine, look up into his eyes and smile, trying to get him to agree to the idea. Or has he forgotten how? I didn’t see him take out his journal. “Ellis, if you need help…”
He bristles, and then Nick cuts in. “The wood might be drier farther into the trees.” I’ve almost forgotten he’s there, sitting on the nylon tent after Ellis took it apart, so he doesn’t get cold.
“Good idea,” Ellis tells him. “I’ll look a little farther in.” He smiles at me and then his fingers slip out of mine. “Is this what you want, Pauline?”
“Ellis, if you need some help, I remember how and can help you.”
He glances at Nick as though his manhood is hanging in the balance and dismisses my offer. “I don’t need help, thanks. You’ll be okay for a few minutes?”
He’ll be farther in the woods. Away from the open clearing where we’re camped out. Away from me. I don’t know how I feel about being alone with Nick, but it would be only for a moment or two, assuming Ellis finds dry wood right away. I think about going with Ellis to assist, but don’t want to embarrass him in front of Nick. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. What could happen in a couple of minutes?”
Ellis zippers his jacket and winks at me over his wide shoulder. He’s so stubborn and secretive. Will I ever really know him? As he heads between the trees, the branches and leaves swallow my view of him.
While Ellis is out searching for wood, I take a seat next to Nick on the tent, which makes a dry and somewhat comfy seat when it’s folded. My whole body aches from walking yesterday and the day before and the day before that. The rest is a welcoming break for my back and legs. I set out to find out more about Nick.
“We’ll get you to a doctor as soon as we reach town.”
Nick smiles over at me. A slow, sexy smile. I’ll have to watch myself around him. With that smile, I could fall for him. If I hadn’t already met Ellis.
“Thanks, Pauline. You guys don’t know me, but you’re being so kind.”
“It’s no problem.” My cheeks warm and I wave off his gratitude. “Where are you from again? You said California, but where in California?”
“San Francisco.”
“Did Ellis tell you I’m from Boston?”
“He never mentioned it.” Nick’s lips have the trace of a smile as his eyes darken and reveal a glassy edge in them. “But I know you’re from there.”
“Oh.” A smile forms on my lips. Then I think harder about what he said. I don’t have a typical Boston accent, since I moved there when I was older after my real dad died. My mouth remains open in disbelief. “I’m sorry?”
Nick springs to his feet.
I jump up and edge away from him. “Your ankle—I don’t understand.”
“My ankle isn’t broken.” He shakes his pant leg and a band of fabric slips out. The swelling around his ankle vanishes.
Then he’s towering in front of me, looming over me. Oh, God, Ellis, come back quick. My mouth opens to shout for him above the constant deafening whoosh of the river.
Nick waves a finger inches from my face. “Uh-Uh. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Anyhow, he can’t hear you above the river.” Oh, the smile on his face is pleased.
“Nick, why are you doing this? What’s going on?”
“Nick doesn’t exist.” A man’s voice. Not Ellis’s. A voice so deep and powerful it resounds even above the river’s swish and roar.
I whip around to the gathering of pine trees behind us. A man steps out from within the many rows of trees.
“Pauline,” he says.
His voice is like a knife in my back. It’s Seth’s voice. He’s grown his hair to past his ears and has dyed it jet-black.
This can’t be a coincidence. I’d never known Seth as a hiker. My mind rolls back to the events of the past week. How unsuspecting I’d been. How after I lost Sam I thought my life couldn’t possibly get any worse. Until Fiona’s death. And Mitch’s body.
“You don’t look so well.” Seth’s dressed in hiking gear like Nick’s. A crossbow is strapped to his back. His hair is styled in just the right way even out here in the wild. That’s just like Seth. His g
rooming was always so meticulous. And his thin, sharp eyes pierce through me now the same way they did when I confessed my secret life to him up in our apartment near the campus.
I hold my hands out in front of me. “Get away from me, you bastard.”
Seth’s lips fold together into a grimace. He looks as offended as if I were his father scolding him. When I was with him I needed to tread with care around him and act sensitive toward his feelings even as he was dismissive of me.
He shakes off my insult and raises a finger at Nick. “He’s my older brother. His name’s Ellis. He works for River Tours.”
I’m terrified I’ll say the wrong thing, upset him and propel him into doing God knows what to me. Seth’s eyes have a sinister gleam in them, and his posturing reeks of being determined to instill terror inside every inch of me. My hands and lips are quivering. He’s succeeding. But, he has a brother?
“What are you talking about?”
In a violent, swooping gesture, Seth points to Nick, as though I’m inept for not understanding lightning fast. “He’s my brother.”
I think back to a memory of Seth holding me from behind at the kitchen sink as we washed dishes together one evening in our apartment. One of the better moments during our time together. He was so gentle as he kissed my neck while I washed and he dried our plates. Gentle as he told me about his older brother Elli, and how close they were even though they lived with different parents.
When Nick smiles at me his eyes are wistful and his lips are parted in a generous way. A smile like Seth’s. The best thing about Seth was his smile. Is his smile. Coming from Seth or Nick such a smile is terrifying. Who knows what they’re capable of doing to me. I’ve seen what they might have done to Doug, Helen, and their kids.
As I comprehend the truth, my body screams, yet no sound emerges from me. No, this is not happenstance. Seth has some sort of plan, and Nick is somehow involved. My entire being is locked in fear. Ellis. Ellis! I pray for him to appear and help me even as I wonder if he’s involved, as my head and ears pound with white-hot panic.
