by Tess Oliver
I changed reluctantly. The lingering scent of pine that always seemed to follow Jem was still on my clothing. For a brief moment, I allowed myself to push the ugly note from my head and think about being safe in Jem’s strong arms. So far, he’d proven to be anything but dark and sinister. Other than the potential of a terrible heartbreak, I felt safe with him. I was sure I could trust him. I just hoped my complete and utter infatuation with him wasn’t blinding me from the truth.
As I slipped under the covers, I considered just packing up my stuff tomorrow and going back to Aunt Carly’s, a place where peace prevailed and death threats were non-existent. But now, more than ever, I needed to find out what had happened in that missing piece of my history.
Chapter 16
Tashlyn
I’d had one attempt on my life and another written death threat and the thing that had me trembling with nerves was knowing I was about to see Jem. Just seeing his tall silhouette sitting in the car out front sent a burst of charged energy through me.
I reached the door of the car that seemed to be held together with the dust that coated it. There was no door handle. I leaned down and smiled through the window, reminding him that there was no handle.
He had the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, and the metal plugs in his ears glinted like dark pewter as he reached over and popped open the door from the inside. I slid into the passenger seat. A huge rip in the black vinyl had been repaired with silver duct tape. The dashboard was at an unnatural tilt. I pulled my feet out from under it in case it fell.
“Can’t say you didn’t arrive in style today.” Jem laughed as he pulled away from the curb.
“No, it’s definitely a style. Just not sure how you’d categorize it.”
He stopped at the first stop sign and reached over to pull my face toward his for a kiss. “Morning, Woodstock. Did you sleep well? Cause I didn’t.” He looked down at my lips, the lips he’d just kissed. “At the risk of sounding like a total fucking sap, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Tash.”
“I was thinking about you too.” I felt my cheeks warm just thinking about his hands between my legs.
He sat back and drove on. Most of the cars on the road were heading south toward the bigger cities or toward the mill. Several dogs were standing on the sidewalk in front of Gregor’s Market playing tug of war with a sandwich wrapper. Otherwise, with the shops still closed, the street was quiet.
I’d shoved the death threat into the pocket of my jeans. I planned to show Jem once we got to work. It wasn’t something I just wanted to shove in front of him while he was driving.
“Did Everly give you a hard time last night?” he asked.
“Surprisingly, no. But she’d gone to visit Finn, who told her that he’d have drowned if you hadn’t jumped in after him. That helped.”
“Everly has a thing for Finn?”
“Yes, but don’t tell him. He’ll figure it out soon enough. I hope he deserves someone like Everly.”
“A lot of people have a hard time looking past those scars. Finn’s not really like everyone else.” A terrible sound of grinding metal followed his third and finally successful attempt to get the car into fourth gear. “Guess you can see why I usually take my bike.”
We were rounding the last turn before descending on Phantom Curve. On the bus, I’d always made a point to sit on the left side, to avoid looking at the blackened ground below. But today, sitting on the right side in Jem’s small, slow moving car, it would be hard to ignore it.
Jem sensed my tension and didn’t say a word as we rounded the curve. Then, it hit me, like an unexpected bout of vertigo, the weird sensation of falling, as if I was tumbling head over heels down into the deep ravine. A shocked cry left my lips, and I grabbed Jem’s arm. I closed my eyes and had to consciously work to stop the dizziness in my head and the pounding in my ears. And all the while, I held Jem’s arm, as if it was keeping me from falling.
He waited a few seconds until I took a steadying breath and opened my eyes. A cold sweat covered my skin, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“Tash?” His deep voice floated through the cloud. “Are you all right?”
I nodded unconvincingly and pried my fingers off his arm. The car suddenly seemed exceptionally small. I rolled down the window and stuck my face out into the fresh air. The deadly curve, the macabre reminder, was behind us now, but my limbs tingled with numbness. “Jem, please, pull over. I need to get out of the car.” I couldn’t stop the flow of tears. As much as my mind was reconciling what had just happened with my memory, it was too hard to face the truth. It was part of the missing piece, and it terrified the hell out of me.
Jem pulled to a small patch of dirt. I shoved open the car door and hopped out before it had come to a complete stop.
Daylight was starting to pour through the treetops. I turned my face up to it, swallowing the fresh air, in hopes that it would clear my head. I felt Jem standing next to me, watching me.
The nausea slowly passed and my heart slowed. I pulled my coat shut against the morning chill.
“What the hell happened back there?” Jem asked.
I swallowed to relieve the dryness in my throat. “I was with him.” My voice was crinkly and quiet. “I was with my dad when he went over the ridge. I’d pushed it back in my memory, somewhere deep, so I couldn’t find it. But just now as we drove around the curve it came back to me. I was falling again. I was rolling around in the sleeping compartment of my dad’s truck.” I turned to him.
“What? How did you make it out?” There was more worry than confusion in his tone. It was almost as if he dreaded my answer.
“I don’t know. I just know I was with him.” I pressed myself against Jem, and his arms closed around me.
Chapter 17
Jem
Usually, if something weighed heavily on my mind, I could clear it away once I got out on the water. Just me, the pond, the logs and the impossible scenery surrounding me. It beat an office job any day. But today, I couldn’t shake shit from my head. It had started as a tiny, irritating tickle, something that was bugging me but not enough to keep thinking about it. Then, after the sawmill incident when I’d kissed Tashlyn, she’d looked up at me with this soft, vulnerable expression that had morphed the tickle into more of a scratch. But still I’d pushed it back out of the way. But this morning’s incident at the curve had turned the scratch to a full on gash, something I could no longer ignore. I needed more than anything to corner Dane for a talk. It was hard enough cornering my wild older brother for anything. Having a serious conversation with him was nearly impossible. But something told me Dane had some answers, and he was the only one willing to give them up freely.
I stepped across to the logs waiting to be sent to the lift. It was an hour before the end of the work day, and I was ready for it. I’d only seen Tashlyn twice all day and only from a distance. Hal had gathered the workers for a quick safety equipment inspection, and as we stood waiting for our shoes, hats and gloves to be checked, Tashlyn had come out to ask a question of Hal. She’d tried hard not to look my way, but I stared openly at her. Her cheeks were blushed pink before she turned around and walked back to the office.
Walt Pickman’s whistle called my attention to shore.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. “Is it Dane?” I called back to shore.
He shook his head and cupped his hands. “The boss wants to see you in his office.”
I shook my head and laughed. Of all his workers, I was the one person who had to travel across logs and a pond to get to his office. “Can’t it wait?”
“He told me to get Wolfe now.”
Now was never a good thing when it came to the boss. I was pretty fucking sure he wasn’t dragging me off the pond now to give me a pat on the back. The one bonus was that I’d get to see Tashlyn. I headed across the yard
and stomped the mud off my boots on the cement path leading to the office.
I opened the door. Tashlyn glanced up from the desk Hal had set up for her in the corner of the room. She pulled her eyes away quickly, and the same pink blush covered her cheeks. I was really starting to love that damn blush. She busied herself with the work in front of her, but her long, black lashes fluttered nervously as she stared down at the papers.
“Gotta question, Wolfe.” Hal’s deep voice pulled my attention away from Tashlyn. “What the hell was going on in the mill last night?”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Tashlyn’s face shoot up.
Hal pulled a piece of fabric out of his desk drawer. It was the strip of Tashlyn’s sweatshirt. We’d completely forgotten about it.
“This fabric was tied around the cradle arm at the first cut saw.”
I’d been in enough trouble in my life to know how to keep a cool as stone face. It had been a huge plus at the poker table. “Why the hell am I the one you’re singling out for this interrogation?”
“Well, for one thing, you’re a Wolfe.”
I gritted my jaw tight, reminding myself not to show any reaction. He was trying to get me to flinch and spill my guts, but that wasn’t going to happen. I’d promised Tashlyn that I wouldn’t mention the incident to Hal. From the side of my eye, I could see her fidgeting with things on her desk.
“And because some of the men told me you’ve been staying late.”
“What men?” I asked too abruptly. “Who saw me?”
“Doesn’t matter, Wolfe. Why are you staying after hours?”
“Because you sent Bozo the Clown, otherwise known as Stan, your nephew, to help me. Frankly, I’d probably do better on my own.”
He flinched first, which I figured he would.
“Can’t pay you overtime, and besides, it’s against safety code.”
“That’s why I’ve been clocking out on time—before heading back out onto the pond to clear debris. If it gets too thick, then it’s a bitch and a half getting that conveyor belt moving again once it’s jammed. Then it really will be a safety problem. But, hey, I’ll be sure to get off the water on time tonight, no matter what’s left out there.”
His mouth rocked back and forth as if he was figuring out how to make me staying late without pay to clean up a bad thing. His barrel chest relaxed. “So, you didn’t see anything going on in the mill?”
“Can’t really see the mill from the pond.”
Tashlyn cleared her throat as she stood from her desk. “Hal,” she said quietly, “it was me.”
I shook my head a tiny bit to stop her, but she ignored me.
Hal turned his big ruddy face her direction. The gruff expression he’d shown me turned to a kind smile. “What do you mean, Tash?”
Tashlyn stood next to his desk. “It was my fault. That fabric was from my sweatshirt. I know it sounds silly, but a bird flew inside the building and it was thrashing around in there trying to find its way back out. I was worried it would hurt itself, so I tried to shoo it out the opening. My sleeve got caught on the cradle. I couldn’t get the darn thing free, so I ripped it. I’m so sorry, Hal.” She batted her long, lush lashes at the man, and that was all it took. The man was fucking pudding.
Hal’s belly bounced as he laughed. “You need to be careful around the equipment, Tash. Lots of dangerous blades in there.”
She grinned. “I’ll say. Anyhow, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I was embarrassed. On the brighter side, the bird found its way out. But I’m out a perfectly good sweatshirt.”
The man was like melting butter in his chair as he listened to the sweet little liar cover him with sugarcoated lies. She was good.
Hal waved me out without another word or an apology for yanking me from the pond. Or a thank you for working late without pay, for that matter. I stomped back to the pond, kicking up the usual pegs of dirt in my wake. In less than an hour, everyone would be clocking out, and I’d be alone with the office staff. The tastiest little confection ever to sit behind a rolodex.
Chapter 18
Jem
Even though I’d told Hal I’d be off the pond on time, there was still just too much to do. And with the weekend looming, I needed to finish or have a bigger mess on Monday. The trucks had left behind so much bark and debris, it would be impossible for the waggoner to get around it.
I looked up as the steam engines were shut down from a whir to a low hiss to a final gasp. Like men hurrying to catch the last train, the workers streamed out of the mill. Normally everyone was tired and quiet as they headed in to change and clock out, but it was Friday night. Their loud voices and laughter rumbled off the mountainside. Hal usually left early on Fridays, one of the perks of being the boss. I could still see the light on in the office.
I finished shoveling the bark and broken branches onto the conveyor belt. The late afternoon air was starting to take on the chill of night as I tossed the last pile onto the belt. The men were heading up the path to the parking lot as I put the tools away in the metal shed. I shut the door and locked it.
Tashlyn was strolling toward me with a smile that was now officially the highlight of my whole damn day. She still hadn’t replaced her sweatshirt and wore just a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans. She had her hands tucked in her back pockets, accentuating her amazing tits. She took hot to a whole new level.
“What are those deadly hot chili peppers that everyone always dares their friends to taste?” I asked as she reached me.
She raised a smooth brow and laughed. “I walk toward you, purposely pressing my breasts forward for your approval, and you’re thinking about chili peppers. I think you mean the ghost pepper.”
“That’s it. Knew it had a weird name. Anyhow, your erotic little stroll over here made me think of hot chilies because you are so damn hot.” I grabbed her to me. “And yes, they have my complete approval. Your breasts—not the ghost peppers. I’m actually kind of a wimp when it comes to hot chilies.”
She laughed. “Can’t really imagine you being a wimp about anything, but we all have our weaknesses.” She hopped up and kissed my neck. “I’ve definitely found mine.”
I kissed her and pulled her even tighter, nearly crushing her against me. “I’m spending my whole day on that pond thinking about this, you, pressed against me, letting me do whatever I please.”
“Whatever you please, huh? Well, maybe.” There was a gleam in her eye as she peered up at me. “But first I want you to teach me how to stand on a log.”
“What? You’re kidding.”
“I’m not. I’ve been watching you out here, you know, when I’m supposed to be working. Anyhow, I really should tell Hal that if he wants me to get more work done he needs to hire a much less appealing pond bronc. Because this one—” She fingered the buttons on my shirt. “With his amazing arms wrapped in flannel is just a little too distracting.”
I dropped my arms and took her hand. “Funny, cuz I was just thinking of telling him the exact same thing about his office staff.” I led her to the end of the pond where the water was only three feet deep, and the bottom was soft sand. There were a few stray logs, bad ones that the scaler had determined as unusable, floating in the shallow water.
I dropped her hand and hopped onto one of the logs. She watched as I spun it around several times.
She pointed to my feet. “See, I want to do that.”
I laughed. “Turning them takes a little time to learn. I don’t know about this, Woodstock.”
Again she shoved her hands in her back pockets to remind me of her beautiful breasts. Not that I needed any reminding. “You do realize there’s a good chance that I’ll get all wet out there.” She pushed out her bottom lip in a seductive plea. Just the kind of expression any guy dreamed about coming across a pillow.
“We
ll, since I’ve been spending a huge chunk of the day thinking about pleasing you, darlin’, I’m definitely not going to turn you down. Of course, I was thinking of a different kind of pleasure, but we can start with this.” I rolled the log closer to shore. “It’s really just a matter of concentration, predicting which way the log will turn and keeping ahead of that prediction. Use your arms for balance, and don’t look around. Just stare down at one spot on the log.”
She held her hand out. Her nervous, enthusiastic smile reminded me of a kid just about to hop on their first amusement park ride. She took a deep breath and put her hand in mine. She stepped across to the log. I held her hand and steadied the log beneath my feet.
“Find a spot to focus on. It will help you concentrate on your center of balance.”
She held up her free arm and got a feel for the movement under her feet. Twice, she gripped my hand harder. “I feel like a kid learning to roller skate.” She stared down at a place on the log, and I had the fun of watching her concentrate, lip biting and all. Her small button nose twitched as she inched forward and back on the log.
“O.K., I think I’m ready for you to let go.”
I slowly released her hand. She held mine for a few seconds longer. Something about her holding onto me like that pushed on my chest. God, she’d managed to take complete control of my heart in just a few weeks. No one else had ever made me feel this way. Scared the shit out of me plenty.
Tashlyn held out her arms and kept focused.
I was keeping the log as steady as possible. “You’re nailin’ this. Maybe you should join me out here. I probably wouldn’t get any work done, but it sure would make the hours go fast watching you nibble on that plump bottom lip.”
