“I doubt that,” replacing the head of the drill, he gave hera wink. “But I won’t risk you getting hurt either way. Right now, there are toomany sharp and heavy unsecured pieces everywhere to get you anywhere near thisthing.”
Nodding, she examined the glass building just as her eyecaught the large structure a few yards away practically hidden by the trees.The large dark green building blended in effortlessly with its woodlandsurroundings, one could miss it with just a glance.
“What’s in the barn?” They never mentioned having animals.
“It’s more of a giant storage shed than it is a barn. Hell,when we were building the cabin, it was our house.” The loud whine of the drilldisturbed the winter silence around them as he leaned forward to attach anotherpiece. “Now we just keep our construction equipment and vehicles in there, andour gym.” Standing astride the ladder now, Zane leaned forward and drilled inanother piece before straightening and looking at her. “It’s locked right now,but I’ll show it to you when I get done.”
“Okay,” she whispered. She didn’t want to see it, she justwanted to talk to him now to buy herself time for later. Everly only neededjust a little of his trust, just enough to give her buffer time to run.
“Did you think we kept animals in there?” His questionnearly made her jump. Lost in her plans, she focused back on the man holdinganother heavy glass panel in one hand.
“Ummm… I wasn’t sure really, it reminded me of a barn myneigh…” Everly stopped herself. She was going to say it looked like the one herneighbors had growing up. What was she thinking? She shouldn’t be telling himany of this, he didn’t deserve any information from her especially details ofher past. Stick to the plan Everly, she ordered herself.
Cold wind gusted around them whipping a few stray hairsloose from her long black braid. Silently, Zane studied her, wanting for her tosay more. Shivering against another burst of strong wind, Everly bit her lip.
“Button your top button and pull your hat down further,”though the command was friendlier than any tone Reid would have used, Everlystill recognized the expectation of compliance in the order. Zane waited forher to comply before continuing, his voice much gentler now. “Did your familyhave any farm animals?”
She debated telling him anything. Squinting through thestrong gust of wind she caught his curious stare. The searching look in his eyesaffected her more than she cared to admit. Relenting, she turned to look at thecold Lake in the distance. “We had chickens and a couple of cows. I mostlycared for the chickens though.”
“Mmm,” Nodding, Zane turned away to reach for another glasspanel, Everly couldn’t see the expression that matched that disgruntled sound.“We had chickens growing up too, about thirty of the assholes.” Stepping to theside Everly moved to get a better angle on his face, she wasn’t sure why shejust wanted to see his face as he recounted the past. “Christ, we hated thosethings, we didn’t mind eating them of course,” he let out a depreciating laugh,“it was just a pain in the ass taking care of them as kids.” Sitting back downon top of the ladder Zane tilted his head to the sky recalling the old memorieswith a grim smile. “I swear something was always trying to get them if itwasn’t one of our dumb dogs, a wild dog, or a snake.” The familiar heavyresignation in his voice surprised her. That was a feeling she knew intimately.
Opening her mouth to say more, to inquire more about thefamiliar pain she suspected lurked beneath his upbeat personality, Everlycaught herself. What was she doing? Time was wasting and her window of escapewas shrinking.
Nodding she buried her hands deeper into her coat pockets.“May I walk around the island?”
Turning around Zane looked at her, those bright blue eyesexamining everything about her before flicking off towards the distance beyondher as if mentally surveying the entire island. Seconds passed likeexcruciating hours, Everly had to stop herself from nervously fidgeting underthe mounting anxiety.
“Sure, sweetheart,” slowly he met her gaze again giving hera handsome smile. “Just be careful and stay away from the island’s edges. Thetemperature is steadily dropping and the wind is picking up, there are icyspots scattered along the ground.”
Her heart twisted with guilt at his worrying.
“I will,” she choked out, her stomach churning with anxious,cold fire.
Carefully, she turned and walked away, she could feel theweight of his gaze on her back as she slowly walked over the dead crumblingleaves. It felt like an eternity before she finally rounded the back of thecabin cutting off her view from Zane. Shoulders sagging under the pressure ofrelief she quickened her step. It would have been quicker if she simply wouldhave walked directly to the front gate from the greenhouse, but that would havebeen too obvious. Going around the cabin and back up to the frontcounterclockwise seemed smarter.
Sticking close to the cabin, Everly walked quickly throughthe clear pathway that seemed to circle the house providing a small barrier infront of the tree line. Reaching the west side of the island, Everly looked upto see the large windows to the bedroom. Since the cabin sat on a tall pier andbeam structure, the cabin sat high off the ground, only giving her a partialview of the bedroom wall and ceiling rafters. Looking back towards the waterEverly stepped closer to the edge. She remembered Zane turning the truck leftonto the island after they drove along the coast. That meant there had to be aroad on the mainland. Standing as close to the island’s edge as she couldEverly strained to see any sign of a road along the coastal edge. Nothing, justrocks and trees, but there was a road, there had to be.
She couldn’t waste any more time looking, she wasn’t surehow long Zane would allow her to wander unattended. Quickly she ran to thefront of the house making sure to stay hidden in the tree-line. Looking at herwatch, she confirmed it only had been a few minutes since she walked away fromZane. Perfect.
Standing still, she listened for the sounds of his drillwhining in the wind. Hopefully, he would stay focused on his work. Keeping acautious eye in the direction of the greenhouse, Everly made her way forward tothe island’s only exit, the bridge. The trees weren’t so thick in front of thecabin considering most were likely cut down for the driveway. Losing some ofher shelter Everly could see the greenhouse more clearly and the man on top.Her heart thudded in her ears as she waited behind the one remaining cluster ofspruce. Turning away from her direction, Zane picked up and placed anotherglass panel with his back towards her.
Inhaling, Everly darted across the clearing to the safety oftrees and thick bushes on either side of the bridge. Crouching Everly held herbreath as she listened for Zane. The silence stretched by, causing her lungs toconstrict painfully. Any second she feared Zane would pop up behind her. Themechanical sound of the drill continuing in the distance nearly made her cry.Relieved, she turned awkwardly in her crouch position towards the bridge. Fromthe last time she was outside, Everly knew the bridge had an alarm that linkedup with hidden speakers scattered along the property. The combination of themotion sensing alarm and impenetrable metal gate told her using the actualbridge wasn’t an option.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t go around.
Sliding down the natural embankment, Everly was able tostand up a little straighter instead of the deep crouch. The foliage around thebridge offered her privacy from Zane’s direct line of sight at the greenhouse.Standing on the embankment’s shallow edge. Everly’s heart sunk at the sightbefore her. The island’s edge sat high above the water, much higher than sheexpected. Sloshing and lapping against the rocks below, the lake’s cold depthssurrounded them. Swallowing, Everly stepped back, the churning water was muchdeeper than she realized— too deep. The violent currents beneath her roaredagainst the chaotic wind and beat against the gabion wall of the bridge.Running her hand along the chain-linked wrapped stone wall, Everly realizedthey were telling the truth— this really was an island. The mainland sat aboutten to twelve yards away, too far to try to swim through the hellish watersbelow. Frowning she tried to think, she had to get across, she had come too farnow. She refused to give up.
Running her gloved hand against the wall, Everly gripped thechain-link wiring covering the stone. It was a lot like a chain-link fence,just thicker and backed by stone. She could climb this. Hope surging throughher veins, Everly grabbed onto the thick diamond latticed wire, hooking the toeof each boot into a hole. Using the top edge of the bridge, Everly supportedher top half with her arms wrapped around the bridge’s ledge. Slowly she inchedherself forward, along the edge before re-hooking her feet to new holes.
Her arms and back screamed in pain at the overexertion, butEverly ignored it. All she had to do was keep going and not look down.Breathing heavily, she adjusted her body as the bridge tapered to its archforcing her to crouch tighter against the wall putting even more pressure onher arms. Groaning in pain, Everly glanced at the other side of the bridge, shewas halfway there, just a little further.
Hooking her toes into the lattice, she shimmied again alongthe freezing cement edge of the bridge, the cold was seeping past her jacketand sweater making her arms go numb.
A faint sound on the wind stopped her.
Straining to listen past her own labored breathing, her eyeswidened when she heard it again. Clearly this time.
“Everly!” Her name floated on the cold wind, she could hearthe anger and worry in Zane’s voice.
