“Mmm, sure, so you are saying there isn’t anything you havebeen wanting to ask me?”
Damn this man, he knew full well what he was doing. Bitingher bottom lip, Alessia stared at him as she weighed her options. Slowly, adevilish smile spread across his lips. Alessia would be lying if she didn’tadmit that the scruffiness of his beard and his curling long brown hair framinghis face didn’t make her heart race a bit.
“Oh, come on Alessia just ask. You know you want to.”
Why did her name sound so weird coming from his lips? Annoyedbut still very curious, she opened her mouth to ask her first question.
“I will, however, answer anything except questions about mypast and why I am living out here in the woods."
Alessia froze. Closing her mouth with a snap. She pushedloudly from the table and snatched her plate up and spun on her heel towardsthe sink. Jax’s laughter was deep and booming, filling the small cabin up tothe rafters.
She hated him.
Chapter 8
It had been nearly three hours, and Jax had hardly movedfrom his spot. Today he was working on the electrical panel to his solar grid.Wires, soldering equipment, tiny computer screens and a bunch of cursingoccupied the dining table. The hard look he gave her when she handed him hiscoffee that morning told her without words to leave him be.
Sitting on the porch, Alessia rested her chin on her handsand stared at the thick tree line surrounding the property. Her chores weredone; breakfast was made and quietly consumed. All the books she had digitaland print were read twice over now.
By the heavens and stars, she was bored out of her skull.
Rocking back and forth in her seat, she let her gaze settleon the break in the woods. Just a large enough break for a truck to passthrough. Turning, Alessia stared at the cabin’s door as she let her mindwander.
Screw it.
Making sure her phone was tucked in her pocket, she zippedup her thick coat against the wind and headed towards the road. With every stepshe took away from the cabin, Alessia felt the war of her conflicting emotionsrage higher and higher. On the one hand, it felt positively wonderful for achange of scenery. For weeks she had been working night and day with thatcurmudgeon, she needed to get out on her own for a bit, hell, she deserved itreally. Although, at the same time, there was a knot of dread in her stomachabout leaving unannounced. Hundreds of "what if’s” flooded herthoughts. What if he needed her help and he called for her and she wasn’tthere? What if he gets angry and kicks her out because she left without tellinghim?
Fear and shame coalesced at that last possibility. Shehonestly had no clue as to what she would do if Jax decided he was done “sheltering"her. She was supposed to be coming up with a long-term plan on what to do next.Besides trying again at her hand at camping, the only other option was to takeJax's suggestion about the church foundation he mentioned before. A sickfeeling settled in her stomach just at the thought of another shelter.
Picking up the pace down the path, Alessia shoved thedepressing thoughts aside to be dealt with another time. She had three blogposts to upload, and she refused to put it off any longer. Reaching the road,Alessia shielded herself behind a tree as a car drove past. Pulling out herphone, she smiled as she watched the signal bars slowly fill up.
With her blog posts uploaded and finally being able to checkthe donation account, Alessia felt a little of the weight from her issueslifted. Nearly two hundred dollars have been deposited into her account,accompanied by a ton of comments about her new woodland living situation.Shock, outrage, they varied all over the place but nearly all of themsupportive and wishing her the best. It felt good to have people wish her well,even if they were faceless internet friends. The image of Jax's hard gazepopped into her mind suddenly without warning. He was there, a real livebreathing person helping her every single day. Alessia couldn't help but smile.Yes, he was rude and took enjoyment at her expense, but Jax was her saviorright now. He offered her something that no one else would, safety.
Stopping along the path, she turned and looked to her left.Her old camping spot would be directly ahead. Last time she was there, she wasso distraught seeing her tent destroyed she just left it. She should at leastthrow the mangled plastic away properly.
Making sure to walk straight and not veer off too far,Alessia was proud of herself when she spotted the bright green material.Heaving the branch off, she untangled the material from the metal spokes andgathered it all into her arms.
With her arms full, she walked in the direction of the pathto the cabin before pausing. Her hunting knife was still lodged into a treefrom the day Jax tackled her. Ignoring the sting of her pride at that memory,Alessia readjusted the awkward bundle under her arms and made her way in thedirection of the incident. After a few minutes, she finally spotted the goldand brown hilt sticking out of the bark. Grabbing it with her free hand, shetugged, nothing. Again, she tried this time, adding her body weight. The knifewas nearly embedded to the hilt.
“Ugg what a jerk,” she groaned under her breath as sheglared at the knife.
About to try it one more time, a loud guttural sound suddenlyechoed across the forest. Alessia's whole body inside and out froze at once.Glancing in every direction, Alessia didn't see anything. She wasn't going towait around to see it either. Clutching the tent and spokes tighter, Alessiasprinted for the path.
Again, the deep animalistic sound vibrated the air. Herblood ran cold and she ran faster.
“Alessia!!” She heard Jax’s angry yell first before shecaught sight of him standing at the beginning of the path where it met thesmall clearing to his property.
Relief crashed through her so hard she dropped the mangledtent in her arms when his shocked eyes met hers. In seconds she was flingingherself into his chest.
“Where the fuck…” he began to ask, his hands instinctivelyclutching at her shoulders.
“My God, Jax, I think there is a bear chasing me,” her wordscame out practically on top of each other in a near scream interrupting thebeginning of his angry tirade.
The brief wonderful feeling of his strong arms wrappedaround her shoulders disappeared immediately. In a blink, Alessia found herselfpartially drug to the porch and the screen door slamming shut behind them.Alessia stood there, still shaken as Jax grabbed his rifle by the door andturned to her with the most lethal look she had ever seen.
"Go inside. We will talk when I get back."
Stepping down the steps, Jax walked towards the driven pathshe came from with his rifle in hand. With his thick hair down and fallingaround his shoulders, his head turned slowly, scanning his surroundings as hewalked deeper and deeper into the woods as Alessia stood motionless on theporch despite his command, watching. When she lost sight of him down the path,Alessia felt her breathing practically stop. With each second that passed by,her body felt heavier and heavier. It felt like hours had passed when shefinally watched his figure reemerge from the woods. Though she was sure, it'dprobably only been a few minutes, the time spent while he was gone felt like amissing gap. All she knew was that he was back now, and she could breatheagain.
