“Most of the water in the tank right now is filteredrainwater,” leaning against the bathroom wall with his arms folded, Jax wasgiving her an instructional tour of the cabin. They were currently in thebathroom. Standing in the open doorway of the bathroom, Alessia got a good lookat the room for the first time in the light. The rest of the cabin was verytraditional with lots of exposed wood and no-frills practical furniture. Thebathroom was something out of a magazine and entirely out of place.
Noticing her dumbfounded expression, Jax paused hisexplanation in a smirk. "Yeah, I know. It's not really my style, but Isure as hell wasn't going to turn down the cheap price I got all the materialfor." He turned and looked at the room, sweeping his gaze along with hersover the modern white subway tiles and all black fixtures as if viewing theplace through her eyes for the first time.
The large walk-in shower sat directly across from the doorwith a white pedestal style sink to the left and the toilet to the right.Everything was either black or white: black grout, white gleaming tiles fromfloor to wall, black fixtures and hardware, and a large glass door enclosingthe shower. Directly ahead on the shower wall was a window inside the showerthat poured in all the light, making the bathroom sparkle.
"Some builder in Portland had extra material," hegrumbled as he scratched at the light beard on his cheeks. "Anyways, as Iwas saying, when the weather is dry and we get no rain, I pump water in fromthe river not too far from here. So that means," he said pointedly,commanding her full attention. "Regular showers are not possible. You haveto take military-style showers to conserve water."
The confusion on her face prompted him to explain.
"Meaning you can't just turn the water on and leisurelytake a long, wasteful shower. You get in. You turn it on to get wet, you thenshut it off," again he gave her a pointed look to make sure she waslistening. "You wash and lather up and then turn it on briefly to rinseoff. Then you're done. Understand?"
It made perfect sense, it didn’t sound relaxing or evenenjoyable for such a luxurious looking shower, but it made perfect sense.
"Yes," she said, nodding.
“Good, let’s move on to the root cellar and toolshed.”
Following in step behind him, she thought of what he said."Were you in the military?"
His shoulders stiffened slightly, and his hand paused on thefront door’s doorknob. “Yes.”
He didn't say anything else and Alessia knew not to ask anymore about the subject. Following him outside, she listened intently as heexplained things around his property but she couldn't help but think about hispast. From what she could tell, he looked to be in his late twenties or earlythirties and seemingly normal. Yeah, he was grouchy and overall bad-temperedand carried around zip-ties in his back pocket to hogtie innocent women in thewoods, but beyond that, he seemed like a young, healthy good-looking man aloneout here in the woods. Very strange.
Somehow the tour of the property had turned into a hands-onguided work example. Giving her the ropes to a plastic sled that drug behindher as she walked, Jax led her through the forest and showed her how he foundand chopped wood. Dragging the filled and much heavier sled back himself, Jaxthen proceeded to show her the precise way he liked the wood stacked along theporch. There were moments during that day Alessia could swear the man waspurposely trying to test her resolve. When he led her to the back of the houseand opened a door on the base of the house, showing her how to use and manage acomposting toilet, she could practically feel his awaiting judgment to herreaction. She forced herself to keep her face impassive as she nodded andoccasionally agreed to his various instructions.
Jerk. He was deliberately trying to goad a reaction out ofher. Did he want to see her breakdown—again? Or was he just trying to introduceher to the realities of off-grid living bluntly? Either way, she refused togive the man any sort of response. With every chore and task he showed her, sheasked herself what in the world was she doing out here with him? But she knewthe answer; she had no choice. Not right now, at least, not while Gary was mostlikely still angry and searching for her.
By the time they came back inside, the sun had set and thesky was a dark shade of blue with the last remaining light.
"You will use this ladder to get to the loft that youwill sleep in," pulling a wooden ladder over, he leaned it against theledge of the loft. "There are only a few crates up there; you should beable to use the free space to sleep."
Seeing that he expected her to climb up and check it out,Alessia tentatively stepped onto the ladder. It felt solid beneath her feetdespite its narrow design. Awkwardly she climbed up the ladder just enough tosee the entire loft. It was dark up there, but very spacious. Just as he saidthere were three large plastic boxes lined up all the way on the back wall.
"On the right, you will see a rolled-up futon that youcan use."
Walking back down the ladder, she's stood back beside him."Thank you," it felt a little strange thanking him and honestlymeaning it when twenty-four hours ago, this was the same man holding herhostage.
Tilting his head up at an angle, he looked down at her withan arrogant smirk. "Don't bother with thanking me," walking backtowards the kitchen, he left her standing by the loft ladder. "I willaccept your gratitude in manual labor."
Annoyed, Alessia raised her chin and crossed her arms.“Fine.” Turning his head, she could see the strong profile of his face over hisshoulder.
“Don’t think it will be easy work either,” he warned.
"Like I said, don't worry about me. I'll be fine,"she threw back. She was going to show that smug asshole that she would be morethan capable of his dumb “chores.”
~*~
The poor girl.
If he wasn't sure before, Jax was absolutely certain nowthat the girl had never experienced a day of hard labor in her life. By thetime the sun was setting each night and it was time to come in, she was dead onher feet. Nailing, sawing, carrying, and lifting, she did it all alongside himfrom morning till nightfall.
On their first full day, they tackled the screened-in porchhe already had halfway finished. Most of the framing was up, but he stillneeded more wood cut and the mesh screening nailed on. It was then he realizedthe extent of her skills around tools.
He had asked her to measure a piece of wood that was sittingnext to her.
"Umm ok, hold on," Jax could hear the zip of themeasuring tape behind him extending. "It's umm, eight feet, and threelittle blips."
Jax didn’t move. He didn’t turn around or say anything for afew long seconds. Finally, when he felt confident with his self-control, Jaxstepped down off the ladder and turned to see her face. Seeing her crumpled upshameful face as she stood there waiting nervously for his reaction, for thefirst time in a long time broke through his hard-earned power of will—hestarted laughing.
