Raven probably has a list of questions already—intrusive ones that I have zero plans to answer.
Once I get her settled, I can come out here and work until my hands bleed. Pretend she doesn’t even exist like I have so often over the years. But not just yet.
After a hike like that, Raven must be cold and exhausted, and despite my anger with her right now—and pretty much always—the thought of her being uncomfortable any more so than she already has to be creates a feeling in me I’m not at all ready to accept is there.
I’d rather focus on the task at hand than the frustration Raven produces. Chopping firewood to keep the cabin heated for her gives me something to concentrate on instead of the situation I now find myself—with the one person I don’t want anywhere near me in the one place I could always come to be alone.
Like an approaching storm, I sense her before I catch a glimpse of her blond hair out of the corner of my eye. She stops a few feet away, apparently waiting for me to do or say something. When I don’t, she finally motions absently backward toward the cabin. “Whatever you put on the stove is warm if you want to come eat.”
I shake my head, set up another log, and drive the axe down into it. “That’s for you. I figured you’d be hungry.”
“Oh.” She runs a hand through her hair now a tangled mess filled with leaves, twigs, and other bits of foliage from the hike. “Umm. Thanks.”
Hell…
That’s something I never thought I’d hear from her lips.
Gratitude rather than contempt.
But I know her well enough that I understand I won’t hear it again. Certainly not when I’m keeping her here, against her will, in that shitty cabin…
For as long as it takes.
I break down another log, then another, as she stands awkwardly behind me, not saying a word. Finally, I turn to face her. “Are you just going to stand there watching me?”
She swallows thickly, suddenly looking uneasy with me for the first time in our lives rather than just angry. “No, I…I’m just trying to figure out what the fuck we’re doing up here.”
You and me, both.
I release a heavy sigh and lean the axe head onto the ground. “We’re up here so you don’t get yourself killed.”
Those perfect pink lips of hers press together tightly, and any gratitude I may have thought I saw only a few moments ago is long gone. “I’m not going to bury the story, Connor. Believe me, I know all the dangers I’m taking on by writing it, by digging into the Lorells and their business, and I’ve accepted them.”
“What about the dangers to everyone else around you?”
Her jaw tightens, and she glances away. “I think everyone involved would be more than willing to accept them if it meant that there was a chance that we could end their entire organization for good, a chance that we could eliminate any potential threat and any future danger.”
I shift my grip on the axe, ready to swing it up and drive it into another log to end this conversation. “Don’t you think you should ask them that instead of making the assumption?”
She purses her lips, looking absolutely unfazed by the way I’m pointing out the error of her decisions. “I’ve known all of you my entire life, save for Lucky, but you know she’s one of my best friends and I know her pretty damn well. I think all of us want this to be over. Truly over. I’ve seen the way you are on the homestead, how uneasy it makes you. That’s because of what they did, Connor.”
Like I need reminding of that.
What I need is for Raven to leave me the fuck alone, as much as is possible up here. At least for a while.
I need some time to think, to figure out a fucking plan beyond the one that got us here.
Her green eyes that match the grass beneath our feet drift over to the foundation of the new cabin. “You did all this?” When I don’t answer, her gaze flicks back to me. “You’re planning to move up here.”
Fuck.
When I decided to bring her up here, I didn’t think about what it would mean, that my secret would be revealed, that she would tell my brothers that I plan on leaving the homestead and coming up here for good, but now the cat’s out of the bag.
“It’s best for everyone if I do.”
Her soft brow furrows. “Do you really believe that?”
I lift the axe again, set up another log, and slam it there to work out my ever-growing frustration with her and her observational skills. “I’m not safe to be around, Raven.”
