“Wait, where’s Merelyn?” I ask, truly curious. “Why are you sleeping on the couch? Is Merelyn occupying the other bedroom?”
“There’s only one bedroom in my home. I live alone,” he answers simply before he draws out a yawn.
“But where is she?”
There’s a storm? I thought the roads were closed, and that’s why I couldn’t get to a hospital.
“She lives right next door on my land. Feet away. Goodnight, Coraline. Leave the questions for the morning.”
I purse my lips together. The thought of going back to sleep and going back into my nightmares again terrifies me. Gavin notices my hesitation and does a double-take at me and the door, and starts to walk away.
The sound of the wind howling through the window before me calls my attention. I look at it and watch the snow patter harshly on the window glass.
He stops walking, and his back muscles tense up. He turns to me and has a softened expression.
I look at the ivory lampshade that sits on the wooden nightstand by my bed. There’s a pile of aged books with tanned yellow paper and a notepad with a pen.
“I was dreaming about the car wreck. The person who forced me off the road in the first place.”
His eyes pierce through me like daggers. I've struck his curiosity, and he watches me like he's testing me.
“Do you remember what he looked like?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“No. He was in a mask. It looked like he was going to take it off, but then I fainted.”
Thunder draws my attention toward the window.
“Do you know why you would be getting chased?” he asks. “Do you know why this person is trying to kill you?”
“No.” Furrowing my brows, I shut my eyes. “I don’t want to be alone,” I murmur as I sit up and swallow nervously. “That person who was chasing me down the road could be out there, watching me.” I nip my bottom lip until it stings. “What if he tries to finish me off? What if he breaks in and hurts one of you? What if?—”
His palm covers my mouth, silencing me. It was hard, almost like a slap.
“Hey!” I shout in his palm, but it comes out muffled as he continues to press down on my lips.
“No more fucking what-ifs. No one else lives up here. The roads will be closed for the next few weeks. Maybe even a month. No one is getting hurt.” He removes his hand.
Slouching, I glare at him. Deep down inside of me, I know I needed that to snap me out of my anxiety.
“Weeks? A month?” I gasp. “I don’t have a month here, Gavin.”
I claw at my bedsheets again, and groan when I realize myrib pain is back. I take in a sharpened breath and squeeze my eyes tight. Maybe if I take shorter breaths, it’ll hurt less. I glance toward him again and wince.
“I don’t know what to tell you. The phones are down. I have no internet. There’s no signal. My ranch is hidden deep in the woods. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I saw an airplane or helicopter fly overhead.”
My heart sinks.
“How do you live out here like this?” I ask, trying to withhold my judgmental thoughts. I’m a city girl through and through. I can live without the busy streets and buildings, but no internet? No cell signal? In the Alaskan wilderness?
He takes a step forward like he's going to take a seat in the corner of the room where I first met Merelyn.
“Gavin, baby? Where are you?”
A woman calls out in the distance—her voice is different from Merelyn’s. She sounds younger with a high-pitched tone. Does he have a girlfriend?
CHAPTER 8
