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He doesn’t answer.
I know, I know deep in my bones it isn’t any one of those men.
I take a step back and my flashlight clammers to the ground. I fumble for it and the crunching sound of his boots moves at a more rapid pace toward me. I reach for the flashlight and as I go to shine it on him, I catch a shimmering light coming from something in his hand. He has a gun. A fucking gun.
I think quickly and do the only thing I know how.
I scream.
I scream as loudly and as frantically as I can.
The man stops and then, as quickly as he was there, I hear his boots disappearing as flashlights and voices start moving my way.
I keep crying out until someone reaches me, and it’s Rhett who makes it first, shirtless, half asleep, eyes confused as he shines his flashlight in my direction. He’s quickly caught up by Enzo, Elias, and Madden, who are all equally as disorientated. Only seconds later, the girls come running over.
I’m shaking.
Every part of me trembles as I try to get to my feet.
“Hey,” Enzo says, coming over to me and helping me up. “What’s going on? What are you doing all the way down here?”
“Someone ... someone ...”
“June, take a deep breath and tell me what’s goin’ on?”
“There was a man here. I came to pee, and there was a man. Someone is up here, Enzo. Someone is following me.”
Enzo’s head whips around to look at Rhett, whose eyes are already off into the woods behind me.
“Are you sure it was a man and not an animal?” Rhett asks.
I nod, one hundred percent sure of what I saw. “He had a gun. It was a man.”
“Why the fuck would someone follow us up here?” Madden murmurs.
“Someone may have already been up here, it has been known in the past for people hiding out,” Enzo mutters, putting an arm around my shoulder. “Come on, let’s get back to camp and you can tell us exactly what happened.”
“What were you doin’ out here anyway?” Rhett asks, then looks to the girls.
Chev still has a bottle of vodka in her hand, which she quickly shoves behind her back.
Rhett looks pissed.
“What the fuck?”
“We were just having some fun,” Chev squeaks, her eyes wide. “We didn’t know someone was up here.”
“We came up here so you could get away from that shit, you shouldn’t have it. Tip it out right now.”
Chev’s eyes get even bigger. “What?”
“Now,” Rhett orders.
Chev tips the vodka out.
“Get back to camp, all of you. I’ll deal with you in the morning.”
They disappear quickly, and I walk alongside Enzo as we head back to camp. I can’t help but look over my shoulder as we disappear. Someone followed us up here, and I’m starting to think I know exactly who it is.
There’s just no other explanation.
He’s not in prison.
And he’s found me.
12
“We’ve come across people up here before, through the ranch isn’t the only way to get up to these parts of the woods,” Rhett explains as we sit by the fire and I try to calm down. “Someone probably heard us and came to check it out. Not unusual.”
“He had a gun,” I whisper.
“People in these places carry guns.”
I shake my head. “Why wouldn’t he have just said that. He ran when I screamed. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“We’ll go check it out first light, make sure nobody is camping nearby. Unless you can think of another reason someone would follow you up here that you’re not tellin’ us about?” Enzo says, his eyes narrowing as he waits for my reaction.
There are so many things I could say right now, the truth being one of them.
But I don’t want to create drama if there doesn’t need to be any. I need to find out first if he’s out of prison, and if he is then I need to act quickly. He’s a dangerous man, and I’ve gone to great lengths to protect myself and Hudson from him. I thought this time we were finally free of him.
Has it been him all along?
“No,” I answer Enzo. “No, I don’t have any reason for someone to follow me.”
I don’t want to involve them.
The more people that get involved, the worse he’ll behave.
It’ll be dangerous.
I’m not going to do that to them, they’ve already had enough dramas starting the ranch without me adding to them.
“You sure?” Enzo probes, and I can see that he doesn’t believe me.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
He nods, sharply.
“You should get some sleep.”
“I’m not sure that’s something that’ll come easily.”
“I’ll move next to you,” he offers. “Nobody is goin’ to touch you while we’re here.”
I nod, because I’m not about to say no.
“Okay.”
We arrange our beds, and I give Faye a wide-eyed expression as I move away from her. She mouths ‘are you okay?’ and I nod, before settling in next to Enzo. Slowly, the camp falls quiet again, but I lie there, eyes wide open, terrified about what might happen during the night when everyone is asleep.
