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I’m deep into cougar country up here and the knife they gave me would do fuck all if one decided I looked like a tasty meal. My breaths come evenly and quietly as I climb over a fallen tree trunk, allowing me to stay tuned into the forest around me, but I also keep looking up at the boulders around me, making sure I’m not being stalked from above.
I’m in the middle of a daydream about how good it’s going to feel getting the money from them and getting out of this shit hole small town when I hear a sound from my left. I step between two large boulders and hold my breath. It could just be another hiker or it could be them. My blood starts pumping quicker as a wave of unease churns in my belly.
I step back deeper into the crevice between the boulders when a man comes into view on the opposite side of the stream. At first I’m relieved it’s not one of the guys until I realize he’s behaving weirdly. He stops and looks up and down the stream bed as if he’s looking for someone. He looks weathered and like someone who spends most of their time outside in nature. Deep lines mar his face, probably aging him prematurely.
I know I should be happy it’s not West, Blake, or Cody, but I have the most insane urge to run back toward them as if they’re the safer option. I watch from between the two giant slabs of granite as the man continues up the mountain in the same direction I would have taken.
I shake those nonsensical thoughts from my head. I’ve clearly fallen down the true crime podcast rabbit hole, seeing danger where there is none. All the conspiracy theories about people living in the wilds of national parks and forests are a bunch of bullshit. My parents were national forest rangers, they would have known about it.
Pulling the canteen back out of my pack, I take a long swig of it before setting back off. I do make sure to stay far behind the creepy solo hiker though, just in case. It’s a hard pace to set, slow enough to stay behind him and fast enough to stay ahead of the guys.
ChapterFour
“Where’s she at?” Blake asks Cody for the hundredth time in an hour.
“I don’t know, she must have fallen off the side of the mountain.” Cody looks at me with an exaggerated eyebrow lift.
“It’s not funny.” Blake stops and turns toward us. “Her safety is in our hands out here. I like fucking with her just as much as you two do, but that doesn’t mean I want her hurt.”
I want her hurt. As long as I’m the one doing it.
Blake looks off in the direction of the hiker that passed us an hour ago. “That guy gave me the creeps.”
“It’s fine.” I step forward on the trail, passing Blake. “I’ll take the lead and we can pick up the pace a bit. She’s about a mile ahead of us, if she screamed we’d be able to hear her.” The thing I hold back is that my instincts are screaming for us to get to her.
We’re all over six feet and athletic. She’s short and curvy. Fuck, that ass of hers gets more incredible every day. She won’t be able to outrun us. But she’ll look good trying.
I run the barbell of my tongue piercing along my teeth, remembering how soft her skin was as I got her dressed last night. I hadn’t touched her in years before last night. I could have stayed there all night, caressing the barely noticeable stretch marks on her hips and memorizing the pattern of freckles and moles that dot her stomach.
She probably hates everything about herself that I want to worship. It pisses me off the way she tries to hide her curves, not that she can because they can’t be hidden. Every time I would see her walking down the halls in a baggy sweatshirt and baggy jeans I couldn’t help but let loose with biting comments about her looking frumpy or lazy.
I remember when we had speech class together and were expected to dress in business casual clothing. She walked in before her persuasive essay on plastic versus paper straws or some shit and every single asshole in that class did a double take. She was wearing one of her mom’s old dresses, plain black and cut right above the knee. It was a little too tight, but I’m sure her loser uncle couldn’t be bothered to take her shopping so she had to make do. I broke Clay Meyers’ nose after school that day for talking about asking her out.
After that night, Cody, Blake, and I claimed her. Told the whole school she was off limits. No boyfriends. No dates to the school dances. Nothing. We wanted her as much as we hated her for causing discord among us. Those two were newly enamored with her, but they didn’t have the history with her that I did. We couldn’t agree on who could have her. So no one else could have her either.
I don’t think she ever found out about the directive from us. It seemed more like she didn’t care, like she couldn’t wait to leave our small mountain town behind her. In some ways, I can understand. She wasn’t the same after her parents died and fuck knows her uncle didn’t do her any favors.
I’ll never forget the moment she looked me in the eyes and told me there was nothing left for her here. My chest had caved in on itself as she detailed her plans to run away. My lifelong best friend was just going to leave me behind, like our eleven years of friendship and memories meant nothing. That’s when my walls went up and my heart hardened to her.
I went home that day and told my mom everything. She called the sheriff and they found Violet trying to hitchhike on the highway, heading toward Durango. My mom brought her home for dinner that night and she sat across from me, glaring through bloodshot and glassy eyes. I glared right back.
I decided at that moment that if she wanted to blow her life up, I wouldn’t sit by and watch. I’d fuel her pain and hatred until it burned as bright as mine. I cut her out of my life, but kept her close. Watching her every move from behind an aloof and detached facade. At some point, I wondered if I’d break her down, force her to come back to me, but every day the divide solidified and the chasm between us widened.
“Shit,” Cody says as he grabs my shoulder. “Flash flood warning in Forks Valley.”
We all glance up to find that the sky has darkened quickly with ominous gray clouds. We all glance down at the GPS tracker she’s unaware of. The dot indicating her location shows her right in a gully that will undoubtedly flood.
“Fucking damnit,” Blake mutters. “This is why we should have let her have her cell phone.”
Without the flash flood warning she won’t realize she’s in danger, even with the clouds gathering overhead. She’s smart, but essentially blind to what’s coming out here. I pull off my pack and hand it to Cody.
“I’m the fastest. I’ll sprint to her and make sure she’s safe.”
A wary look passes between Cody and Blake. They know I’m right, but they’re worried I’ll fuck everything up with my attitude. I might, so I'm not making any promises.
Blake nods in the direction she’s in. “Go.”
* * *
