AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Loki continued to talk, even though he was down to limited conversation. He didn’t stop until he drove around a corner leading up the goddamn mountain, and a beautiful log cabin appeared from nowhere out of the trees.
“This is it, sweetness.” Loki stopped the truck at the bottom of a small, grassy incline. “Look, I hate the idea of you being out here all by yourself. Connie assures me you’ll be okay, but I’ll leave you my card. If you need anything, call me. I’m closer than everyone else, I can be here faster if you need me.”
Feeling as though she was asleep sitting down, Caera nodded and reached for her door handle, shoving it open. It took several tries at fumbling with the belt catch to release it, and she stumbled as she wriggled out of her seat.
Loki was already waiting for her, grasping her arm to steady her. “I’m not sure this is a good idea. You need sleep, Caera. I can stay if you want company.”
She shook her head. There could be no witnesses to her shame when she fell asleep. From experience, she knew she would be out for the count as soon as she stopped fighting. “Thank you, I’ll be fine. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, sweetie. Just promise me you’ll get some sleep.”
Caera could promise him that. She might get twenty minutes of sleep before the nightmares sucked her in, chewed her up, and spat her out in a sweaty, terrified mess.
“Still don’t like it,” he muttered. “I’ll let Connie know you got here safe. Expect a call from her, sweetie. Someone needs to check up on you if you won’t let me stay for a few hours. Want me to walk you in? Connie says the key is under the safety rock near the front door. I can carry your bag for you.”
“I…no.” She tried to remember her manners. “Thank you.”
Loki’s expression darkened as though he wanted to argue with her. Grumbling under his breath, he moved a couple of steps away and reached into the bed of his truck to retrieve her bag. Before he handed it to her, he shoved his hand into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open, and thumbing out a business card. “My number is on here. Stick it on the refrigerator, keep it in your pocket, whatever. Use it if you need to. I can be back here before you know it.”
Her hands shook as she snagged the card from his fingers, taking a moment to read the writing on the colorful surface.
Loki Jackson
Licensed tattooist and piercer
Blessed Ink
The address was in a part of town she never went to—mainly because it would send her into social anxiety overload—and she barely registered the cell phone number before she carefully pushed the card into her pocket. It was the first offer of help from a stranger that she could recall—aside from Connie.
Connie tended to bulldoze her way into one’s life whether she was wanted or not.
Caera mumbled another thank you as Loki handed her the strap of her bag, then stepped back when he almost touched her hand. The itch beneath her skin was growing needy, making her want to scratch it until she bled.
“Take care of yourself, sweetness.” Loki shook his head in exasperation, giving her a gentle smile that couldn’t conceal the concern in his eyes. He juggled his keys in his hand, then sighed and rounded the front of his truck.
She watched him climb in and shut the door, wincing at how loud the engine sounded as it revved to life. Part of her wanted to run and jump back into the vehicle as it reversed, to beg Loki to take her home. Instead, she offered him a sad little wave that summed up her entire existence.
A sad little wave for a sad little life.
What the hell was she doing out here, standing in a clearing two hours from home? The world around her contained only the impressive wood cabin and a fucking wall of trees that appeared to stretch endlessly into the September sky.
When Connie had mentioned the cabin, Caera had envisaged it to be a monstrosity of modern architecture, completely disregarding the aesthetics of nature.
She had not expected the single level structure surrounded by a wraparound porch. Windows were spaced out equally, offering views out into the clearing, with long boxes of cheery yellow flowers lining the ledges.
God knew how big it was inside. There was a chimney poking from the roof, so hopefully she wouldn’t freeze to death. Of course, that depended on whether she could figure out the mysterious process of how to actually light a fire. From scratch. And keep it going.
Oh God, she was going to die all alone in a pretty wooden shed in the middle of a forest, with only the local wildlife to hear her final whimpering cries.
As if they could hear her thoughts, a small flock of birds erupted from the treetops, taking flight into the heat of the midmorning sun. Beams of sunlight filtered through the turning leaves, bathing the cabin in the beauty and warmth of nature.
“I can do this,” she muttered to herself. “I can’t stand here all day.”
Her body was begging her for a flat space to collapse on, insisting that the ground would do if she couldn’t gather the energy to walk into the cabin. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, fueled by anxiety and caffeine, she thought it was a miracle she hadn’t transformed into a hummingbird.
Anyone else, she thought with self-disgust, for anyone else this would be a walk in the park. A lovely vacation in a beautiful, tranquil part of the country, without the annoyance of tourists or city noises.
Clutching her bag tighter, Caera took an unsteady step toward the small set of steps leading onto the porch, followed by another. Her humiliation tripled when she jumped as the first step creaked under her weight. Jesus, forget city noises—any noise at all would likely send her nervous system into complete overload, with some self-destruction thrown in for good measure. The second step made the same hollow, human-like moan.
