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Sitting on my bed, I dialed Logan’s number on the burner phone. His phone rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I let out a frustrated growl as I hung up. Logan had told me not to call Ian unless I had no choice, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I clicked on Ian’s contact saved in the phone and put the phone to my ear. It rang and rang until it, too, went to voicemail.
“Ian, it’s me. Call me.” I left a message before hanging up and tossing my phone on the bed.
16
I wokeup early the next day after dreaming about going to Logan’s funeral. Mr. X had killed him while I was safe and hidden away at the cabin. Ian was the one who’d invited me to it and even though Mr. X was still searching for me, I risked going. As Logan’s casket was being lowered into the ground, I spotted Mr. X standing with the crowd of mourners, whose faces I could not see. He was watching me with an evil, proud smirk.Dream Me is dumb,I thought as I climbed out of bed and put on some clothes to run in.
After I was dressed, I made my way through the quiet cabin and went down to the basement to run on the treadmill that was among the few pieces of exercise equipment down there. The basement wasn’t much. It had bare concrete walls and concrete flooring. The small personal gym had a treadmill, an exercise bike, and an elliptical. On one wall there were a few shelves of board games and up against another there was a folded-up ping-pong table, but I had no clue where the paddles and balls to it were.
Running felt good. It helped ease some of the stress that was building due to not hearing from both Logan and Ian. I hated not knowing what was going on. I hated not knowing if everyone we knew was all right or not. I constantly felt like I was fighting with myself on what to do. Keep us safe and stay out of what might be happening back in Arizona, or wherever Mr. X was wreaking havoc, or give in and join the fight. A few weeks ago, I would have never considered putting myself at risk to help hunt down Mr. X, but I was getting tired of this type of life. Was it greedy to want more? I was happy. We were safe. That should have been enough, but what kind of life were we living if it was always overshadowed with fear?
Living in fear isn’t living.Knox had taught me that.
Maybe I was just feeling cooped-up and needed to get out.
Hoping that was it, after breakfast I grabbed a box of bullets from the safe and one of my rifles from where I kept it loaded and ready to use by the front door. Now that I knew the guys knew how to shoot, I’d put guns in almost every room of the cabin. There was a pistol in each of the bedrooms, a rifle over the fireplace, and the one I was holding. Knox had his pistol, too, but I didn’t know where he kept it.
“I’m going to go shooting,” I announced to Colt and Creed. Knox and Keelan were working out in the basement again. “Anyone want to come with me?”
“I’ll come,” Colt said.
“You two go. I’m going to go get a workout in with Knox and Keelan,” Creed said.
While Colt went to put on warmer clothes, I found some empty cans to use for target practice. I put the cans and box of bullets in a plastic grocery bag to make them easier to carry. When I was done, Colt was ready and the two of us headed out. We went back to that clearing with the knocked-over tree. It had snowed out and everything was covered with fresh powder. Snow crunched under our boots as we walked until the cabin was long out of sight.
Like we had done before, Colt and I took turns shooting. Colt had really good aim and we quickly started competing to see who could hit the most cans.
“Want to add stakes?” I asked as I stared down the scope on top of the rifle.
He chuckled. “The last time I made bets with you, you cheated.”
I grinned an evil little grin. “If you win, I’ll get down on my knees and make it up to you.”
“And if you win?”
“You’ll get down on your knees for me,” I said and pulled the trigger. Through the scope, I saw my can go flying. Lowering the rifle so it pointed to the ground, I turned to face Colt.
He was smiling while staring at the cans. “So I’ll win either way.”
My evil grin turned into a naughty one. “So will I.”
* * *
Our little competition had almost been a tie, but in the end, Colt had beaten me and I wasn’t mad about it. I knelt in the snow in front of him and licked, sucked, and made myself gag on him until he was spilling down my throat.
Before I could think to stand up, he pushed me down on the cold snow and warmed me up by burying his head between my legs. By the time I came, the back of my clothes were wet from the snow. I didn’t care. It was worth it.
As we were cleaning up the cans and spent rifle shells by putting them all in the bag I’d brought, we heard the distinct growl of a bear nearby. I picked up my rifle and spun around as I searched for the source. I spotted a black bear walking toward us about thirty yards away.
I didn’t want to shoot it, but I didn’t want it to come any closer. Pointing the barrel of my rifle toward the sky, I fired off a round. The loud noise spooked the bear and it took off in another direction.
Colt came to stand next to me with the cans in his hands. “That could have been bad.”
I scoffed in disbelief. “Yeah.”
“I thought bears hibernated in the winter?”
“Me, too. Let’s get moving,” I said as I grabbed the bag I had dropped.
