Survivor (The Soul Mates Series Book 1)

by Victoria Johns

“Twenty nine,” she told me, reluctantly.

  “Do you know much about outdoors, survival, self defense?”

  “I thought that was obvious.”

  “Hey snippy, you’re the one not tellin’ me anythin’, I’m just tryin’ to build up a picture.” I’ll be dammed if she’s taking shit out on me, when I’m trying to help her. I made a mistake before and I apologized, it should be done.

  “Sorry. I know nothing. I’m living day to day, sending thanks to God that I’m still breathing. If this is all too much trouble, I can always turn around. I’ve made it this far on my own and managed to survive this long. I can move on and start again.”

  Fucking seriously, I did not need attitude at this time of night. “OK, less of the mouth Cara. I’m exactly the guy you need right now. If you can try and be less of a bitch and drop the attitude, I can teach you how to stay alive until you’re fuckin’ eighty. If not, I’ll call my dad and tell him he was wrong about you. Fuck, he said you were tough, a survivor but he did not mention what a pain in the ass you are.” I carried on walking, leaving her to think about the options I’d given her, hoping like fuck she’d follow. It’s been a while since I’ve met a woman with her spirit, the last one was in the wrong place at the wrong time and not to mention in love with someone else.

  When she decided to follow me I stayed quiet until I reached the bush she’d been watching me from and stopped. “Tell me what mistakes you made here, at this very spot.”

  Her eyes began to rove around the ground and scenery looking for some obvious answer, “I don’t understand.”

  “Are you sure? Think about it.”

  “I’m sure,” she told me confused.

  “This is the place where you watched me, day after day, when I first arrived.” Her face showed the first spark of recognition, even a hint of embarrassment, so I proceeded. “There are always lessons to be learned, the world, technology, skills and people advance. This means that in order to survive, your skills have to adapt and advance too. Firstly, your clothin’ was about as blended and camo’d as a clown outfit, you go on a stakeout, you dress accordingly. Secondly, using cheap bino’s on a hot day in direct sunlight is like a red flag. Reflections in a bush or the trees either attract attention and give your position away or cause a forest fire. I could track your movements just by the sunlight bouncin’ off the lenses. And lastly, you get distracted easily.”

  “Distracted?”

  I couldn’t figure out whether she really didn’t understand or was playing dumb, so I figured a show and tell lesson was in order. I moved toward her, gently cupping her cheek in my palm and leaning in close. Her reaction was predictable because she’s female, lonely and horny. “Just like the other day, your mind is thinkin’ about what it would be like to fuck me.” Cara stepped back out of my touch like I’d bitten her. “Like I said, don’t get way laid or distracted. That’s what’ll get you dead.”

  Turning around I carried on my trek down the hillside, wondering whether it would be possible to convince my cock to calm down before we hit the street lights. Her reaction to me was electric and I could feel the tension and spark from just touching her cheek.

  Right now, I didn’t know whether to curse my dad or thank him for giving me something exciting to really get my teeth into.

  Chapter Ten

  We didn’t speak the rest of the way down, as soon as I get through the junkyard gates I peeled off in the direction of the trailer. I didn’t trust myself to mumble anything, not even thanks or goodbye. The range of emotions I had felt since this guy had arrived had been all too diverse. Jake is big enough to scare me and my whole life I have associated muscle with fear. Maybe that inbuilt preconception is false because there are times when I know I have caught a glimpse of something different. Despite his rough façade there is a gentleness in his eyes.

  He’s right though, I haven’t got time for distractions and he’s proved that point tonight, he must think I’m like a bitch in heat. It’s time to get some rest because this whole experience has taught me that I need to up my game.

  “Cara,” I hear from outside the trailer door, “Wake up, let’s go.” I roll over in my sleep shorts and tank top, groaning. It can’t possibly be morning it feels like I’ve had my eyes shut for five minutes.

  “Sneakers on, we leave in five minutes.”

  “What!” I shout back.

  “OK, two minutes seeing as you’re feelin’ so friendly. You think the bad motherfuckers will warn you and wait for you to get your shit together?”

  “Alright, alright,” I snap back as I begin to stumble round the trailer like a drunk. By the time the impatient banging starts again, I’ve got my sneakers on and am hunting for a top suitable.

  The door bursts open, “Too late. Move,” he commands and throws a water bottle at me, grabbing my arm he finishes with, “you can run like that.”

  “Wait I need a top to cover my sports bra.”

  “No you don’t. Get over yourself, they’re the same as any other females. Until you can hold your own in a fight, runnin’ is your best course of action and you need to be ready to run in anythin’. Besides, a t-shirt wouldn’t cover that much more.”

  Feeling angry and frustrated, I take a mouthful of water, tie my hair back and then follow him. He’s already jogging up front. The base ball cap stops his thick head of hair flopping in his eyes and all his muscles move in unison. He’s just beautiful, in a work of art kind of way.

  “Stop checkin’ out my ass Cara and get up here.”

  “I’m not!”

  “Then you must be slackin’ off. Get up front, I want you to set the pace. I need to know what I’m workin’ with.” Doing as he asks, I let the morning sun and calm of the outdoors put me in my rhythm and annoyingly Jake’s breathing evens out before mine, even though he’s the size of a house “You’re not usin’ your lungs fully. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Your mouth won’t dry out as fast and you’ll also be quieter, pantin’ like a dog will give your location away for sure.”

  The tone he uses to correct my faults grates on all of my senses and I have to work hard to push down the instinctual bitchy comments I want to hurl back. Clearly he’s observant, so right now I’m hoping he can sense my mood and pick up that I think he’s also a huge ass hole at times.

  “How long have you been runnin’?”

  “Ten months and twelve days.” I spit back immediately.

  “I meant joggin’ Cara.”

  “So did I, Jake.” He catches on quickly and understands that I’ve only been at this for as long as I’ve been on the run. I’d never even stepped foot in a gym before, my last experience of true exercise was high school.

  “Ok then, let’s just keep goin’.”

  “How long for? How far are we running?”

  “Dunno yet, how far do you think they’d chase you?” He asks, looking for an indication of how deep I’m in it. “That’s what I thought, if they’re prepared you need a fall back plan and right now, that’s get some space and distance. Out run them until they can’t run or follow you any longer.”

  Suddenly Jake swerves left and heads into the forest, making his point that a car couldn’t follow me in here. We both fall into a steady pace and my brain starts to feel comfortable enough to tick over and spin through things.

  “Why do you do that?”

  “Do what?” I ask puzzled.

  “Narrate.”

  I then realize that I’ve been counting out loud and committing the directional route to memory. Shit, I don’t even know I’m doing it. “Um, it’s just me, it’s my thing.”

  “Your thing could get you killed. Your breathing was loud but not half as loud as you talkin’. You might as well give them a map or leave breadcrumbs to follow.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know I’m doing it.”

  Jake shakes his head and pushes on deeper into the forest, taking the lead, pushing the pace up ever so slightly. After an hour we burst through the trees and
are in a part of town I very rarely visit. Surprisingly the trail path has brought us to the rear of a gas station. “Your original plan will only work if you can get your car out of the lot. The main problem you have is that you could be running to the exact place they’re parked and waitin’ at.”

  “Shit,” I shout and stop immediately, shocked that I didn’t even think about that.

  “I know, but right now this is all about givin’ you alternatives. Drink,” he says shoving the water bottle he’s been carrying at me. No sooner have I taken a few gulps, does he take off back in the same direction, but veering off slightly.

  Even though his pace is now a little bit quicker, I find I’m motivated to keep up and I’m close enough to study him. He’s perspiring and it’s disgustingly sexy, his khaki colored T shirt is sticking to his back and I can see rivulets of sweat dripping from the bottom of his hair line onto his neck. The sight makes me lick my lips and hum in appreciation.

  “Stop it. You’re getting’ distracted again. I think you’re fucked if your bad guys are handsome motherfuckers like me.” He stops without warning and spins round, catching me unawares and making me stumble on the ground scrub. “Damn it Cara, pull it together. There will come a time when you need to be doing the distractin’ not gettin’ distracted.”

  I can’t help but look into his eyes, they’re deep and alluring. I manage to move my gaze as far as his throat where I can see his adam’s apple bob up and down. He’s got to be as affected as me, it’s just not possible that I’m so highly strung up about not having any intimacy that I’m the only one feeling the tension. Quickly he turns back around and runs off again, indicating our awkward moment is definitely over and it’s time to get back on task.

  “Stop countin’,” he says, more than once, over the rest of the run before we run out of the tree line only a short distance from my cabin.

  “Wow, that is cool,” I’m genuinely impressed for the first time in ages. Jake throws me the water bottle again and ambles up to the cabin where he dunks his hands in a bucket of collected rain water and proceeds to freshen up his face.

  “The plan is, if your car escape is cut off, you run out of the hillside using this trail and head to the gas station. There you’ll make a collect call to a couple of numbers I give you. When I give you those numbers get in the habit of havin’ them with you. They are a lifeline so tuck them somewhere in a pocket everyday.”

  “Tell me the numbers I’ll remember them.”

  He laughs at me, “Yeah whatever, listen, just write them down when I give them to you later.”

  “OK,” I answer a little put out that he doubted me, but also a bit relieved that he didn’t get the chance to see my gift up front. My safety depends on me keeping that under wraps for as long as possible.

  “Then you basically just wait it out, using the trees or the bushes until we come and get you.”

  “We?”

  “More details for later. Wait here, I’m gonna head back down to the house and bring some supplies back, just in case you need to leave from here,” he then turns and runs away from me again in the direction of the Junk yard.

  *****

  Jake

  Jesus fucking Christ. Just five minutes, I need just five or ten, no thirty minutes on my own to collect myself. My plan was to follow her on the run this morning and see how adept she was at working through the trees, but that was a no go. As soon as I made that crazy ass snap decision to make her run in that sports bra, I knew I was done for. My atypical male imagination kept thinking about her bouncing tits, then it progressed quickly to visualizing them bouncing out of that bra, sitting high and jiggling around as she was straddling my cock, riding me.

  Her initial panting for breath did not help matters, it just made it worse, although the cute step counting thing did remind me to focus on my task in hand.

  When she tripped and I looked down at her face, I couldn’t really see anything apart from her tits moving rapidly with her need to get more oxygen into her lungs. That then made me notice the sweat running in the crevice between them and then I wanted nothing more than to let my tongue follow it, to lead me to the rest of the package. Her fucking nipples, I could actually see them getting harder, just like I am now. I need to stop thinking about this.

  I’m a red blooded male and it’s proving a challenge not to dominate this one, her neediness is making her so enticing. The times when she just submits to my way of thinking, tells me what I need to know, but the times when she gets all bitchy, well, that makes me just as fucking hard.

  I’m a fucking ass hole for riding her about being distracted.

  Fuck! Don’t think about riding her again!

  And this is what happens, once it starts I can’t switch it off and I need some time out.

  I need to figure out who the fuck she is before I get in too deep, much more of this and my cock will absolutely overrule the logic my head is trying to enforce.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was mesmerizing watching him run down the hill and I kept my body still and eyes locked, until I could no longer make out his shape and features with ease. I have no idea where he’s going but I’m feeling hot and sweaty and it’s definitely not just from the exercise. My damp clothes are starting to stick to me, so I decide on a quick shower, I could do with a few minutes to breathe and catch up. Stepping under the tepid water is bliss, shutting my eyes helps me reboot my internal systems and let the water wash away the exertion of the morning.

  I can’t ignore the sensation of the water hitting my body or my wild imagination when my hands wash over my breasts. I’d normally wash over myself with as little fuss as possible, but today I’d describe my hands as roaming which is just bizarre. My nipples tingle, I’d even go as far as to say, they are heavy with desire. I let my hands wander down my torso, purposely avoiding that area. I’m daring myself to avoid it, because I don’t want to be that person. I can’t be turned on by someone I know I can’t have. The problem is, the more I wash everywhere but that area, the more it screams out for attention.

  “Fuck it,” I let my fingers teeter dangerously close to the centre. I need this, I need to release some of the tension in my body before he gets back. Hell, I’ll do it just to shut that part of my brain up so I can concentrate on more important things, like surviving. Mimicking his pose from the other day, I place one hand on the wall to steady myself and begin to play in that sensitive place, breathing heavier as my legs wobble dangerously.

  “Cara!” shit, I wasn’t finished, I was so close to falling over that ledge, when I heard his voice penetrate my brain.

  “Coming,” I shot back at him, shaking my head at my own humor because I seriously wish I was.

  After I’ve dried off and thrown on some fresh clothes, I turn to head out. Remembering I have company, I grab for my cheap and cheerful plastic comb and am dragging it through my damp hair when I join him on the cabin porch. Jake is sitting down with a bag of supplies, “Ready?”

  “I guess,” even though I have no idea what I should be ready for and as I’m still a bubbling pot of sexual energy, my mind strays to think thoughts it shouldn’t.

  “This bag is full of broken glass bottle bits and metal, if you lay it out and cover it with a few pebbles, enough to cover the surface, you’ll hear the crunch of it when someone is approachin’.”

  “Oh, good idea. Simple but effective.”

  Jake smiles at me and points to three different places, “If you put them, there, there and there, you should have enough warning to get up, get out and get moving.”

  “OK.”

  Next he produces a huge knife, “This here is a serious huntin’ knife. I’ll teach you how to use it soon, but for now, I want you to practice runnin’ with it strapped to your thigh.” He hands it to me and it weighs more than I expected, it makes that sliding steel type noise when I unsheathe it and it’s so pristine I can see my own reflection gleaming back at me. Immediately and like a good student, I stand up in front of him
and begin to adjust the straps, “come here, let me” he says quietly. Agreeing with his request I move to stand in front of him, he positions it just right, running his fingers around the strap, against my thigh. The sensation makes me shudder and gasp, “I’m just makin’ sure you have enough room for your muscles to contract whilst you’re running.” I can tell he’s trying to put me at ease with the voice he’s using, he thinks I’m scared of being touched. Swallowing nervously, I immediately step back, aware that I don’t like feeling the loss of his finger tips against my skin.

  “These are energy gels, over the next few runs we’re going to secure them in hidden places along the route. I want you to remember to grab them anyway, even if you manage to make it to your car or the gas station, they’ll keep you and your body fuelled up.”

  I flip the little liquid pouches over in my palm, “Thank you for this.”

  “They’re just gels.”

  “I didn’t mean the gels, I meant everything. You get your kind spirit from your dad.”

  “And my stubbornness and my bad moods, be warned,” he tells me laughing.

  I feel obliged to replay his kindness, “Fancy a beer before we head back down?”

  “Sure,” he nods and I head back to my refrigerator for a couple of bottles. Handing one over he asks, “What’s your story Cara?”

  “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s safer if we don’t talk and I don’t know anything about you.”

  “OK, a friend taught me a game, think of it as an information game. Very simple rules, we ask each other a question and have to answer truthfully. If you pass, you pass on the understanding that the question will need to be answered at some point or you can nominate the other person to answer for you. Understand?”

  “Totally, I’ll start,” I tell him. “Why did Sam not tell me he had a son?”

  “Privacy or safety or both,” he replies.

  “But I don’t understand that.”

  “Unfortunately, you’ve also asked your question, my turn. On a scale of one to ten, ten being deadly, how bad are these bad guys you’re runnin’ from?”