Cave Man's Captive

by Juliana Conners

  “Ew, stop!” said his younger daughter in a high-pitched voice that matched her 13-year-old frail frame. The father and daughter laughed, locking arms and marched on like best buddies. They made more jokes about Bridget, mocking her annoying whiny voice.

  I for one was glad that she hadn’t joined the group for a walk. I welcomed a break from her constant complaining. From the moment that we arrived she found something wrong with everything. The cabin was too cold. There weren’t enough plant-based food options. The list went on and on. The sound of her whiny voice was starting to grate on my nerves. And that was quite a feat because I am a very patient person.

  But I was starting to get antsy myself to finally get out of the cold and warm up for a bit.

  “My cabin is just over that hill,” said Elijah.

  “I guess your cabin isn’t as close as you thought, huh?” said Harlow mockingly.

  “No matter how you try to spin it, my cabin is a lot closer than the other one,” said Elijah, very sure of himself. There was something about his assured confidence that made him even sexier. He didn’t stop and wait for anyone to cosign what he was thinking or feeling. He just kept right on walking. There was so much that I wanted to know about him. I was trying my hardest to put to rest all of the questions that were swirling around my head about him.

  Where did he come from? And better yet, where was he going? And did he want company? He was the kind of guy that I could follow to the ends of the earth. Well, I guess however far my nanny jobs would let me roam anyway.

  “How long did you say that you’ve been living out here Elijah?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, but wanting to have my curiosity satisfied on what was becoming a longer walk than any of us had imagined.

  “A few years now,” was his short answer. His face softened as he turned to look at me, smiling. His smile was so warm and inviting.

  “Who knew? I guess this area is one that people who don’t like people would choose to live in huh, Darren and Elijah?” said Harlow.

  “I guess so,” said Darren rubbing the back of his neck, deep in thought.

  We walked in silence for a few more minutes.

  “Look!” called out one of the kids, pointing in the distance at a mahogany cabin tucked away neatly behind a row of trees. A single wisp of smoke rose from the brick chimney perched on the roof.

  “Home sweet home,” said Elijah softly, almost like he was talking to himself.

  “Race you to the porch!” yelled one of the boys to the rest of the group. The kids took off like a stampede in the direction of the cabin.

  “Be careful! Not so fast! You don’t want to hurt yourself.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could give them much thought. I really do sound like a mom.

  No sooner than the words had left my lips, the guys took off toward the cabin, pushing each other to get an advantage over the other. Even though they were grown men, they didn’t really look any different from the gang of children that had taken off before them.

  “It’s okay, Michelle,” said Monica, resting her hand on my arm. “Let them have their fun. They are on vacation, after all.”

  “That’s true,” I said, trying to will my heart from beating so fast. It didn’t take very much to launch me into protective nanny mode. I just kept thinking about horrible it would be if someone fell and broke a bone or cracked their skull and we were a million miles away from any type of medical professionals. I knew very minimal first aid procedures and could do CPR if someone were to be gasping for breath, but I could hardly do anything if someone were to seriously injure themselves out here in the mountains.

  Then, all I heard was, “Look out!” and everything went black.

  The next thing that I knew I was looking up at the sky and trees. I was moving but I knew that I wasn’t walking.

  “Well good morning, sunshine,” a voice said. I looked up and saw that I was being carried. Elijah was carrying me. He still led the group, walking at a steady pace despite holding me in his arms. His muscles felt as good as they looked. It felt like I was floating through the trees.

  “You don’t have to carry me,” I told him, uneasily. “I’m pretty sure that I can walk.”

  “I don’t know. You got hit pretty hard by those branches. I would hate for you to lose your balance and fall again. And besides, I get the chance to have an incredibly sexy lady in my arms. I am really the one winning here.”

  I nodded in silent agreement, but the guilt was starting to creep back up. I felt bad about being in the woods with all of them. Now here I was, laying in the arms of a man whose body rivalled that of a bodybuilder. That definitely was not in my job description. But when I attempted to lift my head even a little bit, I felt like someone had hit me in the head with a hammer, so I had no choice but to lay there and take my free ride in the arms of this hospitable lady-killerr.

  He carried me to the front door almost ignoring the fact that there was a whole group of other people with us. He yelled for them to come inside and make themselves more comfortable and walked past the living room to what I assumed was his bedroom.

  “I have been waiting for this since the moment that I laid eyes on you,” he said, laying me gently on the bed. He began taking off my clothes starting with my coat, removing each layer like he was neatly unwrapping a Christmas present. He climbed into the bed on top of me and pressed his lips against mine. His soft, moist lips danced from my lips, down my neck and kept moving further south. His wiry beard tickled as it scratched my naked skin. His kisses felt like magic. He quickly undressed himself, shaking as he hurriedly pressed his hard dick against my pussy. He rubbed the head of his dick back and forth slowly across my throbbing clit. My back arched as I anticipated each stroke back and forth. I moaned with pleasure. I inhaled sharply as he slid his dick into the wet warmness of my pussy. I could feel his dick jumping inside of me as he held himself inside of me. I could tell that he was trying to contain himself so that he didn’t explode everywhere.

  “You feel absolutely amazing,” he said, panting while he spoke.

  “So do you,” I admitted.

  What did you say?” I head a woman’s voice say.

  I was in a daze. I blinked several times. My eyes came into focus.

  I was still in the woods, laying on the cold snow.

  “Wha-what happened?” I asked, confused.

  “You ran right behind Harlow as he went through a tree and one of the branches smacked you in the face and you fainted. Are you okay?” asked Monica who was kneeling beside me, extending her hand to help lift me up.

  I stood up, hoping that my legs wouldn’t give out beneath me.

  “Take your time,” said Monica, giving me her arm to lean on. I held onto her graciously, staring at the group to make sure that there was nothing that could make me fall and hurt myself for yet a third time. I was starting to feel clumsy, like maybe I had been brought along to offer the group some comedic relief at my own expense.

  We walked on joining the rest of the group that had gathered on Elijah’s porch.

  “Is she okay?” asked Jensen.

  “Yeah, she’s good,” yelled Monica. “She was probably more shocked than anything.”

  There were soft yellow lights built into the awning of the porch, giving it an inviting feeling.

  We were all amazed once inside. It was a quaint cabin with large picture windows along the far wall where the kitchen was. There were hand carved wooden figurines tastefully placed along the walls. A crystal chandelier accented the living room. There were two red couches pushed against the walls. The thick, cream colored carpet covered most of the room. The fireplace was filled with the biggest fire that I had seen in quite some time. It almost looked like the inside of a furnace. The warmth was very welcoming. A few of the kids began to gather around the fireplace, warming their hands and red noses.

  “It’s not a huge house, but it works just fine for me,” said Elijah.

  “It’s lovely,” I said. I re
ally liked the cabin. It was perfectly tucked away, a great place for just one person to have solitude. In fact, it seemed like the perfect size for even more than that. A small family, perhaps.

  “Now, let’s see about getting everyone warmed up with a hot cup of coffee,” said Elijah, smiling.

  Everyone started shedding their boots and heavy coats. The way that everyone was strewn all over the couches and floors let me know that they had been worn out from the walk. I for one was grateful to be inside and out of the cold.

  I winced as I tried to move and felt sore all over. I thought that my falling all over the woods had more of an effect on me than I’d first thought.

  “Honey, you look like you are in terrible pain. Are you sure that you’re going to be okay?” asked Monica, a look of real worry starting to play on her face again. “You don’t have to try to be so brave. If there’s something really wrong I really hope that you’d say something.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but really I’m okay. I just took a little tumble and my old body is feeling it. It’s just like when I go to the gym and haven’t been in a while.”

  I hadn’t been to the gym in a while, so I could feel my muscles screaming from the walk and the fall. I couldn’t wait to get a chance to soak my body in a hot bath once we made it back to Darren and Hope’s cabin. In the meantime, I was going to do my best to enjoy being in Elijah’s house. I looked along the wall at the row of animal heads decorating the wall. Their eyes frozen forever it time.

  I wished that I could freeze time and stay here for a while, but I knew that I couldn’t.

  I comforted myself with the thought that at the very least, meeting him on this trip has given me fantasies that would be lasting memories.

  Chapter 8

  Elijah

  I had gotten a little worried when I saw Michelle get hit by the tree. And it would have to be because of reckless Harlow. If I didn’t know any better, I might almost have thought that he had done it on purpose. Maybe he had picked up on my interest in her and knew that I would be worried if something happened to her. I might have been thinking about it too much, but I couldn’t be sure.

  All I knew for sure was that my mind kept wandering, imagining her steady gaze and pouty mouth. While we were walking to my house, I tried hard to keep my gaze focused ahead so that I wouldn’t be caught staring at her mouth. I wanted to kiss her badly.

  “Should we go back and help them?” asked Jensen’s wife.

  Everyone started shifting nervously. I could feel the collective worry. What would we do if someone were to hurt themselves out here? I’m not sure how long it would take an ambulance to make it all this way.

  “Well I’m not about to stand here while she lays in the middle of the woods, possibly really hurt,” I said, getting disgusted with them. I was still having a hard time believing their luck, that they had the chance to meet and spend time with a woman like Michelle. I really wished that there was some way that I could get rid of all of them and just spend time with Michelle in the cabin.

  “Here they come,” said one of the girls, pointing to an opening among the trees where Michelle and Monica were walking. Michelle was leaning on Monica, her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. Once they got up to the porch, everyone started asking Michelle if she was okay. She kept saying that she was fine. She looked okay despite the few scratches on her face.

  I opened my front door, swung it wide open, and invited everyone to come in.

  The wide eyes of everyone in the group told me what they were thinking even before they spoke the words.

  “Wow! What an absolutely beautiful home that you have here, Elijah,” said Monica, fixing her eyes on each of the wooden figures lining every inch of the walls.

  “Yeah, it’s really nice,” said Darren.

  Darren ran his fingers over the head of a horse figurine.

  “Where did you get these from?” he asked.

  “I made them,” I said.

  “ALL of them??” he asked, incredulously.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Wow! That’s really neat. You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” said Darren, looking at me, full of admiration. Everyone began looking over the pieces, paintings, and animal artifacts like my house was a museum. They ooed and aahed as they wandered from room to room.

  I really enjoyed my home. But I didn’t think that it was anything fancy.

  I remember when I first decided that I wanted to build my house. I barged into the office of an architect friend of mine named Larry. Larry and I had gone to college together and I knew that he was really good at what he did. I dumped a pile of tattered loose-leaf papers on his desk of sketches that I had drawn of what I wanted my house to look like.

  Larry looked them over, taking up each sheet into his hands and staring at them, turning them over when he wanted to see a new angle. He asked me if it was okay for him to make marks on my pages. I was hesitant, but I trusted his vision, so I agreed. He added some great touches to my drawings, making the design better for utility as well as visually pleasing.

  I remember the shock on Larry’s face when I told him that I wanted to carve the wooden figures by hand that would go along the walls.

  “Do you know how much time that’s going to take?” he asked, his eyes all but bulging out of his head.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said shrugging. “It’s what I want. And if I have to look at it every day, I want to make sure that it has personal touches that I like.”

  He said that it was my project, so he would go along with any harebrained ideas that I had.

  And so I went to work on the figurines. It was relaxing to make them. Each one told a story about a point in my life where things had changed. Living on a farm as a young boy had prepared me for a lot, including having the patience to use a paring knife to carefully carve raw blocks of wood and rub them with sandpaper until the rough edges were smooth.

  Even after I had finished all of the figurines, Larry had problems with a few of the contractors that he had planned to use for the project. They told him that it would be impossible to do what I wanted, that the figurines would be better put in the corners of the room, not on every single panel of the wall.

  But, it’s what I wanted, so Larry kept looking for contractors until he found someone who was willing to do exactly what I asked, despite the difficulty of the task.

  The way that they were glued to the walls, looking them over admiringly let me know that they were definitely worth every bit of effort that it took to make them.

  “You really are talented,” said Michelle, her gaze fixed on the wall next to the fireplace.

  “Thanks,” I told her, graciously lapping up her compliment. I didn’t care what anyone else thought, really. The fact that she was impressed made me feel amazing.

  The fact that I had worked to design my home and had helped to build it with my own hands made me that much more endeared to my home and gave me a sense of pride that I’m not sure that I would have had otherwise.

  “I know that it’s not that big of a house, but it has served me well, made me feel very comfortable for these past couple of years.”

  “Well, I can understand why you feel that way. It is a very nice home,” said Michelle.

  “I appreciate you saying that. I built this house myself.”

  That was only partially true. I had helped with different parts of the house, but I didn’t want to say that. I wanted her to think that I had built the entire house myself.

  “Wow! I am very impressed with your handiwork.”

  “Thank you,” I said, beaming. “Actually, even this is a little too far on the domestic side for me.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Michelle, tilting her head as if she were trying to get a better view of me.

  “Electricity. Heat. Indoor plumbing. It’s like a castle compared to my other home. It’s as natural as nature gets. It’s in a cave. If we ever get the chance to see each other again, maybe I’ll get a
chance to take you to see it.”

  “Wow! That sounds like something worth seeing,” said Michelle, beaming excitedly.

  “It’s not too far from here, actually. In a cave. It’s been snowing and you all look worn out from your hike today. Otherwise, I would say let’s go on over. But, maybe if you’re up for it, that’s something that we can do tomorrow,” I suggested.

  “She would love that,” blurted out Monica just as Michelle was about to speak. Michelle closed her mouth and smiled, staring at the floor.

  “You have been cooped up in that cabin for the past few days. I know that you have really been helpful to Whitney and Harlow, but I’m sure that they would have no problem with giving you the day off so that you can spend some personal time away,” she continued. She looked over at Michelle and winked. Michelle hid her face and laughed. “I’m not too sure that that’s a very good idea,” began Harlow. “It’s a pretty far walk from here to Darren and Hope’s cabin. I would hate for something to happen to her out here. She already has taken quite a fall to begin with. I would feel terrible sending her out to come back here.” He shifted uneasily, looking at me like he was trying to decide if he trusted me or not.

  “I’m glad that you said that Harlow,” continued Monica, taking a step toward Harlow. “That’s why it would be a great idea for Elijah to drive over and pick her up. Or if that doesn’t work, Harlow I’m sure you’d be a pal and drive her on over, right? She could spend the day here and come back before it got too dark to drive.”

  Harlow stuttered, searching for the right words to say, but fell silent when the words wouldn’t come. He stood there looking sad and dejected, like he was the sore loser of some game that I didn’t even know that we were playing. I know he wished that there was some way that he could keep Michelle from coming back to my cabin and I could count on him to keep trying to find a way. Either way, I was grateful that Monica spoke up. She was like the fairy godmother that I didn’t know that I had, finding some way to ready my mind and make things happen the way that I wished that they would.