I could tell by the way he looked at me that I wasn’t prepared correctly for my camping and hiking trip. I really thought I had purchased all the right equipment, and maybe I would have been fine if it was warmer out, but before the sun set, I already knew that I wasn’t going to be comfortable that evening.
Caleb was at least a foot taller than I was as he stood over me, and I tried to introduce myself to him. I shivered at the memory of his beastly body so near mine. There was a primal energy between the two of us that I hadn’t felt before with a man. Maybe it was his burly muscles or his manly beard? Perhaps it was that he had a backpack at least half the size of mine and yet the confidence of a man who had everything he needed for the night.
His long brown hair was tucked behind his ears but tussled like he’d been working all day. When he shook my hand, the rough calluses on his hand didn’t disgust me at all and instead drew me closer to him. Clearly, Caleb was the sort of man who worked hard for a living. He wasn’t one of those preppy office boys who didn’t know how to handle himself outdoors; no, I was certain Caleb knew more about hiking and camping than all the men I’d ever dated.
After eating my oatmeal for dinner, I cleaned up my utensils and climbed into my tent. It was larger than I’d expected it to be, and at first, that seemed like a really good thing. I had room to bring my pack into the tent and still had enough room to sleep.
When the snow started, I felt anxiety wash over my body. It wasn’t supposed to snow yet. I thought I had another week before the big snowstorm hit, but I had not been watching the news lately. I was wrapped up in work stuff, and the weather had been so perfect that I didn’t think it would snow again this season.
Earlier in the day, a trio of guys had warned me that the snow was coming, but I hadn’t believed them. It was still warm and 50-degrees when they told me about the weather. But here it was, snowing.
I sat up and ate the snacks I had in my pack as I watched the snow through a small section of window that I left unzipped. It was coming down heavily and didn’t look like it was letting up at all. There was no way I was actually going to make it to the Bridge of Gods. I was going to have to turn around and head back down the way I came first thing in the morning.
With my coat still on, I zipped up the window and climbed into my sleeping bag. Then in the distance, I heard what sounded like footsteps. I froze with fear that some sort of animal was walking around outside my tent.
I’d read up on the various animals in this area of the woods. There were bears, coyotes, and mountain lions still active in the winter. With the warm weather, the bears were probably hungry and not hibernating, and I couldn’t help thinking that I would make a very good meal for one of them.
I unzipped my door and flashed my light outside my tent and down the trail toward where I heard the steps. I had a large can of bear spray in my hand ready to attack a bear if one got near me. But the noise stopped as I flashed my light around. It was an oddly quick stop and not at all what I thought an animal would do.
My mind raced back to the feelings I’d been having before. The feeling that someone was following me. Certainly, no one would follow me up to the mountains and this was just some paranoia that my own mind was playing on me.
It was getting rather chilly out. I estimated that the temperature was below freezing as I looked around and prepared myself for some sort of attack. After a good ten minutes of not hearing any more movement, I climbed back into my tent and into my sleeping bag. I stayed vigilant with my eyes closed and listened for anything unusual, but it was quiet out.
Finally, I felt my adrenaline calm, and the need to sleep rushed through me. As I tucked myself back into my sleeping bag, I drifted off to sleep or at least tried to. The cold made it very difficult to stay asleep for long. In fact, I couldn’t help thinking that I could freeze to death out there in the mountain snow.
As the night wore on, I was freezing. I tried putting on my hat and gloves and even pulled my pack up close to cuddle with, but I was losing my body heat fast. My tent was much too large for one person, and I didn’t have a mat to diffuse the cold ground from soaking through my tent and sleeping bag. I could feel the cold earth below me.
Thoughts of my past continually occupied my mind as I tried to stay awake to make sure I wouldn’t freeze to death. Mistakes I’d made in my life were the prominent thoughts of the evening. Breaking up with Rob, although I thought it was for the best, I couldn’t help thinking that having him in that tent with me now would make me feel safe. His body heat would have kept me warm too.
I remembered reading an article about how couples could stay warm in emergency situations. The article said that getting in a sleeping bag naked, together, was the best way to stay warm. The body heat from each other could work together that way and keep both people warm. Of course, I was thinking about that article and only wanted him there for his body heat; I still didn’t want to be with Rob again.
As I shivered and tried to stay awake, I thought about Peter and how well he had looked when I saw him at REI. For years I’d imagined him going downhill mentally. I pictured him obsessing over me leaving him and plotting his revenge against me. But then I saw him, and he looked so normal, so much like the boy I had once fallen in love with and nothing like the monster he had been when he went to jail.
I still had nightmares about the fights we had as our relationship unraveled. I remembered trying to hide the bruises from him grabbing or hitting me. How I’d become so great at doing my makeup out of pure necessity to keep my secret from my parents.
Now, as an adult, I looked back at those days and couldn’t believe that I thought a relationship like that was normal. How stupid was I that I actually thought Peter cared about me? I believed him when he said it was my fault for making him angry and that was why I got hit. I’d tried to be a better girlfriend, not to flirt with other guys or even talk to them at all. I had done everything he asked, and yet I still ended up with bruises and pain. The memory was still so raw and vivid, even though it happened years ago. I loved Peter so much that I stayed with him and hoped he would get better. I prayed that I wouldn’t make him angry, and we would have good nights, but more nights ended in fighting as we neared graduation.
Even as I lay in my sleeping bag at the top of a mountain, I could still feel Peter’s hands around my neck the night everything ended between us. A boy from school had stopped at the Dairy Queen where I worked and talked to me about a test we had both done well on. We laughed about how horribly the others did in the class, and I didn’t realize that Peter was outside watching the whole interaction. I would never forget the fear I felt when I walked out at the end of my shift and saw that look in Peter’s eyes. He was hurt, but angry at the same time.
My eyes were getting heavy as I pushed the thoughts of Peter out of my mind and tried to drift to sleep, but I woke up again as my body felt the cold of the night. I was shivering and could hardly think straight as I tried to stay warm. This wasn’t at all what I’d expected my hiking trip to be like, but I should have expected the worst. Planning and executing a hiking trip was beyond my basic skills, and I shouldn’t have tried to hike alone. But this was how I did things. I didn’t think them through like I should; instead, I just went for them. It wasn’t the best approach to life, but apparently, I hadn’t learned my lesson just yet.
The snow continued to fall throughout the early evening hours, and my anxiety continued to increase. At least I didn’t hear stepping noises any longer, but now all I could think about was freezing on that mountain. With a tent, sleeping bag, and coat on, I wasn’t sure if I would actually freeze to death or not, but it sure felt like I was. My teeth were chattering and my body shivering as I curled up in my sleeping bag and stared at the inside of the tent. It was near midnight by then, and I couldn’t even try to sleep at this point. My fear of the cold weather and continuing snow had me nearly panicked. Logical plans to stay warm and not so logical plans were flooding my brain.
Maybe I
should just grab my pack and start hiking back down the mountain.
That definitely didn’t seem like a good idea. I would get lost in the dark and was more likely to freeze to death out in the elements. At least in my tent, I was several degrees warmer than out in the snow. My best bet was to wait until the sun came up and then hurry back down the mountain. Assuming I could still see where the trail was and navigate back to where Emma had dropped me off, I would still need to get a cell signal.
Luckily, I’d turned my phone off the second I started hiking to save the battery for an emergency. Emma and I had left my car up by the Bridge of Gods, but I could call her earlier if I was desperate for a ride home.
I closed my eyes just for a moment as the tiredness of the day wore on my body. Every muscle ached and throbbed, and if it hadn’t been so darn cold out, I would have been complaining about my muscle pain for sure. I should have at least gone day hiking a few times before venturing up into the mountains for a full week of hiking and carrying my heavy pack. It was a lesson learned for next time if there ever was a next time. I wasn’t so sure hiking was my sort of thing after this night.
In the distance, I heard the rhythmic sound of steps. Bam-bam, bam-bam, the stepping sound was getting louder. My heart was beating faster and faster as I focused in on the noise and was sure it was human steps coming up the path.
Maybe someone couldn’t take the cold and was hiking back down the mountain. Perhaps they had the same thought that had been running through my mind and was trying to get to a warmer elevation. The steps got dramatically closer. They were off the path and coming toward my tent; I was sure of it. The steps stopped right outside of my tent. I felt the presence of someone out there but was too terrified to say a word. If it was just another hiker, they were probably just going to set up their tent and camp for the night. If it wasn’t a person at all, and instead an animal … I held onto my bear spray and prepared for an attack.
Nothing. The footsteps had stopped, yet I didn’t hear someone setting up a tent or moving around at all. My eyes darted back and forth as I worried that it really was an animal out there. Perhaps the beast was just waiting for the right moment to pounce. I couldn’t help wondering how long it would take a bear to rip through the vinyl of my tent. Maybe ten seconds; it wouldn’t take long. Would I even have enough time to spray the animal with this bear spray before its claws hooked into my body and dragged me out of the tent?
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I couldn’t hear anything but the beat of it. Maybe the animal was still moving around outside the tent and I just couldn’t hear it over this loud pounding of my heart? I swallowed hard and sat up as I kept my eyes peeled to the front door of my tent. As if a bear would actually use the door to attack me; it was absurd, and I knew it, but I couldn’t stop staring.
Then I heard movement. A loud thud as something was put on the ground right outside my tent. I saw the snow move against my tent as this large object sat just outside my door. Was it the body of the bear? Could this animal just be sitting outside my tent waiting for me to move so it could attack? I didn’t move. I froze totally still and waited to see if the shadowy object would move. Maybe this bear was just trying to find a place to sleep for the night, and my tent looked like a cozy place to rest. Or perhaps it was just taking in the smell of my human flesh and preparing for the meal that was ahead.
The zipper started to move. I froze as I saw the unmistakable sight of a human hand unzipping my tent. What was going on? Why would someone be trying to get into my tent? Was I about to be attacked?
Although Caleb had been a large man, he didn’t strike me as fear-inducing when he looked at me. There was a kindness behind his stern look that hadn’t worried me at all. I didn’t think it was him coming back to my tent. Instead, my mind raced to all the other people I’d seen throughout the day on the trail. Some of the guys had looked really rough around the edges, but they had all seemed friendly enough.
“I have a gun!” I yelled at the mysterious hand that was unzipping my tent. “Stop right now before I shoot you.”
Chapter 6
Caleb
“I would really appreciate it if you didn’t shoot me,” I said calmly and stopped unzipping Jordan’s tent.
“Caleb?” she asked.
Jordan didn’t strike me as the sort of girl that knew how to shoot a gun, and I wouldn’t have expected her to be carrying one, but I wasn’t about to risk getting shot, so I stepped back and away from the tent. “Yes, I was worried about you. Are you alright?”
“You scared the crap out of me,” she said and poked her head out of the tent. “What are you doing here?”
“You aren’t going to be warm enough in that sleeping bag. I thought you might be a popsicle by morning, and I couldn’t let that happen. Can I come in? Or are you still going to shoot me?” I asked as I looked at the large can of bear spray in her hand.
The moonlight shone on her blonde hair as it stuck out under the stocking cap she wore. She was also wearing a coat and was still in her sleeping bag as she leaned over and unzipped the rest of the door to her tent.
“Yes, come in,” she said.
I grabbed my sleeping bag and left the rest of my things in my pack just outside her tent. Although her tent was large enough that I could have brought my pack inside, I didn’t want to get the snow on her dry things.
I pulled my shoes off as I sat down in her tent and tried to wipe as much snow off of me as possible. With my flashlight, I looked over at Jordan who was clearly very cold. Her teeth were chattering and her whole body shivering even though she was tucked into her sleeping bag and covered in layers of clothing.
“The temperatures have dropped quite a bit. How are you doing?”
“Cold. I don’t think this sleeping bag was made for this sort of weather.”
I fought the urge to show her where it said that right on the package of her sleeping bag. This girl was so unprepared it would have been comical if she wasn’t close to dying because of the frigid weather.
“I’m sorry for scaring you.”
“It’s okay. I was scared long before you showed up.” She laughed nervously.
The close proximity of having both of us in her tent was making the conversation awkward. I hadn’t planned what I was going to say when I got to Jordan’s tent, only that I knew she needed me to sleep next to her if she wasn’t going to freeze. As a large man, I didn’t mind the cold as much as someone of her size. I knew if we got into a sleeping bag together, I could keep her warm through the night, but I hadn’t really thought about how I was going to convince her this was a good idea.
“Would you like to use my sleeping bag and I could use yours? Mine is rated for below zero; it should be a little more comfortable for you,” I offered.
“I don’t think my sleeping bag will fit you.” She laughed and looked at how much longer my bag was than hers as I rolled it out next to her. “Do you think we will both fit in yours?”
“If you don’t mind being really close together.” I laughed nervously.
“To be honest, at this point I’d rather be warm than worry about anything else. If you’re okay with it, I think we should both get into your bag.”
I was glad to hear her say this. I didn’t have to sell her on the idea at all; she was smarter than I’d thought and realized even sleeping next to a stranger was going to keep her warm that night. Of course, if we were sleeping naked next to each other, it would have been best, but I wasn’t about to make that suggestion. She would have thought I was a total pervert. “Okay, I’m going to take my coat off, though, and maybe you should too. It will make for a little extra room.”
“Yes, sounds good.”
“You don’t have a sleeping pad?” I asked as she crawled out of her bag, and I realized it was right on the ground.
“No, I forgot to buy one. Will it help if we sleep on top of my bag?”
“It might,” I said without too much optimism.
If I n
eeded to, I could get into my pack and get my sleeping pad, but it definitely wasn’t going to cover both of us, and I thought it might be more trouble than it was worth. She was trembling so hard that I felt bad making Jordan wait another moment before we climbed into the sleeping bag. I placed my bag on top of hers as she climbed out of it.
After removing my coat, I climbed into the bag and lay on my side so she could slide in next to me. It was a tight fit, and as I felt her body press up against mine, it took every bit of willpower I had to keep my body from going hard with excitement. It wasn’t specifically that Jordan turned me on, it was purely the close proximity of having her there with me. This was likely going to be a long night of me thinking about engineering blueprints and other work stuff, so I wasn’t thinking about the layers of clothing that separated my body from hers.
“I’m sorry I’m shaking so much,” Jordan said. “I can’t seem to stop.”
“Do you mind if I wrap my arms around you? It might help.”
“At this point I’m almost willing to get naked with you in this sleeping bag just for the body heat,” she said half laughing.
It was an excellent idea, but the way Jordan had said it made me think she wasn’t serious about the offer. Plus, being naked in that sleeping bag would make it impossible for me to keep my body from rising with excitement. No, it was better if we could warm her up while staying clothed.
“Maybe later if this doesn’t work,” I said playfully.
My hands moved up and down her arms and then wrapped tightly around her. For a moment, she seemed to stop shivering, but then it all started up again. I was perfectly warm in the sleeping bag with her, but I also had an extra hundred pounds of muscle to insulate me compared to Jordan’s small frame.
“How long have you been hiking?” Jordan asked.
“Just today. I have a cabin up here.”
“In the mountains? Is it like a skiing cabin?” she asked and turned toward me a little confused. “I didn’t think there was skiing on this side of the mountain.”
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