Mountain Man's Secret Baby

by Lauren Wood

  I tried to lift my head again while he was gone and I took in the room around me. It was small and it felt like we were kind of moving or swaying in a way. I was no closer to figuring out where I was and after a quick look down my body, it looked like everything was still in order. Then why did I have the throbbing in my head and the stiffness in the rest of my body.

  When I heard Steve coming back downstairs, I don’t know why, but something told me that I was supposed to be in bed. I didn’t have a reason to not trust him or the present situation, but I didn’t. I wondered what it was that we were doing here and where here was.

  “I got some water. There isn’t a lot to drink, though when you are feeling a bit better, I will bring you some soda. I made sure to get some of that kind that you like.”

  “Thank you Steve. Where are we?” It was the second time I had asked, but this time I really needed to know.

  “I thought after the week we have both had that it was time for us to have a little getaway. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

  It sounded about as nice as the face that held no emotions. Something was off and I didn’t like the way he was beating around the bush.

  “I can’t just take off of work. Neither can you.”

  “Well I have a little time that I was able to take off and I already called your work. They understood that it was needed, so they were fine with you taking some time off.”

  “You called my work?”

  I don’t know why out of everything that was going on that’s what really got me thinking. What in the world was he talking about and how could he think that calling my job was going to be a good thing? Didn’t he know that I would be mad? The last thing that I wanted to do was have my boyfriend calling in for me like I couldn’t call in for myself.

  “What do you mean that they understood it was needed?”

  He wasn’t answering my questions and I could feel my heart starting to beat faster in my chest. I could feel every last bit of anger inside of me well up.

  “How dare you call my work and tell them anything! What are we doing here? Answer me Steve!”

  The more my mind started to clear, the easier it was to see that I was not in a situation that I really wanted to be in. I was in a dangerous situation and most likely Steve was a lot more dangerous than I had first thought. The nice guy that I’d thought was like the man I was supposed to be with was smiling and sweet, but the meaning behind the grin was hard to ignore. This was not the man that I was dating anymore.

  “You sure do have a lot of questions Carol. Why don’t you get up and we will talk about it like civilized adults? I don’t want to talk to you like this when you are lying down. It feels weird.”

  “My head hurts and I don’t think that I can get up.”

  “Drink more water and it will help.”

  He seemed to know what was wrong with me, but something told me that I wasn’t supposed to know or bring up that fact that something was off. The way I was feeling I didn’t think that I should bring attention to it. Taking another drink of water, I tried to get up and he helped me with gentle hands. I was full of different emotions and I wasn’t sure what it was I was supposed to feel. Which one was right?

  “I can’t.”

  “Here, let me help you Carol. It’s going to be okay.”

  I didn’t believe that statement, but I did hope that getting up I would be able to see more. I would be able to see where I was or at least get a better idea of it.

  When I did sit up, it didn’t help anything. Wherever I was, there was nothing else around that made much noise, just a soft sound in the background. There were no windows to see out, just a salty smell in the air that threw me off a little. I was no closer to figuring out where I was and it was agitating to say the least.

  “So where are we Steve? I don’t recognize this place and this isn’t your apartment. I don’t even know how I got here to begin with. The last thing I remember was you leaving my house and me getting a glass of wine.”

  “Yes, I figured that you would need some wine. It is a bad habit you know.”

  I wasn’t going to agree or disagree. I just wanted to know what it was that I was doing here.

  “It may be, but I only remember having a half of a glass, so I don’t know how that would have made me be here without remembering. How did I get here?”

  My voice was starting to sound desperate and I hated it. I didn’t want to be afraid, but the longer he didn’t tell me what was going on, the worse it was. I could have sworn that he was being obtuse on purpose, like he liked my discomfort.

  “I brought you here. You looked stressed out and seemed like you needed a break.”

  “Where is here?”

  “On a boat.”

  The rocking started to make sense now. Before I had tried to figure out the few weird inconsistencies that didn’t seem to make sense, now there was too many to count. The lack of windows and the movement had given me some crazy ideas, though the fear I had of water made my current location no better. Steve and I had a talk once about fears. He had brought it up and I had mentioned water. I had other fears of course, but it was the only one that I had felt comfortable to share. Now I wished I had kept my mouth shut.

  “You know I can’t swim.”

  “I do, but it isn’t so bad in here, right? Besides it gives us all the time alone that we would ever want. There are no distractions, no friends that pop in at all hours of the night…”

  “Are you still on this?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it now. Let’s get you settled in and then I figured that we could get some dinner. You have been sleeping for a while so you must be famished.”

  “How long was I asleep? What time is it?”

  He put his hand up to silence me and told me that I was just going to have to wait for all of the answers. “It has been a long day for both of us, so let’s just have a meal and get you up top. That will have you feeling right as rain in no time.”

  I agreed, but I didn’t believe that anything was going to make me feel better. Something sinister was going on and his smile didn’t fool me. It wouldn’t take much of a push to get a completely different person out of Steve. That I knew for sure.

  There was no other choice then to go with it. He wanted to be in charge and at least until I was feeling better, I was going to let him think that. I had to, something inside of me said that I was just going to have to be quiet and wait for a good time. He hadn’t said that I was not able to leave, but I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to help me. Going up on deck was going to be scary, but then I would at least know where it was that I was at. I hoped to see some sort of landmark that would point me in the right direction.

  “I didn’t know that you had a boat Steve.”

  Steve was chopping vegetables and acting like this wasn’t strange at all. By the way he was acting it was like this was all normal to him. It certainly wasn’t normal to me, but I put on a brave face and tore the lettuce for the salad.

  “It is a client’s of mine. I made him a really good bit this quarter and he offered it to me. I wasn’t going to take it, but it all felt right. So now here we are.”

  I nodded my head slowly, trying to figure out how to ask a question that he wouldn’t shoot down so quickly. I wanted information and the more I asked, the less he gave me. That was the first straight answer that I had gotten since I had woke up.

  “I wish I had clients like that. I guess it would be a better chance of that if I didn’t work for the government, huh?”

  “I don’t think you would be able to even accept that kind of bonus.”

  It was working, he seemed to be relaxing.

  “What is that you are cooking? It smells so good.”

  “It’s just some meatloaf. I don’t know how to make too many things, but this is a recipe that I have made many times before.”

  “Well it smells good. You are right. I am starving.”

  “It will be ready soon, don’t worry.”


  I told him that I wasn’t worried, even though I really was. I was nervous about a lot of things and the dinner was the least of them. My stomach grumbled and reminded me that I was in fact hungry, but I tried to ignore it. I needed more information than food in my belly.

  Steve seemed calm and like he didn’t have a worry in the world. I think that was what freaked me out the most. He was just so calm about everything at the same time that I thought I was going to be sick I was so worried. I wished I knew what was going on in his brain. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that we were on a boat and I hadn’t given my permission to take me. I don’t think it would have mattered if I would have or not.

  “I’m glad you are here Carol. I was afraid that it was going to end badly for us.”

  I wanted to ask him if this was good for me. It didn’t feel good for me. “Can we eat up on deck? I would really like to see the sun.”

  “It is already dark again Carol. I told you that you slept a while. A lot longer than I thought you were going to. You really had me worried for a little while there.”

  “Why?”

  He stopped like he had said too much and then gave me a lopsided grin. “It doesn’t matter Carol. All that matters is that you are okay and you are here with me.”

  I agreed while my mind whirled. What had he done to me and why would I being okay be in question. Steve had given me something. I wasn’t sure how he did it, but he must have drugged me in some way. That must be why I am feeling the way I am.

  Chapter 10

  David

  “Hey man, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

  The dirty face standing over me was not one that I recognized. I grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled him down so that I could see him through the blood in my eyes. Was he one of the ones that had jumped me? I didn’t get to see them all, didn’t even know how many there were, so I wasn’t letting go of the man in front of me until I found out who he was.

  “Who are you?”

  “I just came here to do a bump and I found you lying here. I thought you were dead man.”

  At the moment, I almost guaranteed that he wished that I was dead. He was shaking in my grip and after a few failed attempts to get free, he didn’t even try anymore.

  “Did you do this to me?”

  The vagrant shook his head and I knew that he wasn’t one of them. He didn’t seem to have a bone in his body to hurt anyone and that made me feel a little bit better. That meant that the others were gone.

  “Where am I?”

  “You are in the old Douglas house. It hasn’t been used in years, except by men like me.”

  I let go of him and fell back down to the ground. I had never hurt so much in all of my life. Every movement hurt and I remembered the song about only hurting when I breathe. It was definitely doing that and I wished that I didn’t have to do it to survive. I needed to get up and get to my bike, but I was feeling nauseous from moving the little bit that I did.

  When I tried again, I felt blackness coming for me again. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. All I could think about was who had done this to me and how they were going to pay for it. I was going to find out, I always did and there would be hell to pay.

  ***

  “Mr. Lorefft. We are glad to see you are finally up.”

  My eyes closed to the bright light above me and it was nothing like where I had been last time that I woke up. I was no longer in the dirty, dark house. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that the man who was talking to me was in a pair of blue scrubs, so I knew that I was at a hospital.

  “How did I get here?”

  “You were found like this and someone called you an ambulance. I would say that this is your lucky day.”

  I tried to get up and grimaced. “It doesn’t feel like good luck.”

  He chuckled and told me to lay back. “Take it easy big guy. You will have plenty of time later to do what you want, but for now take it easy and let yourself heal.”

  “I was attacked.”

  “That’s pretty obvious. You took quite a beating. I keep expecting the other guy to show up. You have enough scars on you that it is certain that this isn’t your first time.”

  I didn’t have anything to say. I wanted to find out who had done this to me. “What is the damage Doc?”

  “Well, not too much. A few broken bones and a whole lot of bruising and lacerations pretty much all over. I would say you were rather lucky.”

  That was the second time that he had said that and I was starting to question if he understood what that word even meant. “Still not feeling like it.”

  “No permanent damage so that is what many would call lucky. I also saw the gunshot wound in your chest. That one made you look lucky too. I wouldn’t have thought that a man wouldn’t have lived through that.”

  “Yeah, they said it was close. I didn’t have to stay in the hospital too long. When can I leave?”

  “Why are you in such a rush?”

  I gestured towards myself in the bed. Did he not see the why?

  “I just have things to take care of.”

  “I want to keep you overnight for observation.”

  “What is today?”

  “Friday.”

  I had been out a whole day and I still didn’t know why. I didn’t have another night to lose. I didn’t want whoever it was to think that got the best of me. They might have had the jump on me, but that was because I allowed it. I could have walked away, should have when I think about it now.

  “I don’t think that is going to work for me. I have to get out of here.”

  “I am running a few more tests. Wait until they come back and I will give you something to take home for the pain.”

  I would need it, hell I needed it now. I laid back in the bed and told him I would wait a little while. I wasn’t going to promise long, but I was so tired. Even after all of the sleep that I had gotten, I was exhausted. That or the nurse slipped something into my IV when I wasn’t looking. Either way, the doctor was going to get a little more time for his tests.

  ***

  When I came to again, the doctor was gone and it was light out again. I still felt off and I wasn’t sure what was going on or what day it was even. All I know is that I needed to get out of here and make some calls. I couldn’t let this go and I wanted to know who did this to me. I had every intention of taking care of whoever they were before I left town.

  Getting dressed, I took it slow, but it was still almost enough pain to bring on the darkness again. I wasn’t at my top at the moment, that much was clear, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let it just go. I couldn’t. I never was one of those types of people to just leave it be. If I was, I wouldn’t be in the position that I was in. If only I wasn’t so damn sore everywhere.

  The sun outside about blinded me and I can imagine how I looked searching desperately for my shades. It took a minute to get myself together enough to get my phone and realize that I didn’t have any battery life yet. It must have been on when I was out.

  Hailing a cab, I had it take me to Joel’s apartment building. All of my stuff was in the spare one that he had let me use. I needed to get a shower and fresh clothes, maybe something to eat. I needed to feel human again.

  “Hey David, what the hell happened to you?”

  His voice fought into my thoughts and I looked up.

  “Damn David. I thought you had found you a woman to shack up with the last couple of nights. What the hell happened to you? Marcus has been over here several times looking for you, said that you had called about meeting him somewhere?”

  “Yeah I got jumped. I don’t know by who yet, but when I do, I am going to make sure that they all feel it.”

  I knew that he didn’t have anything to do with. He was one of the only ones that I did trust and the shocked wide-eyes were another indication of his innocence.

  “I will see what I can find out. Do you want me to ask Lucas?”

  Ther
e was an internal tug inside of me when he asked that. I didn’t really know Lucas, but I knew that he would be the one that could get information the quickest. I wasn’t ready for that yet. Food and a shower were sidetracking me from what was important. Once I had something to eat, I would be able to think a little clearer.

  “Nah, not right now. I need to go get my mind right before I talk to him. Are you going to be around for a while?”

  “Yeah, just come down if you need anything.”

  I thanked him and made my way to the staircase. He tried to come forward and help, but I told him I was fine. “I am just moving slow. That’s all.”

  “Alright, let me know if you need anything.”

  I had always liked Joel, even if he was a little soft. Soft or not though, he was loyal and I was thankful to have someone like him in my corner. I made my way upstairs slowly and cursed myself for the tenth time in five minutes. I just had to go into that building, knowing what was in store for me. It was reckless and every step reminded me of that fact. There was nothing I could do but learn from the lesson that was handed to me. Learn and foster the anger that resulted.

  After a shower, dinner and another nap, I went down to Joel’s and seen if he had heard anything. It wasn’t hard to imagine that he had checked into and he had.

  “There is no word on the streets. If it was another gang, they would have claimed it just to start beef. I don’t know what happened, but Marcus said they had to have been at the big Devil’s party the other night. That was where him and his phone were.”

  “How many people were close enough to get a hold of it?”

  Joel’s face and demeanor changed. “That’s the thing. It was only Devils there and his phone was left on a table for a while. Said that his girlfriend got drunk and horny and he forgot about it.”

  I had to chuckle, that was my luck. When I realized how much it hurt, I grabbed my side with the cracked and broken ribs and closed my eyes to the pain. “Yeah that sounds about right. So it is one of Lucas’ guys?”

  “It looks that way. I have never had any trouble here, so I don’t know why they would target you.”