Mountain Man's Secret Baby

by Lauren Wood

  “It smells good down here Steve.”

  His eyes told me that he wasn’t impressed. “That is about the only thing you have anything good to say about anything. I am glad that you at least have an appetite.”

  “You are a very good cook. How did you get into stocks?”

  “How are the two related?”

  “Seems like you were a cook at one time and I just wondered what pushed you into stocks instead.”

  “The money.”

  He said it with such contempt. I didn’t know if it was for the money, himself, me. Steve was nothing like he was when we first started dating. He used to be light and breezy, nothing was a problem, but now it seemed like everything was a problem and there was nothing I could do to change it. Well there was one thing, but I was holding out on that for an emergency or a last case scenario. I would never desire him in that way again. Not after all of this. Steve was not the best to begin with, but now I couldn’t even fathom him on top of me. I didn’t want to quite frankly.

  “I should have gone for money. Then I would have a nice boat like this. I got into social work to help people and I don’t really know how many people I can help. There is so much red tape.”

  “Is it all that you thought it would be?”

  “Not hardly. It is nothing like I thought it would be. I was very wrong about it all and I would have went into something else if not for all of the debt.”

  “A shame.”

  “Yea it is. What can I do?”

  “There is nothing for you to do. You could go back and try something else, but that will give you more debt. Save and invest.”

  I couldn’t play the game and talk about anything else but what was really on my mind. I didn’t really care about work and investing. “What are you doing here with me Steve? What is this, I mean really?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I want to know what you are going to do to me?”

  “I still don’t understand. We are just here on vacation. Why do you act like I am holding you hostage?”

  “Can I leave?”

  The question made the line of his jaw tense and I knew that he didn’t like where I was going with it.

  “No. Where would you go? We are in the middle of the ocean right now Carol. There is nowhere to go.”

  “I don’t know. You won’t tell me where we are. If you won’t let me leave, then I am a hostage.”

  “I don’t like that term. It sounds so different than what this is.”

  “Let me go Steve, please. I swear I will never tell anyone about this, I promise.”

  “Oh, I know you won’t Carol.”

  I felt a wave of dread go over me and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do or say next. It was becoming clear that it wasn’t going to get better. This man was not going to see any kind of reason. I wasn’t even sure what he wanted, but I didn’t want to find out. I needed to get off of this boat right now. The longer I was on here with Steve, the more danger I was in. It was that simple.

  I went to bed that night next to him. His arm was around me and though I hated the touch, I hated the idea of waking him up even more so I sat still as though I was already in my grave. It wasn’t that long until I was going to be there, of that I was sure. What I wasn’t sure about was how it was going to happen. I would have accepted my fate, I really would have, but there was this idea of the most plausible way that he would do it. It wouldn’t take much at all to just throw me over the edge. Maybe I should just save him the trouble and jump. If I used a floatation device, something to keep me upright, maybe I could float away.

  As soon as I thought of that, I knew the likelihood of it was small. Even if I could get away from him, there was nowhere to go. I thought of the light in the distance that I had seen, but something told me that it wasn’t even there. I had most likely just seen it because I wanted to. It was the hope in me that made me think that it was some kind of rescue. But it wasn’t. It was just me and Steve on this boat. He was the last person I would likely see.

  I started to silently cry as I listened to the even breath of the man next to me. He was tall and lanky, but so strong. I knew I didn’t have a chance to fight him off. I eyed him a couple of times, wondering if I could do something while he slept. But then my fear of waking him up was too strong and I settled back in. I went to sleep wondering if tomorrow was going to be my last day or not.

  Chapter 13

  David

  I could see the boat in the distance. A few hours before, right after the sun went down, I had sworn that I had saw Carol on the deck. It was just a silhouette that finally went downstairs into the cabin. She didn’t come up again and my heart went out to her. I didn’t know if she wanted to be there or not, but I had to know. If she was there because she wanted to be, I just wanted to know and I would bow out. I wasn’t too cocky to know that there was a chance that she didn’t want to be with me. It was hard to think about, but if that was the case, I wasn’t going to force her. I would move on.

  But I had to know, so when the lights in the cabin beneath had been out for a while, I had Marcus move the boat in closer. It had been hours of silence because of how far sound travelled on water, but now I was willing to risk it. “Let me go in. I want to see if what Leo said was real. I will find out if she is okay.”

  “And if she isn’t?”

  “Then we take care of Steve and take her. Either way, Steve is going to have to answer to me for hiring those men on me. He is the last one that gets payback.”

  Marcus shook his head and told me that he was glad I was on his side.

  “You should be glad you are on my side you mean.”

  Marcus shook his head and I almost felt a little bad. He had seen too much and even though his job was to rough people up and get owed money, there wasn’t a lot of people that could do what I did. Less people that liked it as much as I did.

  “What are we going to tell Lucas?”

  “You aren’t going to tell him anything. I will bring it to him when it is all done. I would have brought him in on it, but I wasn’t sure I could trust him.”

  “I trust him. He has never let me down. Can’t say that about anyone else in my life, but Lucas has always been straight.”

  “I know. I just didn’t know him.”

  “So what about the offer?”

  I hadn’t thought about it in a few days. It had been a busy week and I had yet to talk to Carlos about any of it, as far as details were concerned.

  “Let me get through this first and then I will think about it. Hell, he might not want me when it comes down to it, not after tonight.”

  Marcus disagreed. “No, he will want you even more now. We need someone like you around. Just the rep alone from tonight will keep people paying their bills a little faster. They won’t want you coming for them.”

  “Nah, no one needs that kind of person around. Not really.”

  “You get stuff done and that goes a long way in this world.”

  We were approaching the boat and I lifted my finger to my lips. I wanted to get on and off without Steve knowing. I still wasn’t sure how it was all going to play out, but if Carol was there on her own accord, I would wait till he was back on land and away from her to take him out. Then I would be there to pick up the pieces. Either way I planned to get the girl.

  Marcus kept looking at me, waiting for me to give him his cue. He was down for anything it appeared, but he needed a little leadership to get him there. I didn’t mind the task because he paid attention and didn’t ask a lot of questions. The last thing I wanted to do was have to explain myself in the midst of something like this. I needed him to follow directions and he was very good at that. To me that was the perfect partner.

  The boat sidled up to the bigger one that we needed to get onto. I knew that Steve was a broker, but he must have been doing very well to afford the boat. Why did the man having all of this money bother me so much?

  “Come on.”

  I whispered the wor
ds to Marcus and he nodded his head that he was ready. I had no idea what I was going to get out of all of this, but the feeling in my stomach was still there. I just knew that Carol was in danger. If she wasn’t, I was making a big mess of things for no reason. I didn’t like to think that it was the case, but I wanted her to be okay. I would have done anything, even give her up if I had to, as long as she was okay.

  All of this was because of me according to Leo. I had moved too fast though. Maybe I had overwhelmed him and he had given me the wrong information because of it. A person would tell you anything that you wanted to hear at a certain point. Leo had certainly gotten there and now I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like I could go back and ask him more. That wasn’t an option so I had to hope that what he had said was true.

  The boat was rocking gently, but less than the smaller fishing boat that I was stepping off of. I waited for a moment for my eyes to adjust to the new surroundings and to hear if we were heard coming up. I didn’t hear a sound and after a minute, Marcus came on the boat with me. I didn’t have to tell him that now was the time to be quiet because he already knew the drill.

  I made my way to the stairs that went downstairs and took a deep breath as I looked down into the dark abyss. The next few minutes was going to let me see things as they were. I can’t even describe how badly I wanted it to all be okay. There wasn’t a scenario to wish for, just ones to not wish for. What if something had already happened to Carol when she had went down below earlier?

  The thought had me moving down the stairs to whatever I was going to find there. I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect to see the two of them in bed. It threw me off and I stopped while my eyes adjusted to the darkness further and I was able to see around the room better. I didn’t want to see better though. I didn’t want to see Carol with that man, especially now that I know what kind of man he is.

  “Carol?”

  I shouldn’t have made a sound, but I had to talk to her, I had to meet her gaze and for her to tell me that she was fine. Then I would be able to walk away. But only then. I couldn’t if I still didn’t know. I should have with the way she was lying in bed with Steve, but that wasn’t enough. I had to be completely sure before I could let her go.

  “Carol?”

  Her eyes popped open and for a minute I think she was as shocked to see me, as I was to see her. I could see the glint of green from the light, but it was the look on her face that really told me what I wanted to know. She wanted my help. I was sure of it.

  “Do you want to go?”

  Carol nodded her head just ever so slightly and then moved her eyes towards Steve. She was trying to tell me something, but I didn’t understand. Then she mouthed the words gun. I don’t know if she thought I needed one or if Steve had one. It didn’t matter either way, it really didn’t. She was in danger and at the same time she was trying to help me stay out of danger. It made me want her even more, if that was possible.

  I put my finger up and told her to hold on a minute. The whisper was just like a pin drop, but it was so quiet out there I didn’t know how Steve wasn’t already up. I pulled Marcus in and told him what I wanted done. It was different than what we talked about, but it didn’t matter. The fear in Carol’s eyes is what made everything change.

  “Get her back on our little boat and I will be out in a few minutes. We have to be ready to leave right away.”

  He nodded his head and didn’t ask why. He didn’t need to know the big picture plan. All Marcus needed was to know his role in it. I couldn’t say how much I appreciated that sentiment. Pulling the gun out from the back of my waistband, I walked back into the sleeping area and saw that Carol was trying her best to squirm away from him. His arm on her waist was stopping most of her progress and I made motions for her to stop. I wanted to be the one that woke him up, in the way that I wanted to.

  Marcus came in and I had to calm down the look of renewed fear. Marcus looked a little scary to the wrong people. I never really looked at him that way. He was too much like me to see it that way. Now I was seeing him through her eyes and I didn’t like the comparison.

  “It’s okay Carol. He is a friend.”

  Her eyes dragged off of him and looked at me. I didn’t know what was going on in her mind and I am not really sure that I wanted to know. She looked at us as if we were like Steve. I would never do something like that, but it helped me to understand why she was so hesitant before.

  Marcus moved next to her and stood there. He was to pull her out as soon as I got Steve awake. I wanted to give him a little payback fear for what he had done to Carol. More than that, I didn’t like the way his arm on her waist looked. It shouldn’t be there.

  Pulling his arm off of her, I raised the gun up to his face when his eyes came open. Marcus was already moving Carol out of the way and taking her up the stairs to do as I asked. It was always so simple with him.

  “Good morning Steve. We are going to have a little talk now. I have heard some rumors about you.”

  ***

  Marcus and Carol were already in the boat and the motor that we hadn’t been able to use before had roared to life. It was a good thing because the need to leave was increasing with each step. I didn’t know how long I was going to have.

  “We got to go, now!”

  Marcus had a bare hint of a smile and I could only guess what was running through his mind. Did he know? It didn’t matter if he did, he followed directions well and as soon as I was in the boat, we were putting distance between us and the rocking boat that I had just gotten off of. It was a good thing too, because it was going to blow at any moment.

  Carol was shaking and I didn’t know if it was the events that had just occurred or if it was the chill in the air going through her thin night gown. I moved to put my coat around her and she flinched. I stopped and held it out to her, instead of putting it around her shoulders as I had first planned to. Standing back up, the boat behind us erupted in flames behind me. I will never forget the look in her eyes as the fire reflected in them.

  Chapter 14

  Carol

  “Stay with me.”

  That is what I had whispered to David before he left. I knew that I didn’t want to be alone and I wanted it to be him. My mind had already resolved that I wasn’t going to make it off of that boat. I never in a million years would have thought that it would be David that would save me.

  He didn’t look the same as the last time I had seen him. His face was marked up and swollen, covered in smudges of soot from the night before. The explosion had been big and we weren’t that far away when it went off. Burning bits of the boat rained down on us and though I only got a few burns it was the ash and soot that made the biggest impact in my mind. I could still taste it as it came down what felt like hours, but was more than likely just a few minutes.

  The whole night was burned into my brain and I hadn’t slept very well. David had gone to sleep first, thinking that I already have. I just moved my head to his chest and didn’t move for a long time. His heartbeat underneath me, thumping in my ears was enough to settle my nerves. I no longer had to remind myself that I wasn’t lying next to Steve. I had to keep reminding myself that David had saved me and Steve was not someone that I had to worry about ever again.

  “How long are you going to stare at me Carol? You are going to make me think something.”

  Pulling away, I asked him how long he had been awake.

  “A little while, long enough to feel your eyes on me from the start. You didn’t sleep very well.”

  “Sorry, I just, I don’t know. You look different. What happened to you?”

  “Long story.”

  I settled back in against his chest and mentioned how little I had to do that day. “I want to know how you knew where to find me David. I was in the middle of the ocean and you found me. How? Why?”

  “It’s too long of a story to tell. I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  An ar
m pulled me in closer. “I know. I was so worried about you.”

  “I am glad you found me, no matter how it happened. I didn’t think I was ever going to get off of that boat.”

  “You are back in your bed, safe and sound.”

  “Thanks to you.”

  I lifted up a little to look at him. My fingers traced the cut on his jawline. “What happened to you?”

  “I had a run in with a few guys.”

  “Why?”

  David shrugged and told me that I was asking a lot of questions. “I just want to know something about what happened. Steve wouldn’t tell me anything, but I knew something was up.”

  “Your boyfriend had me jumped. I really think you should aim a little higher next time.”

  It was my turn to roll my eyes and I lay back down on his chest so I didn’t have to see the smirk look in his face. “What, like a biker?”

  “That is a good place to start.”

  He was irritating and I was starting to truly think that was all that he thought about. It was constantly in his mind. That much was for sure. Looking down I saw that it wasn’t just his mind that was always pushing that narrative. His body was as ready as the rest of him.

  “How did you find me David?”

  “I got the man to talk that was sent after me. I guess Steve made him some money and he owed him.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what he got into his head, I really don’t. He saw us kiss out on my porch and I don’t know what happened. I think he snapped… I am never going to see him again, am I?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Is that your answer?”

  “Yeah. Do you really want to know?”

  “I just want to know that I can sleep at night without worrying about him coming after me. He drugged my wine I think. I don’t really know because he wouldn’t tell me. All I knew was that he had lost his mind. It was pretty clear of that because he mumbled to himself. He thought we were on vacation, some kind of couple’s retreat, but really it was kidnap.”

  “You don’t have to ever worry about him again.”