Broken: A Mountain Man's Romance

by Mia Ford, Bella Winters

  It also could be considered a relapse. I countered negatively. Going and making the same damn mistake is proof that you’re crazy, not that you’re cured.

  I tried to be a somewhat logical man and despite my present situation, I knew myself well. I knew when I was interested and when I was simply horny.

  While Carrie definitely made me feel a connection to her that was almost painfully alluring, I also yearned to get to know her. I didn’t want a one-night stand, I wanted her.

  Although, I still didn’t quite understand why; primarily because I didn’t know her at all. I had gotten her out of a bad situation, but we had argued in the two, somewhat normal conversations we had. Granted, I was an asshole on purpose in both situations, but that was only so I could shield myself from the truth of it all.

  As I sat, staring deep into the fire as it blazed with unmerciful fury, I contemplated all of this.

  I wanted to come to some explanation and I wanted to do it before I did something I would regret.

  I briefly contemplated that this was some kind of fate, but quickly scoffed at the idea. Fate wasn’t in our favor. I could attest to that. If fate was on our side, people wouldn’t get knocked on their ass so many times before finally settling for something that resembled happiness.

  Still, even though my convictions were strong, with one glance back at Carrie, sleeping soundlessly, with Jake warming her feet at the bottom of the bed, I wondered if there was something that I was supposed to be noticing.

  After all, Jake seems to like her, but he always was something of a lady’s dog.

  As I had told Carrie, he’s a big mush. There’s not a mean bone in that dog’s body, so long as you aren’t out to hurt anyone.

  Of course, I tried to convince myself that Jake was simply trying to comfort Carrie. After all, I was sure he could sense that she was going through something traumatic, even if he didn’t quite understand.

  Yet, if that was it, or if there was something more, a deeper connection there, between the dog and the woman, I couldn’t help but wonder if Jake has the right idea.

  Perhaps, instead of worrying about keeping up the walls that were obviously not working so well for me, I should go with it.

  The last time almost killed me, but it didn’t, so maybe this time wouldn’t either.

  After hours of fending off what I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind was inevitable, I resolved to learning more about this woman. I would try a different approach; one that involved me being less of an asshole and more of the person I was once, a long time ago.

  Considering we were stuck together, at least until Carrie’s ankle healed, I decided it was better to be hospitable than to have her resent me for something I could’ve prevented.

  I finally decided if she was going to hate me, I would rather her hate me for something I did. At least then, I wouldn’t have anything to regret.

  Chapter 9: Carrie

  When I woke up, I felt disgusting. I wasn’t used to being so gross. Normally, I was an extremely clean person. So, having not taken so much as a whore bath for God knows how long was starting to weigh on me. I felt as though I smelled disgusting and each time I moved, I heard my hair crunching from the dried blood.

  It made me sick and after laying there, in the darkness, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep if I had to continue living in my own filth.

  So, I carefully eased myself off the bed, careful not to wake anyone. Although, as soon as I moved, I heard Jake groan as his large head poked up to see what was going on.

  “Go back to sleep,” I told the dog, “It’s okay.”

  Yet, when I turned around, I saw a figure towering over me. I was so concerned with the dog, I didn’t even hear anyone coming up behind me.

  My heart dropped as I had a flashback of the tour guide. I screamed and staggered back, but I was caught by large, sturdy hands and brought back up.

  “What the hell? Carrie? What’s wrong?” Johnathan asked, sounding genuinely concerned. He made sure I was stable before releasing my arm.

  “Nothing…I just wanted to go take a shower,” I complained, picking at my hair. “I feel gross.”

  Even though he didn’t make a sound, I could almost sense him rolling his eyes at me.

  “Really?” Johnathan finally retorted, “You couldn’t have wanted to do this last night, or waited until morning?”

  “I’m sorry, I just woke up and,” I shivered from disgust, “I just feel like everything is caked on me and I want to get it off.”

  I must have sounded desperate though, because when he spoke again, his voice was a lot more understanding.

  “Okay…Okay, fine. Just…Sit down, will you?” As he spoke, he guided me back to the bed. “Let me get some light in here and I’ll help you.”

  “Thank you,” I answered, relieved that he was going to do something about it instead of just telling me to go back to sleep.

  Obviously still waking up, I watched his shadow slunk over to the large oven and prime the embers of the fire and add firewood so that the flames returned, giving some light to the room.

  I waited patiently, even though it was difficult.

  When he returned, though, Johnathan helped me over to the sink. He unbandaged my head and got me a chair to sit down on. Afterwards, he eased me back, so that he could carefully clean my hair.

  “Thank you,” I replied again, as I watched his large hands methodically and carefully remove the crimson from my hair.

  I wasn’t sure if he didn’t hear me, or simply didn’t feel like responding, but either way, he said nothing. Instead, he used some kind of soap on my hair, before washing it out, paying particular care not to touch the spot where the blood had originated.

  “I can’t touch that yet,” he announced, pointing to the back of my hair. “I don’t want it to start bleeding all over again.”

  “That’s okay,” I replied, but he was already back to work. I wondered if he had done that purposefully, to let me know that he wasn’t asking for my permission.

  Still, I didn’t care. He could be a jerk all he wanted, so long as he helped me feel like myself and not like the Carrie in the movie who got covered in pig’s blood.

  At least this was my own blood, I tried to tell myself as the sickening thought passed through my mind, but it ended up doing little to console me.

  Blood was blood and it was gross.

  After Johnathan had finished, he told me that if I wanted, I could take a shower to wash off my body.

  Pointing me toward the bathroom, he warned, “Don’t get water in your cut. It’s starting to scab, and I don’t want anything to fuck it up. It’s actually looking good.”

  The thought made me weak in the knees but instead of dwelling on that, I managed to shake my head. “Okay. Thanks.”

  I hobbled over to the bathroom, with Johnathan guiding me. He made sure I was alright before quickly leaving the room.

  The shower was simple and seemed to be more of an outdoor setup than indoor plumbing, but I supposed I should be grateful for at least this advancement.

  I took the hose off the rung and pointed it down while I turned the nozzle. Water immediately shot out of the sprayer. It was freezing but thankfully, I didn’t have it pointed toward me.

  The water seemed to take forever to warm up, even marginally, but when it did, I was thankful. I used the strange soap that had the scent of pine and washed myself off, careful to keep my injured ankle out of the water as well. Even though it wasn’t open, it still had a splint on it and I didn’t feel like going through the effort to take it off.

  I was simply happy to not feel crusty anymore.

  When I got out of the shower, I saw there was a towel hanging on the hook that I could’ve sworn wasn’t there before. I dried myself off as best as I could before putting the towel around my body and walking back out, into the main portion of the cabin.

  I noticed that the bed was changed, with new sheets and I had comfortable clothes on the bed, laid out
for me.

  I looked around and saw Johnathan in his normal spot, sitting in his chair, rocking slowly back and forth, watching the fire.

  He didn’t seem to notice that I was there, or made no attempt to enlighten me, so I cleared my throat.

  “Thanks for putting my clothes out…and changing my sheets,” I called, but Johnathan didn’t turn around.

  I looked over at the bed and a previously displaced Jake was now rolling around on the covers playfully, as though he was trying to get his scent back on the sheets.

  Swinging out a little bit, to look around the chair, I saw that Johnathan’s head was cocked to the side and his eyes were closed.

  I didn’t think he was sleeping for some reason, but I figured if he didn’t want to speak to me, he didn’t have to and so, I shrugged and walked back over to the bed.

  After putting the clean pajamas on, I crawled back into the bed and was finally able to get a good night’s sleep.

  The next morning, my senses woke me with the sounds and smells of breakfast.

  At first, I was confused, wondering why there was a big hairy thing in my bed, and who was making breakfast.

  Yet, when a shot of pain reverberated up my leg, I remembered what had happened and where I was, before opening my eyes. I moved slightly, and the massive dog inched closer to me, almost like a child, grumbling in his sleep.

  I stifled a chuckle and hugged him, hoping that today was going to be better than the past few days. I couldn’t take much more arguing and craziness. I wasn’t used to all of this and while I no longer had a fear of Johnathan, I wanted to like him. I wanted to learn more about him.

  I had no idea why I wanted him to let me in, but I was willing to believe that I had met him for a reason.

  Obviously, this could’ve been the fact that he saved me, coupled with the dream that made me think this way, but knowing that didn’t dampen my resolve.

  I wanted to get to know Johnathan and I wanted to figure out why he was up here, all alone.

  While he was intensely guarded, I had no doubt in his sanity.

  I didn’t think he was dangerous, because there was nothing that he had done that even hinted he wasn’t in control of himself. So, that ruled out that he was hiding from the law, but what else would make a man take up such a solitary life?

  It wasn’t the fact that it was off the grid and in the mountains that made me so curious. There were plenty of people who enjoyed their privacy and would love to have such a place to get away.

  What intrigued me, was that this wasn’t a getaway for Johnathan. This was a permanent residence and he didn’t share it with another living soul.

  It must be such a lonely existence and to want that, something awful must have happened to him.

  I wanted to know what that was, because for some reason, I believed that whatever happened, I could help him.

  However, when I opened my eyes, my thoughts seemed silly, and overthought, as a far more jovial Johnathan greeted me.

  “Good morning!” Johnathan exclaimed, placing a plate of eggs and bacon on the table next to her.

  “Oh…Thank you!” I exclaimed, feeling my stomach rumble at the sight of the food.

  “You’re welcome. You’re going to need your strength today, because I want you to try to walk around.”

  I grinned, taking the plate onto my lap, “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

  Instead of getting defensive, as I feared he might, he grinned, knowing that I was teasing him.

  “Well, as much as I would like to sleep in my own bed at some point soon, no. I’m giving you a little tough love because I don’t want your muscles to get complacent. Trust me, you don’t want that either. If you’re ever going to make it down that mountain, you are going to have to start somewhere. Besides, I’m sure you don’t want to stay here a second more than you have to.”

  “Actually, it’s not too bad,” I mused, hoping I didn’t sound as desperate as I felt I came across. I was only trying to be friendly, but it came out sounding kind of seductive, which wasn’t my intent. Immediately, I felt my cheeks redden with embarrassment. “I mean, I told you, I find it relaxing…The cabin and all that.”

  Johnathan nodded, “Yeah, I get that. I feel the same way myself. I love it up here…Usually, there’s hardly anyone else around. It’s great.” Staring at me for a long moment, I was sure he was going to ask me a question, but it took him a while, I supposed, to figure out how he wanted to ask the question. “So, what is it that makes you want to be relaxed in a cabin, with no way to contact the outside world?”

  “I could ask you the same thing? I’m not exactly here by choice.”

  “So, you’re making the best out of a bad situation?” He asked, though not with any hint of being insulted. He genuinely seemed interested in my thought process.

  “I guess. I mean, considering what happened…But I came up to the mountains in the first place to get away. I thought hiking would be the answer, but this is much better.” I grinned.

  “Well, I can’t really take that as a compliment. I mean, the cabin is the better of two genuinely shitty options.”

  I chuckled, “The mountain wasn’t supposed to be a shitty option. However, I still think this is nicer.”

  “Wow. Maybe you hit your head a little harder than I thought,” he joked.

  “No, seriously, Johnathan. I’ve always been a simple girl. I don’t need a lot and lately, there has been a lot to deal with.”

  “What do you mean? What do you do, when you’re not…attempting to return to nature?”

  “I am in college. I’m studying to be a paralegal,” I answered. “I go to NC state.”

  “Damn,” Johnathan answered, “I guess you’re right. You do have an excuse to want to get away.”

  “It’s not that I want to get away from anything. I can’t wait to get on with my life. I love helping people and I can’t wait to start doing what I’m going to school for…Schools not that bad. It’s just…a lot.” I simpered, “I needed a break from it all, just to recharge my batteries. While I really didn’t have anyone, who wanted to go with me, I wasn’t exactly begging anyone to come with me either. I was happy to go alone, because I thought it would help me relax.”

  “What kind of high maintenance friends do you have?” He teased.

  “One of the most high-maintenance…and she knows it too. She would tell you. She’s crazy, but we’ve been friends for years. If I took her along, I would have to hear her bitching about bugs, the sun, the grass, the stones, the sky and the mountain itself for a week. She isn’t an outdoors person.”

  “And…no one else would go with you?”

  “I wouldn’t want anyone else to go with me. My parents wouldn’t climb a mountain and my other friends, they’re school friends, you know? Not, go brave the wilderness friends.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  “Of course, there’s a difference,” I answered with a slight insinuation to my voice that he immediately picked up on.

  “You realize, you’re talking to the guy who prefers the company of a dog, to any human beings, right?”

  “Fair enough. So, you just hate everybody, huh?”

  “Yeah, pretty much,” he retorted playfully, “People are stupid.”

  I rolled my eyes, “So, do you think you’re better than everyone else, or what?”

  “Oh, God no. I’m a dick. I wouldn’t want to be my friend either. I’m surprised poor Jake has stuck it out this long,” he insisted playfully.

  “Jake loves you,” I insisted, glancing at the dog, who was now looking between us, hoping that someone would sacrifice a piece of bacon for him.

  “He just loves me because I feed him,” Johnathan insisted.

  “Sometimes, that’s all you need.”

  “Yup, this pup is all I need,” Johnathan, insisted, giving up a piece of his bacon to an extremely happy Jake, as he pet the dogs massive head.

  Jake swallowed the bacon in one bite and immediately starte
d to scour both of our plates for another.

  “That’s all you get,” Johnathan insisted, “Don’t look at her plate. She needs her strength. You’re fine.”

  As though Jake understood what his owner was saying, he huffed in protest before flopping onto the floor and laying down, away from us.

  “He’s never happy, that dog,” Johnathan laughed.

  “But he’s so cute!” I exclaimed, wishing I had given up some of my bacon while I still had the chance.

  “Ugh…He’s two-hundred pounds of pure muscle and fur… He’s not cute.”

  “And that is why, I think he might like me better,” I retorted.

  “Eh, he definitely likes you better,” he replied hastily, in a way that slightly lessened the effect of my joke. “But he’s stuck with me…Speaking of which, if you’re able to move around on it today, we’ll work on it a little more for the next few days, but I’m hoping you’ll be well enough to get back down the mountain in a little while. From what I can see of it right now, the sprain seems to be healing nicely. I’m more worried about re-injury than I am about you not being able to make it. I just want to make sure you don’t overdo it too soon.”

  “Thanks,” I answered, feeling the spark of a connection starting to take shape again. I grinned at him.

  However, this time, he didn’t respond in a positive manner. He swallowed hard and put his plate to the side. His expression wasn’t angry, but it scared me.