Embrace the Wild (The Great Outdoors Book 5)

by Shayne McClendon

  His friend knelt and peered closely at her mouth. “I think she slammed her teeth together. Maybe knocked out a tooth or something.” He lifted her lip to get a better look. “I don’t see any blood but there’s loose enamel in her mouth.”

  “Should we take her to the hospital?”

  “It’s weird but…I don’t know.” He held her jaw lightly and separated her lips. “Her teeth are really loose, Wade. There’s…no blood.”

  Gail was dazed, her eyes unfocused.

  Wade stroked his knuckles over her cheek. He said her name and she met his eyes. “Does your mouth hurt?” She shook her head in confusion. “Knox won’t hurt you. Let him check.”

  He watched as his friend reached into her mouth and gently touched the loose section. They gasped as a fake set of teeth wiggled free, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth underneath.

  “What the…? I don’t understand. Why are you wearing this?”

  She turned her face away with a low groan. The position worked for Knox who wanted to check her scalp. It wasn’t easy with so much silky hair in the way.

  “A small lump, bleeding is already stopping. I don’t think she needs stitches. Grab the first aid kit in the bathroom and we’ll get this patched up.”

  Wade found the box beside another box of disposable contact lenses in brown that didn’t have a prescription, a wig form, denture cream, and a ton of ACE bandages.

  More confused by the moment, he returned to the other room.

  Knox said softly, “You can’t sleep. You probably have a concussion. I need to sit you up.”

  His arms slid beneath her shoulders and he lifted her to a sitting position. They watched her sway dizzily before righting herself. Wade sat beside her and she leaned into him with her eyes closed.

  Walking behind the couch, Knox moved her hair aside. “A small gash. Nothing too serious.” She winced when he treated it with antiseptic. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

  He affixed a pair of tiny butterfly bandages and wiped as much blood from her scalp and hair as he could.

  Wade removed pain medication from the kit and went to get a bottle of water. Knox sat on the coffee table in front of her.

  She took the pills without lifting her face and it became clear she was avoiding looking at them now that her disguise was compromised. After a few minutes, she seemed to recover.

  Then she went very still.

  “I can see you’re nervous, Gail,” Knox said. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.”

  “When you’re steady on your feet, we’ll turn around and you can go put it back on if you want.”

  “It’s too late for that.” Her voice was sad and the friends shared a look.

  “How can we reassure you? We’ll do whatever you need us to do.” Wade hated that she slumped as if she was defeated.

  She released a heavy sigh. “I really didn’t want it to happen like this. Fucking ice.”

  Leaning over further, they watched as she removed her glasses and then the contacts, dropping them on the coffee table. Gathering her hair, she sat up straight, dropped the impressive length behind her, and waited.

  Knox leaned back sharply and Wade jumped beside her. They were struck dumb, their mouths hanging open in shock.

  No way. No fucking way.

  She laughed but there was no humor in it. She rubbed her temple in a gesture of pain and nervousness.

  “Jesus H. Christ,” Wade breathed.

  “Holy Mother of God,” Knox added.

  “Interesting. Most men don’t take the religious route.”

  They stared at her with stunned expressions. Knox rubbed the back of his neck and Wade gripped his knee until his knuckles were white.

  For more than a minute, she let them stare. She didn’t move or speak. Finally, she stood slowly and took the various pieces of her disguise with her to the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

  It was a testament to their shock that the friends could do nothing more than stare at the closed door in silence.

  * * *

  Galina stared at her reflection and considered putting her disguise on again. In the end, she knew it was too late for that.

  She wondered if Wade and Knox could still be her friends, knowing her biggest secret at last.

  With a deep breath, she washed her face and brushed her teeth to remove the grittiness of the denture cream. Unbinding her breasts, she changed into soft clothes that fit her properly.

  Finger-combing her hair made her hiss when she touched the tender cut on her skull.

  It wasn’t easy to return to the living room. She was afraid to face them. Opening the door with a shaking hand, she stepped into the snug space and leaned against the wall.

  They stood across the room and she saw they were still in shock. One glance down her true body and Wade dropped to the coffee table while Knox stumbled against the wall.

  They remained silent, simply staring at her in utter confusion. They took in her snug long-sleeved t-shirt and low-hung jeans in silence. Both tried and failed not to smile at her pink polka dot fuzzy socks.

  It was something.

  She managed to say, “Dinner’s ready.”

  In the kitchen, she took the tray of lasagna from the warm oven and made plates. It was a recipe that seemed easy but took her several attempts to get exactly right.

  She poured each of them a glass of wine from the bottle she’d opened earlier to breathe.

  Placing everything on the table, she killed another couple of minutes covering the lasagna pan and straightening her little kitchen.

  She didn’t know what to say.

  Wade walked out on the porch to get the salad and bread they’d left there when she fell. Knox put the first aid kit back together and returned it to her bathroom.

  She leaned against the counter and sipped her wine as they prepped what they’d brought and added it to the table.

  When everything was ready, Galina asked softly, “Well?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Knox wasn’t certain he could form a complete sentence, much less sit and eat like a grown ass man. He focused on not staring too intensely.

  Lina.

  World-famous supermodel and actress. A woman lusted over by millions of men. The model featured on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover more than any other.

  In a bizarre twist of fate, she stood in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with the two of them like that was normal. Their tenant for almost six months.

  She hand-delivered muffins to their door, for Christ’s sake. Laughed with them over glasses of wine during countless meals she prepared while she taught herself to cook.

  How did he bridge the gap between what they’d built and the person she was to the world at large? How did he keep his friend…a woman he’d attached to as Abigail North?

  * * *

  Wade felt like he was in an episode of the Twilight Zone and Knox kept shaking his head as if he was the one who’d taken a fall.

  Lina. In their cabin, all this time. It couldn’t be real.

  It was her body language that shook him from his stupor. She gripped the back of the wooden chair with both hands so hard her knuckles were white. She seemed to be holding her breath.

  They were hurting her.

  Knox walked carefully to the table and seemed relieved to make it into a chair. Refusing to be outdone, Wade did the same.

  She took her seat without a word and let them stare. When she crossed her ridiculously long legs, it was not the reserved Gail who maintained eye contact.

  It was Lina. A woman aware of her beauty since birth who understood the power and vulnerability it presented.

  “This is why,” she said quietly. “This is the reason I waited. It will ruin our lovely friendship.” Her natural voice was husky with a slight Russian accent that hadn’t slipped in all this time. Her sadness was acute. “I didn’t want this.”

  Wade didn’t know how to reassure her. He underst
ood so much more about her than he had before she hurt herself.

  He tried to pull himself together. “It’s a shock. I won’t lie to you…uh?” He wasn’t sure what to call her. Everything was flipped sideways.

  “Galina. My real name is Galina Oksana Kahfke-West. My mother shortened it when I hit puberty. I found it ridiculous and presumptuous. Unfortunately, it worked.”

  “Galina.” It was a beautiful name. Swallowing hard, he asked, “How is this possible? How can someone like you…disappear?”

  “Why would you?” Knox interjected too loudly. “What does a lonely mountaintop have to offer a woman like you?” He took a long drink of his wine.

  “I didn’t disappear. I ran away and I won’t go back.”

  “Were you in danger?”

  Brilliant violet eyes known around the world met his and Wade struggled to control his body’s instant, visceral reaction to it.

  “I’m five-eleven. I weighed one-hundred and three pounds the day I left after being forced to lose even more weight for a dress. The tea contained herbs to make me vomit and…worse. It also contained cocaine.”

  Knox hissed, “Someone drugged you to lose weight?”

  “Not someone. My mother and legal guardian. It wasn’t the first time.”

  “No.”

  “Oh yes. It’s hardly the worse thing she’s done.” One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “The woman had me committed for the slightest act of real or perceived disobedience.”

  “You just…walked away?” Knox’s eyes were huge.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you miss your parents?”

  “No. I miss my aunt. Ana is a nun. She’s the only person ever invested in my well-being.”

  “Don’t you miss your life?” Wade wondered aloud. “There’s nothing to do up here. Not like you’re used to.”

  Knox added, “To go from all that to this must be awful.”

  She considered her words carefully. “No, I don’t miss my old life. Not in the slightest. This place has given me so much these last months. I feel as if I can do things now. I feel as if I’m worth more than a pretty face.”

  It was easy to see that Knox had the same heart-clenching reaction to the honesty in her words that he did. Simple things brought her great pleasure. It was something they’d noted from the beginning.

  Thinking about the news stories he’d seen about the supermodel, he said quietly, “Your mother must be livid.”

  It was common knowledge that Lina’s mother drove her career from birth. She controlled her daughter’s life with an iron fist. Wade wondered how she was handling it.

  “I haven’t listened to the radio, watched television, or checked the news since I’ve been here. I don’t intend to. My parents know I’m safe. I owe them nothing more than that. The money I use is my own. The life I live will also be my own.”

  Her expression turned angry. “My success seemingly boosts her standing even though my father has plenty of his own. He had no reason to live vicariously through me.”

  In Russian, she murmured, “I haven’t been myself for a long time. I wish only to live.” She translated the words and they again withheld the fact that they understood the language.

  “You seem unsure of how to speak to me now. It hurts because I value our easy conversations.”

  Knox sat forward. “Galina. For months, we’ve eaten with you, talked for hours, become your friends. Hollow would have given you dossiers on us but we knew little about you.” He laughed. “This isn’t what I would have guessed.”

  Wade gave her a half smile. “You’re known, by sight alone, to millions, if not billions of people around the world. How long can you hide on this mountain?”

  She quirked her brow. “I like this mountain. It’s peaceful…quiet. The light is gentle. My entire life has been filled with noise and glaring lights.” With a small shake of her head, she added, “I’m recognized by many, known by almost no one.”

  “That sounds…awful.” Knox meant it.

  “I’m a face, a body, a size, a role, a trophy. I’m not real. The real me does not exist in the media.”

  Life in captivity.

  “I’m chased like a rabbit. Run to ground by men who care nothing about me, only the power and prestige I can secure as Lina. They don’t want to know anything about me. Even simple things…like my favorite color or my favorite book.”

  “Pink.”

  “1001 Arabian Nights.”

  She sat back and crossed her arms. “In six months, you know two pieces of real information about me that my agent of almost fifteen years does not.” Her agitation was obvious.

  “Stylists dress me in black because it contrasts with my hair and eyes. Dark clothing makes me feel sad. I receive tiny clothes or no clothes at all despite being a private person. I’m touched constantly. I despise being touched by strangers.”

  Smoothing her hands over her hair, she uncrossed her legs and picked up her fork. “Think things over. We can talk more later about this.” Gesturing to the food, she said, “Eat. It’s probably cold.”

  The friends dug in and instantly fell into the rhythm of enjoying a meal she prepared. After several bites and a moan or two of satisfaction, the enormity of the situation seemed to recede enough to think.

  “Do you prefer pink because everyone automatically assumes your favorite color will be purple to match your eyes?” Knox asked with a tilt of his head.

  This time, her smile was full and almost blinding. Wade thought it might have stopped his heart for a second.

  “If you could see the amount of amethyst jewelry and clothing forced on me over the years, you’d likely be nauseous. As a child, my bedroom was every shade of purple, I was dressed in purple, even my dolls wore purple.”

  “Good lord,” Wade said with a frown.

  Her laugh was lovely. “I can barely stand other people wearing the color now. The last Swimsuit Edition shoot has me in yet another purple bikini, purple beads in my hair, purple mascara. That was a couple of months before I ran away.”

  Wade grinned. “This conversation is surreal.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have every issue you’ve ever appeared in and I feel bad about that now, Galina.”

  Knox nodded in agreement. “We have posters of you in our gym for motivation to do more reps. Total misogyny.”

  “I actively participated in that image of me and it made me a fortune. I was over it when I was seventeen but…I wasn’t allowed to stop.” Sighing heavily, she sipped her wine. “It’s awkward but I’m glad you know. The contacts and teeth were really beginning to irritate me.”

  “You plan to stay?” Wade was terrified of her answer.

  “Do you plan to tell anyone I’m here?” They shook their heads. “Will you try to see me as a normal person?”

  “I’m glad I didn’t know before,” Knox admitted. “It let us get to know our Gail. With Lina, we’d have been more guarded, I think. Men get caught up in trying to impress.”

  Wade said through his teeth, “You’re very distracting this way.”

  Galina laughed warmly and sat back with her wine. “Finish your food. I made dessert.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  July 2013

  Galina loved summer on the mountain.

  Every morning, she sat on her porch with a cup of coffee and watched the birds and squirrels scramble through the trees.

  Her days were spent reading and working on a book about life in the spotlight. She hoped it would help others interested in pursuing a life like hers. Perhaps dissuade them from it entirely.

  References to her parents were minimal. It was her story…not theirs.

  She cooked every day because she spent her whole life without walking into a kitchen before running away. She never imagined the relaxation that could be found there.

  Baking treats for her friends was a reward in and of itself. They often joked that she required them to spend more time in their gym to work off the calories.

  A few extra po
unds didn’t change how amazing Wade and Knox looked. They were active and it showed.

  The transition between them took several weeks after they learned her identity. At first, they censored their thoughts and actions with Galina in ways they never had when she was Gail.

  Never hesitating to call them on it, they eventually relaxed.

  Their friendship expanded to fit who she was and she was grateful. They didn’t flirt with her and she continued to be the woman who was at odds with the image her handlers always presented in the media.

  Living each day in such a place simplified everything. No events, no interviews, no jobs. Her time was finally her own.

  She would fight to keep it.

  After she was granted independence by the California courts, her mother stopped holding press conferences. Svetlana kept a low profile and only appeared at functions with her husband.

  Jacob contacted his daughter’s attorneys and arranged to transfer her inheritance into her care and keeping. He sent a message that said simply, “I should have paid closer attention. I love you.”

  Through Hollow’s organization, she bounced occasional emails to her parents. Sometimes, she included a photo of her hiking or pulling a tray of muffins from the oven.

  The animosity between mother and daughter didn’t overwrite her sense of obligation to let them know she was breathing.

  Her father always replied. Her mother did not.

  In late June, a car she didn’t recognize drove up the mountain road and parked in the clearing beside her Jeep. Stepping out on the porch, she grinned as Hollow got out.

  “Hi there. Kind of a long way to go for a visit.” Walking down the steps, she hugged him and he hugged her back harder without saying anything. “Hey.” She leaned back to consider his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I needed to be still for a couple of days. I should have called.”

  “No way. You’re always welcome.” Linking her arm through his, she said, “I just took a batch of muffins out of the oven and made coffee. Come enjoy the normalcy with me.”

  Inside, she encouraged him to sit and filled two cups. Bringing the plate of muffins, she settled in the chair beside him at the dining table and waited.