We hiked along the smaller trail, our feet navigating the rough terrain with ease as we went along, heading further up into the mountains. I had a lot of outdoors experience from my Girl Scout years as a kid, and Lyndon just seemed to be naturally good at everything he did, so we were both fairly well adapted to the hiking journey. The climb grew steeper and steeper, however, and after another half an hour had passed I stopped in a small clearing and called out to him.
“Let’s take a break,” I said. “The second marker they left should be just up from here, but I need to sit down for a sec.”
We’d been out in the mountains for over an hour now, and while that wasn’t very long for experienced hikers, I was exhausted. It was far too early in the morning to be doing this after the sleepless night I’d had. Don’t get me wrong, I’d wanted to sleep, but imagining Lyndon on the other side of my wall in the room next to me had ensured that my mind couldn’t rest. Barely a wink.
I sat on a conveniently-located fallen log and sipped from my water bottle, and then delved into my backpack for a snack as I breathed in the fresh air again. The sun was beating down on us, but a nice breeze on top of that ensured the perfect temperature in our surrounding environment. All in all, this assignment wasn’t turning out to be half bad, even if I was stuck with Mr. Wrong himself for the whole time.
“Banana chip?” I said, holding the bag up. Lyndon nodded and grabbed a handful, and we sat in silence as we chewed. When I was done, I stood up, wandered over to the east a little and then stretched my tired muscles, bending forward at the waist for a second.
“Beautiful view out here,” Lyndon remarked.
I was about to agree, but then I looked over my shoulder and realized he was staring straight at my ass as I leaned over. I stood up straight, turned around and then glared at him as he threw me a smoldering look.
“Why are you constantly sleazing onto me, Lyndon? Finally run out of other women to trick into bed with you?”
“Oh yeah, that’s definitely it. You’re my last resort, Myla. Save me!” he said, a sarcastic grin spreading across his face as he rolled his eyes towards the heavens. He got up and headed over to me, and something in my tired mind snapped.
“You know, you’re very mouthy for a guy who’s about to get smacked right in the face,” I hissed.
“Yeah, and you’re pretty sassy for a girl who’s about to fall off a cliff,” he replied, casually eyeing me with a smirk as I took a step back and immediately ran into trouble. Holy shit. My foot slid down loose rocks and then hit nothing but air, and my eyes widened as I started to fall backwards. I let out a scream.
“David!”
Lyndon immediately grabbed me, pulling me to safety where I gasped, dragging clean air into my grateful lungs as I realized he’d probably just saved my life. The air tasted sweeter than it ever had as my heart raced.
“Told you so,” he smirked again, those perfect green eyes traveling up and down my curves as I glared at him. “So suddenly I’m ‘David’ again, huh?”
“Shut up! Why the hell did you let me get so close to the edge?” I demanded, face turning hot with embarrassment. So much for my hiking skills. “I could’ve died!”
“Well, I figured one of the most intelligent agents to come out of the academy in god knows how long would be smart enough to notice the edge of a cliff all on her own,” he said. “You do know we’re hiking in the mountains right? Bound to be edges somewhere along the way.”
His face softened a little as he saw my stricken expression. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have let you fall,” he continued, leaning in close and pulling me further away from where I’d slipped and almost met my demise. I could smell him, all aftershave and masculine sweat, and my heart skipped a beat as I inhaled his scent.
In that moment I had a stark realization. This man would never let me fall. Except maybe to fall in love with him. God dammit, why did he have to be so sexy? Not wanting to face the reality of what my mind and nether regions were screaming at me, I pushed him away and then stomped off in a huff. “Come on. We still haven’t found the second blaze.”
“Yes, sir,” he said with a mock salute.
An hour later, we arrived at the campsite where the hikers had set up their tent to stay in the night that they had disappeared. It was surrounded by police tape just in case any intrepid mountaineers got curious and decided to poke around the scene, and we slipped it over our heads and looked around. It appeared to be relatively undisturbed.
“So what do you think happened?” I asked, noticing the remnants of a small campfire in front of the tent. “Think they wandered off and got lost? Or maybe a bear attacked them?”
Lyndon shrugged as he unzipped the tent and bent down to look inside. This time it was me perving on his tightly-muscled ass, and my cheeks flushed. I could be such a hypocrite sometimes.
“I doubt it,” he finally replied, emerging from the tent and standing up straight. “Only black bears live in this area, and they avoid humans. Not like grizzlies. But like I said, the grizzly bear doesn’t live in Colorado, as far as I know anyway. And as for them getting lost…I don’t know. They were experienced hikers. Not exactly prone to wandering off and getting lost.”
“Anything in the tent?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “Clothes, backpacks, shoes, a small GPS tablet and also two cell phones. Whatever happened to them, it happened fast.”
“Hmm.” I turned to the side and glanced around again, trying to spot anything else in the near vicinity that hadn’t already been observed and photographed by the Bakewell Springs police.
Lyndon tilted his head to the side and sniffed the air for a moment, and I stared. He looked just like a sniffer dog trying to catch a scent.
“What the hell are you doing, Lyndon?”
He obviously hadn’t realized I’d been watching him, and he looked over at me, a startled expression crisscrossing his handsome features. “Oh. Nothing. Just…err, just taking in the mountain air. It’s nice.”
It was the first time I’d seen or heard Lyndon being caught off his usually-smooth guard since the day he’d asked me to dinner outside that lecture theatre all those years ago, and I raised an eyebrow quizzically.
“Um, yeah, it’s nice. But we should focus.”
We canvassed the area around the campsite and came up with nothing until I spotted something on a nearby tree trunk. “Hey, Lyndon, take a look at this. Look like dried blood to you?”
He crouched down and squinted thoughtfully at where I was pointing. There were no police markers around it, and there’d been nothing in their report about finding a possible blood spatter.
“Hard to tell. Could just be tree sap. Take a sample and we’ll send it back to the labs in DC,” he replied.
I slid on some latex gloves and then removed a plastic evidence bag from my backpack, being as careful as possible not to contaminate the potential sample. After swabbing the bark with a large cotton tip, I sealed it in a jar and then slipped the jar into the evidence bag. Hopefully, this would be our first lead.
A chilly wind suddenly whipped through my wild curls, and I involuntarily shuddered as I surveyed the scene. There was something so ominous about knowing we were standing right where two people had inexplicably vanished as they tried to sleep. I couldn’t even imagine something like that happening to me; being so frightened and feeling so alone, knowing no one in civilization would be able to hear my screams and pleas for help.
“Come on,” I said, the sudden chill still rattling my bones. “I think we’re done here for now. Let’s head back and tell the local cops to come and bag this all up.”
Whatever had happened to all these missing people over the years, I hoped we would figure it out soon, because I wouldn’t wish that kind of terror upon anyone, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be next.
Chapter Four
After finally getting back into town, we headed to the same steak house that we’d gone to the night before and ate in silence, both of us
still trying to process what we’d seen out there in the wilderness. It was one thing to hear about people disappearing, but to actually stand in the same area where they’d vanished gave us a whole new feel for it.
As we ate, a familiar voice startled us. “Agent Peyton! Oh, and Agent Lyndon.”
I whirled around to see Deputy Ted standing near our booth. I couldn’t help but inwardly snicker at the way he’d added on Lyndon’s presence as if it were an unpleasant afterthought, and I flashed him a bright smile. “Hey, Ted. How’s it going?”
“Good, good,” he replied, walking up to our table. “Find much out there today?”
“Not really,” I said. “Although I don’t know what we were expecting to find, honestly.”
“Myla found what might be a blood spatter on a tree,” Lyndon interrupted, reaching across the table and firmly patting my right hand with his left. “She’s one of the best, just too modest for her own good.”
The tension in the air was palpable as I slowly pulled my hand away from Lyndon’s. What the hell was he doing? Trying to make it look like we were together so that Ted would back off? And if so, why? Was he actually jealous at the thought of seeing me with another man? So many questions and so few seconds to comprehend it all.
Ted affected a slightly cooler gaze. “That’s great,” he said, staring straight at Lyndon now. “And I’m sure she is the best.”
He turned back to face me. “So I was wondering…if you aren’t too busy tonight, maybe I could show you a few of our local bars. Have a few drinks and maybe dessert or something.”
“Sure!” Lyndon boomed. “I’d love to come. Thanks, man.”
I hissed through my teeth at him. “What the hell are you doing?”
The invitation had clearly been directed at only me, but by now it was too awkward for Ted to say anything about it. Lyndon smiled beatifically at me and pretended he hadn’t heard what I’d said.
“Well, great then,” Ted said, managing to look only slightly nonplussed. “If you’re done eating, we could head off now. Or I could meet you outside the police department in a while.”
“Let’s go now!” Lyndon said, clearly not wanting to allow me any opportunity to give him the slip.
I rolled my eyes, and we settled up our bill before heading out with Ted and then following his car to a side street which appeared to be a small café and bar strip.
“So Ted,” I said after we were settled into a crimson leather booth at a dingy yet homely establishment that was clearly a town favorite, judging by the crowd. “How long have you lived in Bakewell Springs? Must be so nice, all this fresh mountain air all year round.”
“Sure is,” he replied. “I’ve lived here my whole life. Born and raised.”
“What was it like growing up here? Must have been fun.”
“Oh yeah, it sure was,” he replied. “Such a beautiful place. It’s a shame people keep leaving. Our population has been dropping more and more every year since the mining boom ended.”
“Yeah, I read about that,” I said.
“But still,” he continued. “Beautiful place for a kid to grow up. Mountains, parks…”
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Lyndon once again interjected. I seethed inwardly. Seriously, what the hell was he playing at? He’d stood me up and rejected me years ago, and what, I wasn’t allowed to move on from that or something? It was fairly obvious that Ted was interested in me, yet Lyndon seemed to want to take every chance to screw that up for me.
We all chatted for a while longer over tumblers of whiskey, and Ted put his hand across the table and grabbed mine in the exact same way that Lyndon had back at the steak house. “You know, when you’re done with the investigation, you could always come back here as a tourist. There’s so many nice places around here that only the locals know about, and I’d be happy to show you.”
I was waiting for Lyndon to interject, but he said nothing. Instead, he ‘accidentally’ knocked over his glass, forcing Ted to jerk his hand away from mine as the amber liquid ran in little rivulets all over the wooden surface of the table.
I could have killed him. Lyndon and his damned pissing contests. “Hey Lyndon,” I said with a faux simpering smile. “Looks like you’ve had too much to drink. Why don’t you head back to the motel and get some rest?”
“Good idea,” he agreed. “But you need to drive. Like you said, I’ve had a bit too much to drink. And I can hardly drink and drive in the presence of an esteemed Bakewell Springs Deputy, can I?”
He patted Ted on the back, a little too hard to be friendly. If looks could kill, my icy expression would have vaporized him, but he simply grinned and stood up.
“Thanks for showing us around, Ted. I’m sure we’ll see you tomorrow at the office.”
Ted stood up too, with a dejected air hanging about him. “Yeah, sure thing. It was great catching up with you guys tonight.”
He gave me one last lingering look before leaving, and I glared at Lyndon as we headed out to our car. “What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just trying to have a good night and make some new friends.”
I was too angry to say anything, so I concentrated on driving, and when I finally pulled into the parking lot of our motel, I jumped out of the car, yanked my things out of the back and then furiously stormed over to my door without another word to Lyndon.
Only a second after I stepped inside and put my bag down, there was a knock. I hadn’t even had a chance to turn the light on yet. Rolling my eyes, I flung open the door. Lyndon was leaning against the wall right next to it.
“What the hell do you want now?” I asked.
“I think you’ve got my key in your bag,” he replied. “Sorta need it to get in my room.”
I stomped over to my bag and rifled through it before locating his key and then practically throwing it in his face. At this point I couldn’t take it anymore, and I started shouting at him, fury etched into my face.
“You know, what you did tonight is so unfair!” I said. “You knew that guy was interested in me! You knew he was only inviting me out with him, but you tagged along anyway. Why?”
“Because I don’t like the guy,” he replied. “Smarmy little blond prick.”
“You don’t even know him,” I said, jabbing my finger into his chest. “And he seems perfectly nice to me!”
“Oh, of course he does. Because he’s trying to get in your pants. And you deserve better. Trust me, Myla, I can tell when a guy is only pretending to be nice but is secretly a massive tool.”
“Yeah, because it takes one to know one,” I replied, practically spitting venom at him.
He paused and then stepped closer, towering over me. “You know, I have pretty much fucking had it with your childish bullshit, Myla. Like I said, if you had ever just given me five fucking minutes to explain what happened when we were back at the academy, then we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. But you’re a snobby, arrogant little know-it-all, and you’re so convinced that you’ve got everyone around you figured out that you never even bothered giving me a chance!”
I shrank back, slightly crestfallen. He was right. I never had given him a chance to explain. He’d left four voicemails on my phone after that night, asking me to call him back. He’d said he was deeply sorry about missing our date and that there had been a reason. But I’d been so convinced that he was a womanizing jerk that I’d deleted the messages and then practically run away every time I happened to run into him around the academy. He’d even written me a letter, and I’d tossed it into the garbage unopened without a second thought.
He was absolutely right. I was being childish as all hell, carrying around a vendetta against a man who’d stood me up and treating him like shit without even giving him the time of day to try to explain his side of things.
I crossed my arms. “Fine. Let’s hear it. Let me guess, the woman I saw you with on a date that night was actually your sister? Or something else just as convenient?�
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Lyndon ran his hands through his hair with an exasperated sigh. “It wasn’t convenient,” he replied. “And no, it wasn’t my sister. It was an old friend.”
I snorted and threw him a scornful glance. “You were holding her hand across the table. Seemed like more than just an old friend to me!”
“Her name is Eva, and she called me that evening because she had just broken up with someone and been kicked out of her apartment. We go way back; went to high school together. I knew she needed me to be there for her, so I spent the night trying to comfort her and talk through her problems, and I let her crash at my place till she sorted herself out.”
“I’ll bet you did,” I mumbled, looking down at my feet.
“Oh, and did I forget to mention? She’s a lesbian, Myla. She has no interest in me, and I have none in her. So yeah, I fucked up. I was so caught up in it that I honestly spaced on our date, even though I was pretty fucking excited for it until she called. I tried contacting you as soon as I realized, and you never answered. Yeah, I really fucked up. But you could have at least given me a moment to explain!”
“Oh,” I replied, my mind going numb. I felt like a heinous bitch for never having listened to him, but on the other hand, he’d forgotten about me…just like that.
Seemingly reading my thoughts, he stepped even closer to me and grabbed one of my hands, enclosing it tightly in his powerful grip. “I know I screwed up. I shouldn’t have forgotten about our date the way I did. There’s no excuse for that. You’re worth so much more than that. And believe me, I spent a long time kicking myself for being so fucking stupid. I would never have been so stupid again. All I wanted to do was make it up to you.”
“Really?” I asked, looking up at him. “Why? There’s nothing special about me. I’m just a chubby nerd. I honestly wasn’t surprised when I thought you’d bailed on our date for someone else.”
He caressed my cheek with one hand before wrapping the other around my waist, pulling my body against his. A half-strangled moan almost emerged from my throat, but I managed to swallow it.
Once An Alpha (The S Files: Paranormal Investigation Agency – Book 1) Page 3