“Who are you? And how is it any of your business?” Though she was still out of breath from the shock of him grabbing her, she still managed to reply as tartly as possible, despite the immense fear crackling at the edges of her mind.
Tilting his head to the side, the man’s cold, shark black eyes assessed her without any sign of emotion before a slow heartless grin spread across his lips. The rounds of his cheeks appeared slightly over the bushy hair of his overgrown beard as he smiled. Everything in Alessia told her to run, to just forget her stuff and run towards the road. Because even though the man was smiling, his eyes remained cold and black.
“Well,” he began, taking a deep breath that expanded his wide chest under his folded arms. “When I find some stranger camping on my land, it becomes my business.”
Alessia blinked a few times as she let his words replay in her head, forcing herself to calm down for a moment so she could at least process what he was saying.
Shaking her head, she pointed to the ground. “This isn’t yours,” she said confidently, crossing her own arms back at the smug bastard.
He was lying, she researched this area thoroughly before she even left Yakima. Alessia picked this area for its distance from Yakima, its proximity to the nearby town, and water sources.
Holding her chin up higher she tried to match his glacial stare with one of her own. “This land belongs to the state,” but even as the words came out of her mouth, information she thought she was so sure of, the words lost their bluster as she continued to stare into his unwavering black eyes. “… at least I thought...”
“You thought wrong,” he snapped.
Her arms dropped and her shoulders drooped as every ounce of bravado evaporated from her body at his succinct retort. Looking around, she tried to think, as the whirling thoughts plagued her all at once.
“Fine,” throwing up her hands in defeat, she glared at him. “I’ll get my things and leave.”
The man didn’t move. He just stood there like a statue with his arms still crossed. Somehow, his expression grew even grimmer as he stared up at the blue sky past the dense treetops.
“There’s going to be a storm by sundown,” his tone was bleak.
Skeptically she glanced up quickly at the sky above his head, not wanting to take her eyes off the stranger for too long. Earlier she went by the road to get a signal, but she forgot to look at the forecast. She was so happy to get her posts uploaded that she completely forgot all about the weather.
She opened her mouth to say she was fine, but he began first.
“Though I would rather not,” relaxing his arms, he gave her an annoyed look. “I will allow you to stay in my cabin for one night, little vagrant, and then you hit the road to wherever that isn’t here,” he pointed to the ground meaningfully. “By morning.”
The abrupt hollow laughter erupted from her lips before Alessia could stop it. He was joking, right? Looking at his dark, cold eyes, she couldn't honestly tell.
Smirking at him, she gave him a sharp look. "Yeah sure, let me think about that for a moment crazy stranger that just attacked me in the woods. Umm yeah, that's going to be a hard no for me, but thanks, though." Giving him a wide berth, she circled him and walked backwards towards the direction of her camp while keeping an eye on him as he turned and watched her retreat. "I will just get my stuff and I will just leave."
His eyes narrowed and she could see his lips thin into a straight line under his unkempt facial hair. Rolling his shoulders back, he stood straighter, more imposing and threatening.
“Look, I’m regretfully trying to do the decent thing here and offer you shelter from the storm, I would suggest you not fight me on this and…”
“Not fight you?” The incredulity in her voice came out louder than she expected.
By this time, she stopped backing up altogether, she just couldn’t believe the nerve of this man. He made it seem as if she should be thankful for the offer of some random mountain man suggesting she stay in his most likely, rape-cabin. No, thank you.
“Excuse me for not wanting to take you up on your kind offer after you chased me, accosted me, and then kicked me off land I’m still not convinced is yours. So, no thank you.” Satisfied by her own snappish retort, she boldly turned on her heel and headed back to the camp, all the while straining past the thrashing percussion in her ears to hear if he was following her.
"Fine," he growled behind her, causing her to turn back around to face him. He was closer than she expected. Now his narrowed black eyes positively gleamed with mounting irritation. "If you don't want to crash on my couch through the storm, it suits me more than fine. I can just drop you off at the sheriff’s office.”
His words felt like a punch to the gut.
“No!” Stepping back quickly, she tried to control the rising frenzy in her voice. “Look, what’s your problem? I'm leaving just like you wanted. Let me just get my stuff, and I'll go. Just leave me alone, you don't have to worry…"
His eyes grew wide. “Worry,” he repeated, shaking his head as he began to pace slowly in front of her. “Yes, the fuck I do. I have to worry about why the hell is some young woman doing a pathetic job of squatting on my property and I have got to somehow get rid of her before she gets killed.”
“What are you talking about? I…” she didn’t get a chance to argue because the man wasn’t through. His eyes glittered with escalating fury as he took a step forward.
"Oh yeah, you'll most likely get yourself killed of exposure or by some animal attack or you'll do something else dumb. Maybe you will head down the road towards town and by the time you get there, the storm hits. What you don't know is that there is absolutely nothing available or open at night in the Gaulding. Even the sheriff has all his calls routed to his house, leaving the station empty and locked. And if you're dumb enough to try to seek shelter at someone's house, you then stand the extremely high chance of getting shot since no one would think anyone up to any good would be banging on anyone's door during a storm."
Disturbed by his speech, Alessia took a few steps back and nearly shrieked when she bumped into a tree. Shaken and scared, she looked at him and swallowed nervously.
“I can’t go to the police,” she whispered.
After the briefest second, his dark eyes softened into realization, before falling back into a stern mask. Silently, he just regarded her as he thought.
Finally, he spoke. “Fine then, I’ll drive you to the next town over from Gaulding it’s bigger and I think they have some sort of foundation out of their church or something to help homeless people. But either way,” the lethally soft change in his tone scared her. “You’re getting off my land and far from here so that you’re someone else’s problem.”
He wasn’t listening, nor was he going to, she realized. Shaking her head, she began to back up, holding out her hands to ward him off, she tried to inject strength she certainly didn’t have into her tone.
“Just leave me alone,” backing away slowly, she felt as if she was trying to coax herself out of a lion’s den. “I’m just going to get my…”
Alessia recognized the stranger’s internal decision being made the moment he thought of it.
“Fuck it, we do it the hard way,” he growled.
Her hands were still up, warding him away when she screamed out for him to stop. In one second, he was just standing there, yards away from her, and the next, he was rushing her with alarming speed. The ground came at her fast, taking the air out of her lungs as she fought uselessly at his fast-moving hands. Screaming, kicking, clawing, and scratching did nothing. The loud zipping sound stunned her as she watched him grab her now bound wrists and hoist her up onto her feet and then over his shoulder in one quick sequence.
Alessia screamed wildly. “No, let me go! Let me go!”
The sound of her high-pitched screams rippled out in waves around them into the quiet forest. They were useless, she realized, as she struggled to break the thick plastic zip tie around her wrists. Her vo
ice wasn’t being heard by anyone other than the man who was walking with her over his shoulder.
“You know,” he began in an irritated voice. “When I moved out here, I came here to get away from the world and enjoy the peace of solitude.” He made a sound that was a mixture of a grunt and a snarl as he stepped down and up a small ditch in the terrain, tightening his arm over the back of her knees to keep her in place. Alessia tried to use the chance to buck and kick, to somehow dislodge herself, but nothing worked.
Continuing his steady stride, he resumed his speech. “What I did not expect to deal with was finding some homeless chick camping in my backyard.” Stepping easily up onto a fallen tree and back down, the man ignored her grunt of discomfort as he jostled her against his shoulder. “Tell me, how the fuck am I supposed to go about my day knowing I could trip over your idiotic corpse at any moment because you underestimated these woods?”
Taking a deep breath, Alessia tried to renew her struggle in his hold but every step he took with her upside down like this drained her of her energy. Soon she found herself just lying limply over his shoulder, swaying to the gait of his stride. His arm around her knees tightened and she could feel the feathery light sensation of his beard scraping against her thin jeans as his head turned in her direction. There was silence between them as he continued to walk.
After some time, he finally spoke, his gruff voice was a bit softer. "I know you won't believe me, but I have no intention of hurting you, kid."
He was right. She didn’t believe him, his intentions towards her were made very clear the moment he tackled and tied her like an animal.
"Tonight, I will get you out of the rain and tomorrow I will drive you to the town I mentioned with the foundation." He spoke more to himself than to her, his tone was firm and a bit self-congratulating as he confirmed his plans aloud. "Once you're there, you can go to the foundation or the authorities, hell, I don't care where as long as you're far from here."
“And if I go to the authorities and tell about how you accosted and abducted me, what then?” What was she doing? Why was she arguing with this crazy forest hermit? He could do anything to her now, why make him angry? Maybe it was that smug tone of his, she thought, she just wanted to throw a wrench into his perfectly laid out plans he was making with her life.
He let out a deep, dry chuckle.
“Well, I won’t have to worry about that will I?” The cold knot formed in her stomach as she waited for him to continue. “Since you are apparently avoiding the authorities for whatever reason, I could hardly believe you will suddenly change her mind once I drop you off.”
Alessia shut her eyes as she mentally screamed at herself for being so stupid and letting that fact slip to this man. Pressing her lips together, she resisted saying anything more to the man. She was going to save her breath and energy and wait for an opportunity to strike.
The hollow sound of his boots hitting a hard surface jarred her. Wiggling to the side, she was able to see a wooden platform and steps. The cold knot of fear in her stomach intensified as she realized he was carrying her inside the cabin he mentioned. Holding herself stiff as a board, Alessia ignored the comforting warmth of the space and focused on his footsteps slowing down. Grabbing her around her waist and by her legs, he gently flipped her backward. Alessia, bit her lip to keep from crying out as she felt herself tumble backward. Pushing her hair awkwardly away from her face with her bound hands, she blinked a couple of times as she tried to get her bearings. She was sitting on an ugly tan sofa that looked worn but felt surprisingly soft. The sofa was situated in front of a large black metal wood heater with a wide metal grate. Through the slatted grate, Alessia could see tiny orange embers glowing amongst the ashes.
Keeping her bound hands tight to her chest, she glared up at him with boiling hatred. “You can’t just keep me here,” she said evenly through clenched teeth.
Shifting his weight from one leg to the other, he put his hands in his jacket pockets casually and gave her an impatient look. “Were you not listening, my whole goal is to get you off my property, not keep you.”
Outraged, she sat up straighter on the sofa and pointed towards the front door behind him with her bound hands. “Then let me go. Let me just go and get my things and I’ll leave like I said, there is no need to keep…”
Running a hand over his hair in frustration, his black eyes gleamed in warning with his waning patience. "We already went through this," his deep voice had an unmistakable edge to it. "There is a storm coming, no matter how fast you walk, you will not be able to get out of it in time."
Wild panic set in and it was getting harder to hold back the urge to cry. Bouncing in her seat with frustration, she yelled at him. "Why do you care? Just let me go and I will leave, I promise!"
She hated the hysterical pitch in her voice, but she had to get him to see reason.
Somehow, his voice grew even softer in response to her outburst, which only made her want to scream louder. “I gave you your options,” he pointed towards the wall and she could only assume that was the direction of the camp. “You turned them down, so here we are.”
"Why are those the only options?! You don't own all of these lands nor do you own me, so just let me…"
Her yelling died in her throat with a choking sound as he stepped forward with one heavy stomp of his boot and a look of black ice. He was done arguing with her.
Alessia pressed herself as flat as she could into the cushions of the sofa as she stared up at the bearded man looming over her at his full height. She wasn’t sure when, but at some point, his long thick brown hair came loose from whatever tie that held it back and it fell thickly around his face, giving him a somehow even more wild look.
Jabbing his finger in midair towards her, he spoke so deeply she could feel it rattle her chest. “Those are the options when idiots run into the woods expecting to survive through an Oregon winter in a cheap plastic tent instead of going to a city shelter like a normal person.”
His words found their mark and the last wall of defense inside of her crumbled. It was the only thing keeping her together up until this point. The last bastion of willpower that pushed her through her doubts of leaving her home and coming out here. It was what kept her from turning the car around when she crossed the state line. It was all she had left inside of her.
Alessia wasn’t sure if the stranger could see the break in her or if maybe his eyes widened only due to the tears falling down her face. She didn’t know nor did she care anymore.
"Shelters are not an option," even her voice felt drained and hollow now. "Unless, of course, you don't mind your things being stolen or you don't care if you're nearly assaulted by other people staying there. And before you ask," she stared off at the last glowing ember through the wood stove's grate. "Yes, I tried telling the staff. Hell, I tried to sleep next to the night attendant but they made it real clear that I was a nuisance to them and that it was most likely my fault I was even there in the first place." Tears clouded her vision and she swiped at them with her bound hands. "How is it my fault?" She whispered, looking back up at him, his hard expression unreadable. "Should I have stayed? Should I have stayed when my mother's boyfriend tried to walk in on me every time I took a shower or when he whispered, ‘I’m going to fuck you.’ She gave a dry laugh, missing the man’s fists tighten at his side. “No, I apologize, he actually said ‘I can’t wait to fuck you in that pretty little ass of yours, I bet no one has fucked you there before’.”
“Fuck,” the stranger pulled at the hair of his beard in agitation.
“So, you know what?” She continued, the tightening of her throat made her voice rise in pitch as the battle to resist breaking down and crying was lost. “I have a better idea, how about you just kill me now and get it over with because I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
Turning away, she didn’t want to see his expression at her confession. The words shocked her, even as she said them, but sadly they were the truth. Alessia couldn’t
stop the overwhelming tide of emotions as she cried into the arm of the sofa. She didn’t want to do this anymore. It was too hard and she was just so tired.
~*~
Eventually, the crying stopped. Looking over at her from where he stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, Jax could see how still she had become. Silently, he moved from his open kitchen to the living room area and stopped just behind the couch. Still half leaning against the arm of the sofa, the girl slept.
Her shocking words still echoed in the one-room cabin.
Scrubbing both hands over his face, Jax suppressed a groan as he looked up to the rafters while his mind worked. How in the hell did he even get to this point? He should have just called Garrett, Gaulding’s one and only sheriff and let him take care of it. Turning back to the kitchen, Jax grabbed his kettle and filled it with water as he recalled the frightened, stark expression on her face when he mentioned the authorities earlier. Clicking on the gas pilot, he lit the burner with a lighter and watched the blue flames envelop the bottom of the kettle. Anger as bright and hot as the flames in front of him, struck to life inside of him as her words replayed itself in his mind.
At All Cost: A Mountain Man Romance Page 3