Shared & Protected

by J P Books

  I pull out my phone for a quick map check and notice there’s a trail through the trees that looks a little more sheltered and will still get me back to my car…eventually.

  Now that it’s raining in earnest, I figure following the trail through the trees is definitely my safest way forward. It’s a clean-cut trail, well-marked and I shouldn’t have any trouble.

  And I don’t until I get to a fork in the trail that isn’t so clearly marked and I can’t pull my map back up on my phone. I can’t remember which direction to take, but one trail looks more well-traveled than the other, so I opt for that one.

  After another half hour though, I’m starting to wonder if I took the right trail. It’s no longer super easy to follow, and I find myself guessing at directions way more often than I’m comfortable with.

  I keep wiping the rain out of my face, and it’s starting to look and sound a lot more Blair Witch around here. Every time a branch or leaf tickles me, or a raindrop slides down my back, I twitch and jump and swipe madly at it. Every crackle and crunch of twigs around me I’m sure is a bear on my trail.

  I stop and take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

  Get it together Olivia, I tell myself. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ve gone on hikes through woods like this millions of times, this is just a bit more wet than usual. I still have no phone signal, but I take a good look around me to try to figure out if I should try to backtrack or keep forging ahead.

  As I squint, I think I can see a light through the trees. Maybe I’ve come farther than I thought, and I’m close to the parking lot!

  Excited, I head towards the light, following what seems to be like a trail.

  Despite my best efforts as calming self-talk I’m starting to panic and hurrying towards that light. I cannot wait to get back to my car!

  As I get closer to the light though, I realize it isn’t cars or a parking lot. It’s a little cabin in the woods.

  As if that’s not creepy.

  Once again, I look around trying to get my bearings. I check my phone again – no signal and my battery is dying. The rain is showing no signs of slowing down and I have no idea where I am.

  I can either keep wandering the woods until something eats me, or I can take my chances with whoever lives in that cabin.

  I head towards the cabin, shivering from nerves as much as the cold.

  CHAPTER 5

  Jaxon

  Nathan’s in the kitchen cooking and I’m on the couch in front of the TV when we hear a knock at the door. It’s so unexpected that we both just look at each other silently for a minute, neither of us moving.

  “Did you hear that?” Nathan asks as if thinking he had imagined it.

  “Yeah,” I nod slowly. “Someone’s at the door.”

  We just keep staring at each other. The absolute absurdity of someone knocking on the door of our hidden cabin in the woods, in the middle of a storm no less, is so unfathomable that we both forget how to react like humans.

  Until we realize at the same second that some poor human is outside in the woods in the middle of a storm. I jump up of the couch like an elephant at the exact same time Nathan’s chef’s knife clatters to the counter and we race to the door.

  My heart is racing too. This level of excitement is unheard of in our lonely work, so we’re slightly blowing it out of proportion.

  We get to the door at roughly the same time and look at each other again. I’m not sure what we’re expecting but we’re treating this like Ed McMahon or possibly Jason Vorhees was on the other side of the door.

  Shaking my head like the dummy I feel like, I reach for the handle and open the door. We both look out into the rain.

  Standing on our doorstep is a waterlogged little backpacker, shivering in her jean shorts.

  Nathan is the first to react. “Holy shit, girl, come inside out of the rain!” he throws the door wide open.

  She peers inside hesitantly, obviously reluctant to follow two strange men into a strange cabin in the woods. She glances over her shoulder as if trying to decide whether or not to take her chances with the weather, and I look more closely at her.

  “Olivia?” I ask, sure now that this wet, lost hiker is none other than the hot chick I met at the bar last night.

  Her head jerks up and she meets my eyes, recognition, and relief showing on her face as she realizes who I am.

  “Jaxon!” she yelps. “Oh my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see the face of an almost stranger before in my life!”

  Not really sure how to take that, I step back and gesture her inside. Obviously feeling more comfortable now, she follows me in. I look over at Nathan whose eyes are about to bulge out of his head. I frown at him and try to convey through telepathy not to make a scene.

  “What the heck are you doing out there?” I ask as I head towards the bathroom to grab her a towel. She takes it gratefully and starts to mop her face and hair.

  “Oh, thanks so much,” she sighs. “I was out hiking – remember I told you I was going to do the Elk Falls Trail? Anyways, everything was fine until I got to the lookout and the sky cracked open, dumping buckets all over the place. I was trying to follow a trail through the trees but my maps app lost the signal and I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere…” she shrugs and holds out her arms as if to say, ‘and here I am.’

  I nod and try to ignore Nathan’s grin. Now that she says it, I do remember her telling me that she was going to hike by Elk Falls, and I don’t know why I didn’t consider how close that is to our cabin last night.

  “Yeah, there used to be a trail through the woods, but it hasn’t been kept up in years. I guess nobody told Google,” I shrug, not quite sure what to say now.

  Nathan clears his throat. Loudly.

  “Ah,” I rub my hands through my hair. It’s a habit that tends to show up when I don’t know what to do with myself. “This is Nathan,” I nod my head towards him. “Nathan, this is Olivia. We met at the pub last night.”

  “So this is the girl you were telling me about,” Nathan says happily. I wince. God damn Nathan and his big bloody mouth.

  I don’t say anything, and Olivia gives me a shy smile.

  “Well, I’m glad you found our little cabin. It’s not much, but it’s drier than the trees. I’ll put the water on – do you like tea?”

  Olivia nods at him and says, “Tea sounds like heaven right now, thank you so much.”

  I’m just standing around, not quite sure what to do now. A particularly loud boom of thunder shakes the walls of the cabin and Olivia jumps a little. Even with the towel, she’s soaking wet.

  “Um…do you want some dry clothes?” I ask.

  She looks me up and down, and then looks at herself and bursts out laughing. It’s such an unfamiliar sound in this place that I’m totally caught off guard. It doesn’t take me long to catch on to her hilarity though – she would absolutely swim in my clothes. I look helplessly at Nathan. “Maybe something of Nathan’s,” I add, chuckling.

  Nathan joins in the laughter and heads to his room to grab some clothes.

  “You’re totally welcome to stay here and wait out the rain. I’d offer to bring you back into town now, but the road up here washes out the moment it starts to rain. We can bring you back when it dries out a little which, unfortunately, won’t be before tomorrow morning.” Not to be a total creep, but I’m kind of glad the road washes out and I get another chance to hang out with Olivia. I feel kind of sorry for her though – this must be awkward as hell for her.

  “Thanks,” she says. “I’m sorry for barging in on you guys like this and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I feel so stupid for getting lost – I should’ve known better than to try to take a trail I wasn’t certain of.”

  Nathan is back and he hands her a pile of clothes and another dry towel. “Don’t sweat it,” he says easily. “I’ve spent so much time in these woods I think I’ve peed on at least 90% of the trees, b
ut I’d probably get lost out in a storm like this too.”

  He smiles at her and I can’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance. Is he flirting? I’m more annoyed at myself than him, though. I can’t blame the guy for being charming, especially when I’m doing such a poor job myself.

  “If you’d like to take a shower, the bathroom’s that way,” he points to our bathroom.

  “Thanks, that’d be really nice,” she answers but doesn’t move. She’s hesitating to ask something. “I’m sorry to be a pain, but is there any chance you guys have a phone? I’m not getting any reception out here and I really should call Sarah back at the hotel and let her know what’s going on.”

  A lightbulb goes off in my head. Of course – her friend. I wonder why she’s not here?

  “The reception sucks up here all the time, not just when it’s raining,” I say and walk over to the side table to grab our satellite phone. “Take this. It’s a satellite phone. You can call your friend and tell her you’re fine. Feel free to use my room, if you want.” I point to the door that’s mine, glad we haven’t been here long enough to worry about having underwear lying all over.

  “Thanks.” She heads to my room and closes the door, not quite all the way.

  I look at Nathan. He looks at me. He’s got that shit-eating grin back.

  “Dude!” he whispers and punches my arm. “She’s cute!”

  I give him a look that means shut up but doesn’t seem to phase him.

  “Yeah, she is,” I agree. “What are we going to do with her?” I ask, feeling like an idiot as soon as it’s out of my mouth.

  “I know what I’d like to do with her,” Nathan says, grinning.

  I punch his arm, much harder than he hit me. “Don’t be a dick,” I say.

  “Alright, alright,” he says, rubbing his arm, “I was just joking. You saw her first, I know.”

  That’s not what I meant, but I don’t argue with him, glad that he feels that way.

  “I’d be just as happy to watch,” he says, grinning out of the corner of his mouth.

  Before I have a chance to react to that, Olivia walks back in the room and hands the phone back to me.

  “Thank you,” she says. “Sarah’s jealous that I get to spend the night with two hot mountain men and she’s still feeling like death after last night.”

  I’m starting to feel like there’s just too many innuendos for me to handle. I don’t know how to react to any of these comments, so I just ignore the “watching” and the “hot men” and focus in on the safety zone of Sarah.

  “I was going to ask what happened to your friend. Wasn’t she supposed to come hiking with you?”

  “Yeah, she was, but you saw her last night. She looked even worse this morning! There was no way she was going to make it to the car, let alone up the mountain.”

  I nod in understanding. “She was pretty rough last night,” I agree.

  “Well don’t you worry, we – two hot mountain men – will take good care of you,” Nathan butts in. “You must be starving!”

  As if my stomach thought he was talking directly to it, a loud rumble cut off Olivia’s reply.

  Laughing, she says, “I am! I have trail food, though, you don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Nonsense!” Nathan asserts. “You go have yourself a nice warm shower and then get dry. Jaxon and I were planning on having burgers for dinner…do you eat meat?” he asks with a cocky grin and wiggle of his eyebrow.

  To my surprise and annoyance, she returns the smile with just as much attitude. “I eat meat whenever I have the opportunity,” she answers, giving him a look that speaks louder than her words. God damn Nathan and his bloody flirty ways. I thought he was going to back off.

  And then she looks over at me. And she gives me the same look. I can feel all the blood in my body heat up as she turns and heads into the bathroom for her shower.

  CHAPTER 6

  Nathan

  I rummage around the kitchen whistling as I hear the taps turn on in the bathroom. A fleeting image of a naked Olivia crosses my mind and I feel my dick twitch in honor of her sexiness.

  I glance over at Jaxon, whose eyes are glued to the bathroom door. The image in my head shifts and I see Jaxon’s huge naked body join her in the shower. My cock really jumps at that idea, and I reach down to readjust myself.

  “You could join her, you know,” I say casually. I find him hard to read sometimes. I know he’s into her – he’s gone even more cave-man than usual. But I don’t know if he plans to do anything about it.

  “Idiot. I can’t just barge into a shower with a woman who’s stranded here against her will,” he answers gruffly. I laugh.

  “I don’t think she minds,” I answer. “Did you see the look she gave me when I asked if she eats meat? Did you see the look she gave you?”

  I wonder what she is thinking. I hardly know the girl, but she definitely gave Jaxon and me a look that shouted ‘sex me up.’ I, for one, wouldn’t mind finally having a chance to see Jaxon in all his glory, but I don’t know if he’d be into sharing his little love object with me.

  Or even getting naked with me around. I’ve spent the past 5 years imagining what his O face looks like but I have a suspicion the thought of sex involving another man has never crossed his mind before.

  As I throw the burgers on the grill and start slicing tomatoes I wonder if Olivia would be the person to coax him out of his big, bear-like shell.

  The sizzle and smell fill the kitchen and when Olivia walks in I can’t stop my jaw dropping to the floor.

  She’s wearing my grey sweatpants and a white tank top, and her hair is still dripping wet, leaving wet, see-through drip lines across her shirt. I’ve never seen a woman look hotter than she does right now.

  “Damn woman, you can keep those clothes forever you look so much better in them than I ever do,” I wink at her.

  She smiles back, playfully. “I honestly can’t thank you enough. I didn’t realize how cold and icky I felt in my rain wet clothes until I peeled them off and got in the shower. I’ve never felt such soft inside of sweatpants, by the way. These are incredible!”

  “Mmm…” she continues, taking a deep breath. “It smells amazing in here! I didn’t realize how hungry I was either, apparently!” She tip-toes over to the grill to take a smell. She is unbelievably cute.

  At first, I wanted a part of the action mainly because, well, a hot chick is involved and also because I’m dying to see Jaxon let himself loose. But she’s quickly becoming more than just a hot chick…I might be crushing on her.

  Which is not good. I look over at Jaxon, whose face is set in an unreadable stare. I resolve to cool it with the flirting. I know he’s into her and I shouldn’t be messing up his chances.

  “Go sit down,” I motion towards the bar chair next to where Jaxon’s sitting. “Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes. Want a beer?”

  “That sounds fantastic, thank you! I don’t know how I’m going to repay you guys, you’re saving my life and making it so lovely in the process!”

  She sits down next to Jaxon and flashes a gorgeous, white smile at him. I see her put a hand on his leg as she thanks us again and I get a shiver imagining what her touch feels like. And what his leg feels like to touch.

  Jaxon just nods. Big boy has got to up his game! As much as she’s flirted with me, she’s clearly into him.

  I put the burgers down on the bar with a flourish and the three of us dig in. For a few minutes at least, all my thoughts are dedicated to the purely carnal pleasure of hot meat in my mouth…the burgers, that is.

  After dinner, Olivia offers to clean up. “The cook never cleans in my house, and I can’t let you do it in your own house while I’m around either,” she says.

  Jaxon hauls himself off his bar stool and sets out to help. I smile to myself, glad that he’s finally taking some kind of initiative and I head into the living room to sit on the couch where I can watch them co
vertly.

  I can’t quite hear what they’re saying, but she can’t stop touching him. A hip bump here, a casual resting of her hand on his arm there. Chick’s diggin’ him, there is no doubt.

  He looks good in the kitchen. He makes everything else look small, like a doll’s house, but it’s cute watching them together.

  It doesn’t take them long to clean up the dishes and they make their way into the living room after 10 minutes or so.

  “You guys want to watch a movie?” I ask, patting the cushion beside me.

  “Sure!” Olivia says happily and plops herself down, looking up at Jaxon and waiting for him to take the space beside her.

  He does, and she ends up rolling into him as his weight shifts her out of balance. Laughing, she doesn’t attempt to move. After a really long second, Jaxon figures it out and puts his arm around her.

  Good man. I try not to smile as I see her snuggle in, clearly pleased.

  I walk over to my collection of DVDs that I always bring with me. With all the hard work every day, I rarely have the energy to watch the movies but I like to have more options to entertain myself than just daydreaming about Jaxon. I wonder which DVD to pick up when I notice Cabin in the Woods. I smirk. What else would be more appropriate?

  “Sorry, I couldn’t help,” I joke, showing them the DVD cover.

  “I love that movie!” Olivia surprises me. “Well, I’ve only seen it once, but Joss Whedon produces it and I love anything he’s ever done, so…”

  I raise my eyebrows at her and then look at Jaxon for his consent. I know he doesn’t like horror movies but I can’t imagine him backing down now. He shrugs and I switch on the DVD player.

  I’m starting to worry a little about my film choices. I actually haven’t seen it myself, and I’m hoping it isn’t too scary. To be honest, I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to movies that I can imagine happening in real life. Being in a cabin in the woods right now might not be the best time to watch this movie, but I can’t exactly back down either.