“Maybe we can even set a date,” he uttered.
Iahmedas I walked away, already climbing the stairs to the solitude of the loft. We’d only been locked up together for four days, was it normal that it felt like four lifetimes already? Suddenly, hiking to the nearest trapper’s cabin in the woods sounded half-inviting. I smirked to myself, imagining throwing my middle finger in the air and walking off into the sunset just for the adventure.
I’d survive about three and a half minutes before falling to my death in a crevice before wolves descended on my remains.You’d have to pay me to leave this house,I realized. I’d need to be driven out before I willingly walked off down the driveway like he’d done this morning. I thought back on the trek here. The chalet to where we’d left the SUV was a mile, maybe more as it meandered through the brush and switchbacks.
I reached the master bedroom, turning off the hot water in the master bath that the house had turned on automatically a few minutes ago. Then, I settled into an overstuffed leather chair that perched in the corner and overlooked the glacier-tipped mountains beyond. The jagged granite peaks so unforgiving, they left me feeling on edge. This place was a weird reminder that it was every man or woman for himself and herself when it came down to all of this savage nature. It’d thrilled me on the way in, but now that it was our prison, every crag and peak was ominous.
I plucked my phone off of the nightstand and swiped through the messages. Empty. If I was home there would be no less than a dozen messages from Bradley by now. He was probably worried about me already.
I’d have to work to explain this one, and then listen to him tell me about the dangers of leaving the state without telling anyone.
My app finally crashed after it couldn’t connect to the internet. “If only the pamphlet would have mentionedArctic Hellhole.”
I would wither and die up here if the only person I had left to talk to was Tav from behind his computer screen.
I remembered how charming he was the first night we’d met. And then our first date a few nights later when we’d gone for a barbecue and danced to cheesy pop music from the 1980s. Tav sang Billy Joel in my ear when his fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt and his fingertips caressed my skin for the first time.
He’d had me from that moment. That tiny gesture had cemented his hold on my heart.
I remembered the last time I’d seen Steph. I’d driven into the city for her latest art gallery opening. We’d caught up after months of only phone conversations, she’d asked how I was handling my mother’s passing, and I’d beamed with manufactured pride that accidents happened—Tav and I were talking about getting married. She’d frowned, then shook her head.
“Don’t do it,” she said.
“Don’t what? Marry Tav?”
“He gives me the creeps, Frey. I don’t know why, but trust me when I say there’s something off about him.”
“Tav and I are great. I don’t know what I would do without him.”
She watched me calmly before looking away. “He just gives me a sense, Frey. I’m never wrong about men like that.”
Men like that.
I still rolled her words around in my mind all these months later. I’d never worked up the bravery to ask her, but now when we talked it always sat on the tip of my tongue. That same night she’d told me to watch out for men like Tav at her opening, I’d driven all the way home and was shocked to find Tav sitting in the dark of our bungalow after midnight.
He’d seemed on edge, worried about where I was and with who.
When I’d told him Steph’s opening, it’d seemed to make matters worse, not better.
“You should have told me you were going into the city, I would have taken the night off and met you there.”
“I needed girl time.”
“What does that mean, exactly? She was working, wasn’t she?”
“Sure, but we talk and catch up. It’s not the same seeing her face only over a screen.”
“Well, what’s to catch up on? Who she’s dating and hating?”
“No.” Sort of.
“Steph doesn’t like me.” Tav grouched.
Also true.
“Sure she does,” I lied.
“She shoots daggers at me every time we’re in the same room together.”
