“It’s official. I’m going to die out here. I didn’t even get to plant a kiss on my favorite, sassy, blonde. Even after all that work I had to do with my tongue to get this tape off my mouth.”
Thump, thump, thump.
Someone’s voice floats through my ears, a voice with a thick Scottish accent.
“Lexi definitely would’ve woken up and saved me by now.”
Thump, thump, thump.
“If that rat bastard had tossed Lee off the cliff, I bet you’d be awake by now.”
Lee.
I open my eyes, squinting into the brightness. I’m on the forest floor. Twigs dig into my ribcage as damp leaves coat my face. The smell of pine and mud coats my nostrils.
“About bloody time! Capri, isn’t it? I’m your husband’s newest best friend, and I’m sure he’d be quite sad to know that you left me to wither away and die while you napped away so peacefully.”
My head pounds painfully, and my throat feels like sandpaper when I try to swallow. I finally pull myself to a seated position to take in my surroundings. The man with the weird shoes is sitting next to me.
“Lochlan?” I rasp out, getting shakily to my feet.
The axe taped to his hands thumps against the ground again. Well, that explains the strange hammering noise in my head.
I kneel beside him and carefully pull the mask off his face. “What happened to you?” I ask, removing the duct tape from his hands as gently as I possibly can. He winces as it tears the skin on his hands, but grins up at me once the axe falls from his grip.
He rubs his wrists. “Thanks for that. It’s hard to wake someone when you have an axe taped to your hands. I was too scared to yell and bring the Axeman down to you,” he explains in a rush. “That crazy Axemanthought it’d be a real fun joke to dress me up as him and have Lex throw me off the ledge. She probably thinks she killed me.” His voice cracks with emotion, and I can’t help but be grateful that Lexi had him on her team during this.
“What about Lee? What happened to him? I ask, my own voice heavy with fear.
Lochlan sighs. “The last I saw of him, he was alive. Injured, but alive. The Axeman ambushed me and grabbed me from behind. I tried to fight him, but he told me that if I wanted to save Lex and Lee, I had to play dead. Some twisted bugger, that one.”
Lochlan looks up at me, surprising me with a fiendish grin. “But I guess we’ll show them, won’t we, lass. Now help me up so we can take this axe and finish the job. I call dibs on the fancy author.”
He tries to stand and groans in pain.
“Wait!” I order. “Now I don’t know what the hell happened to you guys, but I have people I need to protect, too. Before we can do any of that, I need to make sure you’re okay.” My voice rises with hysterics as I look him over. “In case you didn’t realize, you just fell from a freaking cliff, Lochlan! You could have internal injuries. You could be paralyzed!”
Lochlan scoffs, getting to his feet. “Not paralyzed, obviously. My ribs hurt a bit, but that bouncy mat thing broke my fall.” He points to the spot where he fell, and I see the black nylon trampoline buried in the earth.
Another one of Pierce’s mind games. I can’t imagine what Lexi must be feeling right now. She may act all hardcore, but that girl loves fiercely. I know she’d never be able to live with killing someone she cared about.
Lochlan faces me, placing his hands on his hips in such a Lexi way. “I’m going after them with or without you, but Lee would kill me, for real this time, if I left you behind.” His smile is adorably magnetic.
I gaze up at this man, who is basically a stranger, and find myself smiling back.
Can I trust him? What would Lee do?
There’s something about Lochlan that calls to me, begging me to let my guard down. I may not know this guy, but something tugs at me, urging me to trust him.
“Okay, I’m in. But there’s something else I need to do first,” I agree, before pulling out the map I found in my daughter’s tent. “Do you know what any of this means?”
Lochlan takes the map from me and gently opens it. Analyzing it in full. “That’s gotta be the bunker,” he says, pointing to the circle with the B written in it.
Bunker? What bunker?
It’s as if Lochlan reads my mind because seconds later, he explains how they found a bunker in the woods filled with clothing, food, water, and most importantly, weapons.
“Well, that’s convenient,” I spit out harsher than I mean to. “Sorry, I’m just a little annoyed that you guys got food and weapons and all I got was Josh and this drab outfit.” I gesture to the black ensemble and laugh when I notice Lochlan is wearing the exact same thing.
