Wasn’t that a metaphor for life?You didn’t walk outside and get hit by a car by coincidence.You didn’t get impaled walking below a construction site by the same measure.And you didn’t have an airplane fall on top of your home by a roll of the dice.
Life was fragile as hell.Once this ordeal was over and she was safe, she intended to start living again.Really living.No more hiding behind a computer screen to interact with people.She realized how addicted she’d become to screen time after shutting down her site.She’d gone cold turkey and had gone through withdrawal.The need to check her phone or her laptop every few seconds had reminded her just how far gone she’d been.
The desire had waned over time.Time, it turned out, healed some wounds.Not all, like the saying went.She’d never healed from giving up her son for adoption.She’d never healed from some of the worst experiences in foster care.And she knew on instinct that she would never heal from the way she felt about Hudson.
Cassie froze as her campsite came into view.Someone’s been here.She moved behind a tree trunk in case the person or predator was still around.It could have been Marcus.He might have come upon her campsite while checking the area for the mountain lion.He could have messed with her stuff since the tent was on its side and the zipper was open.
Her bigger fear was that she’d been found by Jarek or one of his cronies.The threats had been clear.If she ever left him, she would be found and punished.He would go to the ends of the earth to find her.Panic gripped her that Jarek might have found out about her son.It would stand to reason that Jarek would then focus on this area.He had his own airplane and could fly over the area until he spotted something worth checking out.
She looked up, assessing whether or not it would be feasible to see her campsite from the sky.
No.The canopy was too thick for anyone to get a good enough look from above, and even if it wasn’t, there was no way to tell the tent belonged to her.
This area had to be safe from Jarek, right?
A couple of weeks could be enough time to rule out other places, especially if he knew her son’s location.Anyone could draw a map around the kid’s house and then make a big circle.
But she was just guessing and could be totally off base.
The mountain lion couldn’t have unzipped her tent, so that was definitely human intervention.Marcus made the most sense.He’d left her tent mostly undisturbed.Winds could have pulled up one of the stakes.She wasn’t exactly an expert.Camping had never been her thing.It was a big part of the reason she’d chosen to travel this way.Jarek would check motels, not campsites.Though he had to assume she was using a fake name at this point, or that she was tucked away at a friend’s house.
Friend?That was a joke.He’d isolated her from others, which had been easy to do since she didn’t trust people.
From behind, she heard heavy footsteps.
Whirling around, she saw Hudson jogging toward her.
“You have to leave the area,” he said to her.
“I know.”But she was curious as to why he thought that.
“I got a call from Marcus saying there’s someone in town showing a picture of someone who looks like you and saying you’re missing and possibly in danger.”
Wind swept through the leaves overhead as panic spread like a virus.There was no time to worry about the campsite.Flight instincts kicked in.She needed to get as far away from here as she could.
“Let’s go,” Hudson said, ushering her back through the woods toward his vehicle.
They were making a lot of noise.Too much.If Jarek or one of his thugs was in the area, this would be all over.She tightened her hold on the rifle.She would be ready for whatever happened next.No way could she go back to the life she’d been forced to live with Jarek.Absolutely not.
By the time they reached the truck, she was out of breath and her side was cramping.
“We can’t go back to your house,” she said once she was back in the passenger seat and belted in.
“Why not?”
“He might be out here and could follow us.”
“Who is he?”
Cassie exhaled a sharp breath.“He’s the reason I didn’t want to involve you in the first place.”
“You should give me more credit than that,” Hudson said.“I can hold my own with anyone.You can trust that.”
“He’s ruthless and has ties to people who could do a lot of damage.”At this point, she had no choice but to tell Hudson a little.Give him enough information to scare him off.
“I’m still not afraid.”
“You should be, Hudson.I got mixed up with the wrong person, and I’ll most likely pay for that mistake for years to come, if not forever.But you have a chance to walk away.Right now.You can drive me out of the area and drop me off.You don’t have to look back or risk your life for me, and I don’t want you to.Because it won’t end well, and I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you because of me.”