Her heart pounded inside her chest.
“You want to see what we’ve got?” Damon asked, entering the room. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Two brothers, and no woman here at all.”
“No woman here,” Damon said.
From the crack in the door, she noticed his gaze kept looking around, and she wondered if he was looking for her. There was a gun trained on him. She stayed perfectly still even as the man stood in front of the closet. She closed her eyes, knowing that if they caught her, they’d hurt her and Damon would die trying to save her.
“I bet you fuck each other to pass the time. No woman, living in the middle of nowhere, it takes all sorts to deal with those urges.”
Damon didn’t say a thing. He simply shrugged.
“Come on, I’m bored, and I’m hungry.”
They left the bedroom, and she waited several minutes to make sure they weren’t coming back. She didn’t know why they were waiting, only that they were. Opening the closet, she moved toward the window, easing it open. Caleb had shown her an escape route in case of any danger. Holding on to the frame, she eased out, shuffling toward the end of the raised window ledge. At the time, she’d moaned to Caleb about the practice. She hated heights, and would do whatever it took to avoid them. The raised bungalow wasn’t too high, but high enough. When she next saw Caleb, she was going to hug, kiss, and tell him exactly how sorry she was. The moment her feet touched ground, she wanted to kiss it, but didn’t waste any more time. Moving toward the forest where she saw Caleb leave, she ran, trying desperately to follow the tracks. She didn’t have much choice but to pull out her flashlight. She only hoped none of the men would see her and that she was far enough away from the house.
****
Caleb didn’t like the bad feeling he was getting. After loading up his truck, he glanced around the parking lot, seeing that it was surprisingly quiet. Taking the snowmobile back to the bay, he saw Rich, one of the guys that helped out at the guide parties.
“You okay, Rich?” Caleb asked.
Rich looked up from typing on his cell phone. “Yeah, yeah, surprised to see you out so late. We’ve got a bad storm heading our way.”
“I heard. I was just grabbing a few supplies.”
“Could you send our apologies to Opal? There’s a gift basket at the office, complete with women’s supplies, cards, and also a couple of coupons. I can’t believe the guys forgot to pick her up.”
She couldn’t afford the excursion flight, but he couldn’t understand how they forgot the one who stayed behind.
“Damon found her, so no worries at all. She’s perfectly fine.” He looked around again, wondering why he felt uneasy. “I wanted to ask, do you have another guide tour or something wandering through the forest?”
Rich snorted. “Not since Opal’s one. We’ve had to cancel the last three tours due to bad weather. Even though a bunch of people want to get back to nature and see what they’re missing, we have to do everything by the book, and if we can’t guarantee safety, we can’t allow it to happen.”
“Huh,” Caleb said. He didn’t like that. “Has there been any word on anyone being up near my end of the forest?”
Rich rubbed at his chin. “No. We’ve had a couple of tourists coming around, but that’s not unusual. They’ve asked a bit about your land. We’ve not said anything about anything, though. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to be heading back.” He said his goodbyes and rushed toward his vehicle. No one talked about his land, and he didn’t like the bad feeling he was having either.
Those tracks he found were fresh, as in a couple of hours fresh. Some person was wandering around on his land, and if it wasn’t someone from the tours, then he wanted to know who the fuck it was.
Putting his foot to the floor, he rushed out of town, and was already on his way home. The time seemed to stand still for him. He’d been gone way too long, and he tried to think of all the reasons why someone would want to step foot onto his barren land, or even why they were asking about it. They had no gold or mining of interest. Just their little cabin and thousands of acres of nature.
Nothing came up, and that fucking pissed him off. Slamming his hand against the steering wheel, he was ready to kill.
Damon and Opal were at home all alone. They were the only two people who mattered to him. Damon could take care of himself, but he also wasn’t as good when it came to shooting shit as he was. He didn’t care about hurting someone and asking questions later. Damon needed a good reason to hurt someone. This was just one of the many reasons that made them different.
The drive felt longer than normal and he was trying to hold his shit together. All the time he couldn’t help but think that Opal and Damon were in danger. The past three weeks had been pure heaven. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been so happy. Having Opal in his arms was the dream he always wanted.
He’d give anything to share his life with that woman.
Loving her came naturally to him. Seeing her smile was a blessing, and he couldn’t lose her.
“You don’t know anything is wrong. It could all be fine, and you’re worrying for nothing.”
His father had told him to always trust his instincts, that when he needed them most, they’d help him survive.