Beverly Long - Hunted

“Good old Walnut Street,” she said. “I guess that’s where we both learned to climb trees.”

It was nice of her not to mention that his mom had been hired help. “I think we need to get out of this tree.”

* * *

SHE FELT HIM SHIFT, just enough to look past her. She didn’t know how he could see much, unless his night vision was considerably better than hers.

She wished she could have seen more of his face. Ethan Moore. He’d been one of her brother’s best friends. And Mack still talked about him, spoke as though they kept in contact even though Mack’s work took him everywhere.

She knew he’d be having a birthday soon. He’d turn thirty-eight next week, just two days after she turned thirty. She could still remember the year that her dad had invited Ethan over and they’d gathered around the kitchen table to share a cake. She’d been nine, he’d been seventeen.

And she’d been secretly in love with him.

And he’d pretty much ignored her every time she was in the room with him.

God, that was so long ago. Now she was here in a tree scared for her life, and her teenage crush had come to save her.

Not exactly the way she’d fantasized she’d end up in his arms.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “I’m going to go first. I’ll guide you on where to place your feet. Branch by branch, we’ll work our way down. Okay?”

She nodded. It sounded easy enough. Until she had to grab the first branch. Damn, her shoulder felt as if a ball of fire had landed there. While Ethan’s body had shielded her from the brunt of the fall, her shoulder had connected with something. She gritted her teeth, determined not to complain.

He wrapped his strong hand around her right calf and she could feel his heat through her jeans. He gently tugged, guiding her to the next branch. It was slow going and by the time they reached the ground, she was clammy and terribly afraid that she might vomit after all.

There was a midsize dog with dark fur at the bottom, and it circled her.

“Don’t worry about Molly,” Ethan said. “She found you.”

“Thank you,” she said to the mutt, reaching out her good arm. The dog’s fur was thick and warm and it made her realize how cold she was in her shirt, jeans and lightweight denim jacket.

Molly evidently got excited with the attention and jumped up. Both paws hit Chandler squarely on her bad shoulder with enough force to send pain skyrocketing through her arm. “No,” she cried weakly.

“Molly.” Ethan’s voice cut through the quiet night.

Chandler managed to turn the other direction before she bent at the waist and vomited.

When she was done, she realized that Ethan was standing right next to her, his hand on her back. She straightened and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I hurt my shoulder and Molly caught it just right.”

He didn’t say anything for a minute. When he did, his voice was calm. “Okay. We need to get you inside as quickly as we can.”

She could hear the sound of a zipper. Then felt something warm around her shoulders.

“I can’t take your coat,” she said. “I have one.”

“You have a jacket,” he said. “It doesn’t even look as if it’s lined. Now put your good arm through,” he instructed. “Keep your other arm tucked at your side.”

She did as he told her and in the dark, with just a little moonlight to guide their actions, he gently bundled her up. She felt warm and safe, and the coat had a comforting smell of musk and man.

“I feel bad about taking your coat,” she said. It was cold and all Ethan had on was a long-sleeved shirt.

“It’s fine,” he said, dismissing her concerns. “Does Mack know you’re here?”

“No. I didn’t want to bother him. I got a text from him a couple weeks ago that he was going out of the country for the next few months. Working.” Saving the world. That’s what Mack did.

“So your dad knows that you’re here?”

She hesitated before deciding to tell the truth. “No, not exactly.”

“You’re not in any trouble, are you?” he asked, perhaps reading into the hesitation.

Chandler knew she was definitely in trouble. Someone had run her off the road. But it was possible that she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She certainly couldn’t go around making crazy accusations against her stepmother. Not until she had more proof.

“You mean other than my car being in a tree?” she asked, forcing a light note into her voice.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Not that I know of.”

“Okay, good. I guess what I really want to know,” he said, “is how the hell your car ended up in the tree.”

She wanted to spew out the whole terrible story. But there was no way. If she told him that she’d been purposefully run off the road and that someone had circled back to verify that she was dead, any reasonable person would expect that she’d be clamoring to get the police involved. She wasn’t ready to do that. Certainly wasn’t ready to say “someone tried to kill me.”

She wasn’t ready to face that herself. Much less tell Ethan.

“I must have been going too fast. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven these roads. I lost control, hit the side of the mountain and the next thing I knew, I was headed over the side.”

“Scary,” he said, his voice soft.

He had no idea. She remembered the headlights in her rearview mirror and the impact of the car against her back bumper, and shivered. “Yes. I think I flipped over in the air because my backpack and purse got thrown somewhere else in the car. I landed right side up, fortunately. The air bag inflated. I was just taking stock of my situation when you came along.”

“We’re lucky Molly can be a pain in the butt, otherwise I wouldn’t have found you. If you can’t walk back to the cabin, I can always carry you.”

The idea of being in Ethan Moore’s arms made her warm up suddenly. “It’s my shoulder, not my legs. I can walk.”

“I know that. But injuries have a way of sneaking up on a person.”

“I’ll be fine once I can get to the cabin,” she said.

“Here’s the deal. There’s electricity but no heat or hot water at your cabin,” he said. “I was actually going to stay there until I discovered that. That’s when I moved to the Donovan cabin. Fortunately, Mack, Brody and I always had keys to both. I think it was your brother’s idea. Always have a plan and a backup plan.”

That sounded like Mack. And the situation at the cabin sounded rather grim. But she’d come this far, she wasn’t stopping now. “I’d still like to go there. I...I need to see it.” For days her world had been in turmoil. The cabin had always been there, solid, safe, comfortable. Everything she needed right now.

“As the crow flies, we’re about a mile from there. If you need to stop at any point, just tell me. Don’t hide anything,” he said. “Knowing about someone’s abilities or inabilities is sometimes the difference between life and death. All right?”

“Got it.”

“Okay. Give me a minute to find the flashlight.”

She stood perfectly still, afraid to move. She could barely see her hand in front of her face but somehow he was confidently moving around in the dark.

It took him less than a couple minutes to locate the flashlight. “Here we go,” he said. “It was practically buried in these pine needles.”

Suddenly a swath of light split the dark night and she immediately felt better.

He turned and led the way on the narrow path that required them to go single file. The terrain was rough and without her one arm for balance, she felt awkward and slow. But he never said anything. And he never got more than a couple steps in front of her before slowing down so that she could catch up.