“What you’ve done is more than I expected. I’ll find a way to pay you back somehow.”
They simply smiled warmly in response. I tried to smile back, but it felt wrong on my lips. I hadn’t smiled much in the past few years.
“I’m Rune by the way.”
The door opened suddenly to the inn, and I jerked my head up at the screeching hinges of the door.
A young man, maybe eighteen or nineteen, marched inside, stomping across the floor and moving to stand behind the counter. His short black hair sat messily, shaved short at the sides. Rips streaked across the knees of his jeans, and his tee was so short that it revealed his midriff. He proceeded to pour himself a drink from what looked like a bottle of vodka, then drank the shot in one go before pouring another.
“Well, that’s my call then.” Jim sighed and got to his feet, then marched over to the man. “What happened, Daniel?” He pried the bottle from his hand.
“She kicked me out of the house, that’s what’s wrong. She kicked me out after she found the blood,” he blasted, though Jim grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him into the kitchen and out of earshot hastily.
Blood?
“Listen, Rune,” Carrie murmured, catching my attention. “If you need money, the local diner is looking for some help. Shouldn’t take too long to save up enough to pay for the car fixes.”
My mouth practically fell open. “Oh no, I can’t stay here that long.” I sank into the seat, realizing alternate options weren’t exactly falling at my feet either. Then I backtracked, remembering how isolated this town was, how not many tourists stayed at the inn, and well, maybe staying a week or so here wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Getting a small job meant making some much needed money. Then I could leave.
“Maybe you’re right,” I finally answered. “I can also pay you if I can keep staying here.”
“Of course. Now, I better go join the other two before all hell breaks loose.” She laughed, and I couldn’t tell if that was a nervous reaction or a joke.
I finished my breakfast and stood up. The three of them stayed in the kitchen, and when their voices kept rising, I made a quick exit outside.
The thought of remaining in town didn’t make it easier to breathe calmly when everything made me jump and I kept imagining Alistair stepping out from around a corner.
I blinked against the brightness outside and glanced out to the river and beyond it to the other side. An older woman stood in her doorway, staring my way like she’d seen a ghost, while a man was strolling towards the wood’s edge that lay fifty yards beyond the cabins. I guessed people did live here after all.
I drew my gaze from the woman, my skin crawling from the attention, and quickly traveled around the inn.
I emerged onto a main road, which seemed to curve toward the river in the distance. Store fronts of all kinds lined the cobblestone sidewalk. The place held an old fairy-tale feel to it. Old thatched buildings with huge windows displaying goods from bread to clothes to a local grocer left me feeling like I’d stepped back in time to a historic town long forgotten. The river lay to my left, while on the right, goliath mountains rose in the background, the tops painted in snow.
I was walking through a postcard of a small town in the Alpine Mountains…that was the best way to describe this town.
With no one around, I assumed it was still too early in the morning, which was fine by me. I preferred not to be stared at like an animal in a zoo. I tucked my chin low and strolled down the road. I noted there were no cars on the street, and I wondered if not many people drove here.
Perhaps my assumption that tourists came here had been wrong. Though that surprised me with how beautiful and peaceful the place seemed.
I sauntered past a hair salon with a red-haired woman inside sweeping the floor, and I touched my hair absentmindedly as I looked at my reflection in the glass of her salon. When was the last time I’d even done anything to my hair?
I grew up under lock and key, Alistair or one of his assholes came with me everywhere, and when you’re being watched, knowing that any wrong move came with repercussions, you ended up hating outings.
Breathing deeply, I reminded myself I’d escaped and I would do anything in my power to keep it that way.
Following the curve in the road, I noticed a young couple strolling in my direction. They weren’t holding hands, but the proximity with which they walked said it all. The woman was beautiful. She had liquid black hair that cascaded over her shoulders, and she kept glancing up at the man like nothing in the world compared.
Something in my chest stung to see such devotion, and jealousy pierced through me that I’d never experience such admiration directed towards me. That was how Alistair should have looked at me. That was how I’d looked at him.
I glanced over to the man who towered over her, and my steps faltered. He was stunning. The most stunning man I’d ever seen.
He had hair as dark as hers. It was cut longer at the top and shorter at the edges and back. My gaze danced over his strong jawline with a shadow of growth, his thick eyebrows…those full lips.
My insides tightened. That earlier sting now crashed into me like a tremendous lightning storm striking. The two of them looked perfect together. How were there people like me in a world that also held them?
I continued to drink him in. Broad shoulders, a solid body trimming down to a narrow waist, and trunk-like thighs in deep blue Levis…the man was built and intimidating. And not someone I’d ever seen in real life… Men who looked like him were fictional and in magazines.
He turned to face me, and I suddenly lost my breath. I forgot my own name.
His deep, captivating green eyes hardened toward me. I shouldn’t have been so caught in his gaze, but something about them stunned me at how easily they captured my attention.
No one had done this to me before.
No one ever.
No. One. Not even—
Who the heck was he?
His upper lip curled as if seeing me was anything but pleasant. They passed me, not moving out of the way, but forcing me to basically step off the sidewalk and onto the road.
The beautiful woman had eyes only for him, while he threw me a filthy glare and growled at me.
What the fuck?
I froze on the spot and turned to watch them vanish into one of the stores. Did that just happen?
Had he really just growled at me?
What an asshole.
Everything about his reaction told me he wasn’t a fan of anyone new in his precious town. Why else would someone behave that way to a stranger? Well, unless he was completely crazy, which might be true.
And now I was berating myself for thinking for a second he was this spectacular Adonis.
I gritted my teeth, knowing I couldn’t deny the thought, but that only made me more furious. I bet he was so used to women fawning over him, he could treat them like crap. The gorgeous ones were always assholes, didn’t I know that?
I took a deep breath, wondering why I was getting so worked up over a pretty faced stranger. I probably wouldn’t even see him again.
My breaths came faster, and I walked quickly in the opposite direction from them, determined to put them out of my mind.
When a big sign across the road came into view, Dentworks, it only took seconds for my current state of mind to shift. If I was lucky, the car would be an easy fix, maybe they’d be kind and not charge me, and then I could be on my way.