Chapter 1
Emelie
That cheating bastard!
I've been looking forward to this camping trip with my boyfriend, Chris, for months.
Months!
He had been promising me a weekend away in the mountains to reconnect and unwind.
So, when his phone goes off, I'm a bit annoyed. We were supposed to unplug. I left my phone in the car, but Chris insisted on bringing his in case of an emergency. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now, I see he had other plans.
As I sit here in the tent, while he's gathering firewood, I'm wondering when I became so gullible.
Chris has been cheating on me. For a while now, judging by how far back these texts with Roxy go. The most recent?
Roxy: How boring is the family camping trip? I can spice it up for you.
Attached is a photo of her tits. I'm not so pissed off that I can't admit she has a nice rack, but I am a bit vindictive.
Me: Nice rack, but this isn't a family camping trip. I'm his girlfriend of a year now, but don't worry, after this he’s all yours.
I turn the phone off, resisting the urge to smash it to the ground, and instead, grab my jacket to get ready for a walk. It's early May here in Montana, and being up in the mountains, it's even colder. Though, it's great camping weather, and perfect for a couple who want to snuggle up to stay warm.
That idea now has my stomach rolling. Chris is coming back to the campsite just as I'm stepping out of the tent. I look at him a bit differently now. He doesn't look at me lovingly like he did, when we first got together. No, he’s looking at me more like a sister.
Family camping trip, my ass.
"Hey, I got us enough wood for the night. What are you making for dinner?" He asks.
I look at him blankly. Did he always talk to me like this? Was I always so blind? I shake my head, because he's staring at me, waiting for an answer.
"I'm going for a walk," I tell him, knowing I need to clear my mind, before we have this talk.
"No, you need to make dinner." He says, like he thinks I'm joking.
"Maybe, Roxy will come and make you dinner. I found your phone, because she was blowing it up, trying to make your family camping trip better. Now, I'm going for a walk to clear my head."
I'm only slightly satisfied with the shock that crosses his face. Without giving him a chance to talk, I take off. He keeps yelling after me, trying to say she was just a friend, but I saw the whole text chain, including him sending her dick pics.
He never even sent me dick pics, and we've been dating for a year. I'm not sure where I'm walking, but I picked one of the three small paths, leading from the campsite, and I'm following it wherever it goes, though I have no idea where.
Chris is my boss’s son. Well, he’s more than that. His parents were my foster parents, since I was a teen. When I turned eighteen, his dad gave me a job, and then Chris started asking me out.
I didn't want to date him at first, but he spent six months, trying to win me over. Always bringing me lunch at work and knowing how tight things were with me and my roommate, so he made sure we had groceries.
When my roommate got a new job out of town, he insisted I move in with him, instead of the roommate I found online. Then, we started dating, and he was the perfect gentleman.
Work has been busier for both of us, and I guess we got into a rut. But I barely have time for Chris, so how does he have time for another girl?
That's when I realize I definitely don't want to stay with him. It's going to suck moving out, but it's what needs to happen. If I head back to the campsite now, we can go into town tonight and start moving on with our lives.
I'm not sure how long I've been gone, or how far I've walked, but I turn around and follow the narrow path back to the campsite.
Except, I don't remember walking this far, being I was lost in my head. It's a few more minutes, before the trail opens up, like it was closer to the campsite. Picking up the pace, because now I know the campsite is close.
Only when I get to the campsite, it's empty. The tent is gone and so are our bags, mine included.
Am I in the right spot?
If it weren't for the pile of wood Chris brought up earlier next to the fire pit, I would think I stumbled onto an empty campsite.
The cheating bastard left me here in the woods alone. My heart starts racing, I can’t catch my breath, and I'm starting to panic.
Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths. What do I need to do right now? Knowing I have a few hours of daylight left, I’m sure I can make it to the main road before nightfall. I have to make it, because there’s no way I’ll survive a night in the woods alone with nothing.
If I can make it to the main road, I might be able to get someone to give me a lift into town and let me borrow their phone to call for help, though I'm not sure who I would call.
Okay, which way did we come up from in the car? I look around, and I know it's not the path I just came from, but there are two other paths, leading from the campsite, and each one is going in separate directions.
Both paths also have footprints, because I know Chris went down one of them to get wood for the fire.
I take a minute to think, because I was so mad that I don't remember which path it was. Thinking it’s the one to my right, I head down the one on my left to get back to the parking area.
It’s getting windy and a bit chilly, so I pick up my pace, as I want to make sure I get to the road in time.
"Who the hell leaves someone alone in the woods?" I ask myself. Not like anyone can hear me. In fact, if someone did answer me, I'd probably piss myself.
I'm such an idiot to not see this before. There were so many signs. When I was around, he always turned his phone upside down. He was working late at the office, when no one else was.
He stopped posting about me on social media and told me he took his profile down, after someone hacked it, and that's why it no longer had a relationship status showing. Those are the big red flags that stick out now.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Do his friends know? Is this why he stopped inviting me to hang out with them?
I stop on the path, take a deep breath, and let out a loud yell.
A few birds scatter, because I scared them, but in general, I feel a little better. Then, I start walking again, because I have to be getting close to the road by now. A good ten minutes later and still nothing. I don't remember it being this far to the car.
Then, around the next bend, I hear sounds. Yes, the parking lot! It isn't until I get around another bend that I realize that sound is water, like a river.
Only there weren't any rivers on our way in from the car...
Crap, I picked the wrong path, didn't I? It's only then I realize there are no footprints on the trail. That’s just great. I spent all this time walking the wrong way.
Now, I’ll never make it back to the campsite before dark, much less, the parking lot, and who knows what’s in these woods.
I sigh and head towards the water, because all this hiking has made me thirsty. The river is bigger than I expected to see out here. It's relatively clean, and I dip my hand in to get something to drink. Though, it's warmer than I expected for how cold out it is.
Now, which way do I follow the river? It's going to flow down the mountain, which should lead to town, right? Following it, would take me in the same direction that I was on the trail, so maybe, I was heading the right way and just missed a turn off I don't remember?
I follow the river and try to remember how to start a fire with two sticks, but I never really mastered that, so the chances I can start a fire to keep warm are slim to none.
I'm going to die out here, and they will never find me. Great. As far as ways to die, this wasn't even on my radar.
All the emotions from today finally hit me, and the anger is gone, but a bit of self-pity filters in, and before I know it, I'm crying. I don't even bother wiping the tears. Who is going to see me out here?
The thousands of trees could care less, and the random squirrel or birds run away from me, so really, I have no one to impress.
When I finally look up, I'm shocked to see a shirtless man in the river ahead of me. I'm startled for a moment, and then I realize, if he's here, I have to be close to town, right?
I walk closer to him to ask him for help. Though, I know I shouldn't trust strangers, but really, what choice do I have? If I don't ask for help, I'll be dead by morning. Even if he kills me, I would have been dead anyway. But with any luck, he’ll save me.
The first thing I notice is that he's tan, which is a surprise, considering he’s in Montana. Maybe, he often works outdoors with his shirt off, and he sure has some hard-earned muscles. He hasn't spotted me yet, so I take full advantage, letting my eyes run over him once more.
"Hello?" I call out to get his attention.
His back goes ramrod straight, and he doesn't turn around right away, as I take a few steps closer.
"I think I'm lost. I was camping with my boyfriend. Well, now ex-boyfriend. When I caught him cheating, I went for a walk to cool off, and when I got back, he was gone with all of our stuff. I thought I was walking back towards the main road, but I guess not." I ramble on.
He finally turns around, and I get my first good look at him. I was right about the muscles. He has muscles that I didn't even know existed, and the chiseled muscles of his arms and chest pulsed with strength and power. His tan skin has black ink tattoos and some nasty scars.
The tattoos go down his arms and over his heart. Tribal designs, and ones that I’m sure have meaning to him.
His brown hair is long, wet, and clinging to the side of his face and his neck.
When he speaks, his voice is deep and gravelly. He talks slowly, and every word is deliberate.
"Turn around," he says.
"Um, if you're going to kill me, I'd rather see it coming, if you don't mind." I squeak out.
He cocks his head to the side to study me a moment, before shaking his head.
"I need to get dressed." He nods to a pile of clothes on the riverbank I hadn't seen, until now.
"Oh."
Oh! He's naked in the river.
My cheeks heat, as I turn my back on him, giving him some privacy to get out of the water.
Behind me, I hear him sloshing through the water, and the sound of water dripping off him, as he walks up the riverbank.
There are a few leaves rustling, so I assume he’s getting dressed.
"Okay," he growls.
When I glance over my shoulder, I see he’s dressed in worn out jeans and still has no shirt on. Turning to face him, I then realize how huge he is.
I've always been small at five foot four inches, but this man in front of me has to be pushing seven feet tall.
And here I just found a sexy giant in the river. Now, this is the part where he carries me off to his cave, right?
