Page 2 of Primal

Of course, luck wasn’t on my side. All other cabins were booked up for the whole week. I considered flying right back to Georgia to just try to do my writing from home, but I hated to waste money like that. Damn it, I booked this cabin, and I wanted to use it.

“I’m taking the cabin,” I said firmly.

Mason chuckled and shook his head. “Still a stubborn asshole, aren’t you? I’m not flying home tonight. We’ll just have to share the cabin.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“There are three bedrooms in the cabin, plenty of room, and I’m supposed to go to that gathering I told you about every day. I doubt that I’ll be in your way much.”

“I’m here to write,” I said. I didn’t want to tell him that because I hadn’t really shared my dream of writing a book with anybody. It felt too personal. But if I was really going to consider this, he’d have to know what I was up to. “I need peace and quiet for that.”

“No problem. Like I said, I won’t be there much.”

I thought about his suggestion for a moment. Mason annoyed the hell out of me. I couldn’t stand his cocky attitude, the one that always got him attention from women. Back in high school, he used it to steal my girlfriend, despite that fact that we were close friends, and now, thirty years later, he was married to my ex-wife.

How was I supposed to deal with him all week?

But his willingness to compromise brought out a strange competitive urge inside of me. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but Icouldn’tlet him think he was keeping me from enjoying my rustic cabin vacation. The asshole wouldn’t get the satisfaction of knowing I’d had to scramble to find a different place to stay or that I’d flown home just to avoid him.

It was a petty way to look at things, but damn it, Mason brought that out of me.

“Fine,” I agreed, turning back to the guy behind the counter. “But we’re renting separate cars.”

We might have been going to the same destination, but I wanted to be able to leave early if I found myself unable to stand being stuck in the cabin with Mason for several days. As I looked at his annoyingly smug face, I had a feeling they would be the longest days of my life.

Chapter2

Poppy

Excitement raced through my veins as Joey pulled the car up in front of the cabin. It was perfect, just like the pictures on the website. With a rough stone foundation, it was made of thick logs and stood two stories tall. There were twin dormers extending from the roof that must indicate the locations of two of the three bedrooms on the second floor.

It was a beautiful cabin, but the truly magnificent thing was outside. Stepping from the car, I smiled as I pulled in a deep breath. Thick woods bordered three sides of the cabin, but the front of the building was clear of obstructions, providing an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains. Their snow-topped peaks contrasted with the blue sky, and I stood there starting for a long moment until my boyfriend came around the back of the car to stand in front of me, blocking my view.

“What are you looking at?” he asked as I tilted my head to try to peek around him.

“The mountains,” I said, pointing. “That’s part of the reason I chose this cabin. The view is amazing.”

And it was the best cabin available on the website. Three bedrooms were more than we needed for just the two of us, but there was a hot tub on the enclosed back porch and the biggest bedroom had new furniture. It was supposed to be the perfect romantic getaway. When I booked it, I had envisioned an amazing time with Joey. I’d been eagerly anticipating reaching the one-year mark at my job, when I would get a week’s worth of vacation days, and I planned this trip for us on the day of my anniversary at the job.

Then, one week ago, I’d walked in on him balls deep in the slut who lived in the apartment next door. Joey and I had been together for six months, and he’d finally given me a key to his apartment. He said he wasn’t ready to move in together yet, and I accepted that because we hadn’t been together for long. So, I was happy that he was at least willing to take this step.

I came over one day with his favorite double-chocolate chunk cookies from the bakery close to my place. I wanted to surprise him, but I was the one who got the shock of my life. His neighbor, who he always insisted he wasnotinterested in, was riding him on the couch. For a long moment, the only sounds in the apartment were her loud moans and the slap of their bodies coming together.

When the box of cookies in my hand slipped from my fingers and crashed to the floor, they both froze. Joey’s eyes were wide with shock, but the bitch still on top of him tossed her red curls over her shoulder with a cocky smirk on her face. There was victory in her eyes, and I knew I couldn’t be there a second longer.

Throwing Joey’s key at him, I’d spun on my heel and stormed out, tears streaming down my face. I was sure that would be the last time that I saw the cheating bastard. I had a few articles of clothing at his place that I did not need to get back, and I’d planned to just torch his shit in a trashcan fire in the alley behind my apartment building.

But Joey didn’t let me get away that easily. An hour later, he was at my door. My tears had barely dried when he arrived, and just the sight of him made them fall again. He pulled me into his arms, and I let him.

Why the hell did I do that?

I was still unsure a week later. Looking at him now, standing in front of this cabin in the middle of so much beauty, I could hardly believe that we were here. Catching him with another woman had happened way too late to cancel the reservation, so I was anticipating coming here alone and licking my wounds for a week. It was going to be depressing as hell, but at least I’d be surrounded by beauty.

But Joey was nothing if not persistent. After holding me while I cried over him, something that Inevershould have allowed, he stuck around. I was pissed, but he was intent on ignoring my demands that he leave for good. Instead, he apologized, made excuses, and eventually begged me to give him another chance. He wore me down.

I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the right choice when I gave in. Was I weak for letting him try to make things up to me, for staying with a cheater, even if he swore it only happened once?

This romantic getaway had turned into Joey’s chance for redemption, and if I were honest with myself, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to that. Things were awkward, and I hadn’t been able to bring myself to be intimate with him yet. Now that we were here, I knew he’d expect me to go there with him again.

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