Page 4 of Primal

Who the hell was here?

Chapter3

Mason

Iparked behind the car in front of the cabin when we arrived, taking note of the fact the license plate had a frame just like the one on my car. It was from the airport car rental place. Seeing as how Axel and I had already double-booked the place, I had a bad feeling about that.

“Whose fucking car is that?” Axel growled as we both got out and headed to the porch.

I didn’t have an answer for his grumpy ass, so I said nothing. Punching in the code, I swung the door open and slipped on the light. The place was nice, but I’d already checked out the pictures online, so I knew what to expect.

It was also quiet, too quiet for anyone to be here unless they were asleep. Even then, most people made noise while sleeping. Grunts and snores and the creaking of the bed as they moved around.

“I fucking hope no one is here,” Axel mumbled. “I don’t want to share my cabin with yet another person.”

It was tempting to point out this was just as much my cabin as it was his, but I just rolled my eyes and followed him upstairs. Axel was always a moody asshole, even when we were kids. As teenagers, he was the broody football jock who everyone looked up to. Including me, but I would never tell him.

After a stupid falling-out during senior year, I didn’t see him much, but being married to his ex for the past six years had brought him back into my orbit, much to his displeasure. I’d quickly realized he was jaded now, and certainly not interested in being friends again. It was a shame, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, and I doubted being here together for a few days was going to change anything.

We checked the bedrooms and found suitcases in the largest one, but no people. Someone definitely had been here, but they weren’t in the cabin now.

“Where the hell are they?” Axel asked.

“Who knows? I’m sure they’ll be back.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. This whole thing is becoming such a pain in the ass. I never should’ve come here.”

We headed back downstairs, bringing our stuff inside. The two rooms without any suitcases inside were identical, so we each claimed one without arguing. I settled onto the couch, flipping on the TV, while Axel stomped around the cabin, complaining about the whole situation. I wasn’t thrilled either, but I’d always been more of the type to go with the flow.

Finally, after finding nothing of interest to watch, not that I could really hear anything with all of Axel’s dramatics anyway, I decided to try to contact the owner of the cabin to see what they could do about this situation. I really just wanted to shut Axel up.

Of course, it was early evening now, so it was after hours and I got the man’s voicemail. Leaving a message outlining the situation, I hung up. I’d just tucked my phone into my pocket when the door of the cabin opened, and a familiar face walked in.

“Poppy?” I said, may jaw dropping as I stared at my stepdaughter. What the hell was she doing here?

Freezing in the doorway, her eyes shifted from me to Axel. “Mason? Dad? What are you doing here?”

The two of us exchanged glances, and I knew Poppy must have gotten the recommendation to come here from her aunt, just like we did.

“Tell me you didn’t book this place too,” Axel said.

“W-what are you talking about?” she asked, brow furrowed.

Suddenly, Poppy was jostled to the side, and I gritted my teeth when I saw her asshole boyfriend step into the cabin. He frowned at Axel, probably having never met Poppy’s father since he didn’t live in Miami with us, but I saw the recognition spark in his eyes when he saw me.

“Mason? What the fuck? Did you follow us here?” He turned to Poppy with an almost accusatory glare. “Did you invite your stepdad here? I thought you were giving me a real chance.”

Poppy’s expression shifted from confused to annoyed. “I didn’t invite anyone but you.”

“We all booked this cabin,” I said, shaking my head. “Fiona told you about it too?”

Poppy nodded. “Yeah, I wanted something in nature so Joey and I…I just wanted something completely different from home.”

She and Joey exchanged a loaded look. I wondered what was going on. I’d only met the guy twice— Poppy didn’t come around to visit much these days—but I wasn’t a fan. He seemed like a selfish prick. Now, there was some kind of strange energy between the two of them, and I had a feeling things weren’t going well in the relationship.

“So, she led us all to the website, and we all picked this cabin because it was the best one,” Axel said.

I nodded in agreement. Of the five cabins on the website, this was the one that had been updated most recently.

---