Page 5 of Mace

“My name’s Mace. And this cabin belongs to my club. We all take turns visiting when we need a break from the stress of our normal lives.”

“It’s very scenic, what with the river flowing by so closely and all.” What the hell was wrong with me? I’d narrowly missedbeing attacked by Alejandro and here I was talking about the damn surroundings like I was a tourist and not on the run.

He gestured towards the stairs. “There’s a shower upstairs, if you want to get cleaned up. The hall closet has towels and there’s a bunch of donated clothing for anyone who needs it.”

I glanced at the stairs, wondering if it was safe to get naked in the same house with a complete stranger. After Alejandro talked about raping me and putting a baby in my belly, I found that I was feeling overly cautious.

He must have seen the worry on my face because he added. “There’s a lock on the door, but I promise not to come upstairs until you come down. In fact, I’ll shower down in the basement.”

“Alright. Thank you. I didn’t mean to drip all over your floor.”

“No worries,” he responded. Today was a weird one-off situation.

We went our separate ways, and the upstairs was just like he described it. Everything looked really nice, like it was recently renovated. I grabbed some clothing and towels out of the closet and got into the shower. The warm water felt so good after walking around in wet clothing for hours. I’d not had a hot shower since we’d left Mexico so that was especially luxurious after bathing in cold water.

After my shower, I dried off, got dressed in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of leggings and found a comb to take the tangles from my hair. I then plaited it again. I smiled as I did it, wewere like hair twins. I usually have my long hair loose, but after living semi-wild for weeks it was easier just to keep it tied back. I glanced in the mirror, I looked okay even if I said so myself. I might have my father’s black hair and coloring, but I had my mom’s features and a variation of my mother’s green eyes, only mine were hazel. That was a blessing because I didn’t know when I’d see my mom next, so at least I could be reminded of her when I looked in the mirror.

I’d not seen my full-length reflection since my father had taken me here. I’d lost some weight, but that wasn’t surprising, seeing as how much work I was doing. I tried to make myself presentable but not too attractive because I didn’t want to draw his interest in a sexual or romantic way. Not that I didn’t think my rescuer was attractive, with his lithe muscular body, long black hair, and dark eyes, he was my idea man. He also had a nice disposition, polite but serious. But right now I didn’t need a man, no matter how gorgeous he was. I just needed to be able to get on with my original plan now I was free of my father.

I pulled on some clean socks and put my shoes into the shower to dry out. I put my wet clothing in the trash. I’ve been living rough with my father and his men for coming up on three months. After wearing all the things I packed multiple times, and cooking over a campfire every night, the smell of smoke was never going to come out of them. A quick rinse in the river did nothing but add new and unpleasant odors to my things.

By the time I made it downstairs, Mace was preparing food. I realized in that moment that I had never seen a man cook. The exception was tending the gill. But as far as a man making a meal for me, this was a new experience.

He glanced up and smiled, making him seem even more attractive. “Did you find everything you needed?”

“Yes, thank you. Do you mind if I ask what you’re making? It smells delicious.”

“Deer steak, baked potato, and vegetables. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded. “I’ve had deer before. Although it tastes different from other meat, I like the taste.”

“It’s much healthier because it’s lean and doesn’t have all the shit you find in farmed meat.”

I couldn’t help but smile at him, because he’s not wrong about that.

“Do you like to hunt deer?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I like to hunt as much as the next guy. Some of my club brothers live for the hunt and keep our freezers full. I tend to eat what’s in abundance at any given time.”

I sat down at the kitchen table he’d already prepared with plates and flatware. “That makes good sense. Where I come from in Mexico, we mostly buy our meat, but we plant a lot of our vegetables and fruit.”

“Fresher is better,” he commented as he plated our food.

I took a bite of the vegetables, and they were delicious. As well as regular seasoning he added a bunch of fresh herbs and chilies.

I praised him on his cooking, and we talked for about half an hour about foods we liked and then Mace brought up the topic I’d been anticipating.

“Want to tell me what your father and his men are doing out there in the wilderness, and why they brought you there?”

I ignored the part of his question that I didn’t want to answer and focused on the part that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. “My father thinks it’s time for me to get hitched. Alejandro insisted that my father was giving me to him as a wife, whether I agreed or not. But I want to think my father is intent upon me accepting Alejandro first. That will never happen. I don’t want to tie my life to a criminal.”

He stopped eating and stared at me like I had two heads. “So, they’re engaging in some kind of criminal activity out there in the woods? Is that what you’re saying?”

Crap, crap, crap, and double crap. I wasn’t going to talk about that because talking about the cartel is dangerous. The last thing I wanted to do was to drag another person into this situation. “Like I told you before, they don’t really tell me anything. From what I could see they could possibly be doing illegal stuff.”

His expression turned doubtful. “Okay, you don’t want to talk about. Got it.”

I glanced away because this intelligent man was clearly onto me.

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