Page 35 of Big Daddy Mountain Man

That was the first rule of survival, after all.

Panicking or flying off the handle never made things better.

But if anyone hurt Amber, they’d have hell rain down upon them. They were in for one royal ass-kicking and pain they didn’t even know was possible.

Heck, just for scaring her they had an ass-kicking coming.

He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

The Bronco got some air as it soared over one final hill. It bounced violently when the wheels connected with the ground again, and Sawyer felt the jarring impact in his bones. He heard something clang against the ground loudly, telling him that the truck had lost something, but he’d figure that out later. It was most likely nothing too important. Probably just a hubcap or something else nonessential, because the vehicle was still going and that’s what mattered. He just gritted his teeth and kept barreling straight ahead, the headlights now revealing the front Amber’s place.

The scene illuminated before him was pure pandemonium.

Amber was being chased, her shrill screams splitting the still mountain night as she ran onto the porch, down the steps, and into the patch of land directly in front of the cabin.

All hell had broken loose there, and Sawyer needed to act quickly.

“Shit! Shit! What the fuck?” Amber yelled.

She threw a glance over her shoulder to see her pursuer was hot on her heels. This caused her to yell another string of profanity that she didn’t even know she was capable of. She strung words together that ought not be and created whole new phrases that would make a sailor blush.

“Help me!”

It was a relief to see Sawyer on the scene and already out of his truck, but his sudden presence wasn’t deterring her pursuer.

“Amber! Don’t run inside!” he yelled.

Too late.

She’d already ran several circles outside, bounded back up the porch’s steps, and charged through the open front door. In all the commotion, she checked again to see if her pursuer had kept pace.

He had.

“Oh, fuck me! Holy shit!”

She jumped onto the couch, reached for the end table, and grabbed the lamp that rested on it. Yanking it toward her, the plug tore from the outlet, but that didn’t matter right now.

Amber needed a weapon.

She angled it down and swung it from side to side.

“Stay back! I’m warning you!”

“Amber. Don’t hurt it! Just stay still.”

She looked up to see Sawyer standing in the doorway, his hands raised in an effort to bring calm to the situation.

She looked back down and saw the furry little raccoon staring up at her in bewilderment. It was the first time she’d reallyappraised it for any length of time and now she felt sort of bad for brandishing the lamp at it.

It made a series of soft chirping noises.

“Does it w-want to h-hurt me?” she asked.

“No, honey. He just came in looking for food,” Sawyer replied softly, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Did you leave the door open at all today?”

“Yeah. When I was hauling stuff out.”

“He probably wandered in then,” Sawyer said. “Stay still.”

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