Page 18 of Massive Size Lumberjack

I ignore his pleas. The cellar is a dark, dank place with cobwebs on every surface and a musty yet rancid smell. What the fuck? That’s when I see it. There’s a small structure and it looks like a room has been erected from raw plywood.

“Grace?” I call. “Gracie, is that you?”

The tap-tap-tapping gets louder, and more furious. In a frenzy, I locate a pair of bolt-cutters and clip the lock before yanking open the door. My beautiful girl falls into my arms, crying and wheezing.

“Braden!” she whisper-screams, eyes rolling with fear. “Get me out of here!”

She doesn’t need to ask twice. Within seconds, I have the curvy girl in my arms and I’m bolting up the stairs at light speed. Gracie needs me ... and I’ll do everything in my power to provide safe haven.

9

GRACE

Isob uncontrollably in Braden’s arms.

“My father ... my brother ...” I manage in a broken tone.

The mountain man pulls me close, his arms protective and strong around my trembling form.

“I’m sorry that you went through that, sweetheart,” he murmurs. “You shouldn’t have had to endure such a shitshow. No one should,” he rasps angrily. “What the fuck?”

My sobs only grow louder because I feel like I’ve been betrayed. My closest family members kidnapped me, holding me prisoner in the basement of our family home. Rob and Jim burned down my cabin, as well as the greenhouse and fields where I raised marijuana plants. Butwhy? Those plants are our livelihood, so why would Robbie and Jim destroy them?

“I just don’t get it,” I mumble through my sobs. “Without a crop, we won’t have any money. What are they going to sell, if not my plants?”

Braden is silent, and I look up into his handsome features. They’re stern, but there’s also a softness in his gaze as he takes me in.

“Sweetheart, Jim and Robbie aren’t who you think they are—”

“Yes, I know,” I say in whisper tinged with bitterness. “I just wish I’d known earlier.”

Braden’s big hand strokes circles on my back as he grows contemplative.

“I know you know,” he begins slowly. “But I think there’s even more that you don’t know than you think.”

I wipe angrily at my nose, undone by all the bullshit and lies.

“Okay, so what is it then?” I demand before immediately softening my tone. “I’m sorry, Braden. I know it’s not you. It’sthem. I just feel so betrayed, and it’s really—ugh!”

“I get it,” he speaks in a deep voice. “But your father and your brother have been keeping you in the dark, and the real story is pretty crazy. Your dad and your brother don’t sell pot. Well, rather they do. But the pot is actually just a front for their meth operation.”

I go totally still, staring at the handsome lumberjack.

“What?”

He shrugs.

“Treadwell Cannabis is legit. They didn’t lie to you about having all the right licenses, and being straight with the state. There’s nothing illegal about your business. But Rob and Jim have also been using Treadwell Cannabis as a front for their true criminal enterprise, which is meth. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you guysdon’t make enough from cannabis sales to live. It was just a decoy.”

I stare at him.

“Are you serious?” I whisper.

Braden’s expression is apologetic, but he gives it to me straight.

“Unfortunately, yes. Your brother and father cook meth, Grace, and they sell it on the side. It’s not an overly large operation, but it’s significant, and it’s the meth that actually funds their lifestyle. I’m so sorry to tell you this. It must be devastating.”

The knowledge is like a stab to the heart because something has felt wrong all the time I’ve been up on the mountain. Robbie and Jim were always blasé about my farming techniques, and never seemed to care whether our crop lived or died. They always smelled weird too, and had hazmat suits at the house which they said were for marijuana packaging. But the thing is that pot’s not lethal, but meth can be ... and now, I know what they were hiding.

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