Page 10 of Pursued By the Sasquatch

When I arrived back at the office, one look at Gariss’s scowling face poured cold water on the remnants of my desire.

“Where the fuck have you been all day and when are you making up the hours?”

I sighed. He was in one of those moods. “Sorry boss. I’ll make them up later in the week. I just needed a bit of a walk.”

His skull angled to the side, and he looked me up and down. I winced under his scrutiny.

“What is it, boss?”

“I knew you were going to make this complicated.” He turned and stalked off, body tense and his feet impacting the floor just a little harder than they normally would. I’d pissed him off. How did he even know?

I sat at my desk and pushed the thoughts to one side. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was keeping my mate safe. I'd even brave Gariss’ moods for that. My big fingers tapped at my oversized keyboard as I pulled up all the information I could find on Luke. I didn’t know his surname, but he wasn’t hard to find. This town wasn’t huge, and I knew he’d already have a record. I wasn’t technically supposed to be poking around in the police records like this, but we’d all taken liberties from time to time.

Luke, of course, had been arrested several times across different states. Drug dealing. Theft. Aggravated assault. Assault. Assault. On and on with the assaults. He was violent, and I wondered with a building rage if he’d ever laid a finger on Fern. If he had, I’d rip it off. I’d rip every finger off and then his dick for good measure.

After a few hours of digging, I could see exactly what had happened. He was out of chances. One more arrest and he’d be in for a long time. His known associates list was even more annoying. Two other women who had been his girlfriends in the past now had records. All for the same drugs and theft stuff. They’d never mentioned his name. Refused to talk about any of it, other than to plead guilty.

Every time the police had been sniffing around him for something, suddenly a tip off led them to a woman instead. He’d lined Fern up for this. It wasn’t just about pettiness because she’d dumped him. This was his plan for her all along if things got too much.

I typed up a quick brief and emailed it to Gariss. He’d want to know what I’d found. But he didn’t check his emails often, and I didn’t want to give him a chance to lecture me on doing something stupid. Not before I’d done the something stupid. Which in this case involved going around to have a chat with Luke.

I found him at a local bar. His uncle owned it and the local police records said that they usually found him there. He clocked me the moment I walked in and smirked. He knew who I was. I’d thought I might catch him off guard. But he walked straight over and held out a hand. I glanced at it and then ignored it.

“Be like that if you like. I don’t know what she's said to you, but it's all lies.”

“I’m not sure who or what you are talking about.”

“Bro, don’t be like that. Us guys gotta stick together. I bet she’s already got you wrapped around her little finger with that doe-eyed innocent schtick. She’s manipulative.”

I glanced around as he talked. 5 guys were paying attention too closely to be casual observers. I looked back at Luke.

“So, this is your game? Charm? Lying? Seeding doubt? Well, I have a game too.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

His smirk aggravated me. I thought of Fern. He’d set out to use and destroy my mate. I pulled my arm back and swung right into his gut.

Chapter 11

Fern

The red dye hadn’t made as much difference to my hair as I’d hoped. But bleaching it in the bathroom of a diner would have been ridiculous. And I’d gotten enough weird looks as it was. I pulled the hood of my cardigan back over my head and scuttled back out of the diner and into my car. Hopefully, the cameras in there wouldn’t pick up the change. It had been a few hours, and I’d gunned it as fast as I dared the whole time. Another hour and I’d be at a good stopping point to abandon the car according to the map I’d pulled up on my phone.

Once I got there, the snow began again. I’d hoped I could outrun it. I needed to move fast. To keep warm, if nothing else. I wrapped my large scarf around my neck and hoped that the completely inadequate coat I was wearing would somehow help. I dropped the car keys into the open window and wondered if I should leave a note. To let Kiy know I was ok and not to come looking for me.

No. I’d come this far trying not to be tracked. The time for leaving notes was long gone. A man leant against his car talking into his phone. Had I seen him at the diner? No, I was being paranoid. I didn’t recognise him. The stress was getting to me.

I waited until the man was facing away from me and headed for the mountain trail. It led all the way up north. I knew little about the north other than it was a wilderness now. Full of monsters with nowhere else to go. That didn’t scare me as much as the thought of Kiy getting dragged into my mess any more than he already had been.

My hand instinctively reached for my phone, and I pulled out the chunky burner I’d bought. I’d dropped mine out of the car window the moment I left town. The trail map seemed pretty easy to follow. Just don’t wander off the path. I tucked the phone away and picked up speed. Once I felt a bit more confident, I’d switch it off to save the battery. But for now, I left it on. A safety blanket.

I wondered if Kiy knew I was gone by now. I wondered if Luke knew. Would he try to hunt me down? Or would he accept that I wasn’t going to be a problem and leave me alone? I had no way of knowing, and I hated that. I knew the uncertainty would eat away at me for a long time. All I could hope was that he would leave Kiy alone.

As I walked, my thoughts kept flitting back to him. To the feel of his fingers inside me. The intense connection I felt with him. The lazy kissing that felt like bliss as his warm body pressed against mine. Snow drifted down harder now, but the thoughts of him kept me warm.

My core heated as I let my mind wander to all the things we might have done together. I wasn’t sure if letting myself daydream was a good idea. Maybe it would be easier on myself if I pushed him out of my head. Never thought of him again. But I just didn’t think I could do that. As painful as it was to never see him again, I couldn’t remove what he meant to me, and I didn’t want to. I could only hope that I would find comfort in the thoughts of him. Of building a delusion in my head, of us reuniting and being together again.

I had to keep moving, but the friction of my tight jeans as I walked quickly in combination with my filthy thoughts was causing a distraction. These were the wrong pants for this escape for so many reasons, and this was just making it worse. But I didn’t stop. If anything, I pressed my legs together more as I walked, tensing my thighs occasionally. It wasn’t enough to bring me to an orgasm. I was just teasing myself relentlessly. It was ridiculous, but the distraction stopped me from thinking too much about what I was doing.

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