Page 2 of Baby and the Beast

Seth frowned. “I’m pretty sure I can.”

“No,” Matty swallowed audibly. “I mean you really can’t.”

Suspicion coiled in Seth’s gut. “What did you do?”

“I called them,” Matty said sulkily after a moment. “I had to wait for my flight, and I was really angry at you.”

“What. Did. You. Do?” Seth enunciated every word.

“And they were really happy because they had a waiting list, so I used the cash to book your flight, but then my flight got called, so I had to wait until I landed to call you back.”

“But they wouldn’t just give you my credit card details,” Seth said in complete shock.

“Pfft,” Matty scoffed. “As if I don’t have them anyway. But the important thing here is that I did this for you, to show you how much I care.”

Seth felt sick. He signaled and pulled over because it was dark and snowing, and his hands were shaking. “Let me get this right. I’m four miles away from a cabin that I booked for a week that you’ve managed to cancel?” He didn’t say it was dark and snowing. Matty would just think that made his decision even more justified. “I basically have nowhere to stay?”

“Which is your fault, not mine,” Matty said, sounding perfectly reasonable. “You just need to turn around and head to the airport instead. You told me yourself it was less than three hours away.”

Seth scrubbed a hand over his face. There was so much he could say, but really, what was the point? He’d been fooling himself with Matty. He wanted a home and a family. Cozy nights in with movies and popcorn. Matty wanted to check out the latest club or fly off to some exotic beach. Seth’s idea of a perfect beach holiday was helping his kid build sandcastles. Not thatthat was going to happen now either. “We’re done, Matty. Have a good vacation, but my next call will be to report all my credit cards as stolen, so I hope you’re not relying on using any of them this week.”

He ended the call not quite quick enough not to hear the indignant shriek and immediately scrolled to the rental company and called them. They were apologetic, but there was nothing they could do. The family on the waiting list had already collected the keys.

Seth swallowed heavily. He had two choices. He could turn around and drive home or see if they had anything else. Twenty minutes later, Seth admitted defeat after the company had tried everywhere within fifty miles and turned his car around to drive home. What a complete disaster of a day. The only cabins not occupied weren’t fit to be. A mixture of no power or no roof, but either way he wasn’t going to get anything. He blew out a tired breath and glanced down as he got a warning bleep from his phone to indicate a notification.

It was less than a couple of seconds, but it was enough that when he looked up, he reacted instinctively and wrenched the wheel to try and miss the shape that loomed up in front of his car. Braking violently, he skidded on the snow and ran into the bushes and undergrowth at the side of the track before the car came to a stop. How the hell he didn’t hit a tree was beyond him.

What had it been? Seth’s heart pounded almost painfully against his ribs. He’d thought it was a bear at first, but then he’d seen a human face staring at him. Crap. What if he’d hit him? What if he was hurt? Without thinking, he scrambled to undo his seat belt and got out of the car, using his phone as a flashlight and shining it over the area in front of him. The car had gone down an incline, but as he swung the light over the bushes and frozen, packed earth, he couldn’t see anything, human or animal, and he let out a sigh of relief.

The squeal that shattered the silence made Seth jump. He’d heard bobcats before, and on his own in the dark, he didn’t care how nonthreatening they were supposed to be, he had no wish to meet one and hurried back to his car. He supposed, with the luck he was having that day, he shouldn’t have been surprised when his foot caught in a tree root and sent him sprawling, his phone shooting out of his hand.

“Fuck,” he swore like he almost never did and tried to scramble for his phone which, but of course dropping it had knocked out the light. He found it by managing to stand on it and cringed as he heard the snap. What else was going to go wrong?

At least the lights were on in the car but seeing as how the engine had cut out when he crashed, he ought to start worrying about the battery.

Decision made, he scrambled back to the car and got in. He immediately pressed the starter button and banged his head on the steering wheel in frustration when nothing happened.

It could be the inertia switch though, and Seth grabbed the manual. It took another couple of minutes to find out that wasn’t going to work, and nerves finally settled in. He turned off the car lights to save the battery and thought hard.

He had no working phone. He was easily three, four miles from the cabin he should have been renting, but there were supposed to be others in the area. He had a flashlight in the trunk and some basic safety equipment including protein bars, water, thick boots, a blanket, and a small shovel. He had food packed to last him a couple of days but that would be better left in the car. It was also snowing heavily and a good ten hours, maybe twelve, before dawn, and he didn’t like his chances against hypothermia. Stay in the car and freeze, or risk trying to walk a few miles and maybe meeting the wildlife. There was also the chance he could get lost and freeze anyway, but the trackwas supposed to take him close to the lake and the other cabins. Surely he would see a light from one of them soon?

Feeling incredibly foolish and starting to question his life choices once more, Seth emptied the small canvas bag he had brought of books and other non-essentials, and filled the bag with protein bars, water, the flashlight, extra batteries for it, and a penknife. He dragged on a thicker snow jacket over the fleece he had been driving in, swapped his sneakers for the boots, and picked up the handle of the shovel. Locking the car, he pocketed the keys and started walking, determined to be careful.

Or not get eaten, whatever.

In less than a mile, Seth turned off the flashlight for a moment to let his eyes get used to the dark so he could see both sides of the road. He wanted to check that he wasn’t missing anything, but his GPS had said to carry on this road for three miles and to make a left turn. He glanced at the dense trees to the right and then up the hill to the left. Nothing.Wait a moment.Was that a light? He squinted, and yes, that was definitely a light up the hill. Maybe he was nearer than he thought, but light meant electricity and people. Turning the flashlight on again, he spotted a small track—an even smaller one that what he was following—that led in the direction of the light, and he set off.

Seth heaved for breath five minutes later as he stopped, his need for oxygen outweighing his need for security, and squinted at the cabin just tucked into the trees. He didn’t see a light on now, and there wasn’t any sign of a vehicle. In fact, there were no signs of life at all, but after a couple more breaths, he walked cautiously nearer. Structurally—not that he was an expert—it seemed sound. He could see the roof seemed to be intact. So was the door, which could be a good thing to keep out unwanted animals, but a bad thing to Seth, who in all probability needed more than a shovel to break in if it was empty. But approaching cautiously, he could see a faint glow of something from the edgeof one of the covered windows by the door, and his pulse picked up.

Not the time to think about Matty’s penchant for watching horror movies, but if I see anyone who looks like Kathy Bates, I’m outta here.

He knocked on the door sharply and held his breath.

Nothing.

He glanced at the window. The faint glow was still visible, but he supposed there was a chance the occupants were asleep, so he knocked again even louder. “Hello,” he called. “I’m sorry to bother you, but my car’s broken down. I was hoping to use a telephone.”

Still nothing.

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