Page 29 of Beg Me Angel

Holding my chest, I laughed to myself.Nothing to worry about, it's not a bear or anything that can eat you.

Watching them as I walked, my feet crunched down on the dead leaves and dry, brittle sticks. The instant fear had melted away and I found enjoyment in watching these two critters chase each other for no apparent reason at all.

There was a lightness that seemed to wash over me as a breath of fresh air filled my lungs. I was finally doing something to get answers, something tangible that tempted my curiosity to go out on a hunt of my own. It felt good to finally be looking for what I needed.

Taking another step, the ground disappeared and I tried to steady myself. But it was too late, my shoulders launched forward, arms waving wildly as I let out a frantic scream.

I should have been paying attention to my feet, not the wild animals making the trees their playground.

A deep hole had opened up in front of me, swallowing me in one quick bite. I hit the ground hard, landing on my side. Groaning, I rolled to my back and stared up at the sky.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Is the world out to get me?

The wind had been knocked out of my lungs, but as I wiggled my body, nothing was broken. Sitting up on my hands, I could see the top of the hole. It wasn't as big as the surprise fall made it seem.

It was about five feet deep, maybe three feet wide, and it didn't look natural. The walls were smooth, the shape too perfect of a rectangle to be a natural formation.

“Vera!” Pax's feet thudded, vibrating the walls of the over-sized ditch and kicking loose dirt onto my face in a cloud of dust.

“Down here!” I yelled back as I coughed and brushed the loose sand from my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out, forcing my lungs to relax and the air to flow in at a natural pace.

His face perched over the side, hand extending towards me to help me out. “I'm sorry, I should've told you about this.

“Yeah, a giant hole in the ground would have been nice to know about.” Gripping his wrist, his large fingers curled around my arm and yanked me out with ease.

“I never meant for you to find this, I planned on filling it in.”

“I'm fine, it's no big deal. It's just a hole, I'm glad it wasn't any deeper, shit would have gobbled me up and you might not have found me.”

Thinning his lips, he scratched his smooth head as crinkles formed at the corners of his eyes. “Trust me, I would have found you.”

“Pax—”

Cutting me off, he quietly said, “I dug this, Vera, and I should have told you about it yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't.” Brushing his hands down my back, he knocked the dirt off my neck and out of my hair.

The soft pressure riding my spine turned me rigid, the way his fingers teased the base of my skull sent goosebumps over my skin.

Why does he even care? He hasn't been the kind man he pretended to be yesterday.

He had been so distant and unwelcoming today, all he had done was drag me around the woods with an invisible tether. He asked me if I had harmed myself and threatened to leave me in the woods.

Now all of a sudden he cares?

For a simple man who needed barely anything to live on, he was more complicated than anyone I had met before.

But that still didn't stop the heat from bubbling up in my belly as his palm dragged over my back, it didn't change the fact that despite he was an arms length away, I could still smell his cologne and it fueled this arousal I couldn't understand.

Smiling, I wiped down my arms and legs before his hands made it any further. “It's just a hole, Pax, it's not like its a grave.” Forcing out a playful laugh, I looked up to meet his eyes.

His lids opened and closed slowly, his lip twitched at the corner. There was a seriousness that seemed to shadow his expression, turning it from stone still to timid and unsure.

What is he thinking?

Is there more to this hole in the ground?

He was a hunter, a lone man in solitude. Pax took to live, and by the way he stalked these woods, he lived to take.

Was that why he took me. . .

Because taking was easier than giving?

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