Page 6 of Chasing the Wild
Sometimes, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
I can hardly judge, considering the places I’ve had to work over the years just to take care of myself.
“Excuse me.” I plaster on my best friendly smile. “Would you be able to help me with some directions?”
“Sure.” She eyes me and tosses the hand towel over her shoulder.
Loudly chewing gum, she looks me up and down as I approach, which immediately sets my teeth on edge. Whatever, I don’t need to be her friend. I just need some fucking confirmation that my trek to the middle of nowhere isn’t going to be a colossal waste of time.
“This address here, can you tell me if it’s real?” I show her the screen of my phone, the one with the pin located way off in the middle of nowhere. “Like, is it legit? I’m trying to find a friend, but I think the address might have been written down wrong.”
The girl taps at the screen and then gives me an odd look. The kind of sidelong glance that seems weirdly knowing and curious at the same time. It makes me feel uncomfortable within an instant, like I’m missing something and she’s in on a joke that I don’t get.
Her lips curl into more of a sneer than a smile. “You wouldn’t be the first girl trying to find your way up to his place.” She hands me back my phone and leans on the counter. Putting her tits right in my face. Like she’s pissing all over her territory or something.
Fucking hell.
Kayce Wilder. Certified man whore.
“I’m taking ityoucertainly know how to get there, then?” I’m about done with all of this and have half a mind to just toss thisgirl the boxes right here in the middle of the cafe and let him come and get them from his fuck buddy.
She just gives me a coy smile and smacks her gum loudly.
“Might have been there before. But you’re a bit young for him, ain’t you?”
What? I can’t even with this level of weirdness going on. It’s hot as hell and I’m dying for a cold glass of water and feeling just about done with being thegood girl.
“Look, it isn’t like that. Can you just tell me if the address is correct? That’s all I need to know.” I shove my phone in my pocket and give her a pleading look. Yep, that’s right. I’m at the lowest ebb yet, groveling to some slut who my ex has obviously been fucking. Or maybe is currently fucking. Or, I don’t know… I just want to get this dealt with so I can get on the road.
“That’s the one. Right at the top of the mountain. It’s a dead end, so you can’t miss it.” She picks up a dirty glass and runs it under the tap. “Hope you don’t get lost… if the beasts up there don’t eat you, the wildlife might.” And with that, she saunters out through the back with a flick of her hair.
For fuck’s sake.
I shove my sunglasses on and stomp back to my car. Cursing Kayce and his unique brand of uselessness the whole way as I start to follow the directions on my phone.
The drive takes me away from town, and pretty quickly, I start climbing what must be Crimson Ridge. I keep glancing at the screen perched on my thigh, and there’s no other place to go but to follow this one road as it snakes up into the trees.
If I wasn’t in such a shitty mood, I’m sure this place would be gorgeous. There’s lush forest rolling across the hillsides, without any signs of houses or people. Just endless shades of green, punctuated by sheer outcrops of reddish rock extending in frighteningly sharp drops into the valleys below.
The ridgeline itself forms a long sharp cut into the sky, like a knife lying on its side, and in the golden light of summer, the exposed rock looks a bronze kind of color. I can only imagine in autumn when the leaves turn red and brown and orange out here, it must look spectacular.
As I keep making my way higher and higher, I realize I must be approaching Devil’s Peak. I start to catch glimpses of the jagged top of an imposing black outline against the sky. It cuts across the pine trees and protrudes up into a cloud formation, even on a sweltering day like today when there is only blue sky as far as the eye can see.
I’ve been driving for about twenty minutes already, and I look down at my phone and see there’s no service. Just fucking great. Even if I did decide to bail now and wanted to leave Kayce a scathing voicemail about how I’ve burned his stack of photo albums, or god-forbid broke down, I’m stuck out here with no choice but to either carry on or brave a chainsaw-toting hillbilly and hike the ridiculous distance back to town.
The voice in the back of my head reminds me that I’m too nice and that he doesn’t deserve my kindness, but even though I’m deeply regretting my choice to try and help him out with this last favor, I’m also never going to change.
This is the type of person I am, for right or wrong.
Just as I think this insanity will never end, with the gravel becoming chunkier beneath my tires and the road growing narrower, I crest the final bend and emerge into a clearing amongst the trees.
It’s a small plateau, looking directly out at the view of Devil’s Peak.
My foot almost slams on the brakes as I take it all in with my mouth hanging open.
But the gravel veers left along a winding driveway, guiding me beneath a wooden arch with a steer skull hanging fromthe middle. It snakes a path leading me toward a yard and large, plain wood barn which looks like it must be the stables. Sweeping down below the property is a meadow of wildflowers and long grass, and I can see the elegant, bowed necks of horses grazing off in the distance. My eyes are darting, bouncing, flitting everywhere at once as I pull up in front of what can only be described as a mountain-property wet dream.
It’s wood and stone and has wide-span glass windows overlooking the view. A porch wraps around the entire length of the building, which sits low and elongated against a backdrop of pine trees rising steeply behind the roofline.
