Page 8 of Squatch Out!
“Jesus fucking Christ! What is wrong with you?” I snap.
For a moment, his lip curls, and he looks like he’s going to be mad, but then his eyes snap to the tree line behind me. The way his eyelids peel wide sends a rush of adrenaline flooding my system. My heart kicks rapidly in my chest, and I slowly turn around. My mouth falls open as a group of trees begin swaying frantically like somethingbigis coming down the side of the ridge, knocking them aside in its wake.
No way.
I look over at Tony and mouth the words, “Are you seeing this?”
When he glances at me, his eyes are just as wide as Darren’s, and he shakes his head with disbelief. My mind races to come up with a reasonable explanation for what could be knocking those trees around like that. Elk? Maybe if it’s a whole herd. A moose? Bears?
I start backing away. Everything I’ve read says only black bears live in these mountains, and they would be far too small to cause that much movement.
Just before whatever is coming toward us should have burst out of the tree line, everything suddenly stops. Seconds stretch, and when nothing else happens, we slowly relax.
“Can you believe that?” I giggle nervously.
Brian barks out a single harsh laugh, and Tony lets out a relieved breath. “For a second there, I really thought–”
A throaty growl echoes from the darkness, preceding ahuge hairy creaturethat suddenly bursts through the trees, heading straight toward us.
Oh, shit?—
For a moment, we’re all frozen as we watch the creature's long arms swing angrily in time with his longer strides.And that’s not the only thing swinging.
My mouth drops open at the sight of the baseball bat-sized erection bouncing back and forth across his thighs with each step.
I give my head a shake, managing to drag my gaze away from his raging boner to his face. Heavy brows are dropped low over sharp eyes. His wide mouth is turned down at the corners in a—wait.
My heart starts pounding anew because Bigfoot and his swinging dick are coming straight forme.
I start to backpedal, trying to keep my balance without tripping on the uneven ground as he barrels toward me. Darren stands frozen while Tony and Brian snap to action to come to my rescue.
“Hey!”
“No!”
They yell, coming at him from the side, but the bigfoot merely uses a giant hand to easily shove them aside, knocking them to the ground, before colliding with me.
Big hands circle my waist, and I scream as he lifts me off my feet like I weigh nothing. I fight against him with everything Ihave, pushing at him with my hands and kicking out with my feet to no avail. He tosses me over his shoulder without missing a stride and breaks wide when my protectors come at him again. He just barely avoids them before disappearing back into the trees the way he came.
CHAPTER FOUR
SEAN
Twenty minutes earlier…
Ifall back into my recliner with a groan.
After hiking up and down the mountain, all I want to do is kick my feet up and watch some mindless show for the rest of the night. With a steaming bowl of stir-fry in one hand and the TV remote in the other, I pop the footrest up as I scroll through the satellite channels to the latest episode of the cowboy series I’ve been watching.
My brother and I have worked for the forest service since we were practically kids. And as card-carrying members of the Coast Salish peoples, we’re also kind of responsible for making sure the old treaties signed between the government and tribes are enforced. I’ve always taken that to mean we’re something like caretakers for this stretch of the Olympic range.
It’s already been a busy season, with warmer-than-usual weather, but the next couple weeks will be some of our busiest as tourists try to squeeze in their last-minute vacations beforethe kids have to go back to school. Trekking up and down the mountains is hard work, but as I’m getting older—I turned thirty-five just last month—I’m beginning to feel like something is missing. I don’t enjoy the mountains as much as I used to. I’ll always prefer the open spaces and nature to being stuck in the city, but lately I find myself getting…lonely up here all by myself.
Sure, I’ve got my brother for company, and the other rangers are as close as family, but that just means half the time we’re at each other’s throats. Not to mention, being this far from civilization makes it hard to find women. The ones who spark an interest usually aren’t looking to settle down. I used to be more than fine with the no-strings hook-ups. But I’m starting to find myself wanting somethingmore.
As the familiar score for the series starts to play, I dig my fork into the bowl of rice and veggies. The strong scent of ginger and soy sauce stings my nose, and my mouth waters in anticipation of the tangy-sweet flavor when suddenly, a loud scream cuts through the quiet night.
My hand pauses in front of my wide-open mouth.
