Page 9 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 1
Trinity
We’d just finisheda dinner that included rabbits and even a few geese. Their hunting skills hadn’t surprised me. I was just confused as to why they had all tried to act so naive when they seemed to know more than I did about surviving in the outdoors.
Boyle and Owen were the ones who had brought in the rabbits. When I’d asked how they’d caught them, Boyle just winked, and Owen smirked. The two women in the group, Maggie and Brenda, had returned with the geese. But as far as I knew, none of them had a weapon besides knives.
So how the hell did they kill them?
Josh, Ian, and Brian had gone with me. I’d shown them how to make traps to catch rabbits and then how to kill them quickly and efficiently once we had caught them. I’d thought I’d heard them snicker behind me, but when I’d turned around, they had been solemn and watching me intently.
As the evening got darker, I wandered away from camp, observing the stars from beneath the trees. They were so beautiful, clear, and crisp. There was no light pollution to dim them. If I could live out here forever, I would. But every now and again, I wanted to hear some city noise.
I’d been alone all my life, and I wasn’t about to spend the rest of my existence wandering through the wilderness with no one around at all. I could do it for a while, maybe, but not forever.
Away from the fire, I was cold, so I wrapped my arms around my body. I didn’t want to go back to the campsite yet. I needed a few moments to get a grip on my thoughts before they spiraled too far out of control.
Josh and his team weren’t threatening. They were just unusual. I’d dealt with plenty of oddball people before. Hell, I was one too. Few people would consider what I did daily as normal.
A smile lit my lips as I thought about the past few years of working for the agency and all the places I’d gone, exotic locations very few people had ever heard of.
The life I led was incredible.
I noticed a few clouds rolling in from the west, and I took a deep breath and then exhaled, letting go of all the stress that had built up since this trip started.
Everything is going to be fine. It always is.
There had been only one time when things hadn’t gone according to plan, and I would think about it every time before I set out on a trip.
“You seem to be deep in thought,” Josh remarked right behind me.
I jumped, startled. “Shit.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“You’re just so damn quiet.” Leaning against a tree, I turned my gaze back upward. “I was just thinking about life. I do that a lot when I’m out here.”
“Understandable. It’s so quiet with no one around to bother you.”
I nodded in agreement and then glanced at him. “Well, except for you.”
“Ouch.” He smirked. “Now that one hurt. I can go away if you’d like?”
“No, you can stay.”
He walked over to me and looked up at the stars. “What were you thinking about so intently?”
“The reason I’m always telling you and your team to be careful,” I shared.
“What happened?”
I breathed out heavily and hung my head as I remembered that trip to the mountains. We had been in the Rockies, and everything had happened so quickly. It was a miracle no one died.
“I was in charge of a large group like this. We were hiking high in the Rockies. A storm came out of nowhere, and there was a rockslide. One of the younger members of my group got pinned. I stayed with him through the entire thing, holding his hand. Despite all my hoping and praying, I was sure I was going to lose him, but then help finally arrived.” I shuddered, remembering when they’d pulled him free. His legs had been so mangled that I’d recognized he’d never walk again.
Josh reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Trinity, but you don’t have to worry so much about us. We’ll manage.”
I just laughed. “Yeah, I’m kind of realizing that.”
I laid my hand over his. His fingers closed around mine as he stepped nearer.
