Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

DYLAN

Sunlight streamed through the open bedroom window, waking me up. Stopping for a second, I trained my ears to listen for Hallie. She’d spent the night, not that we’d gotten a lot of sleep, but the cabin was quiet. So quiet, in fact, I wondered if she’d left so I got out of bed and put on the jeans and boxers from the night before checking the front of the cabin.

“Hallie,” I called out a few times and was just about to look out the window when my cell started ringing on the island where I’d discarded it with my keys.

Roman Williams name illuminated the screen, and I sighed.

“What’s up, brother,” I asked as I checked out the window to see if Hallie’s car was still parked outside. It was, but I had little time to ponder the reason why her car was still here, but she wasn’t in the cabin.

“Have a good night?” Roman asked, something about his tone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Meaning?”

“Oh, you want to play games then. How’s this for a game? We’ve decided to change the plan since you couldn’t seem to seal the deal yourself,” Roman said, ominously.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Brett and I have your pretty little girlfriend up here at grandpa’s cabin. We’re about to call her daddy,” Roman said.

Rage blinded me as I clenched my mouth and said, “I was handling it. Today as a matter of fact, it wasn’t going to be kidnapping!”

“Yeah, right, little brother. Like you were all about the plan. We knew you’d caught feelings for her. No way it would have taken so long otherwise.”

“You think it's so simple to set the stage for such a big ask. It takes time. Now you’ve both fucked the whole thing up. Her father is a motherfucking lawyer for Christ’s sake. Do you think he won’t involve the cops!” My anger was palpable.

Roman and Brett’s impulsiveness would get them killed one day. My brothers, fraternal twins, were born a year before me. They’re wild natures were precisely why my uncle had me managing the Boilermaker instead of them.

The land in question was a patch of 20 acres on the Michaelson property that we needed to allow a logging site on our side. We’d been offered a lucrative contract, but Lance Michaelson had refused to see us to discuss. He didn’t care what we wanted to do or the money it would offer him as we negotiated a leasing agreement. With all the land the Michaelson’s had, they wouldn’t miss it. The fuckers had a trust in place, so they’d never needed the money like my family had.

“It’s done,” Roman said.

“Don’t do anything crazy. I’m on my way!”

My grandfather’s cabin was about a mile from the waterfall where I’d met Hallie for the first time. The cabin was rustic with an outhouse, which was mostly used for hunting. At the time, meeting Hallie had seemed like a good sign that we might get to close the deal from the logging company. None of us knew Lance Michaelson had a kid, but it felt like an in for us to finally get her father to listen to our deal. Lance wasn’t a fan of my family, and it wasn’t because of some old scandal. Our father’s had gone to school together and if my father was to be believed, Lance hated that my mother had chosen him instead. Who the hell knew if that were true. My mother had left us before my 5th birthday. Her loss had definitely affected the twins more than me, but my father still would go on binders a few days on the anniversary of when she’d gone down the mountain. My stepmother always conveniently had a trip to Charlotte planned to see her family around that time. Not that I could blame her, my dad’s mood swings when he was drinking sucked.

“Here goes nothing,” I said to myself as I got out of my Jeep. To say I was dreading this conversation was an understatement. I heard a commotion and started running. My brother, Roman, was holding Hallie from behind, and she kicked out with her legs trying to unbalance him. Brett was on the floor, cupping his balls. Both my brothers had played football and were still as bulky as they’d been back in the day, so I was impressed that she’d been able to get the better of Brett.

“You!” Hallie screamed as soon as she saw me.

“I can explain, Hallie,” I said, giving her my best smile and holding up my hands. “Can Roman let you go, so we can talk?”

Hallie stilled, but Roman didn’t remove his arms.

“That bitch kicked me,” Brett said, standing up, keeping his distance from the wild storm of Hallie.

“You fucking deserved it, you bastard. What the fuck is going on here?” Hallie's raised voice engulfed the space around us.

“Look, I’m going to ask my brothers to give us some space. I need you to be calm so they can walk away.”

Hallie nodded her head slightly, the anger radiating off her evident. I dropped my hands and gestured for my brothers to exit the cabin. Within a few seconds, they’d both high tailed it out, slamming the door. Hallie and I were alone.

“I know this is crazy. I don’t even want to know how they got you up here, but I promise you're going to be okay!”

Hallie turned her head at me, giving me a sharp look, but she didn’t move so I took a chance and moved closer to her. She needed to know that I would never hurt her. I’d never let anyone hurt her.

“So, you used me?” Hallie’s voice was matter of fact without a hint of emotion, but her eyes told me a different story.

So, I moved closer to her so I could wrap her in my arms. My mistake, since I’d apparently given her the exact thing she’d been waiting for, she socked me right in the eye with her fist and it stung like a motherfucker. Wincing, I moved away from her.

“Okay fair, but you’ve got to know how I feel about you.”

Hallie started laughing, so hard in fact she bent forward, her hands on her knees. I waited for her to be done, apparently the stress of the situation was making her oscillate between emotions.

“Oh, that’s priceless. You expect me to believe you just happened upon me at the waterfall. That you didn’t have an ulterior motive for getting me to trust you, let you in, let you fuck me! All the while your brothers were waiting in the wings, biding their time until they could force me into their car, driving me to the middle of fucking nowhere. While they rambled on about how my father would give them the land now.”

“I know this looks bad, sweet Hallie. I promise my love for you is real,” I said, keeping my distance. It wasn’t hard to imagine Hallie rushing over to the wall to grab one of the hunting knives to stab me.

“Looks bad! I guess my father is right, your family is nothing but a bunch of criminals,” she said, bunching up her fists as she swung her body forward, screaming. When she calmed, she looked at me, daggers in her eyes.

“Are you done?”

“What?” Hallie asked. I’d at least caught her attention. Fuck, this girl was gorgeous all sexy and flustered, I’d taken her off guard. Good, that’s exactly how I wanted her. Within seconds, I had her in my arms.

She started to struggle, but I refused to let go. “I fucking love you! This started as a chance to convince your father to meet with us to discuss a business proposition, but it stopped being about that the second time we’d met. I liked you. The more time we spent together, the more I wanted that time to never end. I don’t care if your father never gives in. We can leave this place today, if you want. But please give me another chance!”

“How can I trust you, after all this?”

Hallie wasn’t hugging me back, but she was no longer struggling and that encouraged me.

“Then give me a chance to show you. We can start over. Besides, sweet Hallie, I know your secret!”

Hallie pushed back, and I let her so I could see her eyes. She let me grab her hands, so that was something.

“What secret is that?”

“You love me just as much as I love you!” I gave her the smile she seemed to love so much. Hope sprang into my chest for the first time since getting the call from Roman because Hallie’s face softened, and she squeezed my hands.

“Fuck! You're lucky I do love you!” She said and hugged me.

Nothing was resolved with our families, but at that moment, I knew we’d figure it out.

The End