The Bite (Book 1)

CHAPTER TWO

"I didn't see a sign. I thought this was a campsite."

He cocked his head, bright-silver eyes looking at me as if this whole conversation was a thorn in his foot. "Well, this is my property and you can't be here."

"I could be gone before the morning—"

"No can do, miss." He dug out another cigarette from the pack in his back pocket. "You can't stay here."

I nodded slowly. His new cigarette flared to life, smoke starting to twist from the end. "I was looking for my friend's cabin. Got lost looking for it—the map was hard to—I just need a place to sleep for tonight."

Jesus Christ, get it together, Charlotte.

I felt his gaze shift to my black eye. I knew he could see it. It may have been getting dark, but he wasn't that far away. It was like I could feel his gaze tracing the outline of it. My feet nervously toyed with a few rocks on the ground. "You're a long ways from cabins, girl. How the hell did you get out this far?"

"Trying to follow a map." I was still half shocked that I'd made it this far. "I turned wrong at the fork . . . I think?"

He nodded as something flickered in his eyes, but it passed too quickly for me to recognize it.

"There's a campsite about a mile from here. It will be on your right. In the morning, just go back down this road. At the fork, you take a right, not a left, and that will spit you out on the main county road that leads up to the vacation cabins."

I backtracked to my car. "Thanks," I answered. I would go find Shirley in the morning. She could probably help me find the cabin during the daylight.

"Don't mention it," he replied while a cloud of smoke left his lips. "Keep an eye out!" he called after me. I looked over my shoulder. "It's getting dark. Wouldn't want any wild animals to get ya."

I didn't have to call Nate. I could hear him laughing in my head as Ted and I hauled ass out of there. His laughter was stifling until I pressed a finger to the button of the sunroof to open it. Fresh air poured in and quieted my racing mind, for now at least.

The campsite that the creepy old man had told me about was, in fact, exactly a mile away. It wasn't ideal. I wasn't a fan of being out on my own in the middle of the wilderness. But here, in the four walls of my car, I was far from Nate and in a place where I could easily escape if he showed up. Maybe it was the exhaustion or maybe it was the little bit of sanity I had left slipping, but right now this was my safe haven. He couldn't corner me here. He couldn't trap me in a room with only one door. I had four doors and my feet could easily reach the gas pedal.

Shirley's to-go package was tucked away safe in the passenger seat, and I was quick to lock all the doors before I pulled out my sleeping bag. It wasn't the sleek silver Mercedes that I had traded in for Ted, or the high-priced condo with a view overlooking the ocean that Nate loved, but it was a cozy den of my own.

My eyes started to drift as I watched the stars through the open sunroof. The air was cool, too cool for comfort, so I slid the sunroof cover shut before I snuggled down in my seat. The land of sleep called me away to the bliss of my mother humming to me while she stroked my hair. A bliss that was barely enjoyed before it was broken by a distant howl.

My eyes cracked open. Darkness clouded the car, seeping into it. I pulled the sleeping bag tighter around me while my sleepy eyes tried to blink awake.

Another howl sounded. Closer. Close enough that my eyes snapped wide-awake. Only the dark forest stared back at me, like open water. I could see the faint outline of branches swaying in the wind, but only silence was layered onto the blanket of darkness around me.