Thank you for reading Enjoy
Chapter 8
Mia
Now I know what a boggled head is. "Oh God, I'm going to be sick!"
Rushing to the bathroom, I kneel in front of the toilet and wish to never see another glass of whiskey again in my life. Why did I drink that stuff? I know better than to drink alcohol!
"Stupid! I'm stupid!" I whine with my head resting on the cold porcelain of the tub.
"Mia! Are you up?" The overly cheerful voice makes my head pound even more.
Groaning in pain, I curl up in a ball on the bathroom floor and wish for the world to just swallow me up and leave me alone for the rest of the week, or month, possibly the next year.
"Mia? Oh, honey, are you okay?" Her voice softened immensely when she found me.
Thank goodness she has taken pity on me. Maybe she will hide me from having to face the others this morning. I can't face Cole. He'll only scold me for drinking too much and then he'll say I can't handle this. Which I've obviously proven that I can't.
"You get back into bed, I'll get Georgia's secret remedy, you'll be good as new before the others get here. I promise." Brynn holds out her hand to me to help me up.
"You won't tell Cole, will you?" I question her, painfully opening one eye to see her face. "He's going to do the whole 'I told you so' male thing and I don't think I can handle that right now."
"Cross my heart, I won't say a word," she actually crossed her heart.
Smiling just a little because even that hurt my face, she helped me get to my feet and back to bed. A few minutes later I had a cold cloth on my eyes, the black out blinds that I didn't know I had were closed and Brynn went out for this miracle cure. I could kiss her.
I don't know how long she was gone. I thankfully fell back to sleep. And now I'm determined to buy myself some black out blinds for myself, because I love them. I barely heard them moving around the room. I knew it was Brynn, I recognized her perfume. And by voice, I assumed it was Aubrey, minus Chance, with her. Beckett must be downstairs with the baby. Which means so are the others.
"He's here, isn't he?" I groaned without opening my eyes.
"Not yet, but I expect he will be soon. Leo is distracting him for the moment at the restaurant thanks to Georgia. So let's get this in you and you'll feel better soon," Brynn held up a glass of something that looked green, thick and disgusting.
"What is it?" I sat up while my head spun then throbbed. My stomach churned and wanted to revolt against me.
"Don't ask, just know it works. I can tell you from experience, I've taken it myself. It works fast, but don't smell it, and don't take time to taste it. Just chug it down. Trust me," Brynn gave me a sympathetic nod of encouragement.
This is going to be bad.
I should have listened to her but the minute she said don't do it, I had to sniff, I had taste. I thought I was going to puke but Aubrey was faster than I was. She stepped in, by holding the back of my head and the glass to my mouth, she forced me to chug it down.
In the end, after gagging and gasping for air with tears in my eyes, I finished the glass of sludge. I don't know what Georgia puts in her magical, horrible tasting, nasty concoction but it works. I felt better almost instantly. Better than I thought I would. I don't want to know what I drank simply because I think I truly will be sick if I know what I ingested but I am thankful I can walk downstairs and face Cole without looking green.
Georgia smiled at me and gave me a big hug when I came into the kitchen. "There's our brave girl! And how are you feeling this morning, sugar? You look spry and sassy! Ready to go fishing?"
"I'm good, thank you," and bless you, I wanted to say but I think she knew that by the squeeze of her hand and the wink of her eye. "I've got my special blueberry pancakes for you this morning and candied bacon oatmeal. You need fortification for the day. And you deserve a reward. I know just how awful that stuff is. But like most medicines they taste awful but they do the job."
Cole watched every move I made as I walked around the kitchen, picking up a glass of juice, a slice of bacon, a bowl of fruit. All kinds of goodies waiting to nibble on. When I finally took my seat, Cole, Ethan, and Leo were paying very close attention to me.
"You aren't hung over?" Leo asked, curiously.
"Headache? Stomach ache? Overly icky?" Ethan asked, wondering the same thing.
"Leave her alone, not everyone is a lightweight," Brynn shoves Ethan's shoulder.
"It's not like she had that much," Aubrey stood up for me as well.
"I believe our Mia just proved she's got the guts of a Bradford woman!" Georgia looked over her shoulder at me grinning, "Now eat up! We've got a trap to set!"
And a trap we had.
Cole was true to his word. He refused to let me go it alone. He couldn't be physical with me but he was on the phone with me the entire time. I used my earbud, so it wouldn't be obvious, but he was hidden in a hunter's blind. I don't know where, I couldn't see him but he was talking to me.
"I'm right here, Mia. I can see you. You aren't alone. Beckett's just east of you, and Leo is north. We're right here," he assured me.
I looked around the trail but saw nothing. I don't even know where I am. I've only walked the trails out here once and that was when I first moved here. I thought I should get familiar with my surroundings, I thought I could become one with nature and all that. Apparently nature doesn't like me.
"Just walk. Just a walk in the woods. You can do this," Cole says in my ear.
"I am walking," I just need a minute to get my bearings.
"Don't go left, Mia! That's a harder hike. You want the easiest hike. Go right," Cole instructs me.
Rolling my eyes, I turn to my right and follow his instructions. " Now, curve left." Doing as he says, he continues with this, step by step directions as I go down the trail. It's not just starting to bug me but it's getting to the others. "Take a right here."
"Really? I thought I'd walk into the bush!" The sarcasm came out before I could stop it.
"Leave her alone, Cole," Ethan warns him softly. "Go where you want, honey."
"I'm just helping her. She's not a hiker!" Cole is really defensive this morning.
"She knows how to follow a trail, leave her be!" Leo agrees with Ethan.
Frustrated Cole doesn't back down, "I don't want her getting lost!"
"How can she get lost when we're right here to help her?" Ethan reasons.
He has a good point.
Cole is determined to make this hard though. "And if she makes a wrong turn? Who is going to get her turned back around?"
"We will! You seem to forget how many times we've done exactly that for hikers! Cole, we know you're worried. So are we but you have to trust her and trust us," Leo attempts to smooth the ruffled feathers.
"In other words, back off or get off the phone, Cole." Beckett warns him.
Cole isn't wrong. I'm not a hiker. I got lost on the trail that only other time I was out here and on my way trying to find my way back a massive storm hit. I got stuck out there for three days before the search team found me. Ethan and Leo with Aubrey's dog, Lump, were on the team. That's how I met them. I haven't been out here since.
"I'm just trying to help her!" Cole growls at them.
"Well stop, you're being an overprotective dick," Leo grumbles quietly. "Heads up! We've got company guys."
"Where?" Beckett whispered. I'd like to know that too.
"Coming in from the west, Mia, you're doing great, honey. Just keep going," Leo encouraged me.
Not really helpful though.
"Mia, are you okay?" Cole's voice whispers in my ear.
"Yeah, it's just weird having you in my head like this," I mutter, wandering down the trail. I'm supposed to be enjoying a hike by myself. I've never enjoyed a hike by myself or anyone else.
"Look around, look at the plants, pay attention to where you are, Mia," Ethan instructs me. At least that's useful.
I looked at the hawk soaring overhead. That was beautiful. The freedom that bird must feel up there. I got out the binoculars that Brynn handed me as I left and got a closer look. Wow! Those are some sharp looking talons and a big beak. Just as I looked at the beak the hawk bit down on the head of a mouse.
Maybe not so peaceful as they look.
Keeping the binoculars around my neck, I look around some more. There's other animals in the preserves. Wild animals that are hungry and need to eat. I might be a meal for them. Stepping back on some tree roots, I missed my step and tripped and fell backwards into a bush. Letting out a scream as I tumbled, head over heels, I popped up with twigs in my hair and tried to save face but it was too late.
"Great! That was really graceful, Mia!" Chastising myself, I forgot about being on the phone with the guys. "You just had to make a fool out of yourself again, didn't you? It's not enough that Brynn had to save your butt this morning with that horrible sludge but now everyone knows that you can't take two steps without tripping all over yourself! You're an idiot, Mia! You're a fucking idiot!"
"Are you okay, Mia?" Leo was the brave soul who broke the silence and made me feel like burying myself in the bushes.
"Shit!" I realized everyone just heard all of that! Slapping the palm of my hand against my forehead I end up puncturing my skin with a thorn. "Ow! Shit!"
"Mia? Are you okay?" Beckett repeated the question.
"Besides being thoroughly embarrassed and covered in burrs, I'm just fine, thanks," I answered, pulling a few of the little thorns from my skin and wished for a deep hole to fall into. Crap now they know about this morning! Can I just crawl under a log and hide now?
"It happens to all of us, honey." Ethan tries to make me feel better but I know it's not true. I've never seen Brynn or Aubrey like this.
"So you were hung over, huh?"
"Shut up, Cole!" All three of them scolded him.
"I was just asking! She shouldn't have been drinking!" Cole defended himself.
"You're being an ass, dude! You might want to check your own image in the mirror, before you go judging someone else. You aren't in a position to judge anyone else," Beckett is good about calling people out without being rude about it. I appreciate that.
Moving on, I continue listening to the guys banter back and forth about me. They don't need me to be in this conversation. They seem to know exactly what I need and should do without my opinion on the matter. That only annoys me more.
Bending down, I start to touch some pretty flowers and greenery and get their attention away from the conversation. Suddenly I'm immediately getting yelled at again. "Stop!" "Don't touch that!" "That's poison ivy!" "Don't you know better! Good God, Mia!"
Fed up with being told I'm doing everything wrong, I pull the earbud out of my ear. I can't do this with them yelling at me. I'm not a hiker. I'm not a nature girl like Aubrey or a great cook like Brynn. I don't have the family and fancy experience of Quinn or the down to earth lifestyle of Georgia. Maybe I was wrong about doing this but I can't do it if I'm getting yelled at. I know that much.
Getting back on the trail, I start walking. No earbud. No backup. No idea where I'm going. I'm going to keep moving and I have to hope they have my back because I have to trust them. But I can't listen to them anymore.
As the trees close in and the sun gets blocked out, I start to worry. I wonder if they can still see me. Have they started to follow me? Or did they get mad because I took out the earbud?
The snap of the twig got my attention and I stopped walking. Looking around I realized just how alone I really was out here. Listening to the woods around me, I wondered what made that noise. An animal? A person? Was it one of the guys or someone else?
As I started moving again, I heard it again, this time someone was coming closer to me. They were moving in, hunting me. I was the bait, I reminded myself. I was the one who was being hunted.
They took the bait, I just have to hope that my fishermen hadn't tossed away their rods and were still on the other end of the line.
Please remember to vote comment and share