Mountain Savage, page 2
He took a step from her and held out her hands, exposing angry red lines where the rope had cut into the skin. What suspiciously sounded like a growl rumbled from his chest. Her heart started on a quick rhythm.
Ryder looked pissed but the anger wasn’t directed at her, she realized.
“We need to treat this.” Ryder paused, looking at her bloodied and dirtied feet. Lexi remembered she lost her sneakers somewhere in the woods. “Can you walk? If you can’t, I’ll carry you.”
Carry her?
Was that supposed to be a joke aimed at her weight?
Ryder looked dead serious though. Lexi would die of embarrassment if he had to carry her the entire way.
“I’m capable of walking on my own,” she lied.
She wanted, no needed to put up a brave front. To show this predator she wasn’t weak. Lexi had claws.
If he wanted to kill her, he would have done so already. Did he spare her for his own personal and selfish reasons?
Lexi didn’t understand it herself, but she grew certain Ryder wouldn’t hurt her. She felt safe around him. Lexi had been through hell. She was hurting, thirsty, and hungry.
Her mind must be playing tricks on her. That must be it. No other reason to explain her strange reaction to him.
She owed him her life. If Ryder hadn’t come along, it would be her corpse littering these woods. He seemed to know his way around. If Lexi ran now, she wouldn’t get very far. It took all of her strength to remain conscious.
She could play along. Let him help her. Once she got her bearings right and her senses back, Lexi would formulate an escape plan.
Escape?
Was she his captive?
Ryder hadn’t exactly spelled out what she was to him, but she didn’t think he’d let her go, not after she’d witnessed what he’d done.
He started taking off his boots while she stared at him.
Lexi couldn’t understand how Ryder could easily transform himself from a cold-hearted killer to a gentleman. He knelt in front of her. Lexi blushed by impulse.
Ryder could easily look up her torn dress. He’d be able to see exposed pussy, which started to become alarming wet for him. To his credit, Ryder kept his gaze trained on her feet.
With Ryder kneeling like this, she could pretend. He was her Prince Charming. Ryder came to rescue his missing princess in the forest.
Yeah right.
Dreams were nice but that was all they were.
He lifted her left foot and helped her into his boot. The boots were too big for her but the worn-in leather felt comfy. Ryder did her right foot next. She shivered, rubbing at the goosebumps that appeared across her arms.
Ryder noticed.
He didn’t ask her if she was cold. He mutely took off his flannel shirt and placed it over her chilled shoulders. Lexi tried her best to ignore the fact they both smelled like blood.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Ryder held out his hand to her, which she automatically took.
“What about the bodies?” She asked.
“The wolves and bears will take care of them.”
Lexi gaped at him like a fish.
“No one comes to my mountain. They wouldn’t dare. This land is mine.”
Lexi remembered passing by the dozens of ‘no trespassing’ signs while Ted and Buddy dragged her along.
Her two former captors had gotten easily lost in these woods. Ted said his private cabin was nearby but she guessed they got lost.
“Okay,” Lexi heard herself answer.
She was so tired that her vision started to sway. Lexi had a hard time trying to keep up with Ryder. She had a feeling he even slowed down to match her pace.
Lexi’s eyelids started to droop.
This was all a bad dream. That must be it.
Once she woke up, she’d be back at the shitty one-room apartment she shared with Cal. Her brother’s betrayal, Ted and Buddy, and even Ryder were merely a figment of her imagination.
“Ryder, can we slow down? I’d like to rest a little.”
Spots danced on her vision.
Lexi closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.
3
Lexi woke, terrified to find herself thrown away in some dirty ditch somewhere. She curled her fingers around the blanket wrapped around her body.
Warm sheets. She opened her eyes and sat slowly up. Simple but handsome wooden furniture stared back at her.
She was in his bed. His cabin. Ryder’s.
Lexi couldn’t forget the crazed, almost feverish look in his bright green eyes when he finished off her last captor. Now she was his prize.
Fear gripped her heart in a tight vice. Lexi breathed in and out. She told herself she’d find a way out of this mess. She had to.
If she did manage to claw her way out of this trap, then what?
Back to the single-room apartment, she shared with her asshole brother?
What if Cal decided to sell her again after racking up more debts?
A headache pounded at her skull. She massaged her forehead with her fingers.
One step at a time, she told herself. Lexi looked at herself. Ryder must have taken off the dirty clothes she’d been wearing the day before.
She had on an oversized shirt. Nothing else.
Goosebumps spread across the skin of her arms as she thought of Ryder touching her.
Lexi couldn’t erase the possessive look in his eyes when he gazed upon her. It didn’t feel wrong when he looked at her like that. This man might be a monster but he’d never hurt her unless she begged him to.
Something was still wrong with her head.
Her throat also felt unbelievably parched. Lexi licked at her dry lips. She swung her legs off the bed, almost certain she’d feel the tug of chain or rope around her ankle.
Nothing.
Her bare feet touched the smooth wooden floors. For a few seconds, her vision swirled. She gripped the metal headboard.
Lexi shut her eyes and counted to ten silently in her head.
She opened her eyes again.
There. Better.
She was just a little worn out, tired. That was all. Her body needed nourishment. She couldn’t imagine trying to run, barefoot and hungry, and only wearing his oversized shirt.
Lexi would easily get lost in the woods. Worse, she might trip over a branch or run into a wild animal that might decide she was its next meal.
Lexi walked to the opened doorway and halted. She listened intently for any sounds in the cabin.
She crept out of his room, out of the corridor, and into the living room. It was connected to an open kitchen. There was a small scarred table there, along with two chairs. Lexi guessed that was where he ate.
Ryder also left a plate of food for her, she noticed. Her stomach rumbled. Lexi didn’t realize she approached the table until the plate was staring at her in the face.
There was toast, eggs, and bacon on the plate. The food could be poisoned or drugged but physical hunger overwhelmed her. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate.
Lexi pulled out a chair and grabbed a fork. She bit on her lip, debating. She noticed the little note written on a torn scrap of paper under the plate. His handwriting was messy, barely legible.
“Eat up,” she read out loud.
Lexi couldn’t attempt escape on an empty stomach.
She picked up the fork and scooped some of the eggs into her mouth.
They were fluffy and soft.
She picked up the toast, nibbled on a little bit of bacon. In less than five minutes, her plate was empty and her stomach was full.
She picked up a glass drying on the rack by the sink and grabbed herself a cup of water. Then another.
Lexi finally heard it. A series of thuds. She froze, still holding the glass. Lexi heard that strange sound again. Lexi set the glass down.
She tiptoed to the back door connected to the kitchen and finally saw where Ryder was. Lexi opened the door as quietly as she could. For a few seconds, she simply watched him.
Ryder stood in the middle of his yard, wearing nothing but a pair of old jeans and work boots. Sweat glistened on his massive dirt-streaked chest. Ryder was breathing hard.
Veins stuck out from his muscled arms. Lexi didn’t know why she clenched her thighs together as she watched him wield a shovel with ease.
Moisture gathered between her pussy lips while she watched him work.
Even trussed up on the ground like a pig, she couldn’t forget the desire she felt for him after he finished Ted. How he reminded her of a savage and bloodthirsty warrior sent from above to punish the wicked.
Guilt and shame filled her. She’d never been this blindly attracted to any man before. Lexi couldn’t want a man who didn’t have any qualms about killing.
He hadn’t seen her yet. That was a good sign.
Lexi should devise a plan. Maybe search his home for keys.
Ryder must have some kind of vehicle, a truck, or a car.
How else could he get around?
Despite living up here in seclusion, Ryder must have a reason to head down to town for supplies.
Hell, Lexi would even take a motorcycle. Even if she didn’t know how to operate one, she’d learn.
She couldn’t tear herself away from the sight of Ryder digging. The hole wasn’t large enough for a human body.
Lexi was pretty sure he left Ted and Buddy’s corpses in the mountains. For all she knew, he returned for them after she fainted. Maybe Ryder buried them in a place where no one else could find them.
Good, a nasty voice she didn’t recognize, whispered in her head. Those two bastards deserved what they got.
Lexi shivered. It was colder up here in the mountains but a different sort of chill penetrated her body. It swept past her skin and went right into her bones.
All this time, she kept painting Ryder as a villain, but what about her?
She felt nothing for Ted and Buddy. Those two didn’t even see her a human being, only a possession they wanted to break. They would’ve killed her after they got what they wanted from her.
Ryder set his shovel down and turned to the bloody bundle behind him Lexi hadn’t noticed earlier. Her heart nearly stopped.
Another body?
It looked too small for an adult human being. He carried it with a gentleness she didn’t associate with a man like him. The wind lifted and Lexi caught sight of matted fur.
She relaxed.
An animal. Probably a dog.
Ryder lowered the corpse into the hole. All the tendons in his neck stood out as he stared at the dead animal.
Ryder bent his head and clasped his hands together. It almost looked like he was praying, although he didn’t strike Lexi as a religious sort of man.
He was in pain, that much was obvious. It hurt to look at him. Lexi wanted to walk up to him and hug him. He looked like he needed it.
Then she remembered that he killed two men to acquire her.
He saved you, she reminded herself.
“Thank you for being my friend, Missy,” he said.
Lexi stood rooted to her spot, unable to believe this was the same man from the day before.
Ryder couldn’t be so bad, right?
Ryder picked up his shovel again and piled more dirt into the hole until Lexi couldn’t see Missy anymore.
Then he looked right at her.
Shit.
He must’ve been aware that she’d been standing there all along. His expression wasn’t friendly. Lexi understood why.
She had intruded on a private moment. Lexi held his piercing gaze, knowing if she looked down, he’d take her for a weakling.
His huff of laughter surprised the hell out of her. The sound wasn’t pleasant, but almost jagged, forced. Ryder grabbed his shovel, then disappeared into a shack behind him. He returned, rubbing a towel into his face.
“You feeling better?” He finally asked, walking up to her.
With him standing so close to her, she became aware of how massive and tall he was. Lexi wasn’t tiny by any means but that was what she felt like, looking up at him.
Lexi took a deep breath. “Yes, tons. Tell me about her. Missy.”
Her question took both of them by surprise because Lexi swore she was about to ask him to let her go and gauge his reaction.
“She was a rescue,” Ryder said. “She’d been living in a cage for nine years. No one wanted her. They were about to put her down.”
“You got her from a shelter?”
Lexi’s mind was finally working again. So Ryder did go to town. He wasn’t always holed up in his mountain. Ryder had a ride she could borrow.
And after that? Would he chase her? Even if she escaped from his clutches, where would that leave her?
Lexi felt devious, cunning—unlike her at all. Here was this man, telling her things she doubted he would share with anyone else.
Lexi also owed Ryder her life and how was she repaying him?
By concocting plans for her potential escape. He must have his reasons for choosing to live out here on his own, so far away from the rest of civilization.
Lexi chewed on his words for a second.
“I know what loss is like. My mom passed away when my brother and I were kids. I still miss her every day,” she said.
“The same asshole brother who gave you to those two fuckers?” There was an edge to Ryder’s voice.
“Cal needs help. He’s a junkie,” she whispered. “Meth made him do it.”
She gasped when he clasped her wrist. Ryder tucked a finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“No one forced him. The asshole needed a way out and you were conveniently there.”
His words felt like a slap in the face. She jerked her hand away from his. Ryder didn’t look mad, only amused, like a predator toying with its prey.
“You know nothing about me, about us,” Lexi blurted
Why the hell was Lexi defending Cal?
Deep down, she knew Ryder was right. Her brother didn’t give a shit about her at all. Cal sponged off her like a parasite she didn’t know how to get rid of.
“Humans are complicated. Dogs are better companions,” Ryder muttered. “Missy distrusted me at first. She bit my fingers all the time, but eventually, she warmed up to me. So would you.”
Lexi planted her hands on her hips. “Excuse me, are you comparing me to a dog? Besides, you can’t keep me here. I’m not your prisoner.”
“You’ve seen me kill Ted and Buddy. I can’t let you leave. Ever.”
Lexi swore, which she never did. Good girls didn’t curse. That was what her mother taught her. “I’ll fight you until my very last breath. I’ll make it difficult.”
“Good,” he said. “I like a good fight.”
Lexi swallowed. Ryder began maneuvering her towards the cabin. Her back hit the wall. Ryder caged his big body against hers.
He placed both his arms on either side of her head. Ryder stared her down and all she could think about was the heat off his body and how her skin felt feverish.
Hot with need.
Lexi shouldn’t be turned on, but she had zero control over the way her body was acting.
Her nipples pebbled under the thin material of her borrowed shirt and she bet he could see them. Lexi swallowed involuntarily, aware of the moisture on her thighs.
“I can’t be attracted to you. Your hands are stained with blood,” she whispered.
Ryder only curved his lips to a smile. She glimpsed hunger in his bright green eyes, ravenous want.
If she caved, if she surrendered, she’d drown. Lexi would never be free of him. She was certain of it.
Would it be so bad? Asked that fiendish voice inside of her.
Lexi had nothing to return to. Only a drug-addicted brother eager to sell her again to the highest bidder if the need arose. Lexi had no other family, no real friends who gave a damn if she went missing.
Ryder only had to rip away the thin piece of clothing covering her body, the barrier that prevented their bodies from touching and he’d find out the truth.
He’d find out that Lexi was a dirty little liar who wanted him as much as he desired her.
4
“Aside from your brother, is there someone else waiting for you back at home?” Ryder asked.
She blinked, then fixed a glare at him that wouldn’t be able to scare a baby kitten.
Fuck, but that fire in her eyes did wonders to his aching cock.
Ryder had been aware she watched him dig Missy’s grave. She could’ve used that opportunity to look around his cabin, find another means of escape.
Instead, she asked him about his dog. Lexi even told him about her grief.
For those few seconds, Ryder connected with another human being—something he thought would never happen to him. Lexi opened up to him because she couldn’t stand seeing him in pain.
That right there was made his girl special. She cared. She was good. Ryder was the exact opposite. A better man would’ve let her go. Too bad Ryder wasn’t one.
He became more convinced she was his to keep. Ryder couldn’t have her tattling to the cops.
Her silence was answer enough.
“Why do you want to leave? We have everything right here. The rest of the world sucks but out here, no one will bother us.” He gestured to the forest surrounding his cabin. “You don’t have to worry about a little thing, sweetness. I’ll take good care of you.”
“Are you insane? We barely know each other and just yesterday, I saw you murder two men.”
“Old news,” he said in a dismissive tone. “What was the other option? Let them go? You were glad I took care of them. I saw it in your eyes. Don’t lie.”
Her breathing turned harsh. Ryder kept his gaze on her face because it took all of his self-control to look elsewhere. He wanted to touch her.
If he slid his hand right between her thighs, would he find her wet? Ryder bet he would.
He looked down. Her chest heaved. Damn, but he could see her tits poking out of his shirt. Lexi had such gorgeous breasts.
He could imagine lowering his head, taking one rose-colored nipple into his mouth and sucking hard on it until she cried out.
Ryder would do plenty of wicked and filthy things to that sweet virgin body of hers. Lexi wouldn’t stand a chance. She’d grow addicted to his touch, to his dick. Lexi wouldn’t ever want to leave him, much less look at another man.
