Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

“Like you haven’t,” Ace shot back.

Nick’s insecurities skyrocketed as he was faced with the decision of whether to tell his best friend his biggest secret or not. Taking a deep breath, he rushed out the words, “I can’t get it up.”

“Say what now?” Ace was shocked.

Looking up the mountain they were about to venture onto, he confessed quietly, “About a year after you left, I tried. Dated a girl for a couple of months. Nothing doing, though. Not even a fucking twitch.”

Embarrassment rocked through Nick as he whistled for Roxie to lead, knowing she’d find hikers before them. The wind whipped through the trees signaling the impending storm.

“We better hurry,” he comments, not giving Ace a chance to respond.

Not a twitch. Nick’s words played back in Ace’s mind. He always wondered if they’d been fucked up somehow, always sharing women, neither experiencing pleasure without the other. He was relieved to know he wasn’t the only one with performance anxiety.

“I can’t either, man,” he shares, hoping they can figure shit out. Watching Dom and Dee and then Case and Ev find each other then work through all their crazy shit, left him wanting the same. Call it envy or jealousy, the end result was the same; he wanted a woman. It was a huge reason behind why he had returned home. He knew they were meant to share their one—their special person. He had a funny feeling it was going to be soon, too. At least, something was.

Nick’s steps faltered at his own confession.

“We’re in this together, yeah?” he asked without looking back.

Nick might be older by two years, but Ace knew their fears were the same. Clapping a hand on his shoulder, he reassured him. “We’ll find her.”

His cousin didn’t respond, and Ace could practically feel his doubt. He couldn’t blame him, though. The years had been rough and spending them apart hadn’t helped in their search. They had zero requirements f

or a woman other than treating them both with mutual respect and never trying to play them against each other. Unfortunately, that might be too much to ask for.

As they climbed the trail, they ran into three unsuspecting hikers. Hopefully, they heeded their warnings. Search teams wouldn’t be able to access the mountain again for what could become days.

Roxie’s panicked barking alerted them to trouble before they noticed a shape nestled in some trees a hundred metres ahead. Seeing a trail of blood, he figured on a dead animal.

“What the –,” Ace began.

“Fuck?” Nick finished.

Wrapped in a soaking wet blanket and half-covered in snow was a body with sock-clad feet stuck out at the end. If it hadn’t been for the dog, he didn’t think they’d have seen it.

Rushing towards the person, they began unwrapping the body. Stunned upon the reveal, their eyes met for a brief moment before Nick took off his backpack to retrieve the extra supplies he’d brought, and he began his search for a pulse.

Gently brushing the hair away from her face, her quiet beauty distracted him for a quick minute. Dark hair with natural red highlights gave her a glow under the blue hue from the cold. An upturned nose and thin, yet plump, lips had his heart racing. With full cheeks, she was a stunner. Covered in bruises, he could only imagine the hell she had endured to wind up abandoned in the middle of the mountains.

“Anything?” Nick asked him, breaking him from his perusal of her form. With the chill from her icy skin, he didn’t have much hope until…

Concentrating, he waited for it—There it was! A slight flutter, barely there.

“Got it!” he told Nick triumphantly.

“We have to get her inside and warmed up,” he replied, looking around them. “We need to come up with some kind of a stretcher first, something to keep her stable.” Passing over a neck brace and survival blanket, he told Ace, “Put these on her.”

Wrapping the blanket tightly around her wet body, he hoped it was enough to combat the cold he was sure had seeped into her bones already. Gently lifting her head, he slipped the cuff of the brace under her neck before strapping it around to protect any further damage to her spine.

Giving a whistle, Roxie ran over from where she was sniffing around a bush. “Down,” he told her, pointing to the woman’s side in hopes the dog’s body heat would help warm her up.

Standing up, he looked to see Nick collecting sturdy branches, so he joined the hunt. Once they had enough, they made quick work building a make-shift backboard by tying the sticks together with the climbing rope Nick had in his bag.

“This should do,” he told Ace. “Roll her to her side, and I’ll slip it under her.” They worked as one, strapping her on the board before he called it in to dispatch, telling them they were going back to Nick’s cabin.

The cuts and bruises all over her face were stark in the sunlight reflecting off the fresh snow as it fell. “Fuck,” Ace cursed, seeing the deep teeth marks in her cheek.

“What?” Nick barked out from his position leading the way down the mountain.