His eyes widened. He thought I’d say no. “You aren’t interested in hearing what the story is?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, feigning the confidence she didn’t feel as she tried to guess at the topic.
“Then you’re okay with reporting to your research assignment on location in a couple of days?”
“Yes. Will I get to travel?” She perked up at the thought of leaving town on the company dime.
He chuckled. “Not very far. You’ll be writing about living off the grid. There’s been a huge growth in the concept as prepping continues to grow, especially in our region.” In a way, Appalachian mountain folk could be considered the originators of living off the grid in a modern society. Many held to the old ways and lived a simple life off the land. Down here in town it was different, but a short drive up the mountain things were a different story.
“I’ve arranged for a month long stay with Thorn Finch. It was meant to be Alexa’s story, but I’m willing to be flexible.”
And now the truth comes to light. It was no secret, Alexa Ryan and Thorn were high school sweethearts. They’d made it two years into his service in the Marine Corps, when she sent him a Dear John letter because she couldn’t handle all the things that came with loving a military man. It had been quite the scandal when the golden couple failed to go all the way and she hopped right back into the dating scene. Fair or not, in their small community you were judged harshly by outdated standards. In Alexa’s case, she felt the comments were well deserved. It was never what she did, but the callous, calculated, and soul sucking way she went about it.
Men had just as many feelings as woman did. To lead them on, siphon their money, and all but leave them at the altar was cruel. She’d dub her the runaway bride, but things never got past the engagement period. Still a pretty face went a long way, and men continued to try to be the Prince Charming that awakened her icy heart. She thought Peter was smarter than that. Now she wondered if his feelings were thrown into the mix.
“Right, it’s out of the goodness of your heart you’re doing this,” she drawled sarcastically.
“Take it or leave it,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m taking it. I assume you aren’t going to update him on the switch?”
“No, that’s the part of seeing how you can deal with things on the fly.”
No, that’s you wanting to insure he doesn’t back out. She hated that he was using her to get back at a man who only wanted to be left alone. She went to school with Thorn Finch. He was a kind, considerate gentleman with a healthy dose of charisma and good looks. With his dark brown hair, square jaw, dimples, and manners, he’d had all the girls swooning. Once he settled with Alexa in junior year, that was it … much to the girls’ dismay. They’d been a power couple. He seemed to tame the once wild child, and the picture they made together was sickening, the way it always was when two insanely beautiful beings found love.
He came back to town a shadow of his former self. Reclusive, curt, and uninterested in mainstream life, he retreated to the woods, bought a plot of land, and went into business teaching others how to survive. He also took groups out into the woods to test their skills on overnight trips. Survivalists were increasing in demand as prepping ramped up and folks retreated from suburbia and cities.
His gruffness put folks off. Not because he was rude as much as the extreme change in his countenance. They felt it made him dangerous in some way—like he was unhinged rather than changed by his environment. Like always, the rumors flew. People began to go out of their way to avoid him and over time he’d become the town hermit and wounded hero.
Thorn Finch was the precautionary tale people told young boys looking to go into the military. She wasn’t sure what his job was in the Marines, but the pain and horror in his shell shocked eyes the last time she spoke to him in town, led her to believe it was something heavy.
I’m making a deal with the devil and in the end we’re both going to lose when I show up and he’s expecting Alexa. How in the hell am I going to keep him from turning around and disappearing back into the forest with a big fuck the Daily?
“Give me all the details so I can prepare.” She refused to show Peter how ruffled she was.
“You really are in it to win it, aren’t you?” he asked. The disbelief in his voice made her even more determined to prove him wrong.
/> Get ready, big boy, you’re going to be eating crow when all is said and done.
“Absolutely. If you can send me the information I’ll need to begin preparation, I’d appreciate it.”
“I can do that and better. You’re free to leave now. You’ve got a lot to do in a short amount of time.” A smug smile tugged the corners of his mouth up.
“Perfect, thank you.” She stood up from the desk and strode to the door with purpose. She wanted a shot and she got it. Sure it might’ve been because he didn’t want to see his boo thang in the middle of nowhere with her ex, but that in no way changed the importance of the opportunity he gave her. She had to knock this out of the park or he might find a way to wiggle out of their agreement.
***
Thorn
He wiped his sweat-coated palms onto his olive green khaki pants and surveyed his home objectively. Any way he spun it, the place screamed bachelor’s pad. The small wooden cabin was modest and bare, but he kept it clean. He’d added running water thanks to the well he’d dug. He chose the land he built his home on very carefully. It took patience, time, and hours of back breaking labor to produce a comfortable dwelling he could be proud of. His self-sufficient lifestyle never left time for idleness. He preferred the steady pace. It helped keep his mind engaged and his hands busy. When he returned to civilian life after ten years of service, he’d been sick to death of people and political correctness, and the chaos that came from lack of discipline and order.
The things he saw and did haunted him. As a sniper, he’d done the unthinkable again and again. It stained him with a darkness he could never rinse off. He lost himself in those remote locations with no backup and one chance to get it right. Being distant, cold, and calculated left him closed off. It was necessary at the time to remain sane. Trying to leave that all behind had been trial by fire. Everyone expected him to be the boy who’d left. They didn’t understand what he’d gone through, how profoundly it had changed him, or why.
They had so much training and instruction when he joined and next to none when he was spit out. Lessons pounded into his skull and placed deep in his muscle memory did not simply dissipate because he was no longer on the payroll. Healing meant stripping down to the very core of who he was, deciding what mattered, and rebuilding upon that new foundation. Most avoided him, but not Alexa. She hadn’t cared about his beard, strange ways, or town gossip, though it had never been more than satisfying sex.
Then, it was all he had to offer. She wasn’t looking for more, so they both got what they needed. Two years later of hot and cold he felt ready to ask for more. It was happenstance when Peter approached him about doing a story that focused on life off the grid. If he could get her out here for month and show her how normal it could be, he’d have a shot.
She’d always been on the high maintenance side, but neither of them was getting any younger and he was starting to get the itch to settle down and create a family of his own. He ran his fingers through his long hair and over his beard. If he wanted a snowballs chance in hell of nabbing her permanently he needed to do some maintenance. He walked into the bathroom and examined himself in the mirror. It’s time to stop hiding. Reaching into his hygiene kit left over from the Corps, he removed his beard trimmer.