Baby For The Mountain Man

“How did you-?”

“Come with me,” he said.

He held out his hand for me and I took it within mine. I grabbed my suitcase and tossed it over my shoulder as we wove through the house. We went out the back entrance, avoiding Mom and Dad as we booked it for the far corner of our property. We ran until we couldn’t hardly breathe, and as we got passed the small amounts of brush, we came to a road.

And my car was sitting there with Finn and Lorenzo in it.

Hunter took my suitcase from me and stuffed it into my car. Finn and Lorenzo got out, then handed me an envelope. I opened it up and found a numerous amount of bills in it, and I gasped as tears streamed down my face.

“The first thing you need to do when you get to wherever you’re going is you need to change your phone number. Open your own account if you have to. Then? You call us. We want to know you’re okay,” Lorenzo said.

“That’s enough money to get you set up somewhere for a couple of months

. But if you do a nice extended stay hotel, you can get four months out of it,” Finn said.

I turned towards Hunter as tears streamed down my cheeks.

“What they’re doing to you is wrong, Ava. And if running is the only way you can get away-- if that’s the only way we can help you-- then that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.

“Because we’re your brothers. And we love you,” Finn said.

I hugged each of their necks tightly before Lorenzo ushered me into my car. I gave them one last wave before I left, watching them recede in my rearview mirror. It hurt to leave them. To watch them wave me off. This was what my life had come to. Running from the only life I had ever known-- the only family I had ever known-- just to try and make something better for myself. I sighed as I got out onto the main road, my head on a swivel as I tried to figure out where the hell I was going to go from here.

I wasn’t sure if I was ready for California anymore. But I did know where the last place was that I felt safe.

I followed my streets as best as I could remember them. But the torrential downpouring of rain concealed a lot of my memory. I wove through the mountains for three hours before I finally happened upon Travis’ cabin, and I grinned when his truck came into view. I stuffed the money I had into my purse before I grabbed it, then made my way for the porch.

I knocked furiously on the door until he opened up.

The door flew open and his eyes were wild. His sparkling amber orbs were looking around, preparing for some sort of fight. But as his eyes gazed down at me and he studied me closely, the happiness I thought I saw in his eyes quickly morphed into a slow-burning anger.

Then, his hand came up and cupped my cheek.

“What happened?” Travis asked.

My heart thundered in my ears as his thumb stroked my cheek. I could feel it swelling the more he began to manipulate it. His eyes danced around my face as I took in his strong form, my pelvis churning with a heat I’d never experienced before. My mind went blank as his eyes connected with mine, and I found myself at a loss for what to do.

Travis was beautiful and calm. He asked me questions and gave me options and never attempted to pressure me to do something he wished I would. Even though I had only been in his presence for snippets at a time, I knew he was a genuine person. A man who had been beaten down and broken, just like myself.

“Who hit you?” Travis asked.

I threw my arms around his neck and crashed my lips to his. Travis was the escape I needed. Travis was the distraction I so desperately wanted. If my father thought that he could sell off my virginity to the highest bidder, then I could take from him the one thing he thought gave him power.

I would give my virginity away to a man of my choosing, then I would let the pieces fall as they would.

As I kissed a man for the first time, allowing my tongue to dance along his lips, Travis slid his arms around my waist and picked me up. He carried me into his cabin and kicked the door closed behind him as the heat of his home blanketed me. His arms were strong. Throbbing against my back as he carried me down the hallway, our lips entangled as his tongue met mine.

For once, I was in control of my life. For once, I was excited for what was to come. For once, I was making my own choices.

And in that moment, I chose Travis.

Eleven

Ava

The door to his bedroom shut and we were cloaked in darkness. I could feel a heat pooling between my thighs I’d felt multiple times before. But I had never acted on it. I had never dared to try and figure out what was going on for fear that my father would find me. Come bursting into my room at any moment and catch me exploring myself. I stuck to reading books about my body. How a woman’s body was laid out and what everything was supposed to do. I knew my body in and out in a practical sense and in a sexual sense, but it had never been put to practice.

The only thing that made me appealing to my father’s business whims was the fact that I was still a virgin.