Page 10

Chapter Ten

After Maddox left, I wondered where and how we’d manage to be alone for some sexy times because the moment I walked back in the trailer, Abaddon harangued me, “Why were you gone so long? I’ve been waiting forever.”

But even his bitching couldn’t ruin my good mood. The lightness lasted throughout the next morning and increased as I got closer and closer to seeing Maddox again.

Leo remarked on my eagerness to leave work. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you in such a rush to get home before.”

Since I wasn’t ready to divulge my plans, or my burgeoning relationship with Maddox, I lied. “I’ve got a handyman coming to look at the damage to my trailer from the volcano.”

“I thought it emerged unscathed.”

“It did, but there’s a huge dent on the roof that I’m worried about with winter coming.”

“When are you going to build that house?” Leo knew of my plans.

“Soon. I’ll be shopping designs and contractors before the fall most likely, so we can start in the spring.” Assuming I hadn’t relocated by then.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Bye-a.” I fled and drove a little too fast to get home, arriving well before my planned meeting time with Maddox.

Since our tryst the day before, I’d had time to not only relive it—to my panty’s detriment—I’d also decided no matter what, I was paying back the favor either with my mouth on his cock, or his dick in my pussy. It didn’t seem fair I’d gotten pleasure and he went home blue balled.

Not today.

By the time Maddox arrived—early, I should add—I’d fed Abaddon, found an old knapsack to stuff him into until we at least got into the forest, changed into some hiking gear—old worn jeans, shit-kicker boots, and a henley—and changed my underwear into something sexy—and dry.

Maddox looked yummy as always in his snug denim and a red plaid shirt. He exited his truck, carrying a loaded backpack and a grin.

“Hey, sexy. Ready to go on a nature walk?”

“Hell yeah I am. Give me a second to grab my bag.” I entered the trailer to find Abaddon sulking.

“I don’t see why I have to be stuffed away,” he complained.

“Because we don’t know if anyone’s watching.” I’d not seen signs of spying but I remained leery since the visit of the RCMP. “Best we don’t take chances. I’ll let you out soon as we’re in the forest. Just so you know, we’ll be going east of the trailer and entering the woods by that really big pine.”

“Whatever,” he moped, crawling into the bag.

I exited with my heavy—and grumbly—bag and joined Maddox.

“Ready?”

I nodded. We set off at a brisk pace, just two people going for a hike. Although, I did wonder what anyone watching would think when we returned with his bulging pack empty. Here was hoping I didn’t have spying eyes on my property.

The forest in early fall always delighted. From the crisp scents to the colors, it dazzled the senses. It also reminded me how long it had been since I’d taken the time to literally smell and touch nature. I’d been so caught up in work that I’d forgotten how relaxing it could be.

Until a shrill voice interrupted. “I smell wood. Can I get out now?”

I glanced at Maddox. “What do you think?” The forest surrounded us and I heard and saw nothing out of place.

“Probably safe enough.”

I knelt and placed the knapsack on the ground, freeing Abaddon who emerged with a grumpy mien.

“Toted around like a baby. The shame.”

“For your safety. So suck it up, dragoncup.”

“And she calls me bossy,” he muttered, scampering ahead.

Maddox and I kept him in sight as we followed. “How far do we have to go, do you think?”

“I looked at some 3D maps of the area. If we keep heading west, we should hit some mountainous terrain within an hour so long as we keep this pace.”

“That’s not too bad.” I glanced at him with his heavier load. “Need me to carry some of that stuff?”

He snorted. “Yeah, no. That’s man’s work.”

“Ah, misogyny alive and well,” I stated.

“More like my mom raised me with the understanding that as long as my arms and legs work, no woman should ever have to carry anything other than her purse.”

“Your mom taught you that?” I squeaked. “My granny was the opposite. She always insisted I do everything myself. Claimed I couldn’t count on a man to do it. In her defense, my granddad was a lazy drunk.”

“I’m surprised your grandmother kept him around, seeing as how very strong-willed and independent, based on the stories you’ve told of her.”

“She was, but only because of what he put her through. She grew up being told she had to marry and depend on a man. Given her own father abused her, she latched on to the first fellow that gave her a way out. Only he turned out to be a dick. At least she benefited in the end. Turned out the logging company he worked for had life insurance for all their workers. She used that money to buy the land and trailer. She raised my mom there, and later on me. She said when he died, she’d never felt so relieved. Or free.”

“That sucks. I don’t remember my dad much, but from what Mom said, he did good by us.”

“No need to feel sorry for me. I had Granny and she made sure I had everything I needed, including ensuring I wouldn’t grow up thinking I had to cater to anyone. She encouraged me to be my own person.”

“I wish I could have met her.”

“Me too. She’d have liked you.”

The conversation remained steady as we walked, me learning how he sucked at math in school and then ironically ended up owning a business. “Good thing for the QuickBooks program or my taxes would be a nightmare.” I told him about my first tattoo given to a friend in high school in their kitchen using less than hygienic methods. Luckily that friend didn’t get any kind of blood poisoning and years later when I ran into him and saw the faded shit still staining his arm, I redid his tattoo into something epic for free.

It should be known, while I’d dated and been in a few relationships, I’d never really had deep conversations with those men. We met—usually while drinking in a bar—fucked, partied, but most weren’t interested in me as a person, just a hole to stick their dick in. The difference with Maddox proved staggering. He actually listened to me. Didn’t turn everything I said into some kind of sexual innuendo yet made his interest in me clear. Lacing his fingers through mine as we walked. Occasionally bumping his hip into mine and giving me a small smile.

I liked it.

A lot.

We had to stop handholding when we reached the foothills of the mountain. We’d been hiking for just over an hour and while I did worry about us getting lost since we followed no trail, Maddox didn’t seem concerned. Then again, Mr. Boy Scout had brought a compass and every so often he stopped and held out his phone to mark a pin. Smart. I’d not even thought to bring breadcrumbs to drop.

It was Abaddon who found the cave, and a good thing because we’d have never spotted it. With his small and nimble size, along with his claws, he could climb and cling to the rocks and go places we couldn’t.

He disappeared from sight. I paused, one foot on a boulder, eyeing the terrain.

“Did you see where he went?” I asked Maddox.

“Somewhere over in that rocky overhang. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Make that triumphant. He suddenly reappeared, clambering down quickly and chortled. “I found a place. Bigger than our current home.”

“Where?”

He pointed to the overhang. “There’s a ledge and a crack. You won’t fit”—said to Maddox—“but Pip could. Inside is a cave, a big one, and two tunnels. I smell water in one of them.”

It sounded ideal but for one thing. “How will we get these supplies up there?”

Maddox had a solution for that. He knelt and put his pack on the ground and pulled out a coil of rope. “I’m going to need you to find a spot to loop this rope around so that I can pull one end while the other is tied around your stuff. Something like this.” He draped the rope over his arm and mimed tugging it.

Abaddon rolled his eyes. “Why not say you want to create a simple pulley system?”

“Uh, because I keep forgetting you’re smart.”

“Understandable. Greatness like me isn’t common. I think I know where to loop it. Give me a moment.”

Abaddon grabbed his end of the rope and went scurrying off, holding it with his tail, of all things. This time I could track his progress as he climbed, not easily since his dark scales blended with the rocks. The rope unspooled, Maddox ensuring it remained slack to make it easier for the dragon.

When he disappeared from sight, and the rope kept unravelling, I worried if there’d be enough.

“Hold on, I’m coming down,” Abaddon hollered before suddenly appearing at the edge of the overhang, rope in hand.

And dived.

My heart stopped but Maddox understood what Abaddon was doing. Maddox held his end of the rope and released it bit by bit, slowly lowering the dragon who grinned at us. For the unknowing, dragon smiles don’t give you a warm fuzzy feeling, more like that chill you get when a lion shows its teeth and licks his chops because he’d like you for dinner.

“I think I shall want to keep this rope when we’re done transporting the goods,” Abaddon stated.

“Was already planning to leave it here,” Maddox stated. “Give me a second to tie up the stuff and then I’ll send you up with it.”

Maddox unpacked his bulging knapsack which I’d assumed mostly contained the sleeping bag, only it turned out to be a lot of nonperishable food: trail bars, bags of nuts, and beef jerky. The sleeping bag was the compact kind still in its vacuum sealed package. Mad pulled out a tarp as well and used it to bundle the items before tying it to the rope. Then he glanced at Abaddon. “Okay. Ready to go back up?”

Abaddon jumped atop the package and held on as Maddox pulled the rope on the other end of their makeshift pulley. Up went the dragon with his stash. Once my Little Fella reached the ledge, he jumped off and heaved the bulging tarp after him.

“Back in a few,” he shouted down.

“While he does that, drop a pin on a map so you can find this place easily,” Maddox advised.

A good idea if I ever wanted to reach this location again. The moment I had it done, Maddox dragged me to spoon against him, his chin resting on my head. “That dragon of yours is really remarkable,”

“And he knows it,” I grumbled good naturedly. “Do you think this is far enough if anyone comes looking?”

“Not if they’re determined. As part of the emergency prep, we should talk to Abaddon about not entering the forest in the east if he has to leave the trailer, but going west first and then circling back to throw them off track.”

“That’s a good idea, as was the whole finding him a cave to hide.”

“You do know this is only a temporary measure. If he is being hunted, then?—”

“I’ll have to take him far from here.” A morose admission and the reason for my dejection stood leaning against me.

“Here’s hoping we’re overreacting and it doesn’t come to that.”

A thought hit me. “Your idea about him circling back is good, but what if they bring dogs to sniff out his trail? I mean, they might not, but I know sometimes law enforcement uses them for manhunts and missing people.”

“Good point. Having seen him climb, I’d say doing the same with trees would be a cinch. If he were to enter the woods and take to the higher branches, with his light weight he could travel overhead and avoid leaving his scent anywhere on the ground.”

“We’ll have to tell him when he returns.”

“Speaking of return, feeling brave enough to do dinner again at my place?”

A dinner that would lead to his bed. I was in, but for one thing. “Yes, but I can’t stay the night. I don’t want to leave Abaddon for that long.”

“Bring him.”

“After what happened last time?”

“This time, we’ll make sure they’re separated. The guest room has a television, its own half bath, and we can pile enough snacks he won’t have to go anywhere.”

“You’ve thought about this.”

He turned me in his arms. “Nothing but. So what do you say?”

“I say, can we skip dinner and go straight for dessert?” A whisper against lips.

We were still kissing when a disgusted dragon said, “Enough eating of each other’s faces. I’m getting hungry.”

Maddox had kept something for just such a situation. Once he’d lowered Abaddon and coiled the rope to hide in a tree hollow, he handed the dragon a bag of gummy bears. He then crouched and began grabbing fallen leaves to stuff in his bag.

At my arched brow, he explained. “So it looks just as big on our return.”

Well damn. My paranoia was contagious.

The conversation flowed as we returned to my place with Abaddon excited to be out and about—like the child he was. Hard to remember sometimes that while he might have hatched with some knowledge, in truth, everything he encountered, every experience, was new and exciting.

Just before the edge of the woods, without having to be told, he turned to me and sighed. “Back into the bag.”

“Only for a little bit, until we get you inside,” I murmured.

“I look forward to the day I can go about freely,” Abaddon grumbled.

I didn’t mention the fact that day would most likely never come. The world would never allow a dragon to roam free, not unless something changed drastically.

Once at the trailer, Abaddon declared himself too tired to go out but insisted I still have dinner with Maddox.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I might be back late.”

“I have food and I’m tired. My next molting is almost upon me.”

“Do you need me to do anything for you?”

“Stop fussing over me, woman,” Abaddon grumbled.

I went for dinner, and it went well. The sex, even better. The only part I hated? Leaving to go home, but despite Abaddon insisting he’d be fine, I didn’t want him to feel abandoned.

Hence why the next night Maddox came over with a surprise. Not for me. My dragon.

He handed Maddox a small kid’s knapsack.

“For me?” Abaddon eyed it with curiosity.

“It’s a bugout bag in case you need to run. Look inside.”

My dragon pulled out the items. A pay-as-you-go phone which Maddox explained had mine and his number preprogrammed. A paper map in case the cave was compromised with some locations marked with Xs to give Abaddon other places to flee, a few snacks of course, and a flashlight because, “Nothing worse than being stuck in the dark.”

“Thank you.” My little dragon hugged Maddox and my heart melted.

Even tatted girls could find things like that super cute. Don’t think that meant I wanted kids, though. I’d long ago sworn off the whole motherhood thing. I wondered if that would be a deal breaker for Maddox.

Maddox slept over that night, my bed a tight squeeze, but we managed, me draped atop Maddox and Abaddon splayed partially over us both.

We spent that week flipping back and forth between places, although I always returned home to the trailer at night. While some of my anxiety had eased, I remained alert.

I never saw anything in the news about the lava rocks or the missing lizard. Never spotted anyone suspicious around my place.

Still, every day when I left for work, I gave Abaddon the same warning. “Don’t go outside, and if you hear someone, hide.”

Ten days after the RCMP visit, I went in to work as usual. Put in a grocery delivery order via the app and tried to not cringe at the total. Headed home, wanting a shower before Maddox arrived.

Ten minutes out from my place the sight of smoke caught my attention. It rose in a dark plume that stank the closer I got to my property.

Even before I turned into my driveway, anguish filled me. I stared in shocked disbelief at my trailer, now a smoldering ruin.

My home and dragon were gone.