Chapter 5

Chloe tried to keep busy in the kitchen while Trevor ate. She didn’t want to hover over the man and make him nervous. Sending a quick glance into the living room, she saw him staring down at the tray silently. She frowned and wondered if he was in pain, maybe she should ask if he wanted some pain medication.

They were going to have to have a talk soon, she knew it, and she was going to have to tell him about those words he’d spoken before he’d passed out. She pressed her palms flat against the counter. She didn’t want to be responsible for him. Didn’t want to know what he was involved in, if whatever it was�"was going to bring trouble to her door.

Slate suddenly jumped up and gave a bark, looking between her and the door. She cursed and shoved away from the counter.

Trevor was frowning at the dog. “What is it? Why is he barking?”

She headed for the door. “It’s probably Captain Collin, d****t he was just here!” She continued to curse silently. There was only one reason he would be coming up here a second time. If he were searching for someone. She looked at Trevor. God, he looked so harmless. Could he be a killer? A fugitive? A fugitive who wore designer loafers and ran through the forest? She doubted it, but you never knew. “Just keep quiet. I can handle the captain, trust me.”

She slipped out the door and shut it behind her just as the captain came into the clearing. “Captain, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company twice in a month?”

He didn’t look happy, not one bit. “Not a neighborly visit, that’s for damn sure.” His eyes swept the clearing a couple of times before they finally settled on her. “I want you to come down and stay in town for a bit.”

She scoffed at him. “You can’t be serious?”

“Deadly. I’ve got reports from the feds about some fugitive of theirs running free, damn fools lost him in Utah, they have no idea where he is.”

“And he’s dangerous?”

He hesitated just long enough to give her the answer she needed. “You don’t know. Really Captain, you expect me to desert my home for a fugitive that you know nothing about?”

“The FBI wants him! I don’t need to know anything more!”

“I own guns and I have Slate. I think I’m better off here than down in town, Captain. Slate can tell straight away if someone is a danger, you know that.”

He grimaced. “Sure he did a great job with Ellie, didn’t he?”

Oh, he just had to bring that up, didn’t he? “That was a misjudgment on his part. And he didn’t attack her; he simply put himself between us to protect me. I am not going with you, give it up.”

He stepped forward and latched a hand onto her arm, drawing her in close. “Chloe, I won’t let anything happen to you! You mean too much to me!”

Her eyes widened and she wrenched her arm from his grip, stepping back. “No! You … you don’t mean that James, you don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t know me!” She spun around and ran up the steps, stopped on the porch, her back to him. “Trust me Captain; you don’t know me, not really.” She disappeared inside the cabin.

She stood with her back against the door; her eyes squeezed shut, head down.

“Is everything all right, Chloe?”

She’d forgotten about Trevor until he’d spoken. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. It was Captain Collin, from the police. He comes up here to check on me every once in a while, I wasn’t expecting him because he was just here. He said he’s gotten a report that the FBI is searching for a fugitive that they lost in Utah. He wanted me to come and stay down in town for a bit.”

“You think I’m the one they’re searching for?” he asked her quietly.

“I don’t know, maybe. If you are, I can’t imagine why. You certainly don’t strike me as a killer. You weren’t carrying any weapons. You were dressed in fairly expensive clothing and running through the woods in loafers.”

He scowled. “Well that certainly doesn’t sound like the most brilliant escape plan ever.” 

“No, that it doesn’t,” she agreed.

He ran a hand over his hair, grimaced at the gritty feel, and sighed. “I wish I could remember. It’s so frustrating. It’s like there are memories, right there, floating just out of my reach, but when I try and grab at them, they float away. I want to catch a hold of them so badly! I want to know who I am!”

“I wish I could say that I understand, but since I’ve never lost my memory …” she trailed off.

“Yeah, I get it. I’m sorry you’ve been put in this position. If it would be easier to turn me in, I understand.”

She gave her head a shake. “No. I’ve got this feeling you’re not a bad person. And besides that, Slate likes you. If you weren’t a good person Slate would let me know.” She smiled and gave a gentle shove away from the door. Moving across the room. She needed to distract herself from the captain’s visit, from that look that she’d seen in his eyes when he’d stepped close to her.

A brother, all these years that was how she’d thought of him, as a big brother. He was at the very least ten years older than she was, if not more. Yet, she had seen something in his eyes and it had shattered that illusion of a protective older brother, because apparently he didn’t see her as simply a little sister to look after. He saw her as something more. And that pained her.

She jerked around at the sudden jolt from Trevor’s touch. “You shouldn’t be up!”

He wobbled on his feet as she spoke. “You look upset.” As he spoke, he reached up and brushed away a tear that trailed down her cheek. “What happened, Chloe? Did he hurt you?”

“No, not really. I just, I realized something, that’s all. Now come on, you need to rest.” Wrapping an arm about his waist, she helped him back to the couch, where he collapsed.

“I wish I didn’t feel like death. I’d really like to take a shower,” he grumbled unhappily, as he leaned back against the cushions.

“Maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how you feel. Why don’t you get some rest for now?” She could see that he was fading fast. Carefully she helped him stretch back out and tucked him beneath the blanket. He needed clothes. With a small sigh, she stood and looked at Slate. “Slate, keep an eye on him all right? If he needs help, you assist. I need to get to town and get some things.”

Slate moved over next to the couch and flopped down. She smiled at the big dog. “Good boy.”

Poco was exceedingly happy to be off to town again so soon. Chloe had the sixty dollars from the furs that Carl had paid her, tucked into her pocket. She rode as quickly as she dared down the trail and into town.

Carl grinned widely at her as she entered the store. “Morning Chloe, didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

“I know Carl, but some deer have been bothering my garden. I’ve decided to try out a scarecrow, see if it does the job.” She shrugged and made her way over to the small pile of men’s clothing and began rummaging through it. Carl carried only a small variety of clothing in his store. Most people on the mountain either did mail order or drove down the mountain in to town to do their major shopping.

She’d quickly checked Trevor’s clothing for sizes before she’d left the cabin. His shirt had been easy since she’d removed it. His pants had been embarrassingly hard, since he still wore them, but she’d managed to get him to roll over and gotten the size before he’d passed out. A blush crept over her cheeks as she remembered checking his boxers for the size. She quickly picked out a couple pairs of everything and dropped it all on the counter.

Carl raised his eyebrows at her. “You need all this for a scarecrow?”

She shrugged. “Thought I’d get a few things for Slate to play with too. He’s been chewing up socks lately. Going to have cold feet this winter if he keeps it up.”

Carl chuckled. “Teach him to chew up boxers and any boyfriend you have will go naked.”

Chloe’s cheeks turned pink. “Carl!”

“How’s that, uh, secret project coming along?” He winked at her.

“I got all the pieces cut. I’m going to start the design work next.”

“That’s great! Thanks again Chloe, you are a life saver.”

“And why is she a life saver, Dad?” Ellie ask as she appeared through the door leading into the back of the store.

“Because she is my best customer. Why else?” he replied as he leaned in to kiss his daughter on the cheek.

Ellie rolled her eyes, obviously not buying his line. “Sure Dad. Hello Chloe.”

“Hey Ellie, how are you?” she asked as Carl packed up her purchases.

“Good, hey, did James come up and warn you about that fugitive?”

“Yeah, he did.” She dropped her gaze from Ellie’s. She didn’t want to discuss this with Ellie; she didn’t want her friend to know what she’d seen in the captain’s eyes. She also didn’t want to give anything away about Trevor.

“Freaky isn’t? I mean could you imagine it, a fugitive here on our mountain. I doubt the guy got this far though.”

Chloe’s head came up at the doubt in her voice. “Why do you say that?”

Ellie snorted. “I read the entire report, unlike James who only read the first part and freaked out and then went running up to go haul you off the mountain. The guy they’re after has no survival training, he’s some city kid. Pampered, sheltered by his parents, though they didn’t say why. It almost sounded like, I don’t know, like they kept him locked away for some reason. Not abused him, but kept him to themselves, I guess. He was even home schooled all the way up until college.”

Chloe frowned over that. Was he home schooled because he had psychological issues or was there something else? “Did the report say why they wanted him?”

Ellie shook her head. “No, that was the really weird part about it. It read like a history of the guy, but not once did it say what crime he’d commit or why the FBI wanted him. Just that he was a fugitive wanted by the FBI. And that he was dangerous. Extremely so. And that under no circumstances should a civilian approach him.”

“Armed and dangerous?” Chloe asked her.

She shook her head. “No, it just said dangerous. Weird huh?”

“Yeah, the FBI gets stranger and stranger.” She thanked Carl and lifted her package from the counter.

Chloe rode back up the mountain, deep in thought. It wasn’t until she was back inside the cabin, that she realized she’d never asked Ellie the fugitive’s name. “Idiot,” she muttered to herself as she unpacked the clothes she’d bought for Trevor.

She left everything carefully folded on the table beside the couch. Slate was rolled onto his back, legs in the air as if he had passed from this world, snoring like the dead, beside the couch. Chloe left him there and went out back to work on Ellie’s cradle for a bit. She needed some alone time, to clear her head of thoughts.

Both thoughts of the man passed out on her sofa and Captain James Collin.

However, as she worked, thoughts of Trevor seemed to keep creeping back into her head. She couldn’t seem to keep them out. He couldn’t be some dangerous fugitive; she just couldn’t picture him as dangerous. And it wasn’t because he was helpless and injured at the moment or because of the fancy clothes that he’d been wearing.

No, it was something more about the man himself. Something she sensed inside of him. God, she was blushing again. She seemed to do that a lot since he’d arrived. Not that she could blame herself. There was a lot about him that could make a girl blush. From those piercing green eyes of his, to the unruly waves of black hair on his head. And she couldn’t get her hands to forget feel of his butt as she’d searched for his wallet.

His skin was nicely tanned as if he spent some time outdoors, but not so much that his skin was dark with it. His chest had a fine sprinkling of hair as dark as the hair on his head. And as she’d noticed when she’d dragged him into the cabin, he was fit, but not overly muscular. As if, it were his natural build and he couldn’t be bothered with going to the gym or he didn’t have the time to do so. She’d noticed that his nails were uneven and broken, his cuticles ragged, and she wondered if he bit at them.

With a tiny sigh, she stopped working and stretched her arms above her head. She glanced out the open door of the workshop and was startled to see that the sun was low in the sky. “Damn.”

Trevor was probably awake, hungry, and wondering where she’d gotten off to, probably thought she’d left him. Quickly she cleaned things up, happy with the progress she’d made. She’d managed to put the design work onto all the spindles for the cradle, as well as the legs. She’d be able to put the pieces together soon at this rate. Sometimes mindless work was a good thing, she thought.

She was humming as she came into the cabin and froze as she had shut the door behind her. Trevor sat on the floor, his back against the couch. Slate was rolled onto his back in front of Trevor and he was scratching the dog’s belly.

“You are the biggest traitor in the world you worthless furball,” she grumbled as she crossed the room.

Trevor laughed and continued to scratch the dog. Slate’s tail thumped the floor happily. “What do you expect, you left us alone together? Did you expect him to eat me for lunch?”

“No, I didn’t. But this is not what I expected, either.”

“So where did you go?”

“To get you some clothes and then I was out back in my workshop.”

“Workshop?”

“I work with wood. A friend in town asked me to make a cradle for his daughter, she’s expecting a baby.”

Trevor lifted his hand and scratched Slate beneath the chin. “Thanks for the clothes. I’ll find a way to pay you back. I don’t know how, but somehow.”

She crossed the room and sat down next to him. “Don’t worry about it. They’re just clothes. Trevor, we need to talk.”

“Talk, talk about what?”

“When you arrived, when you came out of the woods, you were …” she trailed off, her voice failing her as she was unsure how to continue.

“I was what Chloe?”

“Hurt, barely able to stand, about to fall over. I caught you as you fell, just before you lost consciousness, you said something.” She looked up at him, her expression strained.

“I did? What did I say?”

She looked down, scratching Slate between the ears. “You said, “Hide, have to hide. Coming, coming after me.” And then you passed out.”

“That was all?” His hand slowed its movement on Slate’s belly.

“Yes, nothing more.”

“I need to leave, Chloe. I’m putting you in danger by remaining here. It’s obvious I’m the one that the FBI is looking for. I don’t know why I ran from them, what reason, but whatever it is; they want me bad enough to chase me all the way from my home in Virginia,” he told her referring to the address he’d read off the back of the iPad.

Her nod was tiny. “I still don’t believe that you’re a bad person.” She lifted her head to stare into his eyes.

“Thank you. As much as I appreciate that, you can’t know that for certain.” He used the couch to help him to stand and moved to pick up some of the clothing. “I’m going to go take a shower and then I’ll get out of your hair.”

“No, Trevor, it’s almost dark. It gets cold up here after dark. At least wait until morning to go. Please?”

He looked over his shoulder at her, gave her a nod, and then disappeared into the bathroom. She looked down at Slate and heaved a sigh. “He can’t go boy, we both know he won’t survive out there. Right?”

The dog gave a little whine.

“So how do we keep him here?”

Another whine.

“Yeah. I’m fresh out of ideas too. But we’ll think of something by morning.”