Chapter 6

Trevor stood in the small bathroom before the mirror and stared at a face that was completely unfamiliar to him. He leaned in, as if getting closer to the mirror would actually help any. The many cuts didn’t add to his looks. He reached up, pushed the hair up on the right side, and prodded the lump on his head.

“Ow, yeah not a great idea.” There was a scab there in addition to the lump; someone or something had given him a great whopping conk on the head. Probably the cause of his amnesia.

He turned away from the mirror and started the shower. Then parked his a*s on the closed lid of the toilet to wait for the water to heat. Dropping his head into his hands, he let go of a sigh. What to do now, where to go? He had no money. No identification. Nothing.

Lifting his head, he glanced at the door. And Chloe, what about Chloe? What if someone found out that he’d been here, would she be in danger? Slowly he stood, checked the water, and slipped out of his pants and boxers. It was an effort to lift his legs over the lip of the tub, but he forced the pain back. He needed to get clean; he didn’t like feeling gritty and dirty.

He reached for the soap and worked up a lather on the strange little poofy ball thing that he’d found hanging off one of the handles. It wasn’t a washcloth, but it did the job. Woman used all manner of odd accouterments for their bath routine, he thought with a tiny smile, and then frowned over the thought wondering how he knew that.

Her shampoo and conditioner were simple enough, some variety of Suave standard issue variety, at least they weren’t full of some sort of perfume. It wasn’t bad. By the time he was finished with his shower, he was shaking and his legs were wobbly. Chloe had probably been right; he should have waited until morning to attempt this.

He leaned against the vanity for a few minutes. Didn’t help much. He still felt like he was gonna fall into a puddle on the floor any second. With a tiny groan, he reached for the boxers and pulled them on, then the jeans. They were new and felt sort of stiff. He grimaced a little and wished he could wait until morning to put them on, but walking around in only the boxers was out of the question. Not in front of Chloe. He pulled the T-shirt over his head and headed out the door, barely made it to the couch, where he collapsed.

“You okay?”

He peeled his eyes open and smiled up at her. “No, not one bit.”

A little laugh escaped her lips. “Told you not to do it tonight. If you’re hungry I made you a little something to eat.”

He gave a small nod, but his eyes were drifting shut. “Hurry, before I pass out.”

“Right, be right back.” She hurried off and returned quickly with a tray, nudged him and set it across his legs. “Come on Trevor.”

“Too tired,” he mumbled.

“Open your mouth, I’ll feed you. Okay?”

“Fine. Good. That works.” He opened his mouth when she touched his lips with the spoon. Closed his lips around it, chewed, swallowed, and repeated until the food was gone. He was much too tired to be embarrassed by the fact that she was feeding him like a small, helpless child.

“There we go. All gone. Now get some sleep.” She took the tray away.

He mumbled something unintelligible and let himself drift off to sleep. He thought, as darkness overtook him, that he heard her speaking to Slate, but he couldn’t be certain. Sleep was much more important than conversations with dogs.

***

Morning sunlight flooded the room. Trevor let his eyes drift open. For a moment, he simply lay there staring up at the ceiling. He’d been dreaming, about what he couldn’t remember now. Whatever it had been, it had been depressing, because he was left with a clear feeling of melancholy and … loss?

Something cold pressed against his hand and he turned to see Slate with his nose against the palm of his left hand where it hung over the side of the couch. “Morning boy.” Slate licked at his hand and he smiled at the dog. “Chloe up yet?” He glanced over toward the corner of the room where the curtain hung. Slate followed his gaze, his head tilting slightly.

Trevor held in a groan as he sat up. After a minute, he pushed his body up and went to the bathroom to take care of his full bladder. He returned from the bathroom to find Chloe sitting on the couch waiting for him. He sent Slate a frown. “You didn’t have to wake her up.”

“Her is sitting right here ya know.”

He grinned over at Chloe. “Sorry, I swear he’s too smart to be a dog.”

“He’s not actually, you know. A dog I mean. At least I don’t think he is, or at least not completely.”

He lifted his eyebrows at her. “Meaning, what exactly?”

“I think he’s part wolf.”

“Well that explains why he’s so big I suppose.” He walked over and sat down beside her.

“You don’t seem freaked out over that,” she said, studying his face.

He shrugged. “He’s not wild and he’s far too intelligent to attack simply for the sake of attacking.”

“You are far more intelligent than most people; most people see him and run in fear simply from his appearance,” she pointed our logically.

“Appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes it’s appearances that can get you into trouble, sometimes …” he stopped, frowning as if he’d had an entire thought that had suddenly dropped off.

“What is it Trevor?”

“I’m not sure. I, was going somewhere there and then, I just lost what I was saying.” He shook his head. “I need to get going anyway. There’s no telling where the FBI is, they could be closing in on me. Your police friend might come back and drag you off the mountain, anything could happen.” He rose, grabbed the iPad off the table, and turned away.

As he went to walk away from the couch, Slate gave a whine and darted in front of him. Trevor jerked to a stop in order to avoid tripping over the dog, pain shot up his right leg. He gasped, leaned down to grab at the arm of the couch, and dropped the iPad.

Chloe, without thinking reached out and snatched the iPad before it hit the ground. A gasp escaped her and she tossed the device onto the couch beside her, her eyes wide in shock. She looked over at Trevor, who had dropped down on the opposite end of the couch.

He frowned at her. “What’s wrong?”

She gestured at the iPad. “I didn’t mean to, you dropped it.”

“It’s fine Chloe; you saved it from hitting the floor. Don’t worry about it.”

She hid her face in her hands. “You don’t understand Trevor. I ruined it.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand. You saved it from smashing into the floor. How did you ruin it?” He reached out, pulled her hands away from her face, and was shocked to see that she was crying.

“I touched it. I ruined it. It won’t work now. It will never work again,” she whispered the last through her tears.

“That’s ridiculous.” He picked the iPad up and flicked the cover open. He pressed the power button. “See, its fine.”

Chloe stared at the screen as it lit up. “I don’t understand. It should be dead. I kill electronics.”

He frowned at her. “What do you mean ‘you kill electronics’?”

“I kill them Trevor. I touch them and they die, instantly. That is why I live up here alone with no electricity. Why Slate handed the iPad to you before. Give it to me.” She held her hand out and he handed it to her with a frown.

Chloe took the iPad and it shut down the second she touched it. Her face fell. She’d thought maybe, just maybe, her curse had left her and she hadn’t known it because she had been living up here all these years.

“See, dead. I’m sorry.”

Trevor frowned at the look on her face. Utter despair. He reached out and took the iPad back from her. “I can’t believe it, have you been to a doctor? Did they check you out to see if they could reverse it?”

She snorted. “Yeah, my mom tried everything. Witch doctors, exorcism. I was a curse to her.”

“God, really? That sucks. Your mom sounds like a real b***h, no offense.” He hit the power button and the device lit up. He grinned at her. “You sure your thing isn’t temporary?”

“What the hell? No it isn’t. Trust me, I killed six TVs by the time I was five years old. How did you do that?”

He shrugged and scrolled through apps on his screen. “No clue, but this is seriously freaky. Hey, check it, I just found a social calendar app on here.”

“Really? Open it.”

He did as she ordered; though it took everything that he had to concentrate as she pressed against his side in order to see the screen. He went back a month and frowned. “According to this, I was supposed to be at some sort of public appearance in Virginia at a public park near my home, accompanied by two people named Stan and Clair. After that, nothing. Although I did put in a notation, that someone named Agent Brooks is a dick on the day after the event and General Maitland is an a*****e. Nice of me to give detailed information wasn’t it?”

“Yes it was. Agent Brooks could be with the FBI though, that’s something,” she pointed out.

“Good point. Why wouldn’t I put more information in?”

“Maybe you couldn’t? Maybe they were watching you too closely. Or you were already on the run?”

“Perhaps. How in the hell did I get all the way from Virginia to Las Vegas?”

“Good question. Another one would be: Where’s your wallet and identification.”

“We’ve got a hell of a lot of questions and not a lot of answers,” he said looking at her with a frown. Slate set his snout on Trevor’s leg and gave a little whine. “I think Slate here agrees.”

“I’ve got one more, why do you cancel out my little curse?” Chloe asked him.

“Another one I can’t answer.” Trevor shut down the iPad and tossed it onto the table. At the same time, Slate went running at the door barking madly.

“Great, now what?” Chloe grumbled as she went to the window. “God d****t, he never friggin’ gives up. I’ll be right back.”

“The police Captain again?” Trevor asked her.

“Sadly, yes. Slate, quiet and keep him safe.” Slate dropped his butt to the floor with a thump and shut up.

Chloe looked at Trevor one last time and slipped out the door. Trevor looked at Slate. He didn’t like this one bit. “She like him buddy, like him like him?”

Slate titled his head then made a huffing sound before looking back at the door.

Trevor crept over to the curtained front window to the left of the door. He knew he was risking being seen, but he couldn’t resist catching a glimpse of the police Captain. He wanted to see what this friend of Chloe’s looked like. Trevor told himself it wasn’t out of jealousy that he wanted to see the man, just curiosity, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that was a lie.

He slipped just the very edge of the curtain back and saw Chloe standing on the top step talking to the man who stood a few feet out from the porch and he cursed quietly. He was a big man, not taller than Trevor was, but built, muscular. And he had those tough bad boy good looks that women swooned over all the time. The uniform didn’t hurt him, either.

Trevor could picture the guy in leather and riding a Harley just as easily as wearing that police uniform. He couldn’t hear what he and Chloe were discussing, but it was clear from the frustrated look on the man’s face that whatever it was, Chloe was pissing him off. As Trevor watched, the captain reached up and plunged his fingers through his blond hair, his brows scrunched together over deep blue eyes.

Chloe waved a hand through the air as the captain took a step forward and interrupted her angrily. She screamed something back at him and behind Trevor Slate gave a low growl of warning and crept toward the door.

Trevor frowned and saw a man walk out of the trees behind the captain. Chloe scowled at the captain and yelled something at him that he obviously didn’t like. She turned and opened the door, Slate shot out the door and put himself between her and the two men.

Trevor could hear now since she’d left the door open a crack.

“Chloe, please it is for your own safety! Come stay in town!”

“I am perfectly safe in my own home. As you can see, Slate will protect me. He doesn’t like your new friend. I suggest you leave. Now, James. And take Agent Brooks with you.”

Trevor felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise as he stared at the man in the dark suit, his eyes covered by a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Nothing familiar triggered inside his brain as he stared at the man. But the hatred was there and it instantaneous.

Slate continued his low growling. Chloe stood her ground, staring down the men.

“Chloe, please hear me out! You don’t know what this man is capable of!”

“And I don’t really care, James. He isn’t here and if he was, Slate wouldn’t let him near the cabin.” She cast a look at Agent Brooks. “Do you have any doubts about that sir?”

Brooks shook his head. “No ma’am, your cabin appears quite safe. I would caution you, however about underestimating Mr. Madison, as he can be quite charming. Your pet, while quite fierce, I’m certain is also very loyal to you, I wouldn’t call him off no matter how harmless you believe Mr. Madison looks.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Agent Brooks. Than can also be very telling. And sometimes, things are exactly what they seem.” She sent him a look that told him it wasn’t Trevor she was speaking about, but him.

He inclined his head and turned to stalk off into the trees.

“Good bye James. I suggest you don’t come back up here. I have the distinct feeling that we have different goals for our relationship.”

He gave her a startled look and took another step forward. “Chloe�"”

“Don’t James, just don’t.”

He hesitated a moment before nodding, then he turned away and disappeared into the trees. Chloe stood on the porch for several minutes. Then she crouched down beside Slate. “Search Slate. Hide and search.”

The dog looked up at her, gave her face a lick, and then leaped down off the porch, disappearing off into the trees.

She stood looking after him a moment before coming back inside. Trevor had already moved back to the couch by the time she came in. He gave her a small smile. “Well, that sounded ever so fun. Agent Brooks, huh?”

She dragged a hand through her hair. “Yes, he looks every inch the stereotypical FBI man, right down to the dark suit and lame mirrored sunglasses. They must have tracked you here someway, though he didn’t say how and neither did James.”

“I really should leave, Chloe.”

“And go where, exactly?” she said with a snort. “They’ve probably got the mountain covered. Probably searching every vacation home and occupied cabin on the mountain. And you are no survival expert; you’d never make it past them and off the mountain.”

He rubbed at his forehead, though gently considering the cuts there. “So what do we do?”

“Wait them out. That is all we can do for the moment.” She jerked around when a knock sounded at the door. She crept over and cursed when she looked out the window. “It’s Ellie.”

“Ellie?”

“She’s one of James’ officers.” She slipped out the door, leaving it open a crack so Trevor could hear what was going on.

Ellie stood on the porch looking upset. “I’m not leaving the cabin Ellie, so if James sent you up here, tell him he’s out of luck.”

She shook her head. “He didn’t send me I came on my own.”

“Why Ellie?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I saw the look on his face when he came back to town. You crushed him, Chloe. What did you say to him? He looked devastated.”

She pinched at the bridge of her nose. “Nothing Elli, okay, just nothing. I’m not leaving the mountain, ever. I belong here.”

Ellie glanced at the cabin behind her and she sighed. “He’s in there, isn’t he Chloe?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The guy they’re looking for, you’re hiding him. If you weren’t you’d never have tossed James off the mountain the way you did. You wouldn’t hurt him that way, Chloe it’s not in you to do that.”

“Ellie, I don’t feel the same way about James as he feels about me. That is all there is to it. Nothing more. I’m not hiding anyone inside my cabin.”

Slate came lopping out of the woods, past Ellie and slipped into the cabin. Ellie watched him go with a frown. “Where was he at?”

Chloe shrugged. “I sent him to search after James and that Agent were here. Looks like he didn’t find anything.”

“Maybe there wasn’t anything to find because the man he was looking for is already inside your cabin.”

“Why would I send him off to search then?” Chloe said while rolling her eyes.

“So you could say he searched for the man,” Ellie answered.

“I could have said that without sending him out, after all I didn’t know you would show up to witness him coming back.” She wasn’t about to tell Ellie that she’d sent Slate to search for FBI agents hiding in the woods.

Ellie had no answer to that. “Fine you win that argument. I still think he’s in your cabin. Dad told me about your scarecrow, which I don’t even see in your garden.”

“I haven’t gotten around to making it yet.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes on Chloe. “That’s crap Chloe.” She lunged around her and through the door.

“Ellie!”

Ellie stood just inside the door, frozen as she stared at Trevor where he sat on the floor in front of the couch, Slate sprawled across his lap as he scratched the dog’s belly.

“Uh, hi,” he said. Slate whined in protest over the fact that his belly rub had been interrupted.

Ellie turned to glare at Chloe and jabbed a finger in Trevor’s direction “Ha! I win!”

Chloe glared back at her. “Do I have to tie you up and toss you in a closet so you don’t tell James that he’s here?”

“I told you that I should leave,” Trevor said with a deep sigh. Slate again whined in protest.

“You aren’t strong enough to leave!” Chloe snapped at him.

Ellie looked between them and suddenly grinned. “No, I won’t tell him. And I certainly won’t be telling that Agent Brooks, I don’t like him. He’s a jerk. Came barreling into the substation and took over like he owned the place. Your secret is safe with me.”

Chloe gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you Ellie, thank you so much! You are the best friend ever!”

Ellie waved a hand at her. “Name your first kid after me.”

Chloe gave a nervous laugh. “Sure, I’ll remember that.”

“And I will be sure to tell James that on my friendly visit up here that you invited me into the cabin and it was empty, save for you and Slate of course.” Ellie grinned widely at them as she headed for the door. She looked at Trevor where he still sat on the floor. “And you should definitely stay; because that is the happiest I’ve seen that dog ever. He actually looks like a dog instead of something that wants to eat my head.”

Trevor laughed at her. “Oh come on, he’s the biggest baby in the world all he wants is his belly rubbed and he’ll fall at your feet. Isn’t that right boy?” Slate closed his eyes and his tongue flopped out of his mouth happily.

Ellie stared in disbelief at the two, before she turned to Chloe. “Keep him Chloe, for sure, ’cause you will never find another guy who loves that beast of yours.”

Chloe shoved Ellie out the door and shut it. Trevor grinned at her back, certain that her friend had embarrassed her with that remark. “I don’t mind sticking around, if you don’t mind having me.”

She nodded. “I told you that you can’t leave.”

They stared at one another across the space that separated them. The spell was broken when his iPad gave off a small tone. Startled by it he frowned and picked it up.

“I have mail,” he said with a grin.

“Mail?”

“Email. How nice Agent Brooks wants to talk.”

“Do not answer it. It’s probably some sort of trap. Can they trace where you are through that thing?”

He looked up at her with a frown. “I don’t know.”

“Gimme it, now!” She snatched it from him and clutched it to her chest, her eyes wide.

“What are you doing?” he asked in confusion.

“Killing the signal. As long as I’m holding it then it’s dead, right?”

He gave a slow nod. “Right. So plan?”

“We get out of here as soon as it’s dark and we get as far away from your Agent Brooks as possible.”

“Good plan. How do we do that?”

“I don’t know,” she answered him quietly.