and Phoenix heard that someone had been here, they dropped everything and came over. Right now we’re sitting here formulating a plan. We set up some more security cameras that Phoenix brought over.
‘I think we should cancel this hunting trip. I’m not willing to leave the girls alone.’ I tell the guys, and they start nodding in agreement. But apparently, the girls have other plans.
‘Absolutely fucking not,’ Willow says and my head snaps to her. I’ve never heard her cuss other than a few damns and what the hell. So, to hear that strong word coming from her grabs my attention.
The other women quickly agree with her and try to stare us down.
‘We don’t need to cancel the trip. Just take us with you,’ Emelie says like it’s the most obvious answer in the world.
Look around at the other guys, who are nodding their heads at each other, it doesn’t take a genius to see that we all agree. It’s the best of both worlds. We still get our hunting trip, and we can take the girls with us.
‘We’ll have to make a few adjustments to our plans, but I think it’s for the best,’ Phoenix says, and we all agree.
The only reason we were going hunting without them is because the girls had plans to have some girl time together, but I think we’re all in agreement that we’d rather have our girls with us anyway.
We spend the next hour adjusting our plans for the trip to include the women. One of the major changes was bringing the tents instead of camping out under the sky like we had been planning. While we’re discussing the changes, the girls are making plans on what they’re going to do.
Finally, they decide they’ll hunt with us one morning and then take some of the girl time they had planned down by the lake.
After we had finalized our plans, we said goodbye to our friends.
I turn to Willow, ‘Come on let’s go out back because I want to make sure that you can shoot, though not just for the hunting trip.’
She follows me out the back door and away from the house where there’s a fallen and I set up a few things for her to use for target practice.
Then I begin showing her how to shoot the guns I have including my hunting rifle, the shotgun I keep by the door, and the handgun that I keep on the nightstand by our bed. She is a little nervous at first, which is the exact reason that we need to be practicing. Though the more comfortable and confident she gets with her shooting, the better her aim gets.
By the time we’re done practicing, she’s pretty confident no matter which of the guns she picks up. Also, I feel more satisfied that she can protect herself if the need arises. Even though I have every intention of being right there to do it for her.
‘We’ll practice more each day before the hunting trip,’ I say. But the trip is in three days, and I really hope that’s enough.
Willow
Today we’re on the hunting trip and if I felt safe with Bennett around, I feel extra safe with five guys with guns surrounding me. A major bonus is the kick ass girls who are here too for moral support.
This trip is exactly what Ben and I needed. It’s a chance to focus on something else while knowing our best friends have our back.
‘Okay, we’re going to get you girls set up at the lake and we’re going to go scout the area,’ Phoenix says as the lake comes into view.
The guys have the tents set up quickly, honestly faster than I thought possible for one person to set up one tent. Meanwhile, the girls and I are getting lunch together. Before we left, we had packed some sandwiches for today and supplies for breakfast while we’re here, but lunch and dinner are going to be completely dependent on what we’re able to catch.
After some discussion, the girls and I plan to try our hand at some fishing. Cash has set up some traps for smaller animals, but the big hunt is tomorrow. After we eat and the guys head out, the girls and I lay blankets down on the beach by the lake to get a little sun and talk. It’s been unseasonably warm, and we plan to take advantage of it.
‘This is the one thing I miss about Georgia, you can pretty much lay out any time of the year and get tan and soak up the sun,’ Hope says.
‘Not here, sweetheart. Seventy-five percent of the year you’d freeze your ass off,’ Jana says and we all laugh.
‘Same thing in Chicago. If a woman had a tan, it probably came from a tanning bed,’ I tell them, which elicits some more laughs.
‘I’d use a self-tanner if I wasn’t scared of coming out looking like a carrot,’ Emelie adds.
We all laughingly agree and then the topic moves on to books and setting up the quilting date.
The weekend seems to fly by. I enjoyed being out hunting with Bennett, but I also loved the time with the girls just as much.
Before I know it, we’re eating breakfast and planning to make the hike back to the cabin.
‘We should make this a yearly camping trip,’ I suggest. We’ve had so much fun, I’m not quite ready for everything to end. Since each of the guys got an elk, we have no other option but to go home.
Everyone likes the idea of an annual camping trip. After that, we break up camp and start the trek back home. Surprisingly, the hike doesn’t seem to take as long to get back to the cabin as it did to get out to the lake.
But once there, I stop dead in my tracks.
Our cabin has been broken into and the doors are wide open. I know we locked them because both of us double checked before we left.
The guys and Bennett drop everything and go inside while Cole stays with us. If I had to stand by anybody but Bennett for protection, it would be Cole. He’s serious and with the scar on his face he can appear deadly.’The house has definitely been rifled through but it doesn’t look like anything’s missing. Tire tracks at the front lead up to the house and then straight back out. Axel is calling detective Greer down at the police station because he’s worked with us before.’ Bennett says as he comes back to join us.
‘Make sure you tell him about all the issues you had with your uncle. For one thing, he’s on our side and the more he knows the easier it’ll be to protect you. Possibly he’ll be able to put a stop to your uncle messing with you legally anyway,’ Cole says, looking down at the gun in his hands.
It seems like forever before the cops show up and thankfully, Bennett takes the lead. He fills them in on what happened and what’s been going on with my uncle, the phone calls, and threats. Then I step in and tell them what happened with my uncle at my dad’s funeral, the police reports I tried to file, and the districts that dismissed them.
Detective Greer takes a ton of notes. He asks me who I talked to at the police stations, which precincts I filed with, and when. Finally, he asks some questions that I’m not quite sure how they’re relevant, like when we got married and when we met. That sort of thing.
‘The fact that he’s friends with the sheriff out there means nothing here. So I’m going to do some poking around and see if I can get copies of those filed reports, which will be to our benefit if it is indeed him who’s behind this,’ detective Greer says.
‘I’m glad that you’re the last one to get married because you guys seem to attract trouble in droves. Hopefully, after this, it will calm down.’ Though he’s kind of serious, I can tell with the smirk on his face that he’s also playing around with us too.
Now if only the pit in my stomach would go away, along with the feeling that this is far from over.
