AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The door remained firmly shut. She tried the handle.
Locked.
She redoubled her efforts, knocking and kicking at the wooden door in fear and frustration.
She heard a low, ominous growl from much too close behind her, and it reminded her that she was not alone out here and she screamed, the sound high-pitched and bloodcurdling.
The door was immediately snatched open again and she sagged in relief.
“Please, I think there’s a wolf or wild animal out here. Let me in.”
He peered into the darkness over her shoulder and refocused on her face with a sinister little sneer.
“Well, try not to let it eat you! You might give it indigestion.”
“You can’t leave me out here to face whatever that is,” she said in horror. “It’s illegal.”
“So’s trespassing, but that doesn’t seem to bother you.”
“You invited me to come.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Well, your manager did. He speaks on your behalf, right? I never…” Her voice trailed off on a helpless whimper. “Oh God, please just let me in. I’m sure it’s a wolf. He’s been watching me from the treeline.”
“For fuck’s sake, just piss off back to where you came from.” His accent was mostly Americanized, but—despite her distraction and distress—Iris could still pick up an Aussie twang beneath that meticulously cultivated Hollywood drawl.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. My car is half a mile away. My phone is dead. I have nowhere to go and no way to get there. Just let me stay the night. If you really want me to leave I’ll make a plan in the morning.”
He laughed again, the same awful sound as before.
“Yeah right, and let you snoop around my house tonight? I don’t think so.”
“At least let me charge my phone, I can call an Uber or something.”
“Again… these are not my problems. You got yourself here, you can get yourself the hell out of here too. I don’t care how you do it.”
“Without a GPS, I’ll get lost. I could fall off a cliff. Die. That wild animal could maim or kill me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure the people who give a fuck about you will eventually send out a search party to find your corpse in the woods.”
“That’s not remotely funny.”
“I look like I’m kidding?” he asked without expression.
He looked as serious as a heart attack and that terrified her. He could quite conceivably leave her out here to fend for herself.
What a nightmare.
Strengthening her resolve, Iris allowed her shoulders to drop and in a quick move taught to her by her younger brother, feinted to the left and—when he reacted by instinctively moving in that direction—ducked under his arm and into the kitchen. Once safely inside, she immediately darted behind the kitchen counter in an effort to put a barrier between them.
His back stiffened and he clenched his fists before turning to face her, murder in his eyes.
“Just one night. I’ll sleep on the floor. I promise not to make a sound. Just call Mr. Quinn, he’ll clear this up.”
“You’re trespassing and if you don’t get out of my house right fucking now I will have you arrested.”
“Oh, please do,” she invited with an insouciance she didn’t feel. Truthfully, the thought of being arrested and locked into a small space made her hair stand on end. But she wouldn’t let him see that. “At least then I’d have a ride out of here and a place to sleep tonight.”
