Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 48

The moment passed as Chloe pulled one of the handguns from under the stash and sat up straight. She checked the chamber, clip, and safety before handing it to me, appearing none the wiser that I’d been checking her out.

“Here. In case you run into any danger while I’m gone. You have a full clip, and there’s one in the chamber. There’s another clip if you need it, but don’t take any unnecessary shots. We’re limited on ammo.”

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” I asked, eyeing her as I took the gun.

“Tanaka’s men weren’t exactly being careful to hide their tracks. I’m not the best, but I’m good enough to follow their trail despite the weather. It could be a while, though. I think we were getting close before we were shot down, but that was by helicopter, and the pilot lost his course after we were hit, so I’m not sure how long it’ll take. I wouldn’t worry, though. I’m just going to find it and observe from a safe distance. I’ll be fine.”

Even though I wasn’t crazy about her leaving, that at least put my mind at ease, and I didn’t feel as bad about leaving her to find the cabin alone.

“Is there anything I should do besides keep watch?” I asked.

“Conserve your energy,” Chloe said. “You can eat one of the power bars for lunch, but you shouldn’t have more than that. Maybe see if Astrid can eat one too.”

“Conserve my energy,” I said wryly. “What? Like last night and this morning?”

“No,” she said, pulling a power bar out of the stash for herself as she rolled to her knees. She reached behind her and slid the ration into her back pocket, arching her back as she did so, giving me another lovely view of her curves. “Conserve by doing as little as possible.”

Then she swung a leg over me, placed her hands on my shoulders, and dropped into my lap as she smirked down at me.

“If we’re going to keep up what we did last night, then you’re going to need every little bit of energy possible.” Without waiting for a response, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine for a kiss. It was soft, smooth, and closed-mouth—more sweet and sensual than heated and passionate. It was perfect.

Finally, she pulled away just enough to fix her brown eyes on mine.

“You get to be on top tonight.”

I grinned up at her, still worried, but looking forward to a repeat performance of our antics last night.

“Deal.”

______

Without the sound of gunshots or Astrid’s screams, the forest was quiet, almost oppressively so. Chloe was a woman of few words who never took up much space, but even her absence was palpable as I sat against the side of the wreckage.

I was left with an unconscious Astrid and my thoughts as my only company, and that was when I realized just how little time I’d had to myself since I came into my money. Before I got that fateful call, it was just me, Jack, and occasionally Jessica. I had a relatively healthy social life, but living alone had left a lot of time for myself, and I’d never been one to just have the TV idling in the background. Unlike many of my friends, I didn’t mind being alone in silence.

After the night Helen visited me, though, rarely had a day gone by that I didn’t have company. Erin, Helen, Chloe, Bobbi, Danni… someone was always around.

Now that I was alone in the forest, it was starting to hit me how much I missed having the company of at least one beautiful woman at all times. Maybe it was something I needed to worry about. After all, silence and solitude in proper doses could be healthy. Perhaps the ladies were becoming a little too much of a distraction, leaving me to forget to practice mindfulness, meditation, or some of those other things the internet keeps screaming at everyone to do..

I tried to still my thoughts and take in the woods around me, but it was so quiet that if I concentrated, I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. Not only was it unsettling—it also gave the place a kind of sacred stillness, like being here was disturbing something ancient that was meant to remain asleep. I almost felt I would offend some forest spirit by making too much noise and interrupting the long, reverent silences broken only by the occasional rustle of brush from some wild animal I couldn’t see.

Eventually, though, boredom won out over sanctity, and I decided to familiarize myself with the pistol I’d taken from the man I killed yesterday. I located the mechanism to release the clip and slid it free to check the bullets, pushing a couple into my palm for a closer look: shiny brass casings and dark gray tips with hollow-point divots.

My mind drifted to its previous owner as I finally had time to dwell on the fact that I’d taken another man’s life. I remembered how he’d dropped like a sack of potatoes the moment I fired. There was no time for him to react. One moment, he was just standing there with a gun in one hand and a radio in the other—completely unaware that I had him in my sights. Next, his life was gone.

Such a precious thing, life. So fragile. So fleeting.

My mother believed in God and an afterlife, but I wasn’t so sure. As far as I was concerned, you only got one. And I had taken away a man’s chance to live it out. I’d stolen years from him.

Granted, he’d been part of a team that tried to kill Chloe and me, and if faced with the same situation, I was pretty sure I’d do it again. But that didn’t mean it sat well with me. It wasn’t something I was comfortable with.

Did killing ever bother Chloe?