Forged in Gold (Alaska)
Here’s what I want to know—what sick, twisted mind decided I deserve this shit?
There’s a special hell in sharing living space with a chick you’ve just kissed like there’s no tomorrow. Especially when the two of you can’t get a second alone to talk about it, much less see where flaming lips might lead.
If I’m not at work, she’s at The Nest.
If we’re both back at the cabin, Eli’s there gabbing away, and by the time he’s down for the night, she’s either had to run back to the café to take care of some loose end or she’s passed out from sheer exhaustion.
Still, every now and then, the way she looks at me?
Damn.
Ten thousand damns.
She’s got more gravitational pull than the frigging moon.
There’s a tidal heat, static in the air, an incessant fucking magnetism just rising and tugging and threatening to pull me into a ruin against her.
Whatever.
So maybe a little distance between us isn’t all bad, even if it’s turning my balls into blueberry fritters.
Fliss is a beautiful distraction tailored for my annihilation.
How can I even pretend to think straight when I catch the curve of her shoulder in the late evening light? Or the sweep of her lashes as she twists her head away like she’s trying to hide from me?
A smile, a sob, I never quite know with her.
She’s one hell of a mystery, and she’s got me all messed up.
Thankfully, the weekend brings a little relief, just not the kind I truly need.
A trip with the kids up into the mountains helps clear my head.
When Eli suggests going mountain biking—I’m guessing this was Tara’s idea—I’m all for it. Part of me wants to bring Fliss with us, but she’s got too much to do at the shop.
She practically pushes us out the door with thermoses of coffee and fresh-baked treats, promising me she’ll be safe with Ember and Doc watching over her. Just to be on the safe side, she’ll stay at the cabin instead of going back to her house, and I make sure Warren knows to make a few extra rounds.
It’s all for Shrub’s sake, she teases me.
So he won’t end up traumatized being bounced around from place to place so often.
And if Gavin shows up again, the little woofer can just gnaw his ankles off.
That teasing smile lingers in my brain as I watch Eli and Tara racing down the trails with a third in tow. Zach Regis, rushing to keep up, all three of them disappearing into sun-speckled dirt lanes between the trees with their feet pumping on the pedals. Their laughter and enthusiastic calls drift back to me as they swear they’ll be back soon and won’t wander off too far.
So much for clearing my head.
Not even the crisp mountain air can chase Felicity from my thoughts.
When I set out to build something new here, to make a more permanent home, I’d never really thought about adding a woman into the equation. Eli and I have always been just fine on our own, with a little help from his grandparents—now that we’re on speaking terms again.
But the whole damned reason why we were cut off for years still haunts me.
If I bring in another woman who ends up being bad for Eli, bad for me, it might shatter the fragile relationship Eli’s slowly built with my parents.
I get now why they cut me off.
I don’t agree with their scorched earth methods, and my ma’s always been a little lovingly controlling in that way only mothers can be, but I get it.
They were trying to knock some sense into me and make me see just how destructive Katelyn was; how dangerous.
I didn’t see it then.
Not even when she’d tried to start a brawling fight on my parents’ front lawn—and I was so pissed at them, thinking they were trying to take over my life instead of looking out for what was best for me and my son.
They weren’t the ones who convinced me in the end.
Nah.
That was Katelyn herself, and she did it in the worst way possible.
Years Ago
I’m still hoping this mine isn’t tapped out.
It’s a thin, fragile thread hanging on as I look over the survey maps, settled in late at night in my office, staring at them over and over again by the harsh lamplight until my eyes burn like they’re being pumped with smoke.
Shit.
The harder I look, the more I think I’ll have to accept the bitter truth.
This mine’s dead.
Dragging a hand over my face, I glance at the clock. Almost midnight.
I don’t have to worry about getting home. Not when Eli’s with his mother tonight, my ex, but I should stop sitting here staring at nothing like it’s going to magically resolve into better news than the kind I’ve been fighting off for a horrible eternity.
My body creaks, and bones ache with how long I’ve sat here as I rise to my feet and reach for my jacket—before freezing as my desk phone rings.
Who’d be calling at this time of night?
I snag the receiver, lifting it to my ear.
“Charter.”
“Paxton?” My mother’s breathless voice—and the panic in her tone—makes my body stiffen. “Why haven’t you been answering your cell? I’ve been calling for hours!”
“What?” I pull my cell from my jeans—and realize it died while I was staring at that survey map from hell. Shit. “I’m sorry, Ma. The battery died. What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“There’s...there’s been an accident with Eli. The park rangers tried calling you, but when they couldn’t reach you, they called me and—”
“Stop—back up. What accident?” I snap off. My heart’s stalled, every inch of me iced over. My worst fears play through my head: Eli dead, Eli drowned, Eli injured so badly there’s hardly any life left for him at all. “What happened to Elijah? Is he hurt?”
Her pause fucking kills me.
“We...we don’t know,” Mom gasps. “He’s missing. And that bitch isn’t even sober enough to really tell us what happened. But he needs you, Paxton. If anyone can find him, it’s you.”
I don’t even realize I’m moving till I’m yanking up short on the tether of the phone cord.
“I’m on my way,” I say. “Let me charge my cell, and I’ll call you right back. Need you to tell me where he’s at. Tell me everything you know.”
I hang up without waiting for a response, nearly flinging it into the cradle and charging outside under the night sky, barreling toward my Jeep.
Hurling the door open, I throw myself inside, shove my phone onto the car charger, and go ripping out into the night.
Within a few minutes I’ve got enough charge to call my mother back.
Directions. Details. While I test a few speed limits and pray I’m not too late.
And I don’t think I’ve ever burned with a hatred deeper than what I’m feeling for my ex-wife in this red-hot moment.
Katelyn took Eli to the park, but she also brought a few other friends.
Namely, her new boyfriend and several forties.
While she got wasted and fucked around, Eli wandered off into the trees. In a wilderness preserve filled with roaming grizzly bears, moose, wolves, the works.