“Alex!”
Harper grew more and more annoyed with herself for even attempting to look for Alex on her own that early morning through the forest. The woodland was obviously massive, and she was positive that she had already wandered off far from the cottage, and if she wouldn’t be careful, she might just get lost and then freeze to death in the bitter cold.
It was a cold morning as rain poured down heavy and hard after Alex broke out of the window last night, leaving mud puddles and chill behind. Heavy white and grey clouds were still covering the sky, causing the atmosphere to become bleak.
Harper knew that it would rain again soon, and if she wouldn’t hurry, she would end up soaking wet on her way back. But there was no way she could leave Alex behind. True that he had acted completely strange and had terrified her―he had somehow switched into someone or something horrifying―but she saw just how confused and frightened he was at the same.
Perhaps it was his old self coming back? However, the old Alex might be a womanizer, but she had never seen him force himself on anyone. Even when he first kissed her, he was gentle and tender with her. Last night was utterly different, and there had to be an explanation of what had suddenly gotten into him. And there was no one else who could provide that but Alex himself.
"Come on, Alex, where the hell are you?” Harper let out a low whine as she glanced at her watch. She impatiently stared at the ticking second hand for several more seconds and then gasped when she heard a howl in the distance.
Her heart pounded in her chest.
“Alex!” she called his name once again, adjusting her eyeglasses and pulling her hooded jacket tighter around her. She walked on and hastened her pace, her black rubber boots shuffling a path through the deepening dirt.
She stopped when she heard the howl again, but this time it sounded much closer. She breathed out and watched her breath turned into a puff of white mist. Letting out an annoyed sigh, she took off her glasses and wiped them.
When a third howl went off, she frantically put her glasses back on and continued to trudge down the dirt path. Every so often, she would take her hands out of her patch pockets and breathe into them before rubbing them together in an attempt to warm them up. It was getting really cold, really fast.
There was no mistaking that winter was just around the corner.
Coming down a treacherously slippery rock covered by lichens and green moss, Harper spotted what looked like a very old shack or whatever was left of it behind a massive tree. But it was neither the shack nor the tree that got her full attention.
She squinted up her eyes, trying to get them to focus so she could get a better view, and saw a mound that resembled a human figure right outside the shack.
Without delay, she went running toward it.
“Alex!” she nervously called his name. A loud gasp escaped her when she stood right over the body. "Oh my god! Alex!" She squeaked in horror and knelt beside him, thinking he had to be freezing. But when she poked his shoulder, she was stunned to feel his skin so warm.
“Alex! Can you hear me?” She searched for injuries, but aside from the smalls cuts and red bruises all over Alex’s body, nothing was a cause for more significant concerns.
Nothing―except for the fact that he was stark naked.
“Alex, wake up. What happened to you?”
*Is he breathing? Of course, he is,* She assured herself to stop from flipping out entirely. Alex had to be alive; she couldn’t have nightmares of him and his bare ass for the rest of her life.
*Why do I keep seeing this man naked?* She asked herself before taking a few deep breaths, and after a few moments of arguing with herself whether she should call Kendal or 911, she decided to take the most straightforward action plan, which was to wake Alex up.
She started to shake him by his shoulders. "Alex! Are you okay? Wake up! What happened to you? Wake up!" she cried.
All of a sudden, Alex groaned and slowly opened his eyes. As his blurry vision focused, he took in his surroundings. “Wh―where…” his husky voice trailed off before he dropped his head again and closed his eyes.
Harper shook her head, trying to gather her wits. "Come on, Alex! What is going on with you?!"
There was no way she was going to be able to drag him back to the cottage as he was obviously more than twice her size. He was well over six feet, and he was going to weigh too much for her to even move an inch.
She tried to stir him again and shook him by the shoulder, calling his name, "Alex! Come on! It’s freezing out here!"
Alex began to groan and scrunched up his forehead, his eyes still closed.
“Alex!”
His mouth then slowly cracked open, and his tongue darted out slightly and licked over his dry lips before it disappeared back into his mouth. Soon, his eyes began to flutter open as if trying to clear a haze out of his head to make sense of where he was.
“Alex?”
He let out a faint hiss because everything hurt. His head and every bone and joint in his body throbbed. “Harper…” he spoke for the first time; his voice was dry. He reached his hand out to caress Harper’s cheek. “You’re cold.”
“And you’re…warm,” Harper noted. “What the hell?”
“Where am I?”
“Out. Come on. Who knows how long you’ve been out in the cold,” she urged him.
He slowly pushed himself upwards. “I…What…happened?” he asked, his voice was laced with confusion.
“Well, you’re obviously missing your pants, so an insanely wild night, I guess?” Harper kidded despite the situation. “Get up. Let’s go.”
Alex stood to his full length, and Harper gasped immediately after seeing how stiff he was given the current condition.
“What the hell, Alex?!”
“What?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Unbelievable…” she unbuttoned her jacket and tossed it directly to his erection.
“Oh. This?” A smile briefly graced his lips before wrapping the jacket around his waist. “Funny story, but I was actually dreaming about you when you―”
“Shush! I don’t want to hear about it!” Harper’s eyes widened, and instantly, a slight blush painted her cold cheeks that were already pink from the cold. “Let’s go!”
* * *
*Half an hour later…*
“So, what exactly happened to you?” Harper asked with a frown, still pissed with what had happened the night before and even that morning.
Alex blinked a few times, then groaned again and slowly pushed himself upright into a sitting position in the bed. He brought up a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat, coughing roughly for a moment. “I have no idea.”
He looked around and quickly recognized the cottage, even the rugs on the wooden floor, light furniture, the table, and a few other things.
“What do you remember?” Harper offered him a cup of hot coffee.
He took it from her hand, took a sip, and then set it on the bedside table. “I took the aspirin you gave me, and I drifted off to sleep after that, I guess.” He rubbed his head lightly to ease a throbbing headache when he tried to recall what had happened.
“What? Are you serious?” Harper asked, perplexed and somehow pissed that he forgot what he did to her. Her breathing became deep and rapid.
“Are you okay? Did something happen?” He took a long breath and was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “I remember…you were standing in front of me, and I…I was calling you. But for some reason, you couldn’t hear me.”
Harper stood up. They were silent for a moment while she paced around the room until her breathing slowly became more regular though her mind was still racing.
“Harper, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“You went nuts on me last night!” she exclaimed. “Have you really forgotten how you came at me? You weren’t calling me; you were pushing me up against the wall and―”
“―I pushed you up against the wall? And then what? What did I do next?” Alex interrupted, looking her in the eyes with intensity and shock. “What did I do to you?”
“You fucking scared me!” Harper declared; a single tear slipped from the corner of her right eye.
“Harper, I―I,” Alex stammered. "I have... absolutely no idea. I’m so sorry," he said, staring intently at her. He wanted to stand up and comfort her, but judging by how pissed she looked, he knew that keeping the distance between them would be more fitting in the situation.
Harper’s mouth gaped as she shook her head, fists on her hips. “You know what I think? I think that’s bullshit! Your eyes were wide open when you fucking pushed me to the wall! You were even talking shit! There’s just no way you can’t remember!”
He jumped up to his feet as he no longer cared about keeping the distance, but Harper backed away.
“Harper, I have no idea what happened or what was happening to me last night. I remember I was in pain. I―I felt like I was stuck in this warped reality where you couldn’t hear me; like was I standing in some kind of bubble. I thought I was in the middle of a nightmare. It most definitely felt like it.”
“What?”
“Whatever it was I did last night, I swear to you, Harper, it wasn’t my intention.”
“Alex…”
“Look, I don’t know why it happened. I wish I could tell you what had gotten into me, but I don’t know. I don’t have any idea. I’ve no explanation. I thought I was having a nightmare. And even so, I could only remember bits and pieces of it. But please, Harper, you have to believe me that I never meant to push you…let alone scare you. Never…” he softly said, slowly taking a step towards her without taking his eyes off her.
Harper didn’t take a step back this time.
With slight hesitation, Alex carefully and gently placed his hand on the side of her face.
Harper slightly jumped out. Being that close to him, she remembered how his eyes had suddenly turned so bright last night as if they were glowing.
Her breath hitched at the memory.
But before she could distance herself, Alex curved his palm over her cheek, his thumb caressing the contour of her cheekbone, and she slowly began relaxing into his hand.
Alex’s sad eyes met hers. "I’m here now, Harper. And I promise to never lose myself like that again. Whatever had gotten into me or whatever I did to you, I swear to you that I would never allow it to happen again.”
He leaned closer until they were only a breath apart, then his eyes flicked to Harper’s lips. But before he could make a further move, her phone vibrated in her front pocket.
Harper pulled out her phone to check the caller ID. When she saw the familiar number, she sighed, and hurt immediately clouded her feature. She stared at the small screen before pressing the answer button and letting out another sigh. "Hello, Dad.”
"Harper, is that you?"
“Yes, dad. What do you want?”
“Oh god, how I missed your voice.”
“Have you spoken to mom?” she directly asked.
“Your mom. Harper…She―she’s…um…” she heard her stammered with sadness in his voice. "You have to come home."
Then she soon heard a little bit of crying from the other end.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
Harper’s jaw clenched. “What’s wrong, Dad? What happened to mom?”
“Just come home, sweetie, please. Just come home.”
Sher pursed her lips, eyes locked into Alex’s. “Okay, Dad, I’m coming.”