Page 112 of Hunter or Hunted

Not because of jealousy. If Evan were even a half-decent man, things would look a lot different.

But Delilah knew what that look turned into. That adoration, that longing.

He would do to Ava what he’d done to Delilah.

How could she stop it? From so far away, how could she stop them?

Ava wouldn’t listen if Delilah sent her a message. Ava was the smart one, after all. Why would she need to listen to the cute, silly big sister? She had always crushed on Evan, the same way Delilah had when she was younger. Come to think of it, maybe that had something to do with the wedge between them.

But Evan? Evan would listen if Delilah sent him a message. She had blocked him on Facebook, though. If memory served, he’d blocked her back.

She remembered his number, though.

So she texted him.

Delilah

Hey, it’s Allie. Can we meet?

He called. Delilah didn’t answer. She only wanted to engage with him via text until they were in person. And once they were in person…

She didn’t know what she would say. She had no idea what came next. But she had to do something, didn’t she? What kind of person would she be, what kind of woman would she be, if she didn’t try to stop it?

Delilah gave Evan no details. When he asked where she had been, why she was contacting him now, she just said,

Delilah

There are some things you need to know.

Evan took that as answer enough. She asked when the soonest he could make the drive would be, and he said the following evening. Not because he had prior obligations, but because they were half a country apart. He asked why she was in Montana. She said she would explain tomorrow and gave him the location.

Obviously, they couldn’t meet inside the ranch. Anywhere in Black Pines would be safer, but someone would notice them together. If she went to Maple & Thyme, the only café in town, Gwen would see them together. Gwen would ask questions. Delilah couldn’t lie to Gwen.

Hence, the state park nearby. Delilah had hiked it a few times with other girls from the ranch. She knew it well enough, and she only needed a short conversation. She would hold the blade in her pocket the entire time. She would fight back if she needed to, and hopefully, by the end of it, Evan would be too ashamed of himself to get within ten feet of Ava ever again.

At the very least, she would get the last word in.

Delilah asked Eve to borrow her car. Gave her some spiel about needing to get those supplies for college in town. Eve didn’t mind. No one at the ranch did, really. Everyone there would take the clothes off their backs to give to someone else in need.

As she drove into the forest the following night, those words fresh in her mind, guilt wrapped around her heart and squeezed. She shouldn’t have lied. She shouldn’t have been doing this. But she had to. She had to make sure that, if nothing else, someone stood up to him. Someone told him this was wrong. It was wrong for a man of his age to have any interest in a girl so young. It was wrong when it’d happened to Delilah, and it was wrong as it happened to Ava. No one else would tell him so, but Delilah would. Delilah would get under his skin the way she always had.

When she made it to the parking lot of the trail she had walked with Eve and her son, she shifted the car into park. Staring out at the barren, snow-blanketed trees, the squeezing around her heart intensified. Not excitement, not anticipation, but guilt. Guilt that she hadn’t told Ava her story. Guilt that she kept it all inside and another girl would hurt because of it.

She got over that in therapy with Rhiannon. Rhiannon said the feeling was valid, but Delilah couldn’t blame herself for anything Evan did.

Delilah heard those words, she understood them, but it didn’t change the reality. Maybe if she had talked, maybe if she had ruined his reputation in town, he never would’ve hurt someone else again.

Nearly twenty minutes after she parked, headlights bounced down the snow-covered gravel road behind her. They flickered in the rearview mirror.

Evan didn’t have snow tires. No one really needed them in Missouri.

Watching those lights bob closer, that squeezing around her heart softened with hope.

Maybe he’ll hit a patch of ice, slide over the hill, and that monster truck will crush him like a pancake.

Hope didn’t last long. Soon enough, those headlights shone like spotlights in the rearview, illuminating the entirety of Eve’s car. As the rumble of the engine lulled to silence, Delilah pulled the keys from the ignition. She stuck them between her middle and forefinger in her left hand and gripped the blade in her right. Tossing open the door, she stepped out. Evan’s lights stayed on as he stepped out as well.

“Where the hell are we?” he asked, clearing the distance between them, arms open like he expected a hug. “Where have you been? What happened?”