This is a continuation of the sequence that started when Jade was lost while hiking and was 'rescued' by the mysterious Nias, who is supposedly leading her to safety. He brings her to a strange tavern seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
I can speak for myself here in that I liked the whole hiking/tavern sequence. There was only one problem - we never could get back to it, and it brought up questions that couldn't be answered in the context of the rest of the story. So, even though it was a fun scene to write and edit, it just didn't fit into the final version of the novel.
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Jade kept following
him, but she was beginning to feel like this trek was taking much too
long. “I really need to find my way back to my car, and you are starting
to freak me out with the whole creepy I came for you thing.” Just get
me the hell out of here.
He led her to a
small well lit building. As they got closer it looked like a restaurant
or a bar.
“If this were a
movie,” she laughed despite the situation, “locals would be calling that place
a tavern in some strange accent. Unfortunately the movie might just be
‘The American Werewolf in London’, where soon after the lost travelers find
said tavern they are attacked by a man-eating monster.” This time her laughter
was a little nervous and she decided not to follow that train of thought
through.
“Come on, you’re
going to be fine,” He said as he looked back quickly, cracking a small smile
and chuckling softly to himself. It was
actually quite endearing, the way she rambled when she was nervous.
“You thought that
was funny?” Jade was surprised to hear a bit of an amused tone in his
voice.
“Yes, I suppose I
did.” He slowed so she could catch up with his long strides and turned
his entire body this time to smile at her again.
The tavern was on a
small forested dirt road which looked like it wasn’t frequently used.
There were a few older cars out front, which made her feel a little better, but
not much.
“Thank God,” she
mumbled. Regardless of the look of the building she was grateful to be
out of the woods.
Jade could hear her
new guide give a small laugh under his breath, but it didn’t sound like he
thought she was funny this time; it sounded just a touch menacing like he knew
something she didn’t. She thought, well actually hoped, that it was her
head running away with itself again.
She began moving
swiftly toward the door really hoping there was a phone inside. He opened the
heavy beat-up door and let her walk in before him. The inside was low
lit. It had an old medieval, shadowy feel to it. The tables were
made of thick distressed wood planks. The chairs surrounding them were
heavy wood and brown leather with metal rivets, very King Arthur’s court.
Giant mugs of beer were being served by a waitress who could have been anywhere
between thirty and fifty; her demeanor was insouciant at best. Jade
inhaled the distinctive aroma of some kind of hearty man food and it
seemed to be coming out of the back.
“It smells like
heaven in here. I’m starving.” She looked to the back of the dining
room and saw where the food was coming from. “It’s been forever since I
ate.” Tall and beautiful was looking to her with some kind of questioning
glare.
Jade figured it
would be okay if she sat with her rescuer for a few minutes and ate. Then
she would call herself a cab. Although, she wondered why he brought her
here and not to her car, since he seemed so sure of his surroundings and where
he was going.
Once she got past
the smell of the food, she realized the energy in this place was off; that is
the only way she could explain it, off. It felt similar to the bookstore
the day she had first seen the man; the people seemed suddenly nervous, uneasy.
“Um, hey,” she said
to him as he pulled out one of the large wooden chairs for her. “My
name is Jade by the way, Jade Shear, thank you for helping me out of there, I
was so lost.” He glanced down at her and
smirked, but didn’t offer his name in return; he just turned toward
the kitchens, leaving her at the table. She was again struck by how he
looked; at this point staring at his firm backside. “Fine don’t tell me your name then,” she
called after him, wishing she hadn’t been as open with her own identity.
There was something
feline about him, a smooth indifference. And yet he was completely masculine,
definitely arrogant. She couldn’t really explain it if she’d tried, how
they meshed within him, but the end result was dark and strangely delicious.
She knew she
shouldn’t, but she wanted to get a feeling from him now that being lost in the
woods wasn’t her major concern. She realized she was face to face with
one of her dream guys; the man could have just walked out of her mind and into
the woods to find her, the hero already. She really wanted to know if she
was dealing with a disturbed psychopath or the sweet, gentle, knight in shining
armor who had just rescued her. She wanted to get inside his head, find
out what was going on in there. She found that she was staring at him, again.
She argued with herself over whether she should deprive him of his autonomy and
steal a taste of his feelings. She realized he noticed she was checking
him out, considering him. He looked like he was enjoying it. He
turned full toward her, his giant beautiful body in what she thought must be
his signature languid slant, just leaning against one of the tables. He cocked a dark brow and gave her the most
arrogant smile she’d ever seen and actually said “Go ahead, look all you like,
I’m quite used to it.”
The rebellious independent
woman in her reacted immediately, without thought or preamble. “Agh, did
that just come out of your mouth? Does that
kind of cocky attitude make women want to jump your bones? It makes me want to tell you what an
arrogant ass you are, possibly pick up something large and hard
and whack you with it, several times.” Scowling at him, she wondered why
the universe would give all that hotness to such an ass. He
straightened up and walked toward the bar and she couldn’t help but think, umm,
but I bet he is large, hard, and that is a perfect ass. My God Jade, pull
it together. She heard her new guide give a small laugh under his breath.
A wave of his
emotion struck her - conflicted? Was that what it was, or did he just
throw her off kilter, she couldn’t tell. But she didn’t trust him any
further than she could hurl him.
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