wind on a very, very cold, but not-quite freezing, January night.
I stuck to the edge of the lake opposite from where the men were and swum the length of it, back towards the manor house.
Out of the blue, dogs started baying wildly in the distance. Voices raised excitedly.
No doubt they’d located the spot I’d spread the scent around. That meant I didn’t have long before they discovered the cloak in the trees. They’d realize I’d tried to trick them and be twice as resolute to catch me, then doubly furious when they did.
My foot touched down against the lake bottom. I’d made it to the other side. But if I scrambled out, it would be obvious this was where I exited.
I bit my lip, and even though it cost me precious time, I backtracked a little bit to where a low-hanging branch swung out over the water. Even better, tied to the branch was a swinging rope with a couple of knots tied in it, dangling about a foot above the water.
A summer pastime, now my salvation.
Climbing an old, knotty rope while naked and sodden was not my idea of a good time. The drenched buttplug foxtail dragged me backwards down into the water. I had to clench it extra hard to keep it in place.
But last year Tanya had gotten on a health kick, and while we couldn’t afford a gym membership, we were able to create an area on the back porch for what she called Country Strong Cross-Fit (LeAnn nicknamed it Red Neck Cross-Fit)
Tanya tied a rope very similar to this one now confronting me to the ceiling of the porch in addition to other stations—we’d lift concrete blocks, run up and down the country road with ropes attached to old blown out tires slowing us down, and would repurpose any bit or bob we could get our hands on and MacGyver it into workout equipment.
Tanya forced me out there with her every morning at six a.m.
I was useless at the rope climb the first three months. But finally, with enough reps of those damn concrete blocks, and pulling those tires, it finally happened—I was able to pull myself a third of the way up the rope.
A month later I could make it almost to the top. That was last December.
Tonight, in spite of my exhaustion and fear, adrenaline spiked right when I needed it to. I hauled myself up and out of that bitch-twat-cold water, hand over hand on the rope. One hand and then, grinding my teeth together and straining all my muscles, pull, and another hand up.
I ignored the burn of the rope against my delicate palms. We always taped up for this at home.
But just thinking about Tanya and Reba and LeAnn—they were my power and my strength. They always had been.
I pictured their faces and I hauled myself up that damn rope.
Hand over hand, and pull.
Reach, and pull. The wet fox tail slapped against the back of my thighs.
Reach, and pull.
Not scream-growling with the effort was half the battle. But nope, not one damn sound would eek out of my mouth to give away my position.
I couldn’t hear the dogs anymore, and the voices had quieted down, too. I couldn’t obsess about what that might mean.
I just kept reaching upwards into darkness.
Until finally, finally, my hand hit the bark of a tree branch.
Hauling my body up and onto the branch was a task more brutal than any yet. The whole time I was terrified someone would notice the swaying tree branch.
But at a certain point, all I could do was the best I could. This was my best chance, and I was at the limit of my capacity. It’d either work or it wouldn’t.
I finally swung all of my body and hefted my leg up and over the branch. And then I was sitting on top of it rather than dangling from below. I could have laughed with relief. But all I gave myself was two Mississippis to rest, then I climbed higher to another branch that stretched out the other direction—over land instead of lake.
My arms were jelly when I finally climbed out and hung from it, dropping the last few feet back to the ground.
Don’t you dare, I warned myself as my limbs almost gave out. Don’t you fucking dare.
I hadn’t just dragged myself across a near-freezing lake for nothing. It was only sheer force of will that kept me on my feet. Because goddammit, the less exposure of my