leather jacket and pulled a Scully hat over his head. After pushing a buck knife into his left boot, he headed out into the storm.
The wind howled like the opening of a horror movie and pushed against P.J.’s chest. Rain came down in torrents, and trees creaked out a warning as their branches bent under the weight of the storm. With freezing fingers, P.J. pulled his weapon out from the back of his waistband and moved it to the deep front pocket of his leather jacket for easy access. He had planned to use the cover of the trees to circle back around whoever had the balls to trespass on his property. But now, because of the force of the direction of the wind, he was going to have to meet the fucker head on.
Juliet’s car was stuck. And it was her own fault. When Juliet had realized that she had mistaken the road that led to P.J.’s house for the road that led to hers, she had tried to turn the vehicle around. She had successfully backed up to a horizontal position across the road, but it was when she had tried to complete the turn that the trouble started. Juliet’s wheels had spun and spun and spun. The more she had tried, the deeper she had dug the car in. Now her vehicle sat straight across the road, and bumper deep in the thick muck and mire that the storm continued to create.
Juliet jumped straight up in her seat and her chest hit the steering wheel. She let out a loud screech and shielded her face as a heavy branch fell and landed on her windshield. The entire glass panel was instantly turned into a large, glistening spider web. Thankfully, it did not crack through, but one more branch, one more deep gust of wind, and Juliet knew she’d be covered in sharp shards.
She sat and deliberated as the weather raged all around. As much as she would like to, Juliet knew that she couldn’t stay, she knew that she couldn’t wait the storm out in her car. She was afraid of that windshield breaking and afraid that the car might shift deeper into the thick mud. Juliet could barely open the door now, another couple of inches and she would be trapped inside.
She peered down the road and saw the lights of P.J.’s cabin shining out like a beacon on the hilltop. In Juliet’s current mindset, it seemed to be miles and miles away. But the rational part of her knew that it was only about a half a mile or so down the road. That’s all Juliet had to do was be fast about it. She would just have to stay focused and keep her eyes on the prize. The dim, glowing lights told her that P.J. was home, but even if he wasn’t, Juliet would find her way in. She’d break a window if she had to. As the thought ran through her mind, Juliet felt a small bit of something that felt like courage. It sparked and ignited a fire inside of her. As Juliet braced to go out into the storm, she gave herself an attagirl.
Juliet pushed open the door to the car and squeezed herself through the opening. When she did, her footing faltered and she sank immediately into knee deep, freezing, cold mud. At first Juliet was too shocked to move. It took a full minute of being bound and pummeled by raging winds before Juliet could even begin to fathom what had happened to her.
It all seemed so surreal. Juliet felt as though she had stepped into a mad wizard’s kaleidoscope where all of the colors were black. She tried hard to catch her breath as the rain beat down on her and the wind roared and whipped her face in punishing slaps. As she felt her footing continue to seep out from under her, Juliet looked around for a way to hoist herself up and out of the mud. She needed something strong and sturdy, something fixed that would not move when she did…the car. Juliet decided to try to use the car as leverage. If she could just wedge her ass onto the edge of the open door, then maybe she could push off. But when Juliet tried, she lost her balance. Her legs remained stuck when the rest of her body fell forward.
Exhausted, cold, and covered from the waist down in the icy mud, Juliet could do