The Mountain Man’s Obsession: Thickwood CO 1 Read online

  The Mountain Man’s Obsession

  Thickwood, CO, 1

  Jenika Snow

  THE MOUNTAIN MAN’S OBSESSION (THICKWOOD, CO, 1)

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  [email protected]

  Copyright © April 2020 by Jenika Snow

  First ebook edition © April 2020 by Jenika Snow

  Cover design by: Designs by Dana

  Content Editor: Kayla Robichaux

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  About the Author

  Mateo

  I kept my distance from people, living alone, being celibate. And that made me content, happy. I was known as the Bogeyman in Thickwood, Colorado, and I was fine with that title if it meant I wasn’t bothered.

  But then I saw her. And in that moment, I knew I had to have her.

  Curvy and thick, young and innocent, Charlotte was everything I didn’t know I wanted in life. I was instantly obsessed. Something changed in me in that moment, this need, possession, territorial desire that claimed me until I knew it wouldn’t go away until she was mine.

  So that’s what I’d do. I’d make her mine. I’d show Charlotte that she was meant to be claimed by me. And if I had to throw her over my shoulder like a caveman and take her back to my isolated cabin to prove that, I’d do it without shame or guilt.

  I’d do it with pleasure.

  And by the time I’m done with her, Charlotte would know the lengths I’d go to keep her, not only in my life as my woman, but also in my bed… sated.

  Chapter One

  Charlotte

  “He’s big. Like, everything about him is giant-size.”

  I laughed when Ashley said that, the crackling campfire in front of us roaring from the “starter” our friend Riley doused it with.

  “What, you’ve heard this story?” Riley asked sarcastically. Ashley faux-flipped him off. “Will you let me tell the story or what?” She shrugged and motioned him to continue. “David, Jax, you hear the story that goes around town, the one about the man who lives on top of the mountain?”

  I rolled my eyes as I listened to Riley tell an old legend I knew parents told their kids to keep them in line. But I didn’t say anything. I let them tell his buddies this “ghost story” as we sat around the campfire and drank beers.

  “Dude, are you seriously going to try to scare us about some old-ass man who lives alone in the woods?” one of his friends asked, and the other two laughed.

  I looked over at Ashley, both of us having lived in Thickwood, Colorado our entire lives. We rolled our eyes, knowing the story was bullshit, but if Riley wanted to tell his out-of-town buddies a town legend, so be it. If they were stupid enough to buy it, then I’d go along with it and get a good laugh.

  “Yeah, he’s this barbaric guy who owns like a shitload of land in Thickwood. Rarely comes down the mountain, and when he does, people say it’s to snag a woman he keeps in the basement.”

  I was middrink when Riley said that and spewed my beer all over the fire in front of me. Riley snapped his head in my direction and winked for me to play along.

  “They call him the Bogeyman,” Riley said in this ominous tone, and Ashley snorted.

  “Riley, you’re really pushing it now,” she said, and he gave her an exasperated look.

  “What?” he prompted. “It’s true. They do call him the Bogeyman.”

  I rolled my eyes and took another drink of my beer before setting the empty bottle beside me. “Yeah, but everybody in town knows that’s bullshit, and they only tell kids that so they’ll stay away from his cabin.” I didn’t know why I was sticking up for Mateo Braxton—said mountain man. It wasn’t like I knew who he was aside from what I heard through the rumor mill.

  Everyone in Thickwood, Colorado heard about the man who lived high in the mountains, who was antisocial, even frightening, some would say. I didn’t know if any of that was true. But I mean, didn’t rumors come from some truth?

  Or maybe they thought those things about him, because he kept to himself. When people wanted to be left alone, others started assuming things.

  Riley looked over at me. “I saw him once,” he said. “And he scared the shit out of me without even saying one word or looking in my direction.” His voice was genuine, and that surprised me.

  “I didn’t know you’ve actually seen him before,” I muttered, leaning forward, because now I was interested. I’d known Riley and Ashley my entire life, all of us born and bred in Thickwood. And although we were good friends, did everything together, I was surprised he’d never mentioned this before, given the fact that he liked to gossip just as hard as anyone else who lived here. Well, except for me. I didn’t give two shits about rumors and kept my nose down and my business to myself.

  But right then, as Riley started talking about Mateo Braxton, I found myself intrigued.

  “It was several months ago,” Riley said and brought his beer bottle up to his mouth, taking a long pull from it. He finished it off and tossed it in the trash bag we had set off to the side. We might be camping and drinking, but we didn’t litter and we did recycle. We were responsible young adults and all that shit. “He came down for some supplies. I saw him coming out of Holt’s Supply and head into the grocery store. I swear, those couple minutes as I saw him walking across the street, his big fucking Hulk-size body like a predator stalking his prey, I knew there had to be some truth to the rumors.”

  I shook my head. “That’s what rumors are, Riley. Rumors. And especially in this town, where nobody has anything else to do but talk shit about others; of course they’re going to pick on the one man who keeps to himself.” I loved my town, but I also hated parts of it. And the major part I hated was the fact that everybody was up everyone’s business twenty-four hours a day. There was no secret that was safe in Thickwood, and although I got used to it because it’s all I’d ever known, the older I got, the more ridiculous it all was.

  It was like I was living in some soap opera and everybody was chomping at the bit for the next new “news.”

  “So, what’s so scary about this guy aside from people in this town running their mouth and him being a big motherfucker?” Jax asked, and I kind a liked him for his attitude toward the subject.

  “Well, he’s big, like six-five or some shit, and he probably weighs the same as two men. He’s all hard muscle from probably tearing down trees with his bare hands.”

  I rolled my eyes again. At this rate, my eyes would get stuck in the back of my head.

  “Sounds like you might have a thing for him,” David said, and everyone but me laughed.

  “I’ll be back,” I mumbled and stood. I didn’t have anywhere to go, but I had to get away from there.

  I walked over to the edge of the clearing. The spot we picked to camp for the night overlooked the town of Thickwood and Lake Aspyn. It was beautiful with the lights of the town shining, twinkling like little diamonds. It looked incredible this high up.

  I leaned against the tree and crossed my arms, and although it was April, spring weather this high up was still pretty cold. I tightened my jacket around me and continued to look down at town. I imagined all the people sitting at their dinner tables right now, kids getting ready for bed, businesses starting to close down for the night. After eight, Thickwood was pretty much a ghost town except for a few establishments that stayed open, one of those being the bar.

  I pictured the town during the day, how Ridge Elementary would have screaming kids running around the playground. I looked over at Lake Aspyn, picturing the Fourth of July party the town had every year. I was daydreaming about all the things I loved about Thickwood, the traditions, how although everyone liked to gossip, we were one big community, more like family. I looked in the general direction of where McKenzie’s Diner was located, the little family owned restaurant I waitressed at.

  I started to get lost in the sights, woodsy smells, and sounds all around me, when I heard the snap of a twig behind me. I straightened and looked over my shoulder. It was dark, too dark for me to see very far into the woods. I could hear Riley and Ashley laughing, his two buddies doing the same. I could see the firelight from the campfire off to my left, but the noises had come from my right. It was most likely an animal, maybe a fox or a raccoon.

  I was about to turn and look at the town once more before I focused on heading back to where everyone was, when I heard more twigs snapping. It was loud, closer. It certainly didn’t sound like a raccoon or small animal running along the u
nderbrush. My heart started beating a little bit faster, and I pushed away from the tree, not stupid enough to stand there and try to guess what was out there.

  I made my way toward the campsite, glancing over my shoulder, expecting some crazed maniac with a chainsaw to start chasing me. I’d seen one too many horror movies, that was for sure.

  Once I was back around the campfire, I heard Riley switch topics and start talking about the high school football he used to play, how he was the “star quarterback” four years ago. It almost took my mind off the feeling that we were not alone out here, that maybe there was something else, someone else nearby.

  Being in the middle of the woods with darkness surrounding you tended to have all sorts of things creep up in your mind. Ax murderers, serial killers, maybe a deranged hermit living in a cave was stalking us. Although the reality was it was probably just an animal, a deer, or more likely a raccoon. I focused on the flames in front of me, telling myself everything was fine. We were alone. But in the back of my mind, a tingling on my nape told me I didn’t know if that was actually the truth.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Ashley asked, and I nodded.

  “Yeah, I just thought I heard something,” I admitted and looked over my shoulder, suddenly feeling extremely stupid for thinking it was something other than wildlife. I looked over at Ashley and saw she was looking behind me as well.

  “What do you think you heard?” she asked.

  “Probably a raccoon or something,” I muttered.

  That was it. Right?

  Chapter Two

  Mateo

  They were on my property, drinking beers, acting like they weren’t trespassing. I’d seen the fire from my living room window and instantly became pissed. I’d built this cabin high in the mountains to get away from people, and everyone in town knew that. They gave me my privacy.

  But these little assholes, probably drinking buddies pounding them back and telling stories of fucking girls from school, thought it was a good idea to ignore the No Trespassing signs and pop a squat right on my fucking land.

  I’d just been about to bust their party up, tell them to get the fuck off my property, when I saw her standing there looking over the ridge at Thickwood. I hadn’t seen her clearly at first, but as she walked closer to the ledge and leaned against a tree, I got a good glimpse of her profile.

  And instantly, my body reacted.

  I didn’t know what it was about her that had everything in me coming alive, but it was undeniable, unmistakable.

  The fall of her long, dark hair lightly blew around her shoulders as the April air moved through the trees. The sight made my heart race faster. And the way she looked down at the town, as if she were thinking of memories that made her happy, ones that made her heart beat a little bit faster, had my breathing increasing.

  She wasn’t some tiny, frail little thing, fragile like a twig easily snapped. And I fucking loved that about her. She was curvy and thick, made like a woman. And for the first time in God knew how long, I felt arousal settle deep into me and take hold. It was an unusual sensation after not feeling anything remotely close to it in so long.

  And it pissed me off.

  I prided myself on my control, on being able to block anything and everything out if I deemed it. Sexual urges did me no good when I chose a life of living only, of being celibate. But whoever she was, whatever it was about her, changed that in a split second as if it were as easy as reaching out and turning on a light switch.

  I found myself taking a step closer to her, twigs snapping underneath my feet like I was some kind of fucking amateur hunter. I’d instantly seen the way her body tensed in reaction, when she looked over her shoulder and I saw her eyes widen as if she could pierce the darkness. I knew she couldn’t see me, but I could see her well enough, the moonlight shining through the tree line and washing her in a silvery glow.

  I felt my cock harden, and all that did was make me even more annoyed. I didn’t like it, didn’t fucking like her for having this reaction in me so instant. But I found myself moving another step closer, and then another, branches breaking underneath my boots. I could’ve been silent, stealthy if I wanted, but here I was making so much fucking noise it was like an elephant stampeding through a porcelain shop.

  I’d scared her, spooked her as if she were a deer sensing a predator, darting off as if the safety of her friends could protect her from an animal that wanted to devour her.

  And in that moment, as I watched her, as my cock was hard between my legs, I felt like that animal, starving, hungry, salivating as I thought about all the things I wanted to do to her.

  I moved closer, just yards from where they all sat around the campfire, but my focus was transfixed on her. Now that I got a better look, I could tell they were older. They were young, but not high schoolers. They were hardly over twenty, I was sure, over a decade younger than I was.

  And they knew better, knew better than to trespass. I watched as she sat down next to yet another woman. They said something low to each other, and then she looked behind her shoulder, clearly sensing me. I curled my hands into tight fists at my side, not understanding this reaction I was having toward her.

  “Dude, he probably likes scaring the shit out of everyone. He likely gets a big hard-on over it.”

  I snapped my head in the direction of the little prick who’d spoken and growled low in warning. I watched all of them turn their attention in my direction after I’d made the gruff noise. I doubted they could see me, but it didn’t make a difference. I wanted my presence to be known. I took a step through the clearing.

  “What the fuck was that?” one of the males hissed, and all five of them stood up and faced my direction, taking serval steps back as their flight-or-fight instinct rose up.

  I stepped closer so the firelight now illuminated me, so they could see what they were dealing with.

  “Oh, shit,” the little bastard who’d been talking all the shit about me muttered.

  I didn’t like all the testosterone around her, around the woman who held my focus and interest so intently. My attention was on the woman with the long, dark hair. Her eyes were wide in nervousness, and I didn’t like that. I didn’t like I was the cause of that fear.

  I looked at each one of them, narrowing my eyes toward the males. The thought that one of them was the brunette’s boyfriend pissed me off, and I didn’t know how I felt about that. I shouldn’t give a shit who she was with, who she took to bed, but the very thought of one of those little motherfuckers putting their hands on her enraged me.

  I felt territorial in that moment, as if I wanted to reach out and take hold of her, yanking her toward me and placing my claim on her so each one of them knew she was mine.

  But she wasn’t mine. I didn’t know her name, didn’t know anything about her. But I wanted to change that.

  I would change that. I knew it with such certainty that it took ahold of every part of me until it was undeniable.

  I looked back at the asshole who’d said the smart-ass comment. “You’re trespassing on my property,” I growled out. I watched as he swallowed, his nervousness clear and thick as the cold air this high up the mountain.

  Nobody said anything, and the sound of the fire crackling and popping echoed off the tall trees.

  “We, we didn’t know, sir.”

  I slowly looked back at the female, and my heart jerked in my chest at the sound of her voice, at the way it instantly lit me on fire from the inside out.

  I held her gaze and felt something softening in me. My demeanor and attitude couldn’t be called anything but hard and rough, but being this close to her, knowing what I wanted for her—with her— had something shifting in me.

  The silence stretched as I just stared at her, and I could see that made her anxious. She started shifting on her feet and glancing at her friends. I heard a couple of them clear their throats, clearly sensing the shift in the atmosphere. Or maybe they were just scared. They should be. I wasn’t known as a nice, understanding man, especially when people trespassed on my property.