I'm elated.

Incandescent.

Euphoric.

Oh Lord, my skin is on fire. Aidan's against the chestnut oak headboard and my cheek is tingling against his similarly burning chest. I've listened intently as his heartbeat has slowed with time, and the tremors between us began to dull.

Between his legs, I struggle in and out of consciousness, wishing to savor every minute of my time here this weekend, but my health will not allow it. I've lost sleep this week, been blown to pieces by secrets and extremes. I've lost a good deal, and gained just as much.

His presence is an elixir, a powerful spell that prevents the negativity that has only recently become so consuming. Not missing a beat, Aidan's hand scours and dips over the curve of my back and he whispers into my hair.

"Stop fighting it. Sleep."

Stubbornly, my fingers drift over his pecks, mindlessly grazing his nipple before traveling further until I can plant my hand over the valley of muscles that are his abdomen.

"No."

"Yes," he counters, laughing when I kiss his skin, humming against it.

"I'm far too busy."

My nails are tickling his skin in their descent.

"Are you?"

"Mhm." I slide my hand over the dip of his hip and straight down and over the soft skin of his thigh. I smile to myself when his chest expands under my cheek at my exploration, my fingers drifting over the sparse hair at the top of his legs. "You're incredibly fit."

"Thank you."

He bends his knee, and my hand falls between his thighs. He sucks in a gulp of breath and then releases it with a winded laugh, clearly shocked—but enjoying it. I have him firmly in my grasp, and grin at how quickly my touch has aroused him, despite the time we've already devoted to pleasure tonight.

"You're pretty well-endowed too."

"I thought you were tired," he says amusedly, his grip tightening against the back of my neck as my own tightens around his healthy girth.

"Shh."

He can't argue. I won't let him. Grinning along with him, I lift up enough to nudge his nose with mine, and tease his lips with the prospect of my own. I bite down on my skin when his eyes flicker to mine, frustrated by my toying, the usual gray hue almost black, his pupils dilated.

"You're too much," he confesses, chuckling to a barren ceiling. Triumphantly, I gaze closely at his features as he reacts to my fondling, how his eyes close, those dark lashes flickering when my hand slides down further, cupping his virile balls, exploring him as his body were all mine.

"You like that about me, right?"

He nods, fisting my hair. "Yes."

"What else?" I caress his face with my lips. "What else do you like?"

"I like—"

Our mouths are inches apart when his house line blares all around us, and I open my eyes slowly, witnessing the moment his do as well. My cheeks are boiling, simmering with lust and his chest is scattered with rosy patches of color, a reaction to his own pleasure.

I hate technology.

"Let it be," he says to me, and I nod, focusing on his lips, far too aroused to stop now. He's thick in my dominating grasp, elevated and rock hard. We wait for the phone to settle down, but it just rings again with a strange urgent tone.

"It's coming from the cabin."

Ah, Victoria.

"I'm beginning to miss the storm," I confess, releasing him reluctantly as he sighs, and reaches over to grab it off the receiver.

"Hello?"

I lay my head down upon his chest, feeling my rapid heartbeat vibrating between my legs, anxious for relief. However, the way the feminine voice on the other end of the phone escalates and the way Aidan's hand leaves my hair, I lift my face, alert when I see furrowed brows on him.

"What is it?" I ask. He glances at me, and nods.

"How long has he been gone? Maybe he stopped in town?"

It's nearly midnight, and with a quick elimination, I'm guessing they're speaking about Buddy. There's no way there's anything open, and Victoria must tell him that because he nods, listening to her speak intensely.

"Okay, Vic. Calm down. Just...I'm sure it's nothing—"

I lift myself off of him quickly and sit up as he does. We both begin to slip out of the mess of sheets and blankets, and without a word, I start to dress. He stands, in all his glory, stark nude, nodding along to everything she's saying.

"Josephine's here, yes, but I'll come. I'll come now and we can go out and look for him, okay?"

He hangs up, and runs his hand over his face. He says nothing before moving into the bathroom. I hear the shower run briefly and hardly have to guess why, or how cold it was. He reemerges, buttoning up a pair of jeans, his hair sleeked back.

I'm pulling on my boots when he throws on a light gray t-shirt, which clings to the droplets on his body. He's grabbing his coat when he finally looks at me.

"I'm sure it's nothing."

Those words stun me. Such weak, overrated words.

However, coming from his lips, they mean so damn much.

I'm sure it's nothing.

I nod, standing up, grabbing his coat to hand to him. "It is nothing. He probably just blew out a tire or something."

"Why hasn't he called?"

"Maybe his cell died. It happens."

His quick disbelieving look of disdain shows his lack of faith, his inability to imagine a positive outcome.

Why would he?

Every dangerous situation he's faced, even the one that included me, ended up with odd coincidences.

Why was I right over the river water? Why did the storm pick up when I got lost?

After everything that's happened to him, and out of all the potentially dangerous things in the woods that could have gotten me, it had to be that river?

He doesn't need uncertainty. He doesn't need doubt.

"Aidan, he's fine."

He nods, continuously and blows out a deep breath. I watch his eyes scour the room until they land on a set of keys. "Keys."

I snatch a beanie before following him out into the hall. He takes me into a different section of the house, one I haven't been in. There are grooved windows on either side of the stone walls, leading to a door. He opens it, revealing a three-door garage. He unlocks the Range Rover in the middle space so I can climb in. An antique Mustang sits in one of the spaces, dusty and clearly immobile. My brow lifts at the sight of a Harley motorcycle, another vintage, on the other end, near all his climbing gear.

Didn't peg Aidan as a need-for-speed kind of guy. Then again, he does climb mountains without a rope. Nothing's off the table.

I hop into the front seat as he grabs a few flashlights, and a first aid kit for precautions and joins me, moving into the driver's seat, dropping the items into the backseat. I smile softly at the silver-framed photograph dangling from the rear-view mirror of Aidan's daughter, which swings back and forth as he pulls out of the garage and into the moonlight night.

He takes the turns cautiously, but with far more experience than I possess. He knows this mountain. I grab the hat that's in my hands and reach up and over the console, sliding it over his damp hair, so he won't catch a chill. He looks at me with admiration, briefly and reaches over, taking my hand, leaving it in my lap.

By the time we pull up to the cabin, Victoria's already hovering on the porch, bundled up for the worst. I let go of Aidan's hand and he tears his eyes from her to figure out why I'm opening the door.

"She can sit in the front, so she can see better," I say, holding it open for her. She comes around and upon seeing me, her eyes lower tellingly. I can't tell if she's ashamed or simply doesn't like that I'm here.

"Hello Josephine."

"Hi."

She nods a quick thanks as I shut her into the passenger's side, and take my own place in the back.

"You said he was supposed to be home when?" Aidan interrogates.

"Two hours ago. He left to fill up the tank, and to stop for a beer with Andreas."

"His phone?"

"Dead."

We have to stop for the gate to open at the push of a device in Aidan's hand, which he closes again as we turn onto the road that leads to the main one. I cringe at the height of the vehicle, and the endless abyss of darkness outside my window, which I don't have to question.

It's the edge. It's a cliff.

"Victoria," I say, leaning forward so she can hear me, "did you try Andreas, by any chance?"

"Yes. He said...he said Bud left the bar. That he'd had a few drinks, but nothing so bad."

Shit.

"He's fine," Aidan says, firmly. "We'll find him."

He has the ability to reassure her, a handsome poker face, but his eyes, he gives them to me in the mirror, only for a moment. It only takes that moment to know what's inside his mind.

Fear.

The main road is naturally empty, and Aidan turns on his high beams so we can navigate our way down, moving slow in case we come upon something fast. It's difficult not to imagine the worst when traveling down the dark, icy mountain. The street lights are sparsely placed, no one around for miles to assist, or find a broken down traveler.

Thinking back to Aidan's confessions in my apartment, there's no help but to imagine the fatal accident, his parents accident which happened somewhere along this road. It's boggling that Aidan still manages to drive on it to this day. Instead of distancing himself from his horrors, he dotes on them, fueling the memories to stay for the sake of keeping the people around, no matter the damage it does to the part of him that should need to escape.

It makes him insane. It also demonstrates that he's by far the most devoted person I've ever met. As we get closer to the ground, Aidan presses on the accelerator, picking up speed and the dormant forest blurs behind the window.

"Something's had to have happened..." Victoria mumbles in the front. "Buddy wouldn't do this. He knows how frightened I get."

"We'll find him," I say, positively, searching for any sign of life in the darkness. He has to be somewhere.

"I-I can't lose him to this, not like this. Not to this mountain. It's already taken so much."

Her candid ramblings stun me. And while her right to fear is warranted, her timing to voice them is not so great. Aidan's eyes are on the road, scanning the open space, and he makes no effort to reassure her anymore, perhaps because he can't. But I know he heard her.

The paved road is a winding maze, one that is tough to trek through in icy darkness, but Aidan is vigilant. And like a flashing street light, I see color in the endless eternity of terrain, and call out for Aidan to stop.

He slams on the breaks and raises the emergency break, leaving us in a steep nose dive position on the deserted road.

"What? What is it?"

"There...there's a car," I say, pointing to the forest, "in the woods. I saw the brake lights."

"In the forest?" Victoria asks, disbelievingly. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm sure." I open the car door, jumping down onto the pavement. It takes only a few strides to see the tire marks that lead to the mangled patches of land on the edge of the road. Aidan's by my side within seconds, studying the grounds with me.

We point together when we see the red lights of a vehicle, still upright but wedged behind the mountainous hill.

"Oh my god," Victoria gasps as Aidan shoots into action, sliding down a patch of land plowed by the accident and over a boulder. I follow him, careful my boots don't catch unto uprooted roots.

"Victoria, you stay there. Your knee is still recovering," Aidan says, holding his hands out to help me down to his level. "Victoria, in the backseat, there are flashlights and a kit. Throw them down to me."

"Be careful!"

The items land with a thud into the dirty snow by our feet. We grab them together, and take off in long strides, braving the unpredictable woods without real thought. As we move, I fish my phone from my coat in order to call the authorities, but the land is too remote. My screen shows no bars.

"Buddy!" Aidan shouts when we're a few feet from the vehicle. My stomach somersaults at the sight of the truck, which I remember clearly being parked next to the cabin on the day I met Aidan.

God, it really is him.

"Oh, god," I breathe, seeing the front hood crushed into a tree trunk, a majority of the paint chipped right off by the force of the impact.

"Buddy!"

"Aidan?"

I close my eyes with relief at the sound of the muffled voice coming from inside the vehicle...Buddy's voice. Aidan leaps over a boulder, which is preventing the driver's door from opening, wedged between the tree and the metal. Placing his boot onto the rock, Aidan grabs onto the truck, careful of the broken window and peers inside.

I shine a flashlight onto them and I see Buddy lift his head from the steering wheel, a bloody gash on his head. It's not serious, although the concussion he most likely has might be. He exhales, and chuckles wearily at the sight of his friend, and employer.

"Christ," Aidan breathes, closing his eyes, dropping his head down. "Fucking hell." He tilts his head to look at me, his eyes shaking with relief. "He's okay."

"I-I can't get out, Aidan. The doors stuck. The other won't open."

"We'll get you out. It's all right. Just stay calm."

Buddy turns his head at Aidan's mention of another person, and he smiles regretfully at me.

I move forward, holding up my hand to give him an awkward wave. "Hi, Buddy."

"I'm sorry, guys. I hit ice and I-I couldn't get control of the truck. It...it all happened so fast."

"Jo, the boulder. I think we can lift it," Aidan says, not interested in details in this precise moment. I nod, throwing down the kit, tucking the flashlight under my arm. The wild woods around us sing, the branches dancing, the nocturnal wildlife conversing loudly in their element.

It's when Aidan and I are bent and trying to find a good grip on the monstrous rock that we hear the howls, a distant echo, but close enough to experience chills. His eyes meet mine, only a flash of light beneath the moonlight, but I see the urgency.

It's dangerous to be out here. We need to hurry.

"You got it?" he asks when he's got his hands in position. I nod, bent to my knees, prepared for the weight. We heave together and it only budges slightly, which shocks me. We push through, grunting as we attempt to turn it over. My ears are humming, my pulse rapid by the time I feel the cold rock slip out of my hands, and tumble backward and down a small slope of uneven ground.

We both gasp, but instantly scramble up, the sound of the wolves still drifting through the air. Victoria's hopefully gone into the car by now. I grab onto the door and hiss through my teeth as I pull it open, hearing the caved metal crackle in protest at my pulling.

Aidan reaches in, looking over Buddy. "Are you okay? Anything broken?"

"No, no."

"Can you walk?"

He nods, and I notice the liquor glazing over his eyes. Yeah, a few drinks, my ass.

Aidan helps him out and throws Buddy's arm over his shoulder for support, because now we have to do the hard part. Trekking back up to the main road. I drop to the ground as they start walking, grabbing the flashlights and kit while they begin walking.

"Jo, turn off the car, please," Aidan says and I slide into the car, pulling them out of the ignition. We have no choice but to take our time retracing our steps, which preys upon my rational mind, constantly forcing me to look back behind us at the empty woods, the sight of the crash.

It all looks so menacing at night, so dangerous.

I picture myself into the snow, remembering exactly how it felt to be immobile and alone in these woods, and it makes me catch up to them quickly, and grab onto the back of Aidan's coat, offering stability and another set of hands to help Buddy's wobbling movements.

"You could have died, Buddy. Do you understand that?" Aidan suddenly snaps, gasping for breath. "Do you understand? Victoria's been through enough shit, hasn't she?"

"I was stupid. I only had a few drinks. I thought I was okay."

"These roads are dangerous. You know this! One wrong move, one impaired judgment and you are dead! That's how it works!"

Wow, he's pissed. I speak up, reminding them of a dip in the ground in hopes that Aidan will calm down. Thankfully, Victoria's voice rings through the tree line.

"Oh my god!"

"He's okay, Victoria. He's fine," Aidan says, pressing Buddy into a tree while he hops over the shapely boulder under the hill that leads up to Victoria and the main road. I grab onto Buddy's waist, and help him move to where Aidan is reaching out, and let him make the climb.

He's more disoriented by the accident than drunkenness, which is slightly comforting, if only to me. Judging by the stony anger that's sweeped across Aidan's features, he could care less.

Buddy slams into Victoria the moment he's up, and I hear her wailing into his clothes. Aidan climbs the slope with much more ease than a normal person would have, his mountainous skills doing him great favors, and moves onto his knees, holding out his hands for me.

"Careful. Some of the rocks are jagged," he warns as I begin to grasp onto snowy dirt. My hands are numb—I am positive I wouldn't feel the sharp edges. I place my footing and heave myself up, clasping onto his hands forcefully and he uses his strength to pull me up the rest of the way.

He guides me into his chest, clasping the back of my neck with a relieved exhale. I tilt my head back to look at him, nodding reassuringly to him. He nods back, not saying a word.

"I knew something was wrong. I knew..." Victoria cries to her husband.

"I'm okay. I'm sorry, Vic." Buddy looks at us as we stand up, apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you through this."

He's speaking more to Aidan than me, possibly because Aidan's face looks like its carved stone.

"You're okay. That's what matters," Aidan mutters, letting me go. I move and press a hand to Buddy's back, softly, encouraging them to move while Aidan rounds the car.

"We need to get out of here," I say, prompting them to remember the dangers of nightfall.

They both take the backseat, and I move to the front. The second my door is shut, Aidan unlatches the break and drives forward, the road too narrow and icy to attempt a three-point turn. We must reach the bottom of the mountain and then make our way back.

"Victoria, check if he needs the hospital," Aidan asks, once we reach the road for town. "If we can avoid it, I'd rather we tend to him at the house. Last thing I want is him getting a DUI."

"I'm fine," Buddy says and I watch Victoria assess his wound carefully. She nods.

"I can clean him up at home."

Aidan doesn't answer, just makes a u-turn which will take us back. Buddy's eyes flicker to me, and I smile softly.

"I'm glad you are okay. I'm afraid that trunk is goner, though."

"Been in my family for years. My dad gave me that car." He sighs, leaning his head back into the seat. "I guess it was at the end of its life anyway."

"Never mind the car. I can't believe you drove like this!" Victoria howls.

He groans, massively taking up most of the backseat. "I hit ice. I would have been fine if I hadn't hit that, Vic."

I look forward, leaving them to argue. The sky is full of stars, with zero cloud cover. The constellations are illumining this far out of civilization, a stunning array of light. I press my knuckles to my mouth, staring out at the land, only now feeling the actual relief, and the possible horrors we might have faced tonight.

It hits me like a daze.

Buddy's in the backseat of the car, his own truck isolated in the woods.

But, so easily, it could have gone another way. So easily it could have been worse.

I reach out and across the console, grabbing onto Aidan's thigh, hoping to provide him something, anything. His hands are gripping the steering wheel so I don't expect him to remove them, or to acknowledge me. After a minute, one of his hands releases the wheel and drops down, sliding over my knuckles, his fingers lacing and capturing my own. He leaves our hands fisted in his lap, without a word.

It's a few more minutes before Aidan pulls up to their cabin, which has every light left on. He parks the car, exhaling when he turns to look at them.

"Do you need me to help you to the door?"

Buddy shakes his head, visibly uncomfortable. There is an unhealthy amount of tension in this car. Victoria exits her side of the vehicle and storms up to the steps of the house, her fear now pushed aside for anger parallel to Aidan's.

"Thank you...for everything. I'd...I'd probably have died out there if you hadn't gone looking for me," Buddy says, his words clipped like it's hard for him. I nod but remain silent, knowing I'm the outside party to this situation. Aidan nods as well, clearing his throat. His jaw is clenching violently.

"Of course we went. Call up...let me know if you need anything. We'll figure out what to do about the car tomorrow."

I climb out of the car despite the fact that Aidan hasn't, and open Buddy's door for him, wanting him to see one pleasant face before he endures whatever Victoria has to say inside. He hugs me, shocking me at first. I pat on his back.

"Tell him...I'm sorry," he says softly.

"I will."

He pulls back, and nods, walking up to the house. I turn my head to look at Aidan, expectantly. He's watching me, his eyes trying so hard to remain furious, but with one pleading gaze from me, he opens his car door, and tells Buddy to wait.

I smile softly as he walks around the front of the car, and I climb into the passenger seat. I shut the door, my heart clenching when Aidan grabs onto Buddy's arms, shielded under the porch as he speaks to him and then embraces him, tightly.

They exchange a few more words, and Buddy looks out to me, nudging his chin in my direction. Aidan nods, patting his back. My lips purse realizing they're talking about me.

Aidan retreats as Buddy walks inside, and I watch him approach the car, pulling the beanie off his head, his waves of chocolate hair flowing down his neck, oddly enough still damp. Neither of us say a word as we drive up to the manor, both reeling from the events of the last hour.

One minute, we're in bed, moments away from pleasure.

The next, we're trekking through wilderness, praying we're not going to come upon a dead body.

I cover my face, chuckling under my breath.

"What?" Aidan asks, when I peer at him under my lashes. Thankfully, his mouth is curved with a curious smile.

"This place is wild."

"It's not funny," he says, although his smile hasn't disappeared. In fact, he manages a chuckle. It's despairing and traumatic, but hey, it's still a chuckle.

"It's been an adventure, since meeting you."

He looks at the road, inhaling, his eyes squinting. "Are you starting to regret it yet?"

"Oh, yes...you know, I might as well go back my things now. It's not like I like you at all, right?"

He rolls his eyes. "You find humor in the worst moments."

I tuck my fingers under his chin, caressing the curve of his jaw, his beard trimmed low. He instinctively yearns for my touch, and I love it, I crave to see it affect him.

"How could I regret this?"

In response, he reaches up and clasps my hand, bringing it to his lips. I hum fondly as he kisses my fingers, relieved to see his features relaxing, losing the fury, the resentment.

We reach the manor, and I'm so relieved to see the monstrosity of a home. The chimney is still smoking, waiting for us to return. We meet at the front of the car, and I move into his outstretched arm, closing my eyes tiredly against his chest.

They reopen out of pure curiosity. I tilt my head up to him as our feet crunch into the small layers of snow.

"What did Buddy say to you? He looked at me funny."

Only illuminated by the lantern-esque fixture under the stone entranceway, Aidan meets my eyes, his mouth tilting wryly.

"You miss nothing, do you?" He laughs, stopping. "What do you think he said?"

I bite on my lip, playfully. "I'm not sure."

"I think you can guess."

He takes hold of my face, and I don't even flinch at the frigidness of his fingers. My hands remain on his waist, weak and weary. I gaze at him as he studies me closely.

"He said there aren't women like you. That you are the needle in the damn haystack."

I flush, excitedly as Aidan's smile transforms thoughtfully.

"I told him he was wasting his breath—"

I reach up, kissing him hard, hard enough to catch him off guard. Incoherently tired, we both begin to hum with laughter, our mouths curving against one another.

"God, I need sleep," I moan, releasing him so he can open the door.

"I need a drink."

He grabs the door handle, and looking at me over his shoulder, finally grins, the events of tonight pushed back like a nightmare that may possibly be forgotten in the morning if we're lucky. I nod with him, agreeing cheekily, pleased to be a distraction.

"Oh yeah, drink first."

A/N: we gots quite a bit comin' guys *excited squealing*