You Found Me

Chapter 22

I wake up to sunshine coming through my window and see that it's ten in the morning. I get dressed and check my phone to see if Meghan texted me and it made me smile to see she sent me a selfie. She looks exhausted from work but still sexy as hell. She told me she loves me and misses me so much and already. I get dressed and go downstairs to see Karla and a few other folks sitting at the table drinking coffee. "Apologies I slept so long. The flight took it out of me I guess."

They all assured me it's okay and then Karla introduced me to everyone. "This is Dana she's our research biologist. Then we have Edward he's our intern who never left. Next we have Sakeem he knows our park like the back of his hand. He lives in the nearby village. And last but not least we have another park ranger, Jade" she introduces. I smile and wave awkwardly at them "It's great to meet you all. Thank you for letting me come and work with you all for a little while." They all greet me warmly and invite me to sit for coffee and breakfast. For breakfast Sakeem made a delicious corn meal dish with eggs. The corn meal reminded me of grits which I love.

I spent the day with Karla and Sakeem driving around the park and fixing any fences that had been tampered with. "Do fences get cut often" I ask Karla as we repaired the wires on one off the fences. She nodded and said almost daily it's happens. I frown it really sucks people are so persistent on killing these beautiful creatures. After setting alarms around the preserve we make our way back to the ranger station to meet with the team. "Any bad news today" Jade asks Karla. Karla shakes her head "No another good day...but fences were messed with so if expect something to happen sooner than later."

Sakeem is working at the stove so I go join him "Need any help" I ask. He smiles and hands me corn "If you can clean this that'd be great." I happily begin shucking the corn and put out in a pile for him. "Tonight we feast on beef roast abd corn" he says. I smile and tell him it smells delicious and I can't wait! "So you with with animals back home" he asks. I nod and tell him I'm a zookeeper and that I'm also in a musical band. He nearly drops his knife "You sing" he smiles widely. I chuckle "Yes I do." He pats me on the back "Tonight we play music together." I nod and agree not sure what I really just got myself into!

After dinner I take a quick shower and get dressed. I pretty much stay fully dressed here because we never know when something will happen and we gotta be ready. I text Meghan "I love you and miss you so much! How are you doing?" I also send her some photos of the preserve I took today. It's truly a beautiful place. "You ready to sing with me" Sakeem smiles as I take a seat around the fire outside of the ranger station. I nod and pick up the guitar "What are we playing" I ask. He asks me to sing a song that means something to me so I think on it for a moment.

I instantly remember the night Meghan approached me and the song I sang while I watched her dance with her friends. I started strumming and the group became silent to listen as I began to sing my favorite song "You're Everything". In this moment I feel like I'm back in that stage watching Meghan dance with her friends and I can't help but smile as I'm singing. Once I finish my song the group applauds and I blush "Thank you guys". Sakeem asks me who the song reminds me of and I tell him it's my girlfriend Meghan. "That's beautiful. Love is beautiful and should be celebrated" he smiles warmly.

I play music with Sakeem for another thirty minutes and suddenly an alarm goes off. The group jumps to their feet and begins rushing around. Karla throws a gun to me and tells me to get in the jeep and put on a bulletproof vest. I quickly put it on as she drives to location that's under attack. I can hear gun shots in the distance and my heart begins to race. We get close enough to see the lights off the poachers and then we get out to go on foot. Karla positions us in the bushes and I begin taking my aim "Just shoot them" I ask nervously. Karla nods shoot them or at them at least.

I begin firing the weapon at the poachers and they open fire back on us as they flee the reserve. My adrenaline is rushing and once they are all gone I realize I was grazed on the arm by a bullet. "Oh my gosh are you okay" Karla grabs my shoulder and applies pressure. I tell her I was only grazed the bullet isn't in me and she smiles feeling relieved "Can't have you dying on my watch! The zoo will kill me for sure." I laugh "I wouldn't worry about the zoo but Meghan might have an issue with it." She laughs "That too!" She patches my shoulder up and then we move forward to check on the herd.

"Everyone is accounted for. They didn't get any of the elephants" she smiles and hugs me. I chuckled at her forward motion and hug her back. She's really passionate about these animals...I mean she's dedicated her life to being her every single day to protect them. She breaks the hug "I'm sorry I just got over excited". I smile down at her "There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm glad nothing happened to them. They're beautiful." This was the first time I really got to see the herd. I watch the matriarch check on every elephant in here herd it was really sweet to see. They're such intelligent and complex creatures.

We soon get back to the station and I see I missed a call from Meghan! I excuse myself to my run and try to call her back and to my surprise she answered. "Meghan it's so good to hear your voice. I miss you babe! How is everything going?" I ask her. She fills me in on hospital drama and on how Cali is doing. She says Doc misses me but is being the best cuddle buddy in my absence. I can't wait to see Meghan in a week. "So I have to tell you...I was grazed by a bullet tonight. Poachers attacked the reserve and in the shooting I got grazed. But I'm okay and Karla psyched me up" I explain. "Babe! You better not get yourself killed over there or I'm going to have to kill you! Who is Karla by the way?" She asks. I tell her she's the lead ranger here and there is awkward silence on the other end of the line. "Meghan? You okay?" I ask.

"Yes I'm fine. I gotta back to work now. I love you and miss you Korie. I'll see you soon" she makes a kiss noise through the phone. I wish I could kiss her right now! "I love you too! I can't wait to see you babe" I smiled into the phone. Just as I'm falling asleep I hear a knock on my door "Come in" I call out. Karla enters my room "Sorry to bother you but we need to clean your wound before you go to bed." I silently sigh and get up and follow her down stairs. As we are walking I notice she has a very toned body and the most beautiful full sleeve tattoo on her right arm. I had only seen half of it before but seeing that she is only wearing a sports bra right now I can see the entire thing.

She catches me staring at it and she smiles "It's a tattoo of this preserve believe it or not. These are all photos I've taken here and the artist meshed them into one piece of art. "It's beautiful" I say looking her in the eyes. She appears to blush but I ignore it. She cleans the wound with alcohol and then dresses it for me "I'm sorry you got hurt. I'm glad you're okay though." I smile "It's okay really. I admire all the work you do here. It's truly amazing and quite the commitment!" Her smile fades "I love it here...just wish more people would come see the preserve. It gets lonely at times." I nod and understand fully how she could be lonely here. "Well I better turn in. Goodnight Karla and thank you for everything" I say giving her a hug. She hugs me back and as we break apart she briefly looks at my lips. I break apart from her quicker and head upstairs I get she may be lonely and very attractive but I'm in love and committed to Meghan.