My Mysterious Mate

Chatper 2

**Emma's POV**

I was woke up to my brother yelling in my ear. "EMMA WAKE UP"

I groaned and opened my eyes. That wasn't exactly the ideal way to wake up.  I got out of the truck and looked around. We were surrounded by trees. I pulled out my cellphone and, just as I had assumed, no service. This was going to be fantastic. Luckily for me, the camp ground we stayed at had toilets and a showering area. I would not have been able to deal with this place otherwise.

"Emma!" My dad called as he pulled my bag out of the bag. "Take this and follow me. We're gonna set up camp and then we are going to go exploring."

"Do I have to?"  I asked as I picked my bag up. I could have packed a little less. It was heavy.

"If you don't want to...I guess you could stay, but you'll be alone."

"Okay. Okay." I said grumpily. He just chuckled. My dad loved the outdoors. He loved, hunting, fishing, camping, and anything else that he could do outside. I wasn't as fond of it. I perferred going to the city, finding a quaint coffee shop, and enjoying my time that way.

As we walked, my phone went off. Service! I checked my texts. There were two from Liz, and one from Sam.

Gurl, where dafuq are you?

I wasn't joking when I asked where the fuck you were!

Liz is worried about you, you aren't texting back! Where are you? Liz was the dramatic one, and Sam was very much the chill one. We rarely spent time apart, unless I was on holiday somewhere. Even then we talked nonstop. That was another downside to camping. I couldn't talk to them. 

Middle of no flipping where. But I won't have service, reception SUCKS here. I'll text you when we leave this place. I sent it to both of them. I could have been a little more creative and sent something different to the both of them, but I was too lazy.

After my dad set up our two tents, we sort of put our camp up. We were going to make s'mores later in the day, but my dad forgot the chocolate. The most important part.

"Dad!"

"Dad!"

"Dad!"

My siblings and I were all a little upset. After we established that we could not make s'mores without chocolate, my dad gave me the truck keys. The nearest store was 30 miles away, but I also got out of exploring. Praise the Lord!

I happily took the keys, plugged in the nearest store in the GPS, and set off.

Driving off road is not like driving on a paved road. It's bumpy. I was terrified at first that I was going to hit something, but it wasn't long before I got into a groove. Once I hit the main road, I had my i-pod plugged in, and I jammed the entire way to my destination.

I made it to a small town. The population was probably 102. people, maximum. I parked the truck and walked into a small grocery store. I bought a little extra of everything, including a couple of bottles of water, and made my way to check out.

Not before I saw a couple of boys walking into the store. I didn't get a good look at them but...could it be?

Was he here?

Did he finally find me?

I was more than disappointed when I saw it was not him, but in fact a couple of the local boys that worked there. One even winked at me when he saw me. I politely smiled back, but it didn't do anything for me. I was ruined. He ruined all other guys. I couldn't look at any of them the same again. No one compared to him. I tried my best to picture him here with me. His short brown hair all messed up, his green eyes...

STOP.

I had to. Otherwise I would never make it out of my  little fantasy about him. If I knew how to find him, I would, but he always found me. I wasn't sure what was taking  him so long. But...the last time he had also told me he loved me. He could have changed his mind, but I doubted it. What we had was real. I think he was just waiting...because, I didn't say it back that day. In all honestly, it taken me by surprise and even if I wanted to, I didn't have the time to say it. We were at the airport already. Oh hot damn. It shouldn't have taken me by surprise.

This always happened. Ever since he said the words...I had a constant battle with myself. It had been over a year and this was the same battle...I should have said it, he shouldn't have said it, I wish I  had said it, why didn't I say it...and it all came back down to one thing:  the next time I saw him, those would be my first words to him.

Sighing, I made my way back to the truck. A couple more boys passed me, but after making sure he wasn't one of them, I hopped in. I was getting ready to leave town when I saw a box on the side of the road, moving.

Wait, what? I quickly pulled over and looked in. There was a small black lab with a white patch on her chest, trying desperately to get out of the box. Oh dear. I picked her up and cuddled her to my chest. After she licked my face and we established our best friend status, we got back in the truck only to head back to the grocery store. The poor thing couldn't starve.

That's when I saw the fire. The guys I had passed leaving the store were running around the corner. I knew I shouldn't follow, but I did. I didn't know what to do with the puppy, so I left her in the truck, grabbed my cell, and chased after them. I had 911 ready to diall, just as soon as I had service. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, or even why I was doing it. I just knew I had to.

These guys looked normal, but they were anything but. Underneath their t-shirt and jeans, you could see the bulging muscles. They had this presence about them that just screamed BAD ASS.

I creeped behind old trashcans as I followed. I tried to be ninja, I really did. They rounded a corner up at the right and I ran, stopped, and peaked out. They had stopped, their backs to me, and one of them was on the phone.

"Let me talk to him!" The shorter one yelled. He was angry.

The taller one shook his head. "Yes. Yes. I understand. But I don't agree. If you do not have what I want in twenty-four hours, I will kill every human I see until you do."

Oh shit. What did I walk into. Did the police know about this? Had anyone been made aware? Innocent people could die! I quickly snapped a picture of them, even if it was from behind, and ran back to the truck. There was no way I could get dog food now. The grocery store was burned to the ground. But why? Didn't the guys say that whoever it was had 24 hours? It just didn't make sense...

Then I saw them making their way to my truck. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Can I help you boys?" I tried to be as sweet as possible. I really did, without them thinking something was up.

"Sure sweetheart, I need you to tell me what you saw."

That's when I decided to play it dumb. I batted my eyelashes, picked up my puppy, and looked him straight in the eye. "Why of course! I saw you boys as I left! And then I found this puppy and I had to turn back around for some puppy food. When I came back...the store was in flames! I mean, what happened?" I tried to look innocent. I tried to even look dumb.

It worked. "None of your concern sweetheart. Just keep on moving."

I nodded my head. Shit, what do I do? Thank god with my iphone 4S I could just slide the camera up and take a picture, and when they weren't looking at me, I got a picture of their face. I wasn't sure if anyone would believe me. But I had to try.

It wasn't hard to find a police officer. They all showed up with the firemen. That's when I told them what I saw. Before I could even show them the picture, I was pushed into the back of one of the police cars. What. The. Hell.

Once the police officer sat in the front, he turned around and looked at me through the bars. "I need you to forget what you saw. Forget it all. It's safer if you don't know."

Don't know what? He didn't know about the pictures though. I nodded my head and he got out of the car and let me go. He gave me one last warning look, and I took off to the truck. My little puppy was happy to see me. Sighing, I got in and slammed the door.

What did I just get in to?