Marked by my vacation fling

CHAPTER 4

When I woke up, I found myself alone in bed. I reached over to check the clock and realized it was already the next morning. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened the night before, but it was definitely a good time.

I got up, put my clothes back on, and left the bedroom. Noticing that Adam wasn't there, I figured he must have had football practice or something similar. Still, I wasn't naive—I knew how one-night stands typically went. So, I grabbed my bag from the other room and decided to leave before he returned.

I wanted to avoid any awkwardness. He had kindly offered me a place to stay while it was raining, but with the sun shining now, I felt it was time to go.

I walked into town and headed straight to the college. I found the office and talked to the same woman I had spoken to on the phone before.

I had a brief meeting with her, and she was more than happy for me to start college on the island until I could return home—or at least until I could get to California.

I didn’t really have plans to go back home right now; I felt like there was nothing for me there.

She handed me my class schedule and mentioned that classes started today, urging me to attend. She noticed my suitcase and probably realized I was in a bit of a predicament, but I agreed to her suggestion.

I assured her that I would indeed be attending the classes.

After leaving the office, I found my way to my first class, which was quite straightforward and unremarkable. The professor outlined our plans for the semester and her expectations, which were simply to pay attention and complete the assignments—pretty self-explanatory. For the remainder of the lesson, we were allowed to go through our textbooks, which I had borrowed from the library.

I used this time to focus on something far more important to me: I started looking for a job on the island. It was actually much bigger than people would think, and the town was filled with shops. Surprisingly, many of them were looking for workers.

I applied to as many places as possible, then began searching for rentals. That turned out to be significantly more difficult.

“Nice suitcase,” said a guy as he sat down next to me.

“Thanks. I thought I could start a new trend,” I replied sarcastically, without looking up from my phone.

“I take it you’re homeless,” he said, leaning over to glance at my phone. I turned to look at him.

“Do you always invade people’s personal space like this?” I asked.

“Only with the pretty ones,” he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Damn. You might want to get that looked at,” he added.

“What?” I asked.

“That thing on your neck,” he replied. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressed a couple of buttons, and handed it to me. The camera was open, and when I looked at my neck, I initially thought it was a hickey, but it wasn’t—it was a bite. That bastard actually bit me! I thought I’d imagined it, but it looked pretty red at that moment. I knew I would have to keep it covered.

“Yeah. I’ll do that,” I said, handing him his phone back.

“Maybe you should see the nurse,” he suggested.

“No, it’ll be alright. I’m sure it will go away,” I insisted.

“Okay. I’m Colton,” he said.

“Novalee,” I replied.

“That’s a really pretty name,” he said, and I smiled at him. He actually seemed genuine, but I wasn’t going to fall for another pretty face right now—or ever again. I was done with pretty boys.

I only had a couple of classes that day, so when I left campus, I started wandering around town, thinking about what I was going to do. I felt really stuck, and I hoped I wouldn’t run into Abel or Adam at that moment. I couldn’t face either of them.

Adam would probably ignore me, and I could handle that. But Abel was the one I might lose my temper with, and I really didn’t want to end up hurting him. That was my biggest fear: losing my temper so badly that I could actually kill someone.

I walked toward the forest, enjoying the feeling of freedom as I strolled among the trees, knowing that no one could see me there. I felt safer in the forest than I did in town.

That’s when I saw it: a cabin in the middle of the forest. It looked like no one had lived there for a long time; it appeared to be abandoned.

I managed to get the door open, and I was right: it was definitely abandoned. However, that meant there was no electricity and no water.

I wasn't going to complain about it at the moment; I needed somewhere to stay, and I guess this would have to do. Honestly, I’ve stayed in worse places.

After closing the door, I looked around at whatever was left behind, but I didn’t find anything useful. So, I cleaned out the cabin a bit to make it more bearable since I would be sleeping on the floor. However, I didn't go to too much trouble to get it clean—doing so would have been nearly impossible.

My phone started ringing again, and when I saw Abel's name on the screen, I ignored it and let it go to voicemail.

That first dark night in the cabin, I slept on the floor, listening to the distant howls of wolves. I had heard them ever since I came here, but I hadn’t actually seen any. Abel couldn’t explain how wolves ended up on the island, but people generally stayed away from them. As a result, the wolves didn’t venture too much into the forest.

People are afraid of running into a wolf, so they tend to stay away. I was surprised to learn that no one had attempted to hunt and kill them. That's usually what Neanderthals do when they encounter something they dislike—they try to eliminate it.

The next morning, I grabbed a smaller bag from my suitcase that I was using as a school bag and packed my books and clothes for the day. I left the cabin and walked to campus, where I took another shower in the locker room.

I hoped not to run into Adam today since I was there later in the morning than yesterday. Fortunately, I didn't see him. As I walked across campus, I made sure my clothes looked clean and neat.

"Novalee," someone said, grabbing my arm and spinning me around. When my eyes focused, I saw Abel standing in front of me.