Starting Point - Elle Aycart Page 0,1

shaking her head. “Try harder, damn it.” Hey, auditory hallucinations too—rude ones at that.

There was no fooling her old friend. Jess knew Megan had thrown in the towel. The impenetrable cabin was just a shortcut fate had tossed in Megan’s lap. Crumbs, for which Megan was secretly happy. Jess disapproved, clearly. Well, tough shit.

Her gaze strayed to the dark splotch in the snow. Maybe she could have left a note written with wine. Nah, her decision to drink the booze had been the right call. No one should be forced to die totally sober. It was bad enough that she had to do it alone. Then again, everyone died alone. With the difference that most couldn’t choose how and ended up hooked to machines and drips, at the mercy of doctors and sedatives. She was going out in style and on her own terms, something very few people got to do. For this, she should be grateful, really.

And her affairs were in order. Mostly. Her brother would get a hell of a shock, her parents too, but that couldn’t be helped now. And in the long run, they’d be better off. She’d already drained them enough, emotionally and financially.

A momentary pang for all she was going to miss clenched her stomach. There was so much she hadn’t had time for. Normal, everyday shit. Getting married. Having children. Living in a small town where everyone got in your business. She and Jess had loved to watch TV shows about small-town America. They’d dreamed about traveling the country and finding a place.

They hadn’t had time.

Jess had loved Korean dramas, and they had talked about visiting Korea too. But now that Megan was alone, she wasn’t up for living her last months in a faraway land, at the mercy of Google Translate.

Megan took a long, deep breath, the sharp cold not hurting her throat anymore. She was ready for this. She’d made her peace with the cards she’d been dealt. She hoped that wherever she ended up, there was a muscular hunk to welcome her. Screw the white-bearded old man asking if she’d been good. She wanted a ripped, well-hung stripper, tattooed up to the eyeballs, rubbing against her and asking if she’d been naughty. She still hadn’t identified which afterlife she should pray for to get that, but she was positive God was a woman, so her chances seemed good.

She opened her wool jacket and kicked off the quilt, feeling too hot. She would have liked to continue watching the star shower, but her eyes were so heavy, she couldn’t keep them open. The wineglass slipped from her numb fingers. The last thing she saw were two shooting stars dancing in the forest.

Dead tired and cranky as hell, Alec was driving home long after sunset when his cell beeped. Sean. He turned the hands-free on. “Talk.”

“Yo, how’d it go? I heard your message about the hunting trip being cut short. Just checking you didn’t murder our clients and bury them in the middle of the forest. Although if you did, I’ll totally understand. Just send me the location and I’ll come with a shovel.”

Ha. Ha. “Let’s set some things straight, asshole: do you understand the concept of a silent partner?”

Sean laughed. “One that doesn’t talk much? You, for example.”

Alec prayed for calm. “Do not overbook your little expeditions ever again. Ever.”

The punk was going to be the death of him. The deal had been for Alec to be a silent partner, providing capital and dealing only with survival training, not to cover Sean’s ass in hunting trips with obnoxious, bored CEOs who wanted to play tough guy.

“That bad, huh?”

Alec grunted. “Their constant bragging about kills on other trips grated on my nerves like fuck. Thank God sleeping in the woods grew old damn fast and they called it quits early.”

Alec didn’t know how Sean put up with that crap. In his place, Alec would have been sent to jail long ago.

“That’s weird.” Sean sounded confused. “They normally carry super-duper state-of-the-art tents with all the comforts. Some of them even have portable toilets.”

“Yeah, well. I took them deep into the forest. No clearings big enough to put those atrocities up. If they wanted amenities, they should’ve stayed at their hotel.” He had them shitting in the woods, hunting at night with vision goggles, and getting only a couple of hours’ shut-eye crouching in the snow.

Sean laughed. “Oh God. I’d better get the complaint forms ready.”

“Don’t give a shit.” Those assholes had no respect