Cabin 1 Read online

  Cabin 1

  Steele Shadows Security

  Amanda McKinney

  HH Tisevich

  Contents

  Dedication

  Also by Amanda McKinney

  Awards and Recognition

  Let’s Connect!

  1. Niki

  2. Gage

  3. Gage

  4. Niki

  5. Niki

  6. Gage

  7. Gage

  8. Niki

  9. Gage

  10. Niki

  11. Niki

  12. Niki

  13. Gage

  14. Gage

  15. Gage

  16. Niki

  17. Niki

  18. Niki

  19. Gage

  20. Niki

  Gage

  Niki

  21. Gage

  22. Niki

  23. Gage

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 Amanda McKinney

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Paperback ISBN 978-1-7340133-1-3

  eBook ISBN 978-1-7324635-9-2

  Editor(s): Nancy Brown

  Cover Design: Niki Ellis Designs

  @nikisbookaddiction

  https://www.amandamckinneyauthor.com

  Dedication

  For Mama, always, and forever and ever.

  A special and very heartfelt thank you to my editor and awesome team of Beta Readers – Nancy, Irene, Peggy, Becca, Metzi, Sue, Stephen, Diane, and Robin. I owe it all to you for creating the best story possible for my readers. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  A note from the author:

  Welcome to the small, southern town of Berry Springs! If you’re looking for sizzling-hot alpha males, smart, independent females, and page-turning mystery, you’ve come to the right place. As you might have guessed, STEELE SHADOWS SECURITY is a spin-off series from the Berry Springs Series. But don’t worry, you don’t need to read Berry Springs first. Think of Steele Shadows as Berry Springs’ darker, grittier, bad boy brother. That said, grab a tall glass of sweet tea (or vodka if you’re feeling saucy), and settle in for a fun adventure that—I hope—gives you a little escape from the day to day… (and maybe a little crush on the Steele brothers).

  Enjoy!

  Also by Amanda McKinney

  Lethal Legacy

  The Woods (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Lake (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Storm (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Fog (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Creek (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Shadow (A Berry Springs Novel)

  The Cave (A Berry Springs Novel)

  Devil’s Gold (A Black Rose Mystery, Book 1)

  Hatchet Hollow (A Black Rose Mystery, Book 2)

  Tomb’s Tale (A Black Rose Mystery Book 3)

  Evil Eye (A Black Rose Mystery Book 4)

  Sinister Secrets (A Black Rose Mystery Book 5)

  Dragon’s Breath (A Black Rose Mystery Book 6)

  Skull Shore (A Black Rose Mystery Book 7)

  Cabin 1 (Steele Shadows Security)

  Cabin 2 (Steele Shadows Security) **Coming Nov 2019**

  Cabin 3 (Steele Shadows Security) **Coming Winter 2019**

  And many more to come…

  Awards and Recognition

  THE STORM

  Winner of the 2018 Golden Leaf for Romantic Suspense

  2018 Maggie Award for Excellence Finalist

  2018 Silver Falchion Finalist

  2018 Beverley Finalist

  2018 Passionate Plume Honorable Mention Recipient

  THE FOG

  Winner of the 2019 Golden Quill for Romantic Suspense

  Winner of the 2019 I Heart Indie Award for Romantic Suspense

  2019 Maggie Award of Excellence Finalist

  2019 Stiletto Award Finalist

  DIRTY BLONDE

  2017 2nd Place Winner for It’s a Mystery Contest

  Cabin 1 Reviews:

  “Holy crap! What a book!” -5 STAR Goodreads Review

  “A completely brilliant, compelling, raw, breathtaking, at times heartbreaking story. Cabin 1 should be read by every romantic suspense lover.” -5 STAR Goodreads Review

  “My mind is BLOWN.” -Book Blogger, Books and Beauty by Cassie

  “McKinney’s best one yet.” -5 STAR Goodreads Review

  “Scorching.” -5 STAR BookBub Review

  Praise for the Berry Springs Series:

  "One of my favorite novels of 2018." -Confessions of an Avid Reader, The Fog

  “The Woods is a sexy, small-town murder mystery that’s guaranteed to resonate with fans of Nora Roberts and Karin Slaughter.” -Best Thrillers

  “Danger, mystery, and sizzling-hot romance right down to the last page.” -Amazon Review, The Creek

  "Amanda McKinney wrote a dark, ominous thrilling tale spiked with a dash of romance and mystery that captivated me from start to finish…” -The Coffeeholic Bookworm, The Lake

  “The Storm is a beautifully written whodunnit, packed with suspense, danger, and hot romance. Kept me guessing who the murderer was. I couldn’t put it down!” -Amazon Review

  “I devoured The Cave in one sitting. Best one yet.” -Amazon Review

  “The Shadow is a suspense-filled, sexy as hell book.” -Bookbub Review

  Let’s Connect!

  Text AMANDABOOKS to 66866 to sign up

  for Amanda’s Newsletter and get the latest

  on new releases, promos, and freebies! Or, sign up below.

  https://www.amandamckinneyauthor.com

  1

  Niki

  Darkness swallowed me as a cloud drifted over the full moon, taking my sight along with it. I didn’t stop.

  I couldn’t stop.

  Rocks, sticks, and God knew what else cut into the bottom of my feet as they flew over the rocky terrain. Thump, thump, thump against the dead leaves and pine needles scattered on the forest floor. I couldn’t see a thing, so I focused on the sounds around me—but even that was drowned out by my hammering heartbeat and gasping breaths.

  The woods at night. Magical, alluring, still. No, not that night, that night it was a thinly veiled evil, a muted witness to my death if I were to get caught. That night, the woods were my escape, my refuge, my only chance for survival.

  The clouds shifted, a silver glow washing over the mountains, casting shadows along the ground like ghosts swaying back and forth. I blinked, adjusting, and heaved myself over the boulder I was about to slam into. My body tumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the breath knocking out of my lungs when I hit the cold, wet dirt.

  I froze, my eyes shooting open.

  Did he see me? Hear me?

  Holding my breath, I flattened against the ground, my heart a thundering staccato. I focused on the moon above me, like a spotlight hellbent on pinpointing my location. A breeze whistled through the trees, the almost-bare branches moving like slashes through the moon.

  Dead leaves, dead trees. Autumn in the mountains had never looked so haunting. Or been so cold.

  Snick.

  My eyes widened in terror. I willed myself to fade into the night, into the ground—fitting, considering that’s where he wanted to put me.

  I didn’t blink, didn’t breathe as the seconds ticked by.

&
nbsp; Had I lost him?

  A rustle of leaves had my pulse kickstarting into panic mode again.

  I knew I couldn’t stay there.

  I stayed, I died. That simple truth had me gritting my teeth, forcing myself off the ground and taking off again, pushing into a sprint once more.

  Branches sliced my skin as I ran blindly through the pitch-black forest with only slivers of light cutting through the thick canopy of trees to guide my way. I had no idea where I was, no idea where I was going. All I knew was that forward was my only option. My only option to preserve the life that he wanted so badly to take away. So badly to ravage, control, and use like a blow up doll with a bottle of lube. As if that was all I was worth. As if the thirty-three years I’d lived on this planet were worth nothing. As if my entire life had led to that moment. To him. The life that the last thirty minutes had rewritten in the cold hard scripture of sexual assault.

  You want to know the kicker of it? I wasn’t sad, defeated, crippled by fear or sudden depression. No, I was pissed. Infuriated. An indescribable rage for the two men who thought they could treat me like that. The two men who thought they could take everything away from me.

  Screw. That.

  I hadn’t stopped shaking, deep from within the confines of that newfound fury coursing through my veins like speed. Fury… and perhaps an adrenaline rush from killing one of them.

  I’d stopped wiping the blood from my face when I was certain that my blood had washed his away from my skin.

  His blood.

  His blood that had sprayed me like a tortured artist madly flicking paint against his canvas, an upward sweeping motion designed to let me know I’d hit my target. Although, truthfully, there was no target. Only an animalistic need for survival that overtook all else. A desire to live. A power that came from somewhere else… somewhere I hoped to God I never had to pull from again. A switch had flipped inside me. A switch that if I wouldn’t have had, I’d be lying in a bloody heap in the middle of a ditch, dissolved to nothing more than scavenger bait.

  I was always a cautious woman. I’d taken self-defense, never ran with headphones, always carried a shiv in the hem of my leggings. Alert, ready, even a few times playing out an attack in my head, imagining what I would do, and how I would defend myself. I would defend myself, I knew, with the brute force that my skinny arms, legs, hands could provide. That would be enough, right?

  Then, it happened. All those badass fictional Jolie fighter scenes I’d created were thrown out the window in seconds flat. Truth was, there’s nothing to prepare you for it. The moment they pinned me to the wet, moldy, dirty ground, I surprised myself. I told myself I wasn’t going to be a victim. I wasn’t going to let these bastards take anything from me. Nothing. I was going to fight, and fight until death if I had too.

  I’d made the decision.

  They both wore ski masks, the knitted ones with only cut-outs for the eyes and mouth. They’d run me off the road and jumped out, guns blazing, and with the cold steel of a pistol pointed between my eyes, ordered me out of my vehicle. I offered my purse, wallet, even my brand-new Jeep. Nope—they ordered me out, and looking back, that’s when I knew. That’s when I knew that dollar bills and credit cards weren’t what they wanted. No, these bastards wanted something much more sacred. Much more valued.

  I’d tried to gas it, only digging my tires deeper into the muddy ditch where they’d run me off the road.

  Worst case scenario.

  “Never get out of your car”… the common sense warning echoed in my brain as they screamed at me, hyped up on booze, drugs, whatever. I’d gripped the steering wheel, frozen like a statue as the words repeated in my head.

  Never get out of your car.

  Unfortunately, all that well-meaning advice didn’t do much for me when they opened the door and dragged me out by my hair. I knew screaming wouldn’t help, but I tried anyway, desperate to let them know I wasn’t going to bend over and take it without a fight. That I wasn’t some weakling dissolved to tears. No, I screamed. So loud I thought my vocal cords were going to pop.

  A punch in the side of the face silenced that real quick.

  I looked up at their cheap black ski masks, the kind you’d find at any discount retail shop, which led me to my first clue about them—they were walking clichés, a pair of assholes that had watched one too many cheesy scary movies. I would’ve had more respect for them if they’d shown me their faces. Do me like a real man. Not a man who had to use violence to get it, had to have the flow of liquor running through his veins before he got the balls enough to attack. Like a man so weak he couldn’t control his impulses, couldn’t overcome the natural human instinct to take what he wanted. Not strong enough. No, these two were nothing but cowards. That… that’s what gave me the courage to fight.

  I’d thrashed on the ground as they ripped at my clothes, kicking, punching, scratching. Spittle from the fat one’s mouth dripped onto my face, panting, panting, panting like a dog in heat. I kept fighting but two drunk, horny, grown men with adrenaline highs were tough to fight off. The fat one stunk. Like rancid B.O., cheap cologne, and cheap booze.

  The skinnier one that had punched me had stepped back at that point, watching it all unfold. Staring down at me like a piece of trash. Waiting his turn. I swore I could see him smiling through the mask.

  For whatever reason, I hated him more than the fat bastard on top of me. The skinny one had gone eerily calm. Knew what he was doing.

  I didn’t stop fighting, even with a knife to my neck, I kept wrestling with the fat one… until another blow to the face blinded me. I was dazed, slipping in and out of consciousness like some first-timer at a frat party. I remember my hearing going in and out, the dark forest around me suddenly silent.

  That was my first real twinge of fear. My instinct telling me that I was in real trouble.

  I blinked, willing the waves of nausea to subside, focusing on the blanket of trees above me and the beams of moonlight piercing through the darkness onto my face.

  I remember a bright red leaf flittering down from the tree above me. I watched it, fixated on it, in some hypnotic state as he began pulling down my shorts.

  Slowly, catching in the breeze, the leaf drifted through the air, sparkling in the moonlight. So soft, gentle, a beautiful fire-red marking its peak of life before falling to the ground to shrivel up and die.

  I was that leaf.

  But I wasn’t going to die.

  I’ll never forget that moment, the moment the cool autumn air swept over my bare skin. The vulnerability that came with it.

  The hate. Oh, God, the hatred toward these men.

  It was that hate that saved my life.

  The moment the fat one reached down to undo his ripped, dirty, knockoff designer jeans—I took the chance. Kneed the bastard in the balls and ripped the knife from his hand, shredding mine in the process. With a guttural scream, I shoved the blade into his neck.

  The world stopped.

  His eyes froze with shock as the knife went in. The stun—the one, single moment of vulnerability in his eyes as the blade severed his carotid artery. Then the eyes… oh, God, how his eyes glazed over as he went limp and fell on top of me, half his body on me, the other half next to the shirt and bra they’d ripped off me.

  Next to what would be the moments that changed my life forever. The moments that brutally ripped every last shred of dignity away from me.

  The moment that I, Niki Avery, killed a man.

  Murdered another human being.

  That’s when the skinny one turned and ran back to his truck. Like the dirtbag he was, he was going to take off.

  That’s what I’d thought anyway.

  I didn’t immediately roll the guy off me and jump up, as you might think I would. Instead, I laid there, chest heaving, staring up at the sky as the last few seconds settled around me, the sweet, metallic scent of blood filling the air. I swore I could hear it pumping out of his fat neck. I didn’t want to look over, I didn’t want
to see it.

  The pain started to wave through my body as the blood in my mouth began to register, the knots on my face beginning to throb. Arms, feeling like a thousand pieces of glass had shredded them. I raised my head first, my eyes locking on that leaf. That damn red leaf that had flittered onto my stomach.

  We won, I thought, as I rolled the dead man off me, then plucked the leaf from my stomach and grabbed my clothes now saturated in blood.

  The headlights of my Jeep grotesquely illuminated the man I’d just killed, lying there on the ground, his head encircled in a growing puddle of blood, his eyes open and staring directly at me, the whites reflecting in the beam of light.

  I knew that image would haunt me for the rest of my life.

  I was right.

  Movement caught my eye and I was pulled out of my weird daze. The skinny one didn’t leave. No, he was standing over me, calmly, terrifying, with a gun pointed directly at my face.

  Run was my only thought.

  Run.

  So I did.

  I kicked rocks into his face, then like a cannonball out of a rocket I hurled myself over the dead body as the pop of the gun blasted behind me. Scrambling to pull up my shorts, I stumbled into the woods, ice-cold fear sending my pulse spinning, and one shoe into the air. Maybe it was the adrenaline crashing, or the emotional aftershock of taking a life, but the cage-fighter inside me was gone.