I started to laugh and then realized that he was serious. I didn’t mean to be an asshole, but I’d been in dozens of movies, and my face had been splashed across magazine covers at regular intervals for the past six months.
“Sure.” I leaned to the side, pulling out my wallet. I slid out my ID and held it up to a small camera beside the intercom.
“Fine. I’m gonna open the gate. Follow the road around. Stop at the guest cabin. Don’t come to the main house. I’ll meet you there.”
Ramsey didn’t wait for me to answer, simply clicked off the line. The gate buzzed and began swinging open.
“Some welcome,” I muttered to Peaches.
She simply panted happily in response.
I eased my truck forward. Tall pines flanked the road, hiding any true glimpses of the property from view. All at once, the forest fell away, and I was met by sweeping pastures dotted with horses and a series of structures that could’ve been out of anArchitectural Digestarticle on the Old West. Rustic in a way that melded with the landscape around it, a massive barn stood near a large main house that looked like a mountain lodge, and a smaller cabin set a ways apart from the rest.
I guided my vehicle towards the cabin. I pulled into a makeshift spot at the front of the building and shut off my engine. Sliding out, I rounded my truck and opened the passenger door. Peaches jumped out and began to sniff. Her whole body quivered as her eyes moved to the trees behind the cabin.
A man stepped out with what I could only describe as a massive beast by his side.
“Stay,” I ordered Peaches.
Her whole body wagged back and forth.
“Gaines didn’t say anything about a dog,” the man who had to be Ramsey said.
“Should I be worried that yours will eat her?”
Ramsey scowled. “Kai likes animals just fine. It’s people he’s wary of.”
“What is he?” I couldn’t help but ask. The canine’s coat was thick with various shades of grays woven through it. But the ice-blue eyes took my breath.
“He’s a wolf-hybrid.”
“A wolf?”
“You have a problem with that you can stay somewhere else.”
I held up a hand. “No problem. Just never seen one before.”
Ramsey simply grunted and then tossed me a set of keys. “That’s to the cabin, and a key fob for the gate. You don’t bring any visitors here. You do, and you’re out.”
He turned and started to walk away.
“Wait. When do you work with the horses?”
Ramsey turned back, a muscle in his cheek ticking. “A little after sunrise. Better get your beauty sleep, movie star.”
I bit back the retort I wanted to let loose and simply nodded. “See you then.”
Ramsey disappeared between the trees.
“Think it might take me a minute to win him over.”
Peaches made a keening noise as if she wanted to follow them.
“Sorry, buddy. You’re stuck with me.”
I walked up the front steps to the small porch and turned to survey my new surroundings. They were a sucker punch. Fields flowed into forests, which bled into craggy mountains covered in snow. The peaks looked so huge, they reminded me of how small I was in the grand scheme of things. How miniscule my problems were compared to their backdrop.
I could lose myself here for a few months. And just maybe I’d find a piece of myself again, too.