Free Lumberjack (A Real Man, 1) by Jenika Snow Page A

broken it off with. “We have only been together for three months, and in that time you’ve fucked your way through the office and managed to bitch about anything and everything. You and I both know whatever we were doing with each other wasn’t going to last. It wasn’t real.” I rubbed my head, feeling so damn tired all of the sudden. “I’m twenty-nine years old. I’m not staying in a relationship—or whatever the hell we’ve had—when it isn’t going anywhere.”
    Russ cocked his head back like I’d just slapped him.
    “Excuse me?” he said with shock and disgust in his voice.
    “Yeah, Russ, I know about you sticking your dick in anything that has a hole.”
    He snapped his mouth shut after I said that. Had he really not wondered why we’d only had sex a handful of time since we’d been dating? Hell, I hadn’t even let him touch me after I found out he’d been banging half the office.
    He straightened and narrowed his eyes. “We didn’t have an exclusive relationship, Vivian.”
    I snorted at that comment. True, we hadn’t actually said those words, but hell, when I slept with a man, and went on dates with him, I thought that meant we wouldn’t be going around screwing everyone.
    I didn’t bother responding; I just exhaled and shook my head.
    “Come on, this is crazy,” he said and grabbed my arm. I pulled out of his grasp. “Don’t fucking touch me, Russ. I asked you to leave, but you’re still here. If you say we weren’t exclusive, then why in the hell are you still here?” The truth was I hadn’t actually seen a future with him anyway. Maybe I’d just stayed with him for this long to entertain the idea of not being a lonely spinster?
    He didn’t answer right away, but I didn’t wait for him to. I walked over to the front door of my apartment, opened it, and glared at him. “It’s over. I can’t even say it was fun while it lasted, Russ, but it was what it was.”
    “And it’s over, just like that?”
    I nodded. “Just like that. Now, please get the hell out of my apartment.”
    He grumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t care if he was cursing me out. I just wanted him gone so I could finish packing.
    “Fine.” He walked past me, but stopped before he walked out of my place. “And if you weren’t such a tight ass, Vivian, maybe things could have worked out.”
    I just shook my head that he had to get one last dig in.
    When he was out of my apartment, I shut and locked the door, and went back over to my suitcase. I needed to get my shit together and hit the road; I planned on disconnecting for the next week. This little trip was definitely a spur of the moment kind of thing, but I knew it would do me good. It had to, because right now I was tired of the world around me.
    Taking off work hadn’t been difficult since as I was in a top position at the firm where I worked. Although I’d had to rearrange my schedule and place clients on different days, I knew if I didn’t do this for myself, I’d go crazy.
    I zipped up my bag and sat on the couch. Grabbing my laptop, I looked over reservation I’d made. I was going to spend the next seven days in a cabin three hours from the city. It wasn’t a huge leap in the vacation direction, but it sure as hell would be better than what was going on in my life right now. The city noises, sights, lights, and all the bullshit that came with it and my job would fade away as I focused on just me.
    Hell, the cabin didn’t even have a TV, let alone Wi-Fi, so I would be totally disconnected from everything and everyone, and it’s exactly what I needed. Maybe I wouldn’t even come back. Maybe I’d find so much peace in the middle of nowhere that I just said fuck everything else.
    I wouldn’t know until I went, but I was open to just about anything right now.

Chapter Two

    Jake
    A s I headed to my truck after work, I heard the guys talking about going into town and scoring. They were like teenage guys for the way they talked,