Free Burn Out by Traci Hohenstein Page B

to even
respond.
    Mack got into his truck. “Have a good
time.” He waved as he backed down the driveway.
    Paul was glad to see him go. Mack
could be a pain in the ass sometimes. All his insinuating questions
were bugging him. He cleaned up all the paint mess and locked up
the house. Throwing a suitcase in his truck, he decided it was time
to get to the cabin and check on things there. He didn’t want to
keep his lady waiting any longer than necessary.
     
     

Chapter Sixteen
    Lake Juniper, Thursday late
afternoon
     
    Paul made a hard right off the highway
onto a dirt road that seemed to go nowhere. The more he drove the
truck down the endless dirt road, the darker it became. Not many
people knew about this area. It was mostly hunting land and
agricultural farms. He made a turn onto another bumpy dirt road and
after driving about a mile, it was like the forest opened up. His
little log cabin came into view. It was built by his grandfather
many, many years ago.
    Paul was about five years old when his
grandfather bought the land. It was over fifty acres of hunting and
fishing property and came with an older cabin his grandfather
deemed uninhabitable. So they made it into a storage place for all
their hunting gear. It was decided the new cabin would be built
closer to the lake. Paul, his dad, and his grandfather built this
new log cabin by hand. Log by log. It was a small, two bedroom
cabin with a living room, fireplace, tiny kitchen and one bathroom.
The wraparound porch had views of the lake where fish were in
abundance. This was an escape for the men in the family. Now his
dad and grandfather were deceased and Paul was the sole owner of
the cabin. He brought some of his buddies here for fishing and
hunting, but most of the time he came by himself. He relished the
quiet.
    Paul had plans to eventually add on to
the cabin and build an additional bedroom and bath. If everything
went according to plan, he would need the extra room.
    Driving to the cabin gave him time to
think. He was ready to get away from the mess that was going on
with the upcoming trial. He had already accepted the fact he was
probably going to lose his job at the fire department. A job he had
held for many years with an exemplary record until now. No one else
would hire him. He would be lucky to get a job flipping burgers at
McDonalds. It was ironic he would get caught in a drug dealing
scheme. He was never one to do drugs…yeah, he smoked a little in
high school, but he was mostly a beer drinker. Never in his wildest
dreams would he think he would be caught manufacturing and selling
an illegal substance. Marijuana. Never. But here he was. Arrested.
Awaiting his trial for manufacturing with intent to sell, among
other charges.
    He blamed himself, but he also blamed
Ken. He let Ken talk him into the whole thing. The promise of big
money and never getting caught is how Ken sold the idea to him. He
made big money all right. That part of the promise came through.
But he also got caught. So now Ken had ruined his life twice.
First, he took away the girl of his dreams and now he was going to
lose his job. And he had no serious prospects of ever having
another job. And who would want to date an ex-con? No one he would
be interested in – that’s for sure. So he had to come up with a
plan. To get the girl of his dreams back and have a life which
should have been his to begin with.
    As he parked his truck in front of the
cabin, he felt himself starting to relax a little. He hopped out
and started unloading his supplies. The front door squeaked when he
opened it. He would have to remember to get the WD 40 and oil the
hinges.
    “ Honey, I’m home!” he
yelled out. No one answered back, as usual. He unloaded some of the
boxes and put them on the couch. He headed back to the truck to get
the cooler.
    Whistling while he worked, he opened
the refrigerator door and loaded up the eggs, milk, cheese, salad
mix and beer he bought at Wal-Mart. Tonight the menu would