Writers note: Read up on Katie and Blake's beginnings in Katie's CNC Pt 1 & 2. TW: This gets more involved in non-consent, so if this isn't your thing, you may not want to read.
The few days leading up to my vacation dragged ass. Nikki at work was more annoying than normal. I at least got my email sent off to Blake, though I had not heard anything back from him until my last shift the day before I was going on vacation. There was a lull in the customers, so I logged into my email before I got into stocking for the night.
"To: Katie
From: Blake
Subject: vacation
Katie, I hope your final shift goes well before your vacation. Take the time to relax and rejuvenate. You will need your energy for when I return. I enjoyed your thoughts in your email. Thank you for the insight. Enjoy this tired pic of me boarding and security was a bitch to get through. Maybe your vacation will be more eventful than my trip.
Yours
Blake"
He'd never said 'yours' before. We hadn't exactly had a conversation on what we were yet, so that line really threw me. His attached picture was adorable. Blake's hair was all messy and he definitely looked tired. Hopefully he had a good flight was getting settled into his hotel.
I turned my attention to stocking the coolers, and to get away from my coworker Nikki asking why I had a goofy grin on my face. As I was moving crates, my thoughts turned back to about a week prior when Blake had in essence attacked me in this same cooler. In previous meetings he had ensured that things were pleasurable for me, but in that one instance, it was all about only his own gratification.
I shuddered and got goosebumps on my arms. I wasn't sure if it was a reaction to the cold cooler or my thoughts of the last time with Blake. I finished my tasks at hand so that I could get out of there and warm up. As I exited the cooler, Nikki was standing by the counter and giggling. Great, I thought, I'm glad she will be leaving in an hour.
"Guess what Katie!!!" Nikki said, practically jumping up and down.
"What Nikki?" I replied, "I need to balance out the drawers while you are still here."
"Your hunk of a man sent us dinner." Nikki stated while pulling two bags out from behind the counter.
"He's just a friend." I said, "But how do you know it's from him, and what is it?"
"He left a note for me too, thanking me for being a good coworker, and ensuring you got this note and the bag. Isn't that just about the nicest thing?" Nikki swooned.
The bag was heavy. I put it aside to go through after Nikki left, she's been bad about gossiping lately. I made a mental note to let Blake know that so that I didn't get in trouble if he stopped by again.
As soon as Nikki left, I opened the bag. Blake always had excellent taste in food. He had an order of steak, baked potato, what looked like off the cob elote corn, and a salad. A huge piece of strawberry cheesecake and a bottle of wine, both of which I thought I would save for the cabin the next day. I got to the bottom of the bag and found Blake's note.
"Katie, have a safe trip, and I hope you enjoy your well-deserved vacation. If you haven't yet, check your email. I don't know how much I will be able to email you as I have a busy schedule. Enjoy the food and save the wine for the cabin, you don't even want to know the punishment for drinking and driving. Blake"
As I ate my dinner, I made a mental note to ask Blake where he orders from. Despite being delivered and reheated, the food was amazing as always. My night was really slow but went by fast. I headed home to sleep for a few hours before loading up my car and heading to the cabin. I checked my email before starting on my drive. There was nothing from Blake, but I decided to email him back anyways letting him know that I was heading out and may not have the best reception while at the cabin.
Within a couple hours I was at the small town near the cabin. I stopped at the local restaurant to place a pickup order for later, then headed to the grocery store for a few last-minute things. When I came back out there was a black Nissan parked next to my car. There was no one in it, or nearby, but I still hurried to load up my groceries to leave.
Even though no one was in the car, I still felt as if someone was watching me, and made all the hair on my neck stand on end. I tried to ignore the feeling, it was likely all in my head and just from stress at work. I went to the restaurant to grab my food and head to the cabin.
I went to work on getting my suitcase and groceries in. As I was putting away the groceries, I went to grab a bottle of wine to let it aerate, but there was none in the fridge. Weird... I could have sworn I bought two bottles a few days prior. I settled on openings Blake's bottle that I brought with.
Before settling in to eat, I took a short walk around the property to gather small sticks to make a fire with. I kept pausing every few minutes, thinking I heard footsteps around me. At one point they began to pick up, as if the person was running. I turned and began running back towards the cabin, but as I went faster it sounded as if the footsteps were picking up their pace. Suddenly a deer jumped out from behind the cabin, and I screamed as I fell backwards.
Damn it Katie, I thought, it's just your fucking imagination, give it up. There's never anyone out this way.
I brushed myself off, yelling at myself in my head for letting a fucking deer get the best of me. They were always out this way around this time of year. The sun was finally setting, and I got the firepit going while there was still enough light outside to see.
I went inside to grab my food. I grabbed the bottle of wine and decided to skip the glass, I'd probably just finish it all tonight. I was halfway through my burger when I began hearing the damn deer in the woods again. We should really consider a fence around the property I thought to myself. I continued to sit by the fire until it was a low glow. Once I hit the bottom of my wine bottle, I threw some dirt on the fire and gathered my trash and headed inside.
I again heard movement nearby but was either too drunk or tired to care at this point. I threw the trash on the table and headed upstairs to pass out for the night. I was only asleep for a couple hours before I heard movement downstairs. I threw on my robe since I slept naked, and tip toed over to my door, holding my breath.
The movement downstairs definitely sounded like footsteps. Or someone moving something around. I couldn't remember if I had locked the door when I came in. I shouldn't have drunk the whole bottle I chastised myself in my head. I looked around for something to grab, all I could find was a broom, and headed downstairs.
As I descended the stairs, the noises became louder and more consistent, almost as if someone was pacing around the lower level. I jumped out around the corner, ready to hit whoever it was, but there was no one there. As I made my way to the kitchen, the noises got louder, and it was almost like it was coming from outside now. I went out the back door and noticed the screen wasn't latched and a tree branch on the roof of the house from the wind, I told my father to trim that last year, ugh. Fucking imagination, I thought as I stumbled back to bed.
I awoke in the morning to my phone ringing. Ugh, who the fuck is calling at this hour, I thought. It was Blake.
"Good morning, Katie." Blake said through the phone.
"Ughhh, morning." I got out, while stretching in bed.
"Late night?" Blake asked.
"You could say that, too much wine and wind making noises kept me up." I answered, "Great wine by the way, thank you. I'll have to head into town to pick more up."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Blake said, "I'll send you some pics of the factory, it's not as bad as I thought, so..." then static
"I think my phone is cutting out, you woke up me." I said, still half asleep.
"I'll make it quick," Blake stated, "I have a task for you, I'd like you to spend 15 minutes meditating, and destressing, and then email me to let me know how you feel. After that I want 3 pictures of things you enjoy at the cabin."
"Umm, ok, I guess. I'm plenty destressed now, I think your wine did the trick." I replied.
"Have a good rest of your vacation Katie. I'll see you soon. Bye" Blake said.
"Ok, I will, bye." I replied. See you soon?I thought to myself... I hope that meant he would be available to welcome me home after my vacation, that would be a perfect ending.
I shrugged myself out of bed and walked downstairs naked to make some breakfast. I was glad it was still warm out, even though there was a storm coming in tomorrow afternoon. I threw together a scrambled egg burrito and went to sit on the porch.
I ate my burrito, taking in the quiet. The cabin was always my favorite place to be. No one around for miles, and able to be naked as much as I wanted to. I began to make a mental note of errands to run into town for later in the afternoon, but decided the morning was better spent going for a walk.
I threw on just a pair of leggings and t-shirt, laced up my hiking boots, and headed out. In the last hour the temperature had continued to increase, as well as the humidity. I walked out to the lake that was nearby and took off what little clothing I had on. This was the perfect place to meditate, which I usually did anyways when in the water.
The lake was half on our property but was long enough that it stretched to our neighbor's property. They never used it and my family had never seen anyone else on it. I swam out about 50 feet from shore, and just floated on my back staring at the sky. The sky was barely cloudy, but the clouds were moving fast from the wind. I was deep in my thoughts, when suddenly there was a snap of a branch and movement near the shore. Fuck.
I rolled over and tread water where I was. I began scanning the tree line but didn't see anything or anyone. I waited a few more minutes, continuing to look before deciding to just head back to the cabin. As I pulled my shirt over my head, I heard more rustling in the trees, and a racoon scurried out. I continued to walk back, listening to the sounds of the woods. I still had a feeling someone was watching, but the sounds were all of animals, and I saw no evidence of anyone around.