Cave men the first mount.., p.1
CAVE MEN (The First Mountain Man Book 4), page 1
CAVE MEN
The First Mountain Man
Frankie Love
Contents
About
1. Summer
2. Storm
3. Carnage
4. Summer
5. Storm
6. Summer
7. Hammer
8. Storm
9. Summer
10. Carnage
11. Hammer
12. Storm
13. Summer
14. Summer
15. Carnage
16. Storm
17. Summer
Epilogue
Preview
About the Author
Copyright © 2021 by Frankie Love
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
About
CAVE MEN: The First Mountain Man Book 4
By Frankie Love
Finding my best friend is my one and only mission.
I thought maybe she’d been kidnapped, hurt, lost—I never imagined time travel.
When I slide into a prehistoric lagoon, I know she must be here. Somewhere.
But I’m not alone in this jungle.
The moment I step onto dry land, it’s not a wild animal I’m facing off with.
It’s two primal, feral, filthy men.
It’s not that they need a shower. No. These men need something else.
I can see it in their eyes.
Feel it in their touch.
There’s only one thing these cave men want.
And it’s me.
Dear Reader,
Storm and Carnage have been waiting a long time for Summer.
Now that she’s come, maybe she’ll want to stay a while.
Who could blame her? She’s found herself two growly ass men with one thing on their mind: forever.
Xo, Frankie
1
Summer
After two days of waiting for news on my missing friend Fancy, I board a plane and head to the Yucatan jungle myself.
Of course, the authorities are searching everywhere for the missing paleontologist, and it's not that I don't trust them to find my best friend, but I have to take things into my own hands.
It's Fancy we're talking about, my best friend since forever, my foster sister who's been with me through thick and thin. I can't lose her, not without looking for her myself.
I know she didn’t just leave her life behind. She’s a smart woman. She's been through too much to just do something reckless.
The authorities suggested maybe she chose to walk away from her life. But anyone who knows her knows that isn't an option. She was excited about the research she’s doing. This dig is the find of a lifetime.
Tired of crying, I wipe my eyes as the plane takes off. I've never flown on my own before. It's totally out of my comfort zone. But I don't care about comfort zones right now. I just care about finding my best friend.
After a day of briefing with the search team and the police, I realize they've done everything possible.
There are no leads, nothing to go on. Apparently Fancy isn’t the first person to go missing around here, and none of them have ever been found.
She was in the Paradise Palms parking lot when the rest of her team decided to go to the beach. They watched her turn left into the jungle and no one saw her again.
There’s no footage of her at any of the local resorts, no cameras catching her getting into a vehicle. There's no record of her at all.
Her phone hasn’t been used since she went missing, and it hasn’t been recovered.
There isn't a single clue as to where she went, except for this jungle. The lead archeologist, Carlos, is helpful to an extent. He shows me where Fancy slept, and tells me if there's anything I notice I should let him and the police know.
But Fancy wasn't one for material possessions, and there's not much here. She didn't write in a journal, didn't keep a diary full of secrets. That wasn't Fancy's style. I was her closest friend and her only family.
Fancy's never even had a boyfriend, let alone a secret internet admirer she could’ve run off to meet, as the police suggested. I'm not surprised to hear she didn't go to the beach with her teammates, though. That wasn't really her style either. She'd always prefer a guidebook and gummy worms over a beach day.
But I can’t give up. I care about finding her more than anyone else. So after I've talked to everyone who's working on this disappearance, I decide to set foot into the jungle myself.
I pack my bag with plenty of supplies: all of my home remedies, my elixirs and tonics and salves, because that's what I do. I am prepared, if nothing else. A childhood in foster care taught me that no one else is going to look out for me. It’s up to me to look after myself.
So when I dress and pack for the jungle, I do just that. I bring bug spray and sunscreen, plenty of protein bars, and iced coffees in cans for liquid fuel.
I put on sturdy boots, and over my bathing suit, I wear cargo shorts and a sensible top that has my apothecary shop logo printed on the front. I fold up a raincoat just in case it gets stormy before I come back to the hotel that I've checked into.
The authorities don't think she is in the jungle, but they don't know Fancy like I do. She loves to explore. She loves to go off the beaten path. It's where she has always felt safest, and I can relate to that. Our lives have never been normal. We were abandoned before we learned to read. We were survivors in the truest sense, so maybe Fancy's out here doing just that—surviving.
I follow the trail from the Palm Paradise parking lot and find myself on a path in the jungle. I can see it's been traveled on quite a bit, and at the end of the path, there's a fork in the road.
Thinking of Fancy, I take the one less trodden and begin to explore. I see an entrance to a cave and, considering my best friend, I decide to explore it. There’s a narrow entrance, and what looks like a tunnel system of interconnected caves. I put on my headlamp and flip it on the moment I enter the dank space. There are stalagmites and stalactites from the floor and the ceiling—which I know because Fancy taught me the difference—and I look at the mud on the walls, thinking it might work really well for a mud mask.
I've never considered using Mayan clay. I've been working so hard to get my apothecary and body care business off the ground, and haven't quite yet made a niche for myself. But maybe I need to look at more exotic ingredients for my blends.
This is what I'm thinking about when the earthquake happens.
I say earthquake because that's the only way I can describe it. The walls begin to shake, the floor begins to rumble and the water at my feet begins to slosh over my boots. I brace myself against the cave wall, scared.
"What's happening?" I shriek, but there's no one here to hear me. There's nothing at all.
I try to get out of the cave the way I came. If there's an earthquake happening, I don't think a cave is the place I want to be.
I start to cry, realizing it's really bad. My knees buckle and I fall to the ground, scraping up my hands, water covering me. I hold onto a rock, hoping to secure myself when my feet slip out from under me. I am submerged in water, then pulled by a current.
How is it possible for a wave to be rolling through this tunnel?
My body is pushed forward, and it's like a chute has opened up. Like I’m on the log ride at Disneyland, only I’m being pushed through the flume all on my own, no barrel to carry me.
It's a water slide, propelling me forward at an alarming pace. The incline is dangerous and I protect myself by crossing my ankles and my arms over my chest. I brace myself, closing my eyes and holding my breath and hoping that wherever this water chute takes me, it's somewhere safe.
When I open my eyes, I realize I'm floating in a lagoon. I blink, confused, not expecting to have made it out of that earthquake alive.
The sky overhead is blue, the sun is out. Gasping, treading water, I want to reach the water’s edge.
But before I can reach it, a giant water hippo emerges from the pool, its eyes wide, its mouth full of teeth and its gaze on me.
I shriek in terror, scrambling out of the water, moving as fast as I can. I get to the shore, finding my footing in the muddy bank as two men emerge from the jungle.
These are not like any men I've ever seen before.
They are not archeologists and certainly not the authorities.
These are wild men—like Tarzan, only this is no animated movie.
This is real life.
"Holy shit," one of them shouts. "It's a woman!"
The other one growls. "She's mine."
2
Storm
The moment she steps on shore I can tell she's on a mission. "I'm yours?" She scoffs at me. "I'm nobody's." She rolls her eyes. "I don't know what you're getting at, but I need you both to get out of my way."
Carnage and I keep our feet firmly planted on the floor of the jungle. She groans. "Are you kidding me? That's how you're going to play this? Look, I was just in some freaky earthquake, and then I got accosted by some creepy hippo in the lagoon. And now I'm coming across two cosplay cave men in the jungle. I really don't know what you're getting at, if you're in some documentary or making some C-level film, but I don't have time for this." We do
n’t move. I stare, transfixed. She groans. "Seriously, I'm not interested in your games."
"Games?" I ask. "I'm not playing any games."
She smiles tightly. "Great, so can you move?"
Carnage and I only step closer together, blocking the path. There are giant palm trees all around us, and dense jungle vines. This is the only clear path forward. And I know because it leads directly to our camp.
"You know where you're going?" I ask her.
"Yes," she says, "I do. I'm going back to the Palm Paradise parking lot because wherever I am right now is not where I want to be."
"You're not going to find it this way."
She frowns. "Oh really? Which direction do I need to go then, Mr. Know-it-all?"
"Wow, you got some attitude on you, don't ya?" I look her up and down.
Damn, it's been so long since I've seen a woman. Six years, to be precise. Six long, lonely years. When I landed in this prehistoric hell, I was by myself. Year four, I found Carnage. Thought I won the goddamned lottery. It was better to be with him than to be alone. But together we're not doing much better. It's awful out here. We’ve been wishing for the life we had, praying for a future we'll never get, but now—she's here.
"I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you," I tell her, "but that hotel doesn't exist. The life you had, it's gone. And whatever you think you're here to find, you won't."
Carnage whistles low. "Damn, bro. Way to give it to her straight."
I shrug. "She doesn't want me to pretend. Do ya, Sugar?"
"My name's not Sugar, it's Summer, and no, I don't want you to bullshit me, but I don't know what you're talking about."
Carnage smirks. "We're talking about time travel, honey."
"Time travel?" she repeats in disbelief. "I don't know what you're saying. You want me to believe we just time traveled?"
"Not we," I say. "Carnage and me, we've been here for six years."
"Six years?" The gorgeous girl's jaw drops.
I'd like to keep her mouth wide open. I have a cock I could fill it with.
Damn, I know that's crass even for me, but fuck I'm lonely, horny, ready, eager, everything. I wasn't joking when I said she was mine. She is. She just doesn't know it yet.
She shakes her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. There was an earthquake. I was in a cave. I fell down a water chute sort of thing. Ended up here. I just need to get back to the cave and retrace my steps." She presses a hand to her forehead. "This is not how the day was supposed to go. I was going into the jungle and into that cave to find Fancy, not you two... What are you doing, anyway? Are you filming a movie? Are you like, making TikToks or something? Is this a new trend?"
Carnage and I share a look, having no idea what she's talking about. "TikTok?" I say.
"You don't know what TikTok is?" she asks.
I shake my head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
She whimpers. "You’ve really been here six years?"
"Six long years," I repeat.
"Oh my God," she groans.
"What?" I ask.
"Did we really time travel?"
I chuckle. "Uh, yeah, we really time traveled."
"The earthquake… that might have been what happened to Fancy. This might be where she went."
Summer sits down on a fallen tree, setting down her backpack, the color draining from her face. Her hair is long and wavy, drawing in the heat of the jungle sun. Her skin is bronze and beautiful. Her measurements would give Marilyn Monroe a run for her money.
"Oh my God," she says, covering her face with her hands. "Fancy didn't get kidnapped. She didn't get sex trafficked. She time traveled." The woman drops her hands. "What are your names?"
Storm and Carnage, we tell her.
"You were two of the men on the Special Ops mission who were lost in a blast six years ago. You were searching for a known terrorist."
"How do you know all that?" I ask her.
She swallows. "I know because I was in Mexico looking for my best friend who went missing in the jungle. The authorities told me that there have been several different people who have gone missing after exploring the caves in the vicinity over the last few years—three other women, and the group of men on your Special Ops mission. Everyone thought they either were lost or killed or never wanted to be found, but no one guessed time travel. What time is this?"
I shrug. "I think it's the Paleolithic Age."
Carnage nods. "Prehistoric shit. We're not exactly sure. We aren't history buffs, but it's after the dinosaurs so that's good. But there's still some wild shit out here."
Summer swallows, biting her bottom lip. "But there are no other humans."
"None," I tell her. "That's why we're really fucking happy to see you."
"But there has to be," she says, "there has to be other people here. The other people on your mission and the other girls who were lost. Fancy for one, and there were two other women. This girl who was here with her family for a wedding, and another girl who was on a backpacking trip. They came to these caves and were never seen again. It can't be a coincidence. They must all be here."
"Well, that sounds like a fantasy," I tell her, pressing my lips together. "I mean, that'd be nice, but we've been here six years and haven't seen a soul." I shake my head. "Look, I want to believe that the other guys on our mission are alive. Just as bad as you want to believe your friend Fancy is alive, but we got to be realistic. We haven't seen them in all this time. Maybe..."
"What?" she asks.
I shrug. "Maybe they're gone."
"No!" Summer shakes her head. "I refuse to believe that. I just wonder if everyone traveled to the same moment."
"I don't think that's how time travel works." I explained.
Carnage laughs. "What do you know about time travel anyways?”
I shrug. “When we met up, I counted that I’d been here four years, but you’d only accounted for three months. When we get spit out on this side, time doesn’t match up perfectly.”
"Either way, we’re stuck here?" Summer asks.
"Yeah,” I say. “You’re stuck, with us."
She stands, picking up her bag. "Well, no offense, but I'm not sticking around. You're both handsome and all, but..."
"But what?" I asked.
"But I came to Mexico to find my best friend and I'm not giving up until I've found her."
She stands just as a woolly mammoth walks through the jungle.
Summer's eyes widen. "Is that…?" She points to the tusks.
I nod. "Yeah, it's a woolly mammoth."
Her eyes widen with fear. Just our luck, she’s terrified of a harmless beast.
We can use that to our advantage.
3
Carnage
I can’t believe our luck. It sounds crass to say it—because I know she just experienced a hell of a lot of loss—but Storm and I have been here a long ass time, and a fresh face is more than welcome.
And Summer is not just any fresh face. She’s everything. She’s what I would have wished for if I’d been given a genie. A sweetheart face and pink pouty lips and long wavy hair and soft supple skin, and fuck, my cock is hard just looking at her.
This is gonna be a problem.
She’s not just a piece of meat. She is a woman who has her own needs, wants—and the fact of the matter is she hasn’t been celibate for years like me.
In fact, hooking up isn’t on her radar at all. She only cares about finding her friend.
“Is it dangerous?” she asks, looking at the mammoth that’s just entered the clearing.
“Very,” I say gravely. “Let me show you someplace safer, I don’t want it to eat you.” I take her hand before she can think of a reason to say no.
