Big Daddy Firemen (Big Cedar Daddies Book 2)
Big Daddy Firemen: Chapter 32

Daisy had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t identify what was off. Perhaps it was as simple as not being dressed for the cold. It had started to snow. Big, white, fluffy flakes blew around in the frigid wind. It wasn’t a blizzard. Yet. But the intensity seemed to be picking up with each passing second.

“Sorry about this,” Selena said. “I didn’t realize it was snowing. The door is just over here.”

They were in a narrow breezeway between two buildings, and it didn’t look like the entrance to an arcade, but Daisy figured maybe this was just a shortcut that would take them in the back way or something.

She heard a slight shuffling to her right a second before movement registered. She spun around to look at a small alcove in the wall where she saw Jason Bennett.

She didn’t know the man well, but he’d become a fairly prominent citizen in Big Cedar, being involved in quite a few community activities.

That uneasiness she’d been feeling intensified. And it careened off the charts when her eyes fell to the black gun tucked in the waistband of the man’s jeans.

“Hey, Mr. Bennett!” Alyssa greeted him cheerfully. She hadn’t noticed the gun, obviously.

“Ladies,” Daisy said, her voice serious. “Run! Now!”

Alyssa and Grace must have recognized the urgency in her voice or saw the gun for themselves, because they took off, too, the three running together and constantly looking at each other to ensure no one fell behind.

“Shit!” Bennett called out. “Why couldn’t you have made this easy?”

His heavy footfalls clacked loudly against the pavement, letting Daisy know he was chasing after them as they hurried back the way they’d come. Soon, they’d be near the parking lot. Surely they could flag down someone. She’d noticed security vehicles constantly patrolling. The resort was crawling with people. Finding help shouldn’t be too hard.

As their luck would have it, though, they didn’t see a single soul as they rounded the corner and continued to skirt the side of the building. They still had quite a distance to go before they reached one of the casino’s many entrances, too.

Something caught Daisy’s attention, though. Ahead, a black iron fence jutted out from the building with a partially open gate.

“In there!” she said between frantic breaths. She didn’t know where it led, but maybe they could slide in and shut that gate to have a barrier between them and the pursuing Jason Bennett.

Actually, based upon the sounds behind her, Daisy figured it wasn’t just Jason chasing them now. She heard other footsteps and assumed Selena had joined in, too.

She didn’t know what this was all about. Were the couple some kind of predators? Did they want to abuse Daisy and her friends? Those questions would have to wait for later. Right now, she had to concentrate on not letting it—whatever it was—happen.

She reached the gate, pushed it open further, and let her friends go in first. Once they were all inside, she slammed the black iron bars shut, but they didn’t lock.

“Damnit!” she yelled.

“Ma’am,” a voice behind her called. “This area is off limits. Pool is closed.”

She turned around to see a man of about sixty years, wearing a blue maintenance uniform, holding a bucket and some sort of tool. He was standing in the doorway of a small, detached building that had a sign indicating it stored chemicals.

“Help us! There’s someone after us!” Daisy threw a nervous glance over her shoulder after uttering the plea.

The guy dropped the bucket and tool, grabbed the radio clipped on his belt, and held it up to his lips. “This is Ken. I’m at the water park. I need⁠—”

Before he could finish, a shrill squeak rang out, and Daisy realized it was the gate being yanked open.

“Go!” the man said.

The women stayed put.

“We can’t leave you,” Daisy told him.

Ken weighed well over two hundred pounds and had strength born about by physical labor. Even though he wasn’t a young man, he was still imposing. And that tool—that looked to be some kind of wrench—added to the tough demeanor.

“Go!” he said more sternly.

He finished calling into the radio just as Jason stepped through the gate. Selena was right behind him and Daisy and the others didn’t stick around to see what they wanted. They bolted deeper into the complex, with Daisy sending up a silent prayer that the maintenance worker wouldn’t be harmed.

Jason seemed intent on getting the women. What would a predator want with a big, silver-haired guy? Ken was most likely safe.

Of course, she didn’t really know why Jason was chasing them and he might be willing to eliminate any threat that got in his way. But she never heard a gunshot, so that was a promising sign.

Maybe Ken had even gotten the gun away and resolved the situation. Or perhaps Jason and Selena had fled upon realizing he’d already called security.

The area opened up into covered pools, closed cabanas, and shuttered tiki bars. There were towering water slides too, and Daisy made a mental note to ask her Daddies to bring her back in the summer.

If she survived this.

Right now, she had more important things to worry about than future vacations. They still had to escape.

“There!” Alyssa panted, pointing to glass doors set into the wall. A sign above them stated they led into the casino. The women ran to them, but rather than sliding open automatically like they should have, they stayed together.

Alyssa and Grace both tried to pry them apart while Daisy watched for any incoming pursuers from behind.

“They won’t budge!” Grace cried, kicking the door in frustration.

It was then that frantic footsteps could be heard crunching loudly in the snow, coming toward them.

“Uh, there. Let’s go there!” Daisy suggested, keeping her voice urgent but as low as possible as to not give their plans away.

The trio ran toward a nearby waterslide, but the ground was starting to accumulate snow, making it a slippery, dangerous trek. And, with all the flakes blowing around at a dizzying speed now, it made it difficult for Daisy to see if anyone was coming.

But that went both ways, she realized, and Jason and Selena would have trouble seeing them, too.

“We can get in the tunnel,” Alyssa whispered. “They won’t think to look there!”

The women scampered up the steps as quickly as possible, but with the snow, it was even more difficult than running had been. And the metal rails they held onto were so cold that Daisy could barely keep her teeth from chattering.

They finally reached the top and she stopped to look down from the high platform. They were difficult to make out with the increasingly furious blowing snow, but she faintly saw two figures cutting a path across the stark white ground below.

Would they notice the footprints and realize where the women were hiding?

A tap on the shoulder got her attention and she turned around to see Alyssa pointing at the entrance to the covered tube slide. While she didn’t speak, the implication was clear: maybe they could hide inside.

It would be tricky, Daisy thought. One person would be easy, being able to hang onto the top rim. But three people? Two would have to keep their legs apart with their feet planted on the slide’s slick sides, ensuring they didn’t go down. There most likely wasn’t any water in the pool at the bottom. They might break a bone, their neck, or even worse!

It might be their only option, she realized. Because footsteps crunching in the snow seemed to be getting closer. A moment later, dark forms appeared on the stairs.

Jason and Selena had figured out where the women were hiding.