Page 58

CHAPTER

FORTY-TWO

REMI

I toss and turn in the little tent and think about going inside. But it’s so quiet out here, so peaceful, it’s just my own mind that’s scaring me.

And I know it.

Van and Ryann thought it would be cool if we pitched tents in the backyard and she had two, so we did.

Theirs isn’t far from mine, and they offered to let me sleep in theirs, but I wanted to give them their space. And after what Cortland and I did in his truck, I don’t think he’d like if I slept with them.

The thought makes me smile in the dark under my sleeping bag as I roll onto my side. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel, the first time we had sex alone being in his truck. And we don’t even get to spend the night together afterward, but I push all those feelings aside.

My phone buzzes under my pillow and I pull it out, smiling as I see Sloane’s name.

Sloane 3

Don’t kill me but I think I’m staying til Tuesday and I’ll be there in the afternoon?

I bite my lip, wondering if Cortland would want to hang out another night, when me and Van get back tomorrow.

Enjoy it. Miss you. Love you.

Sloane 3

I hope you’re having fun and socializing. Goodnight Rems xxx

Underneath my smile at her love, I feel that guilt still twisting in my stomach. I shove my phone back under my pillow, my pulse elevated.

I close my eyes anyway, trying to bury it all for now. This thing between me and Cortland will never work, and it’ll probably end soon, then it won’t matter that I never told Sloane.

Best not to even go there.

With those thoughts, I try to drift off into sleep, knowing I need it.

But then I hear it.

A crunch of gravel. Like beneath a pair of shoes.

My heart freezes.

I blink in the dark, wanting to grab the phone under my pillow but if I do, someone could see the light.

I hold my breath, waiting. I know it wasn’t Van or Ryann because after their moans and heavy breathing, I’ve only heard silence from their tent. And besides, I would’ve noticed the sound of them unzipping the tent.

I curl into a ball in my sleeping bag, sliding my hand under my pillow and closing my fingers tight around my phone.

If it’s anyone, I’ll just scream. Van and Ryann will hear me. But this is a campground. Maybe someone is drunk and lost. Or just drunk.

Then I hear another sound. Closer. A branch snapping.

My mouth goes dry and I glance around the dark walls of the tent, trying to see shadows. But there’s no light in here or out there.

I swallow down my fear, straining my ears, my palm sweaty on my phone.

For a moment, there’s only the sound of my own pulse in my ears.

I start to breathe a little easier. It could’ve been an animal. It was probably nothing at all.

I exhale.

Stretch my legs out.

Then I hear a zipper and feel the cold night air rush into the tent as someone steps inside.

I scramble up and out of my sleeping bag, my hands trembling violently to the point I drop my phone. I open my mouth to scream as I try to stand, my knees shaking. But just as I inhale, someone’s hand comes around my mouth, and a familiar voice in my ear says, “Shh, little wolf. We’ve got you.”

I freeze, turning my head and meeting Storm’s light blue eyes in the dark.

Cortland has his hand over my mouth, and he slides it down as I struggle to breathe, my chest rising and falling almost violently.

I whip my head to Cort as I sense Storm ducking down, zipping the door of the tent back.

“You scared the hell out of me,” I manage to gasp out, and Cortland yanks me close to him, my feet dragging over my sleeping bag. He’s ducked down in my tent, but he still pulls me up and crushes his mouth to mine.

“After what we did,” he says against my mouth, pulling back, “you’d think I let you sleep alone?”

My chest feels warm with those words as my hands come to his arms and I feel his biceps flex beneath his hoodie. “Really?” I whisper in the dark. “You came for that?”

I hear Storm’s low rumble of laughter, but I ignore him as I stare into Cort’s gray eyes. He leans down, wrapping an arm around my back. “Yeah, pretty baby. I did.” He nudges his nose against mine as he pulls me flush to his body. “I’m fucking crazy about you.”

Before I can think those words through, he’s sinking down to the tent floor, pulling me down with him.

But I think of Van and Ryann and as happy as I am he’s here, even Storm, I’m not ready for that conversation. “Van will?—”

I feel Storm at my back, his presence silencing my words as I face Cort, his hand threaded through mine.

“Shh, Remi,” Storm whispers against my neck, the little hairs on my arm standing on end. “We’ll be gone in the morning.”

Cortland squeezes my hand. “Lie down, baby, and I’ll try not to get too upset that you wanna hide me from another man.”

I open my mouth to argue, then snap it closed. It’s true. I’m not ready. And neither is he.

I snuggle into the single person sleeping bag and Cortland doesn’t even try to fit. Instead, him and Storm grab a bunch of extra blankets I had stacked up because Van knows I’m obsessed with blankets. Then both of them lie down on either side of me.

I can feel both of their bodies close to mine, Cortland’s arm slung around me, holding me close to his chest. I have the bag unzipped so my body is melded to his, my face buried against him as I inhale his cedar scent.

And at my back, Storm’s chest is pressed against me too. I feel warmth flood through me at his nearness, and when he wraps an arm around me, I tense, sidling closer to Cort.

They both laugh.

“He’s okay, baby,” Cortland says against my ear. “The more people to protect you, the better.”

I feel a swell of emotion with his words, especially as he kisses the top of my head. But I fight it back, trying to enjoy the warmth and security of their bodies next to me without making it weird. “What if I hadn’t been in a tent? How did you even know I was in this one?” I ask in the dark.

Storm breathes a laugh, his arm shifting against me slightly as he does.

But it’s Cort that answers me. “You left the bag of Reese’s outside the door,” he explains, and I bite back my own laugh at the amusement laced in his words.

He pulls me closer, his mouth to my ear.

“And if you hadn’t been in this tent, I’d have broken into the fucking cabin, Remi.

No matter what,” he flicks his tongue along my ear, “I’ll get to you when I need to. ”