Page 58

CHAPTER

TWO

Belle

“We’re the perfect age to be camp counselors, Belle,” Moira whines, flopping back on my bed.

I giggle but don’t stop putting my clothes away. “So, you want to oversee a bunch of snotty, prepubescent boys and girls all summer long? Yeah, sounds like no fun to me, Mo.” She’s always scheming and coming up with ideas that I’m not excited about, but somehow end up joining her on.

“Hot guys, kayaking on the river, swimming in the heated pool they have on the premises for the kids, suntans, adventures ,” she adds. “Did I mention the hot guys, Belle? You know what we’ve met so far at school, and you won’t introduce me to any of your brother’s friends.”

“Okay, first of all, ewww, my brother’s like ten or fifteen years older than me, at least,” I retort, shuddering. “I mean, he’s over thirty now, Moira!”

“Just means he and his friends know what to do is all,” she teases, rolling away from the brush I toss in her direction.

“They want to meet us today?” I ask, already caving a little bit. We graduate after this last semester once summer’s over, so this is kind of our last gasp of freedom before the ‘real world’ intrudes and takes over our lives.

My big brother’s awesome, of course, and between the grants I got for school, and his help paying tuition it doesn’t cover as well as my necessities, I won’t have any real student loan debt once I cross the stage, which is fantastic. Plus, years ago, he set up an account for me and every month, he deposits money into it, and his club rents the small bungalow that Moira and I share. Still, being able to earn my own money has me kind of excited about the opportunity that Moira’s currently presenting as though her life depends on it.

“Yeah, I told them we could meet at the burger shop. We’ll kill two birds with one stone since we need to eat anyhow. Um, one thing, though.” When she pauses like this, it’s a sure sign of things getting bumpy. But seeing as she and I are good bumper car drivers, we can navigate nearly anything and come out with only a few bumps and bruises… since that’s life, which is never a smooth ride for anyone.

“What’s that?” I ask.

I glance at my best friend and shake my head. How on earth she stays as tiny as she does is beyond me; she literally eats from the time her eyes pop open until she goes to bed at night. She does have something going on with her metabolism, so if she doesn’t eat like that, she ends up losing too much weight. Never thought I’d even think this, but someone can be too thin, and Mo now knows what she has to do in order to stay out of the hospital.

Me on the other hand? Well, I work out several times a week, participate in local 5k races, and also use the local school system’s aquatic center to swim laps. But that’s because I enjoy eating, not because I’m trying to stay in a size ten. Hell, a size ten for me would only happen if I developed whatever it is that Mo’s got. I’m a fourteen on a good day, a sixteen if I’ve got my period and have commiserated with copious amounts of chips, salsa, and queso. I’ll probably always have my tiny pooch, and since I’m okay with it, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I love who I am and am happy when I look in the mirror, so screw everyone else and what society views as beautiful. To me, I’m sexy, and nobody’s ever complained about my scrumptious curves, so there’s that.

“Well, the camp’s down in the mountains of Virginia, not too far from someplace called Roanoke.”

“But they were willing to come here to meet us?” A slight frisson of doubt crosses my mind when I consider that the camp’s in a completely different state. Not horribly far, of course, but still, why would they search for counselors out of state?

“They live locally, Bella-boo,” she replies. “And before you go all spidey-senses on me, I checked out the website online and everything looks legit.”

Shrugging, I say, “Okay, let me grab my purse and we can go. We wanted to have some fun this summer anyhow, so maybe, just maybe, we’ll add something that’ll help us with our jobs.” Plus, it never hurts to have this type of job on our resumes.

“You mean the jobs we’re hoping to get when we graduate?” she asks as we head out the front door. She locks it while I head to the driver’s side of my car.

It’s a sweet ride that Sleeper gave to me after I finally got my driver’s license. Part of the delay was so many of my ‘uncles’ tried to teach me, I kept getting conflicting information about the dos and don’ts behind the wheel. Finally, Wiley, one of his friends, went over the state driver manual with me, then took me out for the required road hours. Because he didn’t make me feel nervous all the time, I was able to pass not only the written portion of the exam, but also the practical part. While most people hate their picture on their driver’s license, I giggle whenever I see mine because I’m cheesing so big.

“Let’s go and get this shit over with,” I grumble as we get into my car. What I really want to do is take a nap, but when Mo gets like this, it’s easier to go along sometimes. I can always grab one when we get back since I have my chores for the weekend done and there’s nothing important enough that needs my attention to keep me away from snuggling in my bed.

“I got a creepy vibe from them that kind of skeeves me out,” I admit to Moira as we head back from meeting our interviewers. For some reason I can’t explain, I’m in a rush to get back to our place.

The two young men were maybe a few years older than we are, and both are clean-cut, with neatly pressed clothes. Maybe that’s what is bugging me; I’ve never known any guys who iron their fucking jeans. In fact, the men in my brother’s club would label Harold and Roger, the two guys who came to meet us from the camp, as straight up pussies if they saw them. I can’t swear to it, but it also looked like the T-shirts they had on underneath their short-sleeve button down shirts were ironed as well. A tad bit overkill in my opinion.

“Eh, they said the camp is heavily religious; maybe that’s part of their thing? Modesty or something?”

“Considering our shorts have to be no shorter than an inch above our knees, and any tank tops we bring have to be the thick straps, plus our bathing suits must be one piece? I’d say so,” I grumble. “We’re going to have to go shopping, because for sure, I think the only thing I own that I can actually pack and take with us would be my underwear, bras, and socks. Hell, we even have to wear close-toed sneakers! How on God’s green earth are toes going to turn someone on, for fuck’s sake?” I ask, my voice growing louder even though she’s sitting right next to me in the car.

“Okay, so the wardrobe is less than stellar, Belle, but what they’re going to pay us weekly will definitely help us out financially next semester,” she replies.

Not that I actually need the money, but I know Mo does, so if nothing else, since I won’t leave my girl behind, I’ll do it. “I know, and I’ll do it, but right now, I reserve the right to bitch about it.”

“Fair enough,” she teases.

“We’re so fucked,” I mutter beneath my breath as the nondescript white van we were thrown into moves sedately and steadily through town so as not to cause any outward suspicion.

“What are we going to do?” Mo asks, her eyes trained on the two men in the front.

“Whatever they ask, within reason, until my brother figures out something happened, and rescues us,” I advise.

“How long do you think that’s going to take?” she asks, her lips quivering.

“No clue, especially since all the trackers I know Sleeper had on me are currently either in my car, or on the ground from where they ripped everything away from me and tossed them. But he and his club are resourceful. It may not be next week, Mo, but hang tough and we’ll get out of this.”

“I should’ve listened to you when you said you had a bad vibe,” she whispers, tears coursing down her face.

“Well, no use crying over spilled milk, we’ll work on getting out of this,” I promise.

I might agree with her, but she feels bad enough, and I need to keep my wits about me. I’ve had to be resourceful over the course of my life until Sleeper stepped in; it’s time to remember just who the fuck I am. I’m my brother’s sister; a badass in my own right. I won’t go down without a fight.