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And yet…
A gentle murmuring sound came from inside Penny’s room, and Derek glanced back, pulling the door shut, before heading downstairs to where his and Marie’s room was situated.
Everything closed in around me until it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the hallway.
Penny.
I sprang into action, moving as fast as I could without making a sound. I didn’t risk knocking and slipped silently into her dark room.
“Pen? Penny?” I whispered as I approached the figure curled up on the cot, sobbing quietly.
The kind of sobs that tell you how much a person is hurting: dirty, messy, ugly cries that make your heart drop into the pit of your stomach. And yet, somehow, my brave, strong friend was managing to contain them.
She must have sensed me because she rolled over slightly and looked right at me.
“Blake?” she sniffled, and my chest cracked.
My whole world was crumbling around me, but I somehow managed to ask, “What the fuck did he do to you?”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Penny
“What doyou think they’re doing in there?” Blake leaped up on the wooden railing surrounding the cabin’s balcony and smiled down at me.
“Primping themselves, I guess. It’s hard work being a thirteen-year-old girl these days.” I looked back at the cabin from my position on the top step. The girls had been getting ready for almost forty minutes.
“I can’t ever remember you taking that long to get ready,” he said.
I met his gaze with a shy smile. “That’s because I never had anyone to impress.”
He arched his eyebrow, the smirk tugging at his lips making my stomach flip. “Oh, is that so? No one to impress, huh?”
Blake held my gaze, his eyes burning with an intensity that made my heart flutter wildly.
We were both lost in our memories. A time when I’d traded my usual jeans and hand-me-down Chucks for a summer dress Jessica let me borrow. I’d even curled my hair and swept it to one side with a piece of ribbon I stole from Mrs. Ryson, the home economics teacher at school. Blake had almost tripped over his own feet when he saw me. It was one of the first times I realized he was more to me than just my best friend.
“Oh, hey, girls.” Blake shook his head as if he was trying to shake away the memories. “All set for the campfire? The boys are itching to see you.”
I slipped my hand through the railing and swatted him. But it backfired, my palm colliding with his rock-solid stomach. My cheeks burned as I felt his already hard muscles tense under my touch.
Because I wasstilltouching him.
Snatching my hand away, I broke the simmering connection between us. “Don’t tease them,” I said. “Ignore him, girls.”
I stood, wiping my clammy hands down my jean shorts, and turned to the girls gathered in the doorway, their eyes firmly set on the exchange between the two of us.
Crap.
“Right, I guess that’s my cue to go gather my horde. See you soon.” Blake flashed us a grin before hopping off the balcony.
We watched him jog back in the direction of his cabin. When he disappeared, Shauna and Mandy, two of the older girls, bustled past me rolling their eyes, making their way down the steps.
“He’s so fine,” a voice said from the huddle to my side, and I turned to find Audrina with a doe-eyed dreamy look on her face. “Don’t you think, Penny?” she added, earning snickers from the rest of the girls.
“Let’s go,” I said a little too hastily, ducking my head to avoid them seeing my flushed cheeks. “We don’t want to be late.”
I ushered them down the steps and did a quick head count before we set off in the direction of the campfire, trying my best to push all thoughts of Blake to the back of my mind.
