AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sit down, Carly,” he said. “We need to talk.”
She took a seat in one of the folding canvas chairs they set up every evening, so close their arms were almost touching. Justin immediately regretted the proximity and wished he’d put his own chair on the other side of the campsite. She pulled her knees up, and her bright purple painted toenails gleamed in the light from the fire. She’d talked him into painting them for her. He remembered the warmth of her foot resting on his thigh, and the hunger returned.
Justin rubbed the back of his neck again until the skin started feeling raw. “In these kind of survival situations people sometimes believe they have... feelings for the person who is helping them through it. Do you understand, Carly? It’s just the way the human mind works. Your feelings of gratitude get all mixed up in the body’s survival drive. It can make you think you have... certain feelings. And I... uh... I took advantage of that.”
Carly was silent. She stared down at the ground in front of her chair. Red stained her cheekbones.
“Please don’t be embarrassed,” Justin said. “There’s no need. It’s all perfectly normal, and it’s not your fault. I was wrong for what I did.”
Carly leaned down and picked something up out of the grass. It looked like the tab from a soda can. She turned it in her fingers.
“It’s natural,” Justin said lamely. “You’re a lovely girl, Carly, and well, in these kinds of situations, the human body has certain... drives. But I should have known better. I did know better. But I took advantage of you in a vulnerable moment, and I’m sorry.”
The red had suffused her entire face.
“Please don’t be embarrassed,” he repeated.
Carly’s eyes flashed up to meet his, and he was shocked by the heat in them. “I’m not embarrassed. I’m pissed.”
“What?”
She jumped to her feet so fast, she knocked her chair over. “I don’t appreciate being told I don’t know what I’m feeling or my feelings aren’t real. The hell with you and your pop psychology bullshit!”
And with that, Carly whirled, her hair fanning out in a rippled wave behind her, and marched into the tent. In a moment, his sleeping bag came flying out. “Find somewhere else to sleep!” she shouted.
“Carly, wait, please—”
“Piss off!” Carly zipped the tent with finality.
Justin approached, his hands spread out in a silent plea. “Carly—”
Sam, sitting in front of the tent like a Secret Service agent, growled at him. Justin blinked in surprise. He reached out a hand to the tent’s zipper and Sam’s growl became a snarl.
“Great, now the wolf hates me, too,” Justin muttered, surprised to find how much that bothered him.
Carly unzipped the tent and called for Sam. He gave Justin a last indignant look and went inside the tent with his human. She zipped the flap behind him, and he heard her huff as she flopped down on her sleeping bag.
At a complete loss, Justin picked up his own bag and stumbled over beside the wagon. He spread it out, lay down on top of it, and stared up at the canopy of stars through the gaps between the trees. He had fucked up. And he had absolutely no idea how to go about fixing it.
He put his hands over his face. Fucking doomed.
Justin’s face was a mass of welts and bumps in the morning. Carly startled when she saw him.
“Mosquitoes,” he murmured.
“Didn’t you explain to them why they really didn’t want to bite you?” Carly asked in a deceptively sweet tone.
He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know I upset you, and I didn’t mean to—”
Carly said nothing. She sat down in her chair and glared at the fire.
“Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,” Justin said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat anyway. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
“I’m getting really sick of you telling me what I need and what I feel.”
