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“They should be here soon.”
Rowe snorted and went back to securing the cover over the hammock he’d strung up between two trees for himself rather than opting for the tent setup that Jude and Snow were using.
“They need to hurry. We’ve got only a few hours of good sunlight,” Jude said.
“If they don’t get here soon, they’re putting up their own fucking tent in the dark,” Rowe muttered.
Snow glanced over at the tent he’d set up with Jude. It was a nice size, comfortably fitting two grown men. It was supposed to be one of those easy-to-assemble tents that pops up in just ten minutes. Even with Jude’s experience, it had taken Snow and Jude close to an hour to get their tent put together and secured, while Rowe hung back, occasionally snickering at their bickering and huffing. It wasn’t looking good for Lucas, Andrei, and Ian.
Reaching for his phone again, Snow stopped at the sound of gravel crunching under tires. Rowe straightened, his head cocked at the sound.
“I’ll check,” Snow said, already striding back toward where Rowe had parked his truck on the side of the road. Snow and Jude had ridden down with him to conserve space since Rowe had warned them that parking would be limited at their campsite. Stepping over a fallen log and around the last thicket of trees, Snow spotted Lucas climbing out of the passenger seat of a red SUV. At least he didn’t look like he’d stepped out of a magazine shoot, opting for a pair of worn jeans, a light gray T-shirt, and new hiking boots.
Ian, on the other hand, managed to look like some kind of hipster camper in his dark blue jeans carefully cuffed and somewhat shiny red cool weave shirt. His blond-streaked brown hair was perfectly styled. None of that was going to last long in the woods. But he hopped down from the back seat, beaming and bright-eyed, overflowing with enthusiasm.
“Isn’t this gorgeous?” Ian demanded. He threw his arms out to encompass the surrounding woods stretching high above them. “It’s just amazing. I can’t believe I’ve never been down here.”
“Why are you late?” Snow demanded.
Lucas grumbled something and looked over the hood of the SUV at Andrei, who had just climbed out of the driver’s seat.
“Oh, don’t you dare look at me!” Andrei shouted, pointing at Lucas before circling around to the trunk.
“It’s my fault,” Ian quickly interjected.
“What’s your fault?” Rowe asked as he walked up to the SUV. Jude clapped a hand on Snow’s shoulder—the man nearly gleamed. Yeah, Snow might not care for camping, but Jude hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d first decided on a date for the trip. He had definitely enjoyed their skiing trip that winter, but apparently camping was familiar territory for him.
“I took a little too long shopping for supplies,” Ian replied.
Rowe shook his head. “You said you got the food yesterday.”
“I did, but Lucas and I went shopping this morning for camping supplies.”
“What supplies?”
Andrei stepped around the back of the SUV, revealing that he was comfortably dressed in a pair of cargo shorts, worn hiking books, and a T-shirt that had the sleeves cut off. He lifted the trunk door and stepped back, an odd expression on his face.
“What…the…fuck?” Rowe looked into the SUV and smacked Andrei on the arm. “You were supposed to go with them and handle this! What the hell?”
Andrei gave Rowe a little shove. “I got called into the office to handle a problem. They went without me!”
Snow hurried over to see what the issue was. His mouth dropped open upon finding the rear of the large vehicle completely packed with gear. He could make out two large coolers, several folding chairs, a bag for what looked to be a massive tent, a chainsaw, two axes, three bundles of wood, and more that he couldn’t begin to identify. They’d brought double what he, Jude, and Rowe had brought.
“They wanted to bring a generator,” Andrei muttered. Jude laughed, falling against the side of the SUV and Rowe groaned. Snow shrugged at Lucas. It didn’t sound like a horrible idea. It would have given them an easy way to charge their phones.
“Andrei said there wasn’t room, but there would have been if he hadn’t brought all this wood,” Ian countered.
Rowe roughly rubbed his face. “I asked him to bring it so we could have a fire.”
Ian waved his arms around him, looking at Rowe as if the man had lost his mind. “But we’re in the woods.”
Andrei sighed. “The wood here is green and the summer has been extremely wet. All the wood on the ground is wet. We’d never get a good fire going. Bringing wood in saves time and gives us something to cook on.”
“Oh,” Ian murmured softly, seeming to deflate a little.
Smiling, Andrei stepped over to Ian and wrapped an arm around the slender man’s shoulders, pulling him close. “Don’t worry. My dad took me camping every summer in the Gorge when I was a kid. I’ll turn you into a regular Daniel Boone before we’re out of here.”
