“Why don’t we take the Highlander?” D suggested, heading out the front door. Kill grabbed my arm before I could walk by. I turned to him and put my hands on his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat through his shirt.
“I wanted today to be perfect. I had something to tell you,” he growled. His face conveyed the hurt he was feeling.
“It will be perfect,” I replied.
His jaw clenched, and I ran my hand over his cheek wanting to soothe him.
“If you tell him today it'll piss him off. You'll want to talk to him and make it better, ruining our night. So, I say keep the peace today, and we'll tell him later.”
I could see the conflict in his eyes as he debated what he should do. He finally nodded his head and put his arm around my shoulder, leading me out to the Highlander. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a granola bar. “We'll tell everyone soon. I don't like this sneaking around. We're grown adults. Eat this. I'll be right back,” he said, letting me go and running back into the house.
I watched him jog away, admiring the way his ass fit in his jeans. D walked up to me as I took a bite.
“Where's he going?”
With my mouth full, I just shrugged my shoulders. I turned around to get into D's car when I spotted another piece of paper under my windshield wiper. Trying to act as nonchalantly as possible, I walked over to my car. My feet felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds each. The bite I'd just swallowed hardened in my stomach, making friends with the boulder. Snatching the paper up with trembling hands, I opened it. It was the same message as the last one. An angry red slash that read,
MINE.
I stuffed it into the bottom of my bag, just before Kill made his way toward the car, a backpack slung over his shoulder. I scrambled into the back of the Highlander before D could question me. Kill reluctantly took shotgun, and I did my best to finish the granola bar. D kept glancing at me in the rear view mirror, and I tried to appear as if I didn’t have some crazy stalker note burning a hole in my bag.
By the time we reached the trails, I’d been able to finish my snack and offer the boulder a friend to accompany him for the remainder of the day.
“Ready to go, Slick?” Kill asked, opening the door to help me out. His jaw was clenched, and I knew this wasn’t the way he’d planned the day to go. I wanted to insure he had a good day and an even better night after seeing his plans ruined. He glanced down at me when I got out and linked my arm through his. His jaw finally unclenched, and he shot me his half smile.
“Yep, let’s get this show on the road,” I responded, nudging him lightly.
He hefted the backpack higher on his shoulder as D came around, frowning when he saw us linked together.
“Whatcha got in there, Killer?” I asked indicating the backpack with my chin.
“What? This thing?” he replied, acting as if I’d asked the contents of his bank vault. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” he taunted, bopping me on my nose with his finger, I rolled my eyes, even though I secretly loved the attention.
“Come on; let’s get going. We still have practice later,” D grumbled, breaking us out of the moment.
Kill's grin disappeared when he glared at D. I nudged him harder than before, getting his attention and offering him my own glare, hoping he would knock it off. He unlinked his arm and moved it to my shoulder.
“Yep,” he answered D.
D stared at him a moment, and I began to grow uncomfortable with the unspoken conversation they seemed to be having. D finally sighed and stalked toward the trail.
“This is going to be so much fun,” I said sarcastically under my breath.
Kill laughed quietly as we caught up to D. The trail was beautiful, and soon I was so immersed in the view, I forgot about the awkward situation as I pointed out different things that caught my eye.
Kill kept his arm slung around my shoulder during the entire hike, naming some of the plants I would point out. Eventually, D stopped pouting and helped Kill identify some of the plant species he didn’t recognize.
When we reached the top of the trail, they were as close to amiable as it was going to get, and I was enjoying myself. We sat on a picnic table, taking in the sights.
“Here you go, Slick,” Kill said, pulling me from my reverie.
I took the bottle of water he handed me, thanking him before taking a big drink. I watched as he pulled stuff out of the backpack. He threw a sandwich at D, who snatched it from the air.
“Thanks,” he said.
I watched to see what else he would pull out of his magic bag. “You thought of everything,” I said, taking a bite out of my sandwich and nabbing a handful of grapes.
“You’d be surprised,” he grumbled, looking pointedly at me. I was certain that if D weren’t around, Kill would be pulling out much more interesting items from his magic backpack.
