He and Hazel each had one half of a duplex-style cabin near the entry of the camp. And if he needed a new addition, which he didn’t have the space for, he’d come to me for it. I remained unmoved.
“Whatever, Jack,” he said petulantly, waving me off before rushing to speak with Azalea, who was carrying some newly cleaned chef’s coats. She looked like she didn’t have time to deal with his antics either.
I opened the door to my old pickup truck, and it creaked. Great. Another crappy hinge. Couldn’t I catch a break when it came to doors? Was I being dramatic? I did my best to take care of the things that mattered when it came to my truck, even though she looked like she’d seen better days. I could blame her peeling paint and dented roof, but there was no point in fixing superficial issues. What I cared about was the fact that she was reliable and nostalgic. After all, she’d stuck with me since high school, so I wasn’t about to trade her in.
“Oh, come on. For real?” The dulcet tones of a stranger came from two cars over.
I threw the hinges in my toolbox and looked for the source of the noise. I wished I’d just ignored it.
Nat stood on the tire of her green Subaru, jumping to reach something in the corner of her hard-shelled cargo box to no avail. The car was a surprising choice for someone like her. I’d figured she was more of a luxury car kind of girl. After all, the Breckenridges owned one of the most expensive car companies in the world.
I didn’t know if she was hiding it, but most of us knew her last name. She was basically American royalty, and her family probably considered themselves the backbone of America. They’d been involved in numerous industries, from cars to tech. And that didn’t even take into account her family’s political legacy and the detrimental mark it’d left on the country. They were rich, entitled, selfish people, and hiding behind a social media alias didn’t make her any better.
It might have sounded judgy, but after what happened last year, she’d proven the kind of person she was.
TWO
Nat
Had Jack gotten hotter?
That was the first thought that popped into my head as I saw the blond-haired, broad-chested, lumberjack of a man standing in the same parking lot as my trusty Subie and the pile of stuff beside it.
Maybe it was the whole smoldering thing he had going on or the fact that he looked like he wanted to fuck me against a door. Was I reading that correctly?
“Oh, Jack.” Relief washed over me. “You have long arms. Can you…?”
Suddenly, that smolder came off as something more like indignation. Or maybe annoyance.
Why was I starting to feel like a rabbit in the sights of a bear?
“What is it, Nat?” He didn’t sound like he cared to know.
My lack of an answer due to sheer confusion must have irritated him, because he walked with determination and reached above my head to grab the duffel bag I’d been trying to get while standing on a tire to give me the edge.
He placed my bag of hiking gear with the rest of my pile of crap and made to walk away before I called him back. His words were confusing, but maybe he was just in a bad mood. Or the sunwas in his eyes? When he turned to me, he looked less angry and more apathetic.
Perhaps I’d misread the situation. Only one way to find out. “Any chance you could tell me the code to my cabin? Hazel told me, but I forgot.” My sweaty face probably said as much.
“Call Hazel.” He lifted the red metal toolbox I hadn’t noticed and waved toward camp. “Gotta fix a door.”
Okay, that was definitely contempt in his voice.
“My phone’s dead, but that’s fine…” I felt like a chastened child. “Sorry I asked.” I tried smiling self-deprecatingly, but he didn’t return it. Something was obviously wrong.
He looked at my passenger seat, which held a cute pink mini fridge that could store six soda cans at most. “You know you have your own fridge in your cabin, right?”
Oof, I didn’t want to have to explain the need I had for a fridge to keep my skincare essentials at the proper temperature. Not when he was looking at me like that.
“I need two.”
His eyebrow went up as if that was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. If he learned what it was for, his handsome head would probably explode.
Jack sighed in frustration, scrolling through his phone for my door code. He lifted his eyes and took a breath as if he needed to get something off his chest. Instead, he asked, “Why are you back here, Natalie?”
“Oh,” I said dumbly.Why am I back here?Words escaped me. And why was he saying it likethat? “Hazel asked?—”
“Hazel,” he said, frustrated. “Hazel.” He looked as if he was about to go tell our boss to suck an egg.
