Page 27 of Hearts at War

Don’t. Don’t believe her. She was trying too damn hard to get in this cabin. While I was grateful she wasn’t trying to get into my cabin, I was too skeptical to be naïve for a single second.

I put my key in. It slid all the way to the back.

“See!” She clapped once then gestured at the doorknob. “I told you.”

Then I turned my wrist to no avail. My hand moved, but the key remained in place, not budging. “I see a lock that can’t be opened by my key.”

“You need to jimmy it.” She took over, trying to wiggle the knob and my key.

I didn’t like her in my personal space and taking over. Nor did I like the thought of her having her hands on my key. Quickly, more on instinct than anything else, I reclaimed my grip. “I’ll take that.”

She retreated, frowning at the doorknob. “You’re not doing it right.”

“It’s not the right key,” I argued. It was a dumb idea, and I wondered what else I could suggest to this teen so I wouldn’t worry about her freezing overnight.

“Fine, then give me a boost.” She walked over to a window, crunching fallen leaves and dead twigs. Aiming her finger at the window, she indicated at the top portion that could lift upward as a slight opening in front of a screen.

“What?” This was getting wackier by the moment. “No.”

“Yeah.” She smiled, likely just to try to keep me at ease, as she lowered in a squat-like position while making a step of her joined hands. “Like this. Haven’t you ever done this before?”

Not like this, to break and enter. “You’re trying really hard to get into this cabin.”

“My cabin,” she insisted.

I’m not sold on that.

“Just gimme a boost. I can climb in and then—”

I stepped closer, furrowing my brow at a fresh scrape on the window frame. These cabins weren’t maintained so well that they didn’t bear signs of wear and tear. With the run-in from earlier though, I knew this mark was fresh.

From her? I eyed her, raising my brows as I pointed at the scrape along the lower part of the openable window.

“Come on. I’m cold,” she urged.

“Are you sure—”

Before I could be her accomplice, headlights cut through the darkness. Twin beams of brightness nearly blinded me. Squinting, I held up my hand as they shone my way.

“Shit.”

The teen took off, rushing through the darkness to hop on that old bike and pedal away.

I groaned, realizing how this had to look to whoever was driving up close. The beams from the headlights bounced as the vehicle covered the crappy dirt road, but there was no mistaking that they were aimed at us—

Not us.

Me.

That girl had run off, leaving me to deal with this incident. Caught red-handed, trying to sneak in another person’s place.

I can explain. I’ll explain and then head home. That’s all there is to it.

I crossed my arms over my chest in a self-hug to stay warm while the driver parked abruptly and got out. The headlights stayed on after the engine was turned off, and I squinted to see who stalked up to me.

Blinded by the light behind the man, I held my hand up to squint. It had to be a man.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”