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The campground is pitch dark, cool, and completely indifferent to what just happened in that shower stall. I make my way back toward camp with my hands in my pockets and a slow smile spreading across my face. She drew the curtain. Sent me back to camp. She acted like that was the end of it.

She’s adorable. This is far from over. Whatever resolve I had earlier to put out this fire between us is gone. There’s no walking away from Addie now. Not after that. Not after seeing her so beautiful and vulnerable. I need more of her. So much more.

As I turn the corner toward our campsite, I spot an unfamiliar SUV parked outside our lot, its parking lights casting a dim glow over camp.

Who the fuck is sitting outside our campsite at almost three o’clock in the morning? I pick up the pace, concern creeping up my spine as flashlights move around the lot. By the time I walk into camp, I’m ready for a fight. “Who’s there? What the fuck are you doing here?” I holler as I come around the back end of the SUV.

Just then, the passenger door swings open and out pops…Hazel?

“Chace! There you are! We just got here, and no one seemed to be around. Eli was getting worried.”

Eli? Hazel? What the fuck is happening right now?

I’ve barely gotten myself together after what just happened between Addie and me. Maybe this whole night has been a dream after all. Maybe I really did fall asleep by that fire, and this is my subconscious reminding me exactly why I can’t have Addie.

“Surprise!” Hazel continues, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. “Sorry we got in so early, but our flight was delayed, so we drove straight here from the airport. We had nowhere else to go.”

I’m still processing when Eli appears behind me. “There you are. Addie’s camper is empty. Where have you been?”

Oh, you know, best friend of mine, we were just masturbating in the shower together. No big deal. Totally cool. Nothing to worry about.

Yeah. That would go over real fucking well.

I just watched his sister get herself off, and, like some cruel joke from above, he materialized out of nowhere and is now standing right in front of me.

Chapter eighteen

Addie

Igroan as I roll over on my bunk. It's way too soon to be awake again. By the time I finally went to bed this morning, I was so physically and emotionally exhausted that I passed out the second my head hit the pillow.

It all comes back in pieces. Chace finally showing up at two a.m. after I’d spent hours imagining him dead on the side of the road. The relief I felt when I saw his truck, followed almost immediately by anger when he refused to tell me where he’d been or why he was clearly hurt. I’d wanted him to give me something real. Anything. Instead, somehow, we ended up standing inches apart, all that fear and frustration twisting into something else entirely.

Then he kissed me. God, that kiss.

I can still feel the way he pulled me against him, like all these weeks of pushing and teasing and pretending hadn’t just been a game for him either. I’ve never been kissed like that in my life. Never felt so completely wanted in one moment, only to have him pull away in the next and tell me we couldn’t.

And then there was the shower.

Jesus Christ.

My cheeks heat, along with the rest of me, as I think about the shower. About looking Chace directly in the eyes while I imagined him inside me and letting myself completely fall apart while he watched. I didn't hide from him. I didn't turn away or pretend he wasn't there. I let him see all of me. I've never made myself that vulnerable with anyone before, and somehow, last night, I did it with Chace. The same man I've spent years avoiding feeling anything for. What the fuck was I thinking?

That's the problem. I wasn't thinking. I was caught up in everything, still running hot from our fight, if you can even call it that, and that kiss, with too many emotions tangled together to make sense of any of them.

I wish I could say I regret it, but I just don't. It's that realization that finally pulls me up and off the bed. When I got back to camp last night, I half expected him to be waiting for me. The very last thing I expected was to find my brother and Hazel setting up a tent next to Chace's.

Thank God I hadn't decided to take a walk after my shower, because the first thing Eli asked was where I'd been. I'd quickly glanced at Chace, but his eyes were cast down, intentionally avoiding mine. Is that how this is going to go now? Awkwardly living side by side for the next month, pretending none of it happened?

“Couldn’t sleep, so I took a shower,” I lied.

We hadn’t stayed up long after that. Eli and Hazel had decided to take a week off for vacation and join us on the circuit for a bit. They’d wanted to surprise us, and surprise us they did. If they’d shown up just thirty minutes sooner, they would’ve gotten an eyeful of Chace and me making out in the middle of our campsite.

I grab a clean pair of pants from the cabinet, pull them on, and button them. Hopefully everyone will sleep in, considering how late we went to bed. That way I can make some coffee, sneak out of here, and head straight to the stables to see Dusty. I need to clear my head, and Dusty is just the guy to help me do it.

As I jump out of the camper, the first thing I see is Chace’s backside. He’s standing over the coffee pot, shirtless, in nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants hanging low on his hips. I inwardly groan. Of course he’s up at seven a.m. pouring coffee like nothing happened. Like he didn’t completely wreck me with that kiss and everything that came after. It’s not too late to turn around. I could slip back inside the camper and pretend I’m still asleep. My hand is still on the doorknob. All I have to do is quietly back up and—

“I know you’re there, Addie.”