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Except it really wasn’t because pain slashed through my chest. I was once again that desperate kid reaching out for his best friend.
“I asked my parents if they knew where you’d gone—”
“I don’t care if you prayed to the Virgin Mary about me, Bennett. I don’t give a fuck.”
I managed to keep my voice low enough so the kids wouldn’t hear me.
Bennett, blessedly, fell silent for a few minutes. When the trail opened up into a large clearing, I used the opportunity to let the kids take a break so they could drink something and munch on protein bars while I explained that the screechy chatter splitting the air above us was a pair of American Kestrels. I told them about how the bird was North America’s littlest falcon and still able to snatch up rodents from the ground mid-flight. The kids took turns looking at the birds through a few shared pairs of binoculars and then we were on the move again. Bennett, thankfully, returned to Aiden’s side as I began explaining to the first kid, a boy called Lucky, what to expect as he took over leading the group.
I tried to ignore the look of anguish on Bennett’s face as he and Aiden chatted, but when Aiden put his arm around Bennett’s shoulders, I saw red. I barely refrained from going back there and telling him to get his fucking hands off of Bennett.
Jesus, I was never going to last seven days at this rate.
I spent the rest of the afternoon supervising the kids who were leading, and when we finally reached Drummond Lake, I smiled to myself as I heard one of the kids in front of the group stop and gasp. Within seconds, Bennett was there.
“What’s wrong? Is everyone okay?” Bennett asked, looking ahead to see what had made the kid react so strongly.
His entire body language changed, and I felt like I was seeing the Drummond Lake vista laid out before me for the first time— only now, I saw it through his eyes. The long trail cutting through the grass, the deep blue of the water sparkling in the summer sun, the verdant greens of the trees stacked on the hills beyond, and the giant snowy peaks of Woodland Rise shooting skyward in the distance.
Bennett just stood there, staring. And a stupid part of me wanted to sneak up beside him and take his hand in mine. To put my lips against his ear and say, See? This. This is me. This is where I’ve been. And now you’re here with me.
When he looked at me with a huge smile on his face, my need to show him that part of me disintegrated as all the years of hurt and resentment came back.
“Xander, it’s amazing—”
I didn’t even let him finish his statement before turning away. “I’m going to set up camp.”
I let the kids explore the rocky shoreline as I headed for the spot I typically chose as the best camping site. I was glad for the few moments of privacy as I started getting the site set up.
But of course, it didn’t last.
I tried to ignore Bennett as he appeared a few feet away and set his pack against one of the three large logs surrounding the campfire area. I caught him sneaking glances in my direction, but surprisingly, he didn’t say anything. I watched him take a small camera from his pack and when he saw me looking at him, he said, “For the kids’ parents.”
I didn’t acknowledge the comment, nor did I watch him walk away. When I sensed a presence again, I was in the process of laying out the poles for my tent.
But it wasn’t Bennett whose foot suddenly stepped down on the pole I’d been about to reach for.
“You’re a real prick, you know that?” Aiden said when I looked up at him.
I was tempted to tell him to fuck off, but I tempered my anger. He was the client, after all. Didn’t matter that he was also fucking Bennett… or that he’d become that person in Bennett’s life that I should have been. Even if they weren’t sleeping together, I would have known they were best friends just by looking at them. The fact that Aiden was prepared to go to battle with me on Bennett’s behalf was just further proof of that.
“What I know is that you should stay out of it,” I said calmly. “Your dick belongs in his business, not mine,” I added.
“That’s the part that’s really pissing you off, isn’t it, Ranger Rick? That I have a part of him you never did.”
I managed to quell my response to knock him on his ass, but barely. As it was, I had to take a few steps away from him, so I pretended to get something out of my pack just so I had something to do with my hands. Otherwise I was afraid they’d end up wrapped around his throat.
