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He didn’t look like he was ready to accept my apology as he looked at us, his hands on his hips.
“Yup,” I said quickly. Too quickly. The images he had invoked in me had me desperately wanting him to fulfill his threats.
Jace chuckled as he began to remove his own clothes. “Your barriers are down, sweetheart. I can feel your desire from here.”
I looked over at him and knew he was trying to get back at me for my petulant behavior, and he was succeeding. I raised my barrier quickly. I had seven gifts. Sometimes I had to remember to work on my barriers. Especially the ones connected with my emotions. Jace was sensitive to emotions as it was—ironic, I know; he and Remy were my most enigmatic men—and
since all our connections were made, he was hyper sensitive to mine.
I sat down, suddenly very tired, hungry, and aroused. “Noah, can you heal me now, please,” I coaxed him.
He sighed as he bent down. “You know I care for you entirely too much,” he muttered. “If I didn’t care so damn much, I wouldn’t care whether or not you’re hurt. I already told you I think you’re an amazingly, strong, independent woman, but even amazing, strong, and independent woman should know when to ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of wisdom and strength.”
I gulped. His words struck too true.
We sat around the fire in very little clothing to eat our MREs. The fire and the steam from the pool made it pleasantly warm. We watched as the snow fell from the opening above the pool and instantly dissipated once it hit the steaming water. It was enchanting. I had tried to capture the picture with my cell phone, but it hadn’t done it justice. It hadn’t caught the fire dancing off the walls, nor how it casted blue shadows from the spring. And it couldn’t capture the feeling of serene peace filled me, watching as the snow fell.
For dinner I chose the chili mac and didn’t find it that terrible. So many of the other operatives at the facility had complained about them, but I didn’t have an issue with them. I would gladly eat these instead of some of the meals that they prepared for us. I was excited to see what Drake had planned.
Somehow, he had fit the kitchen binder into his pack and brought it with him. Why he felt the need to, was beyond me. However, I think he had the right idea after we made the phone call to Will and Paul to check in. A huge snow front was rolling in, and the worst of it was going to hit us early tomorrow morning, so we would be stuck here for at least two days, by their estimation.
The guys didn’t seem to care all that much. Jaxson told us he had stashed a couple of packs of cards in his pack. We planned to pass the time swimming, playing cards, and relaxing.
Will and Paul wouldn’t tell us how the other team was faring, but from the sounds of it, they hadn’t found a decent shelter and were staying in tents. I was glad Troy, Remy, and Jace had taken this seriously and was prepared, and I was pleased Troy and Remy had some previous experience camping outdoors as well.
I finished my chili mac and put the pound cake, bread and peanut butter back in my pack.
“I have a surprise,” Drake said excitedly as he ran to his pack.
We all looked at each other in bewilderment until he returned with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars.
“S’mores!” I cried in excitement. “When in the world did you get that stuff?”
I didn’t remember him buying them when we went grocery shopping.
He smiled over at me as he started opening the packages. “I hit up the shoppette on Sunday. I figured we couldn’t go camping without smores.”
Jaxson ran over to our wood pile and found us all some long sticks to roast our marshmallows on. I eagerly took one and took a marshmallow from the bag, before passing it onto Jaxson.
I tried to find the perfect place over the flames but not in. Some people like to let their marshmallows catch on fire, then blow it out. I didn’t. I didn’t like the charred burnt taste, even if I removed the outside layer. I liked to slowly roast mine until it was golden brown on all sides. I grabbed a graham cracker and split it in half before placing my chocolate on and squeezing my marshmallow off the stick.
“My uncle was somewhat into the outdoors,” I reminisced. It had been a while since I was able to talk about him without the pang of pain following close behind. He was murdered almost eight years ago, and his loss still felt raw to me. “It was just the two of us for almost four years. Every Friday after school or summer camp, he would pick me up, and we would go on an adventure. Sometimes it was for the whole weekend, other times it was just for the night. He would take me to an amusement park, the beach, on long train rides, fishing, one time we even went to Mackinac Island in Michigan. On the island, you travel by horse, carriage, or bicycles. You can’t drive on it.
I asked him to take me camping once because one of my friends had gone to Assateague Island. Her family camped on the beach and wild horses were everywhere. I was seven and I loved ponies and horses. I never rode on one. Except for the ones at the fairs where they take you around in circles. I thought it would be so amazing to go camping there.
Dad said we couldn’t go there but we could go camping. So, we camped out in the backyard and made smores over a fire pit. I loved it. Even though I woke him up at midnight and asked if we could go inside—the mosquitos were eating me alive.
He didn’t put any bug spray on me. He always forgot about trivial things like that, but he always tried to make me happy. and I was.”
I laid down and put my head in Jaxon’s lap. He slowly traced his fingers along my scalp. I almost moaned aloud. It felt amazing.
“My dad wasn’t outdoorsy,” Drake spoke after a few moments of silence. “But he believed in family days. We went to the movies, or Chuckie Cheeses, paint ball, anything that didn’t involve him staying in the sun for long. He burned really easily.”
I rarely opened up to the guys like that, but I felt like we needed to. Every day we needed to work on getting to know each other more. Being connected wasn’t enough.
Drake continued. “My mom always made it known that she had us because my dad asked her too. She’s a CEO of some company now. She felt like she had been passed up on promotions because of us. She was always busy. Dad tried to get her involved on family outings. When she came, she was always on her phone. She was never truly there. Eventually, he stopped asking her to be there.
“Jemmy has always been Jemmy. She liked being the center of attention. She was such a Daddy’s girl. She took it hard when he died. She tried to connect with my mom, but they never had anything in common. The more my mom pushed her away the more Jemmy tried to cling to her. I’m worried about her now. If Gavin pushes her too far away there’s no telling what she will do.”
