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So far, I’m the only one who looks like I’m going to pass out at the news.
I turn to Ember, who smiles at me. “I’m actually weirdly excited.”
“Have you lost your mind?” I whisper hiss to her.
She laughs. “Oh, come on Willa. It’ll be fun. We’ve been locked up for years, it’ll be nice to get out in nature and enjoy the bare minimum.”
She’s lost it.
They’ve all lost it.
I push my chair back and excuse myself, walking out onto the deck and breathing in the fresh, cool air trickling in.
“What’s wrong, Willa? Not excited about the trip?”
Lake’s voice comes from behind me.
I want to punch him.
Instead, I ignore his words.
“I told you you’d regret disobeying me.”
I spin, glaring at him. “This was your idea?”
He grins, looking absolutely fabulous even while being a dick. “You bet it was.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You don’t want to follow the rules, even when you have a chance to really enjoy this place, so I’m going to force you to enjoy what you have here. It’ll do you good to get out there and have no escape.”
“It won’t do me good, not even close,” I grind out.
He chuckles, low and throaty. “I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you’re imagining. You should go and get some rest before we leave, it’s a good hike to get there.”
“Hike?” I say, eyes wide. “You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s not uphill, don’t worry. We’re using a spot we haven’t used for the campers yet. It’s a flat trail but it is a decent distance away. You’ll be fine.”
“It’s getting cold at night. How the hell are we supposed to stay warm?”
He crosses his arms. “You’d better dress well and make sure you build a good shelter.”
“Shelter? We’re actually sleeping in a shelter we build ourselves?”
He nods. “You bet you are. There is a computer in the main house if you want to do some research before we leave.”
With that, and a huge shit-eating grin on his face, he turns and walks back inside.
I cry out in frustration, and a few curse words leave my lips.
This is shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
FALLON LOOKS AS UNIMPRESSED as I feel as we wait for everyone to arrive at the meeting point that afternoon. Even with a few hours of sleep, a massage, and a good lunch, I’m still not ready for this stupid hike and this crappy plan they have thought up for us. Everyone else seems fairly happy with the choice, and all the ranchers are coming on the trip as well as Lei and June, which I suppose makes things a little easier to handle.
Waylen is coming on the trip, but Aaron has to go to a meeting back in the city so he’ll be gone while we’re away. There are enough men to insure we don’t disappear in the middle of the night, and, honestly, where the hell would we go anyway? No way in hell I’m sneaking out into the wilderness. It’s a well-thought-out plan, I’ll give them that.
We probably deserve it, but still.
“I can’t believe we have to do this,” Fallon mutters, rubbing her temples as she looks angrily around at the group. “I feel like death.”
“I know the feeling, but it would appear we’re not getting much of a choice. I wonder if we can fake a way out of it. Period?”
“Tried that already,” Fallon points out. “Waylen told me he’ll have them pack some ‘items’ for us. He wasn’t letting me get away with that one.”
“Diarrhea?”
Fallon grins, the first time today. “I’ll let you fake that one. I’m not sure I can go up to one of those gorgeous ranchers and tell them I’m shooting liquid out of my behind.”
I lose it laughing, pressing on my stomach as everyone turns to glance at me.
“You ladies okay?” Rhett asks, studying us.
“Fine,” Fallon informs him, “we were just trying to figure out how we could get out of this trip.”
Trust Fallon to get straight to the truth.
Rhett grins. “Trust me, we’ve got something for every excuse. You’ll be fine. Is everyone ready to get going?”
Fallon and I are the only ones who shake our heads—everyone else nods.
Rhett divides the group up so that we all basically have a man in front of us and behind us in the line. He starts, then Lei follows him, then it’s Elias, June, Enzo, Ember, Madden, me, Lake, Fallon, Dante, Marg, Betty, and then Waylen. Of course they trust Marg and Betty to walk together, those two haven’t put a foot out of line.
We take the buggy type vehicles right to the edge of the ranch where Rhett will have some stable hands come and collect them. From there, we begin our walk. The track is overgrown, thick, and really rough, but it’s flat so we don’t have to do too much work, aside from shoving branches out of our faces.
