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“Yeah, of course. Another stupid comment, I guess.”
I catch her elbow and tug her to face me. “Don’t let Cade get to you. He opens his mouth before he thinks.”
She purses her lips, and I have to fight a sudden urge to cover her mouth with mine. I swallow, hard, and that’s not the only part of me that’s hard. Fuck. I can’t react like this around her.
I drop her elbow and hurry back inside before she gets the chance to see the effect her proximity has on me.
Chapter Fourteen
Laney
WHAT THE FUCK JUSThappened?
Reed has left me standing out on the porch, surrounded by the rapidly darkening forest, all on my own. It was like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
I don’t want to go in the cabin with those three men, but something in the undergrowth nearby rustles—too loud to be something as innocuous as a rabbit—and my heart catapults into my chest. My skin prickles with goose bumps, and I lunge for the cabin door, bursting inside as though something is chasing me.
Darius lifts his eyebrows in my direction. “Everything all right, Laney? You sound like you’re in a hurry.”
“Sorry. Just got spooked.” I don’t look at either Reed or Cade.
While we were on the porch, Darius and Cade have pulled the two single mattresses into the living area.
“We thought it was better if we all slept in the same space,” Darius says.
Reed nods. “Good thinking. Safer that way.”
“Safer? Do you think we’re in danger in some way?” I ask, alarmed.
He still doesn’t look at me but busies himself by shaking out one of the thin mattresses. “Probably not, but I’d still prefer us to all be in one room.”
I’m not sure how I feel about sleeping in the same room as all of them, but then I also don’t want to be alone. As well as the mattresses, there are also a couple of sagging couches.
“Me and Darius will take the couches,” Cade says. “You two have the mattresses on the floor.”
The floorspace isn’t exactly huge, and the mattresses are side by side.
“I can take one of the couches, if you want the mattress, Dax,” Reed offers.
Darius shakes his head. “Nah, I’m good.”
I ready myself for bed as best I can.
We have toiletries in our bags, and I’m relieved that we also have a toilet, even if it is a compostable one. At least I won’t have to shit in the woods. I risk wasting a little of the bottled water so I can brush my teeth. Maybe it’s silly of me, but I can’t stand the thought of going to bed with dirty teeth.
What if we’re out here for weeks or even months, and we run out of all this stuff? Right now, I have bodywash and toothpaste, and a brand-new razor, but they won’t last. It should probably be the last thing I should be worrying about, considering our situation, but I still don’t want to end up gross.
I don’t bother to change out of my clothes. I’d rather be fully dressed if help arrives.
We have the thin pillows from the plane and the blankets. I lie on my side on one of the mattresses and try not to think about the very real possibility that it’s infested with bugs. I normally can’t sleep in strange places, but I’m so exhausted from the stress of the day that my eyelids seem weighted, dragging downward.
I’m almost asleep—veering on that edge where my reality is half dream, half real—when an arm sneaks around my waist. It pulls me from sleep for only a fraction of a second, but the weight and warmth gives me comfort, and I find myself pushing back on the solidity of the body behind me before I drift off to sleep.
SUNLIGHT HITS THE BACKSof my eyelids and I flicker them open.
I have absolutely no idea where I am.
The first thing I become aware of is that every single inch of my body hurts. The second thing is that something hard is pressing against my ass. There’s also a weight around my waist, and when I glance down, I see a bare mattress and a distinctly male hand.
