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“He’s fifty-eight, but who’s counting.” Reagan shrugged it off. Apparently you are, roomie. I was kind of weirded out that she thought Warren’s dad was hot because she was dating Jase, but I let it go to finish getting ready, pulling my hair up into a high ponytail.
“Neat.” Mumbling, I guessed if there were haunted stories about the cliffs it was okay. We would be with the guys and nothing bad would happen. Though, I wasn’t the type to enjoy a scary movie and I refused to watch The Walking Dead television show because I wouldn’t sleep at night if I did.
“Oh, come on…do you really think Warren would take you somewhere unsafe?” Reagan was folding up some of her clothes to put away, letting my thoughts run rampant. I decided the answer was no, but I had a lingering feeling of dread about the night.
“He said he would make sure there was a group with us tonight.” I adjusted the scarf a third time in the mirror, reviewing my appearance. My eyes looked soft with my minimal makeup and lips pouty from my nude lipstick.
Reagan laughed to some private little joke, speaking again. “My dear, that’s because he doesn’t want to pounce on you in public. More people around, the less likely he’ll give in to his baser instincts.” Before I could demand she tell me more, I had a second before the door to our room was knocked on, flinging open to reveal Jase and Warren standing outside, pushing each other back and forth.
“Boys.” Reagan stood between us, her arms crossed and clucking.
“Hi, Reagan.” Jase puffed up his chest, stretching his arms out in the hallway to covertly smack Warren on the back of his head. What has gotten into them?
A dirty look passed between them and Warren stepped inside the dorm room, sucking up all the available space with his body. He picked up Reagan, moving her with a squeak, and placed her down behind him easily.
He stalked his way over to me and my heart did a crazy pitter-patter when he got close. “Hey.”
“Hey, stranger.” I didn’t know what else to say. The energy in the room between us was like arcing bolts of electricity, fueling the other and bouncing back and forth in a brilliant light.
Leaning down to me, his lips caressed my ear, speaking in a whisper only loud enough for me. “I saw you a few hours ago, hardly a stranger then.” I ducked my head shyly as he spoke. He took my clutched hands in his and pulled me into his embrace for a distance crushing hug. Quickly kissing my forehead, he pulled my hand along to leave the room.
Reagan looked bug-eyed by Warren’s open attention to me and stepped aside for us to walk by. Jase made some pained sound and I half turned, bumping into Warren, who took my hips and turned me back around to keep walking. I swore I heard him mutter something about Jase shutting up, but it happened too fast for me to catch it. The four of us bounded down the staircase inside Lupin Hall to the parking lot, the elevator still out of service, and old-fashioned looking sconces lit the hallway as we exited the building. I looked up at the mural for a second and swore the animals painted there had moved. I knew that was impossible, because there was no such thing as magic.
* * * * *
Driving up to the cliff on the border of Woodland Creek took less time than I assumed it would. Stepping out of the truck, I was stunned by the beauty of the nearly two hundred feet tall cliff facing us. Reagan busied herself gathering the s’more, making supplies of chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, and Warren’s secret ingredient of caramel sauce. Alone, I walked toward the rocks.
“Wow.” My breath fogged in the cool air and I felt Warren standing behind me, beginning to rub his hands down my chilled arms.
Close to my ear, he whispered, “It’s pretty nice, but not as pretty as looking at you.” He squeezed me and let me go to grab the firewood he and Jase brought in the back of the truck. I walked over to the rock face and imagined what it must be like to scale the cliff. There were randomly peppered holes and links in the rock, indicating that someone must come here and belay the surface.
“Is it safe to climb the cliff face?” Turning, I asked my friends. They all shrugged and I joined them on an overturned log while the fire got going.
“I’ve been out here once on an EMS call last year. A climber fell when his peg popped right out of the fool’s gold and he fell fifteen feet, breaking his leg with a compound fracture.”
“Dude, I remember that call.” Jase nodded, adding to the story, telling me that the guy was trying to impress his group of friends. He fell, getting too cocky, hooking in his safety harness and then his footing slipped, taking him down. He was lucky to have gotten a broken leg and nothing else.
The impressive rocks twinkled innocently in the moonlight and the fire crackled, popping with blue and orange flames against the dark sky blanketing us. Feeling lulled by the warmth of the fire and new friends, I leaned into Warren as he put an arm around me, wrapping a blanket from his truck over our legs. I felt safe and cared for, thankful to have found my courage to leave Ann Arbor and everything familiar. Warren made me want to take a chance on relationships again after Dillon’s rough treatment of my feelings.
A voice penetrated our peaceful gathering. “Didn’t realize you’d bring out little red riding hood to play.” Squinting into the dark, I saw something gracefully inching its way down the rock face from above us. Warren tensed next to me like a fully extended rubber band ready to fly.
“Ugh, so much for making the s’mores.” With exasperation, Reagan tossed a stick into the fire and stood up, blocking the body of the voice from my immediate view.
“Shit.” Jase stood up, dumping his beer into the fire, pitching us into darkness with only the super moon to illuminate the shadows.
“Who is that?” I tried to see around them, but couldn’t
as Reagan was squeezed against me by Jase. I was sandwiched between the guys and my heart sank in my stomach.
“That’s Creighton,” she said, leaning into me. I couldn’t see him except that he seemed misshapen standing in the shadows.
“Reagan, take Kerri to the truck. Now.” Warren’s tone brooked no argument, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Warren, what’s going on?” I hesitated and he directed me to go with Reagan, pulling on my arm.
“Not so fast, I’d like to meet our new friend as well.” Another voice hissed before I could see the body elongate upright, then shorten into the form of a leanly muscular guy. His skin looked strangely peppered with scales, hair long in what light I could see.
“Well, it’s a regular West Side Story tonight now, isn’t it, folks?” Sarcasm dripped from Reagan’s lips as she tried tugging me away. “Kerri, honey, let’s go.” Resisting, I didn’t follow her.
