Page 32 of The Edge of Never

Instead of replying to him, I hurriedly dragged my clothes on, still feeling awkward as fuck about everything that had happened between us. After I finished tying my boots, I unzipped the inner tent and started to get out, when Thane’s voice brought me up short.

“Make sure ye’re far enough away from the tent and the stream.”

“Okay,” I said through gritted teeth.

Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Thane. I’m not going to pee right outside.

When I got outside the tent, the snow had piled up overnight, almost half burying our little camp. I would have to do something about that, but first, toileting and possibly eating because I was fucking starving. No doubt Thane would have something to say about rationing our supplies. I agreed with him on that, since I had no idea how long we would be out here. With his ankle and his clothes all wet, we wouldn’t be able to leave immediately. And without the ability to contact the outside world, I didn’t know if rescue would happen either. Surely, Callan would have realised we hadn’t come back by now.

I didn’t dwell on that as I stomped my way through the snow away from camp and the stream. My focus should be on getting us set up for a few days, so we could be as comfortable as possible in our predicament. Although, how I could ever be comfortable sharing a sleeping bag with that blasted man was a mystery to me. It would be too cold to do anything else, but I disliked it all the same. Being so close to someone you found hot as hell, even if you didn’t much like their personality, with only a small layer of clothing between you, was unfair. Just plain fucking unfair.

When I found a suitable spot, I kicked at the snow to make a hole, then I did my business while freezing my arse off. Once I finished and filled the hole, I looked around properly. Last night it had been dark, but in the dim morning light, I could see everything around us since the snow had stopped. There were dark clouds overhead, obscuring the sun, so the landscape looked rather sinister, but it was beautiful in its own way. There were snow-covered pine trees above me as we had set up camp next to a wooded area.

A hunger pang ripped through me. It was time to get back to the tent and find out what Thane’s plans for feeding us were. He was the prepared one in this situation. All I had left was snack food. I had brought more than I needed, but I wanted to make sure I kept my energy levels up. Too fucking bad I forgot to do that yesterday when I was exhausted from walking in dire weather conditions. It didn’t matter. It would help us survive. At least we were near a stream. The running water would be safe to drink.

I trudged back, hoping the awkwardness between us would be dispelled by now. That was most definitely wishful thinking. I unlaced my boots and set them down in the porch area, along with my jacket and waterproof trousers, before going into the main area. I paused at the entrance as there were piles of things everywhere.

“Um, what are you doing?”

Thane had his injured ankle propped up on the built-in pillow of the inflatable sleeping mat. He had things in his hands, but he stopped to look up at me.

“Taking stock of oor supplies.”

Turning, I zipped up the inner tent. Then I had to step over his wet clothes I’d left out to dry and nudge a pile out of the way to take a seat next to him.

“What’s the verdict?”

He placed a couple of things down and set his hands on the mat next to him. One of them was nudging my thigh. I didn’t move, wondering if he noticed and trying not to think about the warmth radiating off him. After being in the cold, I could have wrapped myself around his solid body and taken all of it.

“Depends on what ye have.”

I realised he hadn’t dug through my pack, just his own. Mine was sitting at the end of the sleeping mat closest to me.

“Nothing substantial.”

“Show me.”

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I dragged my pack closer and dug everything out. I made a pile of crisp packets, a couple of chocolate bars, and a few more flapjacks.

Thane’s eyebrow curled up.

“In my defence, I ate the lunch I brought with me yesterday. It’s not like I expected to get stuck on a mountain.”

He grunted. That was all the response I got. And maybe that was for the best. His judgemental attitude often rubbed me up the wrong way. We didn’t need to get into a verbal sparring match today. I would rather call a truce so we could get through this together.

“Three, mibbe four days of food accounting for the both of us,” he finally said after a few long minutes of silence.

“Is that if we’re careful?”

“Aye… unless ye wannae spend all day thinking aboot how hungry ye are on top of being cold.”

“No. Not really.”

He shrugged.

“Three days it is, counting today.”

I let out a breath. That wasn’t much. I didn’t know how long Thane would need to rest his ankle or how long his clothes would take to dry. I didn’t like the look of those clouds, so putting them outside wasn’t an option. At least, not today.

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