Page 15 of Love Hazard

Yeah, I was in deep shit.

And now, I was going camping with the enemy.

“Inside, Bigfoot. NOW!” Dad roared.

He didn’t have to ask me twice.

Chapter Seven

“Road trips are for the strong. Coffee is for theweak.”—Hazel Titus

August

“I’m driving,” I announced. “No way in hell do I trust youto operate a motor vehicle after sneaking into my house at six a.m. with aBigfoot costume on, then mauling me with your face.”

Scared the shit out of me. I wouldtake it to my grave. The plastic claws would haunt me for an eternity. How didit look so real? Maybe I was just hallucinating, but it wasn’t a cool prank. Imean, I was in until that moment, then I was just straight up like…nope,tapping out, not fun. Yet she kept it going.

Honestly, how did we even get into this situation? As adultsand college graduates—at least, in her case—where and how the hell did oursummer turn into a prank war? Normally, I’d say it was stupidity or boredom,but I wasn’t even sure anymore. All I knew was that our parents were pissed, and we had to bury whatever hatchet we had betweenus and make it work.

On top of that, part of me wondered if Dad just wanted sometime with Mom without me. If so, I couldn’t be mad about that. I would do thesame, so it wasn’t hard to convince me to leave with Satan.

I’d do anything for my parents.

The doctor had said Mom had maybe a few months left. Nowthat Dad was back, it was time—giving time and spending it until the end.

My chest ached. I wouldn’t be selfish. I’d had time withher, and I knew no miracle would come from Heaven. As did she. I just wantedher every moment to be special—not for me, but for her. She deserved it.

I took a deep breath then jerked my head to the right. “Saywhat?”

“You mauled me with your mouth.” Hazel crossed her arms andunexpectedly pointed out the kiss that I did not daydream about several timeswhile packing up the Jeep. “And participated.”

“Yes. I made out with Bigfoot. I’ll be sure to put that onmy tombstone after you kill me,” I ground out. “It will be right up there withgetting a root canal and walking barefoot in the snow while being chased by abear.”

“I might,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Kill you.” Damn, harsh. I almostlaughed.

“Cool, sounds good. I mean, at this rate, we both might dieon this camping trip. Do you even know what a tent is?” She didn’t. I would dieon that hill. She probably thought it was this thin little thing you poked intothe ground that protected you at all costs, not realizing you needed food,water, blankets, and any other survival gear she probably couldn’t even spellbecause, again, silver-spoon-fed princess. I liked her, she was pretty, she’dbeen nice for a while, and I’d felt bad for her. But now? Now, she just seemedstuck up and oblivious to how the world worked around her.

She swallowed like she was suddenly nervous and adjusted herblond ponytail before tapping her right pointer finger against her lips. Ihated that I fixated on those lips. I blamed it on the fact that mine had beenon hers during some weird shift in the universe. It didn’t matter. All we hadto do was survive this. “A tent provides protection from the elements.”

“Protection, my ass. Even a condom isn’t one hundredpercent,” I muttered and started the engine to my black Jeep. “Let’s just makethe parents happy so they don’t murder us and then pretend everything is fineand that you don’t hate me so we can go back home, and I can take care of—“

I stopped talking.

Because my only purpose was my mom.

Hazel’s only purpose was to succeed at all costs and becomesomething—something I would never be. Because when someone in your life wassick—your family, someone you loved—you only saw a haze. You didn’t seeyourself. It was just this glimpse of fog that you hoped you would make itthrough but knew you probably wouldn’t. And then you got terrified that when orif you did, you’d have nothing left but emptiness. No purpose.

"Just go,” Dad had said. “I need to take care ofMom… I want—” He hesitated. I hated when he did that,like he was weighing his next words and trying to protect me fromsomething—just like that stupid tent. “I want time and selfishly get all ofthat if you go end this little war-bet thing with the girl you refuse to admityou like.”

“I don’t like her,” I said, way too hard and fast.Anyone could see through it. I’d loved our kiss. Shewas pretty—violent, yes, but just something I wanted for myself aftersacrificing everything for others. Someone to make me feel alive because I’dbeen watching what I loved die for years, seeing it slowly fading in front ofme, only to one day disappear.

Dad smirked. “Yeah, okay. So whoever gets back and givesup this little prank war this summer and concedes wins. I don’t care if it’syou or her. What I care about is…” He looked back at my mom sleeping on thecouch. “I care about her, and I know I’ve been gone a lot, but I really want tospend some time with her without you. I don’t mean that in a hurtful way, it’sjust…life is sometimes spent so often with family and kids, and everyone wantsto be together, but there comes a point in time where you want to go back tothe past. Where it was just you and the person you fell for. Where you can lieto yourself and say everything’s going to be the same if you just have thatother person by your side. I know she’s sick. I know we don’t have a lot oftime. But with the time we have left, it would be”—tears streamed down hischeeks—“a gift, I think, to just be with her in lovewhile you go battle in war. Is that okay?”

The fact that he'd even asked me for permission wasenough.

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