Page 36 of F*cking Shattered

I feel myself blush. “Did he hit hard?” I ask, keeping the ice on his jaw, the simple touch making my stomach tighten with the fire burning inside of me.

“The guy was easily two-hundred and fifty pounds. Yeah, he hit pretty hard!”

I look down and see that his black and blue flannel shirt had all the buttons ripped off the front from the fight. “Awe, your shirt is ruined too. I love this shirt on you.” The various shades of blue and teal contrasting with the black, makes his eyes pop. I run my hand down his chest where the row of buttons should be.

When I look back up, his eyes are clouded over as his lips find mine. I’m totally lost in our kiss when he pulls away. “So, be honest, who’s a better kisser, me or that biker?”

I smack his shoulder, my hand slipping to hit his bruised jaw.

“Ow!” he calls out while I apologize around my giggles.

“Yeah, you seem real sorry.” He stands, holding me in his arms, against his chest as he spins us around. He lays me on the bed and starts crawling up my body. “Since I’ve met you, I’ve been bitten in the ass by a duck, and got into a bar fight.”

I run my hands under his shirt, my fingers gliding across his washboard abs. “I think you need to toughen up if you’re going to be hanging out with me.”

He pauses on top of me like he’s surprised by what I said. “Oh yeah? You’re just another rebel without a cause, huh?” He lifts himself up to his knees, pulling off his shirt.

I bite my bottom lip and nod, trying to hide my smile.

* * *

It takes a few more days, but we’re finally half way to Miami. I haven’t tried to cross anything else off the list, not after all the trouble it got us into the last time. We drive all day, stopping only for gas and bathroom breaks. Then when the sun begins to set, we find a small town to crash for the night.

We just made it to Kennard, Texas and, instead of staying in another boring hotel, we stop at an outdoor store to grab some camping supplies.

I’m a city girl and have never camped in my life, but River says it’s something I need to do, even if it’s not on the list.

We pay for one night in the Davy Crockett National Forest and set up camp.

River gets to work starting a fire while I read the directions to put up the tent.

“Think you can manage?” he asks over his shoulder.

“Think you can manage to not burn down the whole forest?” I shoot back.

He flips me off before turning to his work.

I giggle as I start pulling pieces out of the bag. I follow along with the directions, laying the tent out flat, and then move on to piecing together the poles. I lay the poles across the top of the tent like the picture shows and step back, looking at it.

There are three poles lying on top of the tent. Two make a big X and the other lies across the X horizontally. It’s just like the picture.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, dropping his pile of wood in the fire pit.

I spin around to face him. “How does it pop up?”

He cocks his head to the side and draws his brows together. “How does what pop up?”

I pick up the bag the tent was in and show it to him. “It says pop up tent. I laid everything out just like the picture shows, but how do you get it to pop up?”

His eyes flash from me, to the picture of the tent on the bag, and then to the tent lying flat on the ground. “Wait. You expect the tent to just pop up? Like, on its own?”

“Well yeah! Why else would it be called a pop up tent?”

His laughter cuts through me. I smile, not sure what’s so funny. When he begins to calm down, he looks at me and it just starts all over again.

It’s starting to get annoying. “Why are you laughing?”

“You...” More laughing. “…think… the tent…” He stops talking while more laughter escapes him. “…is going to just pop up?” When he says the word ‘pop’ his hand goes from a fist to all his fingers outstretched like an explosion.

---