Page 22 of Shattered Home

“We should probably head back now,” Murphy said after a few more minutes of silence.

His eyes met mine, his grip still on me, and even though I nodded in agreement, neither of us stood up. Our gazes clashed, so many unspoken things between us. And if this was a different world, if we weren’t simply surviving day in and day out, I think I’d speak those things aloud. Maybe even close the distance between us. But that wasn’t the world we lived in.

Finally standing up, I pulled my wrist from Murphy’s grasp, smiling slightly, trying to shake off the deep conversation.

“Come on. Let’s go see what’s for dinner tonight. Maybe fish? Maybe deer?”

Murphy laughed loudly, falling into the easy teasing and lightheartedness that usually blossomed between us. Wrapping an arm around my shoulder once more, he began walking back toward camp, playing along.

“Or maybe hazelnuts! Really, the options are endless.”

Laughing together, we started the hike back, Murphy regaling me with stories of him and Rainer as they grew up together. It wasn’t until we made it back to camp and I was closing my eyes to sleep that I realized we had left the radio behind.

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, over breakfast, I told Murphy that we had left the radio back at the tower. Rainer was sitting beside us, listening to the conversation, but to my surprise, neither of them seemed too concerned.

“Shouldn’t we go get it?” I asked with a frown when neither of them jumped to go back.

“We can get it tomorrow. We have other plans for today,” Rainer said, shoveling a few hazelnuts into his mouth.

“Plans? Are you guys going hunting?” As I asked, I noticed that everyone else seemed to be shoveling their food into their mouths. They were all in a hurry and that wasn’t something that normally happened.

A pang of annoyance at being left out hit my chest, but I tried to ease the discomfort when I saw Murphy’s wide smile. I didn’t think it was anything important they were leaving me out of, but more so a surprise.

Finishing our food, Mina bounded over to me, giddiness in her steps. “This was a great idea, Alessia.”

“What was a great idea? I have no clue what we’re doing.” I laughed, trying to figure it out.

Now that I was looking closely, everyone seemed to be relaxed, smiles dotting their faces.

“Oh,” Mina said, “Murphy said it was your idea. We’re all taking the day off and going swimming in the creek. No hunting, no cooking, no stressing. We’re going to relax.”

My head whipped toward Murphy and he winked with a grin before turning back to Emmanuel, who he was now chatting with. Mina linked her arm through mine, Sasha finishing off our trio, and all of us started the short walk to the creek.

Once we arrived, Emmanuel and Elizabeth told us they were taking the kids a little further up to spend some quality time together. They walked far enough away that they weren’t in eyesight and although I was worried, I knew Emmanuel could take care of them.

Sasha seemed to be the happiest with their departure and let out a sigh of relief. “I didn’t want to tell the kids to leave, but I could seriously do with rinsing off and washing these clothes.”

Without another moment of notice, Sasha ripped her shirt over her head, her shorts quick to follow. Standing there in nothing but her bra and underwear, confidence exuded off of her in waves. With her clothing in her hands, she submerged her body in the water, a sigh of contentment slipping past her lips.

Murphy and Rainer seemed to think her idea was brilliant because before I could blink, both of them stripped down to their briefs and I couldn’t look away. Their suntanned skin glistened under the sun, both of them standing proudly with their expanse of muscles on display.

A quiet laugh came from my left and I turned to see Mina looking at me with a twinkle in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her, I was pretty sure I was drooling. But then I caught her gaze bouncing back to Sasha and I joined in on her laughter.

“Come on, we may as well join them.” Mina began stripping off her clothes and I followed suit.

Realistically, there was no need for decency out here, and it's not like someone hadn’t seen me naked before in the last twenty-eight years, but I still found myself blushing as I waded into the water.

However, any embarrassment staining my cheeks faded when I sunk my body in, letting the water wash over me. Tearing my hair out of the matted ponytail it had been in for months, I dipped my head beneath the water, massaging my scalp.

Breaking the surface, a large grin split my cheeks, happiness exuding off of me. Who knew all it would take was a quick swim?

The five of us gathered in the middle of the creek, keeping our bodies submerged in the cool water. Grabbing our clothes, we tried scrubbing off as much dirt as possible before Mina laid out all our clothes on some rocks to dry.

Knowing I had no intention of getting back into those clothes until they were dry, I tilted my head back, closing my eyes and basking in the sun. The rushing water flowed around us, the only noise as we all sat in silence.

Eventually, one of the guys grew bored and I peeked my eyes open when I heard Murphy splutter around a mouthful of water.

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