Page 43 of Endless Love

“It’s possible. It won’t be pleasant, but we can do it.” I shrug, as if every fiber of my body weren’t clambering to lie down right now. I’d even take the floor happily. The days on the run are catching up with me, and I’m fucking exhausted.

“Why don’t we camp?” Charlotte asks suddenly, the suggestion coming entirely out of the blue. “Somewhere off the beaten path. We’re in Montana, there’s got to be places for that, right?”

The suggestion startles me, and I glance sideways at her. “Not afraid of bears any longer?”

Charlotte grimaces. “They’re hibernating by now, aren’t they? It’s almost Halloween.”

I shrug. “Most of them, probably. But are you actually serious? You want to go camping?”

She drops her gaze to her lap, and I instantly regret making light of it. “I never have,” she says finally. “Another one of those things I always wanted to do, and didn’t. Like—actualcamping. I could have probably talked Jaz, Sarah, and Zoe into glamping, but pitching a tent and gathering firewood and all of that? They’d all have broken out in hives.”

My chest tightens, hearing the way she talks about them. I can hear the sadness in her voice, the yearning knowing that she’ll never see her friends again.And it’s my fault.The thought feels like a cudgel, beating me until I feel a steady ache in my bones.

“One of those bucket list things, I guess,” Charlotte says, shrugging. “And I have no idea what my life looks like after leaving Vegas a new woman, so?—”

She trails off, and I can hear the forced casualness in her voice as she says that, too. She’s afraid of what her life will be afterward, I can tell. And I can hardly blame her.

“Let’s do it,” I tell her, and I see her look sharply over at me, clearly surprised by my acquiescence. “Why not? It’s a little cold,but not too cold yet.”And we can cuddle for warmth.I almost say it, but stop myself at the last moment. I don’t want to ruin the way she’s suddenly starting to smile, a flicker of excitement in her expression.

“Really?” she asks, and I nod.

“We’ll have to stop for some supplies. I don’t think this car came outfitted for camping.” I grin at her, and she raises an eyebrow.

“Are we going to steal those, too?” she asks archly, and I chuckle, shaking my head.

“No, I think those we can just buy.”

We stop at the next decent-sized town we drive through, going to a 24-hour Walmart that should sell tents, a lantern, and anything else we might need. I gather all of it up, along with some food and a bottle of wine that I snuck into the supplies, and we take it back out to the car, loading it into the back before I get it started again.

There’s a definite chill in the air. It’s not exactly ideal camping weather, but I’m not about to discourage Charlotte. I look at the road atlas for the nearest campground, one that doesn’t come with a lodge, amenities, and cameras, but is just an out-of-the-way spot where a traveler can stop. I hope that no one else will be there—if there are other campers, we’re going to have to keep moving. I can’t risk others seeing us, or putting others in danger by being nearby in case we are found. But when I drive down the path leading through the trees to the open space, it’s entirely empty.

Entirely ours, just for tonight.

It’s a beautiful view. The flat, open space is fringed with trees, a lake visible just beyond, shimmering black under the night sky with just a flicker of moonlight glinting across it. Charlotte shivers a little when we step out of the car, and when I look at her, she shakes her head quickly.

“I’m not too cold,” she says, fast enough that her words almost trip over each other. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her eagerness not to leave tells me just how happy she is that we made this decision. And I wouldn’t ruin it for the world.

“We’ll be warmed up once we get everything ready,” I tell her with a grin.

“I don’t actually know how to do any of it.” Her mouth twists as she looks at the bag with the tent and stakes. “I don’t think I’ll be very much help.”

“I don’t mind you watching.” I raise my eyebrow, a clear innuendo in my words, and Charlotte looks away with a blush.

She gets the rest of the supplies out of the car as I start to put the tent up, the two of us working in relative silence at first. There’s the sound of the wind rustling the trees and the lap of the lake further off, and it’s so peaceful that I almost jump when Charlotte speaks a moment later.

“Are you okay?” she asks softly, and I freeze, startled by both the words themselves and the genuine concern that I can hear in her voice.

“I’m fine.” It comes out more curt than I mean for it to, a defense against how badly Iwanther caring. “Why?”

“I just—” She pauses for a second. “I just wanted to know. After?—”

“I’m fine,” I repeat, more gently this time. “I’m not unused to that kind of violence, Charlotte.”

She chews on her lip, setting down the firewood starters that I bought. “Would you really have killed your brothers?” she asks a moment later, looking up at me.

“They would have killed us, if I hadn’t stopped them,” I say quietly. I bring the mallet down, driving a stake in harder than I strictly need to. “But I didn’t kill them.”

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