Page 19 of My Secret Santa Mason

Once the animals were field dressed, we loaded them onto a sled we’d brought with us, securing the carcasses before heading back to my cabin. The weight of the kills dragged through the snow behind us, but neither of us said a word. The woods around us remained still, but there was something about the silence today that made my skin crawl.

Back at my cabin, the fire crackled in the hearth, sending waves of heat through the room as we worked on the carcasses. Tanner and I had done this countless times before—skinning, cutting, separating the meat. It was a job that required focus, but today, my mind was somewhere else. Every time I tried to pushit aside, the thought of Cami crept back in, like an itch I couldn’t scratch.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tanner asked, breaking the silence as he carved a chunk of venison from the buck. He didn’t even glance up, just kept working, but I knew he was watching me closely. Tanner was like that—he missed nothing.

I grunted, focusing on the deer hide as I stretched it out to tan later. “Not much to say.”

“Bullshit,” Tanner muttered, and he glanced up at me. “You’ve been quieter than usual, which is saying something. Come on, what’s got you all tied up in knots?”

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I kept working, cutting through sinew and bone with practiced precision. But Tanner wasn’t going to let it go. He never did. I knew I would have to saysomething. I might as well tell him what was going on. I could trust Tanner, and I guess I had to talk about it at some point, or this shit was going to eat me up from the inside.

I let out a sigh, my shoulders tensing. “It’s Cami.”

Tanner paused, glancing up at me with raised eyebrows. “Cami? What about her?”

I set the knife down, wiping the blood from my hands before running a hand through my hair. “I nearly slept with her.”

There it was. The truth hung in the air between us, heavy and uncomfortable. Tanner didn’t say anything at first, but I could see the surprise in his eyes. He let out a low whistle, shaking his head.

“Well… fuck.”

I snorted. “Yeah, almost.”

We both chuckled at my stupid remark, but the mood shifted back to serious quickly.

“I didn’t think you were interested in anyone. I thought you like to keep your distance.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I usually like to play the game. Getting attached is getting hurt.”

“And Cami?”

“She’s just… different.” I suddenly regretted saying anything. Putting my feelings into words made them more real, and that scared the shit out of me. Yeah, I could take down whole teams of dangerous people with guns and bombs, but I couldn’t deal with a fucking woman.

“Different how?” Tanner pressed, his tone light but curious. “Sounds to me like you’ve got it bad.”

I shot him a look, but he wasn’t wrong. I groaned. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You can joke about falling and all that shit but that’s not what’s bugging me. At least… it’s notallthat’s bugging me.”

Tanner frowned. “Then what is?”

I shook my head. “Something feels off. She’s got these people coming into town, strangers I don’t recognize. Rae says it’s because of all the events Cami’s organizing, but it doesn’t sit right with me. Something’s not as it should be and I don’t like it.”

Tanner leaned back, setting down his knife. “You think they’re up to something?”

“I don’t know. But ever since she showed up, things have been changing, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

I stood up and balled my hands into fists, cracking my neck, popping my back. “Everyone’s acting like it’s fine, like because it’s Christmas we can just let our guard down. But I’ve seen what happens when you stop paying attention. Bad things happen.”

Tanner studied me without saying anything for too long.

“Do you want to weigh in, or are you just here for the talk show?” My voice was snappier than I meant for it to be, but Tanner didn’t react.

“You’re still looking over your shoulder, Mason,” he finally said. “I get it. Hell, it took me a long time to stop doing the samething. It nearly fucked up everything with Rae. But you can’t live your life always expecting the worst.”

“You can if the worst might still be on your tail,” I shot back. “In the end, there were all kinds of bad shit that followed you and Rae, remember?”

Tanner nodded slowly, and I knew he was thinking back to the time Rae had been kidnapped and we’d worked together to get her back. He could say that looking over his shoulder was a bad thing all he wanted, but the proof was in the fucking mercenaries showing up.

And I was pretty sure the guys showing up here were up to no good.

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