Page 28 of Knot That Delicate

I nodded. “That sounds perfect. Walking is easy. I can walk.”

He chuckled, an ominous sound that made me wonder if I was going to regret what I was about to do.

Oh my God, I regret everything.

How could my body be so sore? I hadn’t felt this sore when I had escaped a psychopath and clambered through the woods for two days in the freezing cold on my own. So, why were my muscles screaming at me now?

The morning after Dylan walked me through my first workout, my entire body felt like it was on fire. My arms wereuseless; they hung limply by my sides, protesting any sort of movement. My legs ached from the minimal walking.

As we sat at the breakfast bar, Dylan stirred up a protein shake for me, grinning as I groaned.

“Why do you do this to yourself, you sadist? There’s gotta be something wrong with you. Anyone who enjoys going to the gym has somethingwrongwith them,” I grumbled.

“It’ll get easier,” Dylan assured me, handing me the protein shake.

“Just think,” Carter called from the living room, craning his head to grin at me. “When you get stronger, you can punch Dylan when he’s annoying you. Just don’t do that now—you’ll break your hand,” he said with a serious face.

I looked between him and Dylan. “Huh, thatisa better fit,” I said.

Dylan chuckled. “So, that’s the mission, is it? Get strong enough to punch me and actually make it hurt?”

I nodded. “That sounds like a good benchmark, I think.”

“You know what? I actually agree with you there,” he said. “It’ll be good to get some of your strength up. Now, finish your protein shake. You need to do your morning walk.”

I groaned. “I’m going to regret asking you to help me with this, aren’t I?”

He beamed. “You’re not regretting it already?”

Considering we were four people stuck in a cabin, it was shockingly hard to find the guys sometimes; they were all off doing their own things. The rain had finally let up somewhat, so I wandered out to the deck. None of the guys were anywhere in sight, but I wanted to get some fresh air.

I was less than three steps away from the front door, wearing one of the guys’ long-sleeved T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants, as well as a pair of fuzzy socks I’d pilfered from one of them. In my warm clothes, I sat on the deck chair outside, legs crossed, taking several slow, deep breaths, relishing in the cooler air. It wasn’t the cold temperature I was enjoying but rather the freshness of the air. The air in the basement had been stale andmusty. Though there’d been air circulation, it wasn’t that good; it was all by a machine. Nothing could beat true, fresh air.

“Juniper!” a voice called from the woods.

My eyes flew open, and I sat up straight, looking directly at where the voice came from. A momentary panic gripped my chest. I’d expected someone to call my name frominsidethe cabin, not outside. The panic was quick and all-encompassing. My entire body broke out in a sweat, my heart rate skyrocketed, and the panic only lessened when I saw Carter standing in front of me, carrying several logs in his hand.

“Oh my God, Carter,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. Are you okay?” he asked, walking up the steps and wandering over to me, taking a second to place the logs in a basket by the front door. “Your fear isreallystinking up the place,” he added with a smirk, scrunching his nose.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I should’ve kept my eyes open. I was just enjoying the fresh air.” Taking another moment to steady my breathing, I looked around before turning to Carter as he sat down on the lounge chair next to mine. “There definitely is a beauty to this place, isn’t there?”

“There is. Deciding to move here was the best decision we ever made, even though we only get two-to-four months here a year. It is well worth it. Everything is just so calm.”

I looked out towards the trees. “It certainly gives you a lot of time alone with your own thoughts, doesn’t it?”

“That’s true,” he said, nodding. “You know, if I hated myself, I’d truly despise being out here.”

“It also shows just how good a pack you guys are,” I said. “The fact that you can come out here with no contact with the outside world and not want to strangle each other. I feel like if my family went to a cabin like this for four months, there would definitely be blood drawn.”

Carter nodded with a grin. “Oh, for sure. If our siblings were here, we would be fighting each other tooth and nail. No one bickers as much as siblings. Tell me about them, your siblings,” Carter said. “But, first, give me your feet."

I gave him a perplexed look. "My feet? That’s a bit of a weird request, Carter."

He laughed, shaking his head. “I want to check the cuts on your feet. Why else would I be asking for them?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is the weird ones like feet.”

---