Page 41 of Reviving Kendall

My voice comes out in barely a whisper as I try to fight back the tightness in my chest, “I can’t.”

Goose’s voice rings out from right outside my door, “Hey, you guys in here?”

I step away from Lucas just as Goose opens the door. He meets us out on the balcony and throws his arm around my shoulder opposite Lucas, “So what do you think of the view, babe? Best room in the house or what?”

When I glance up at Lucas he winks at me. Whatever. I don’t know what they’re up to, but I’ll play along for now, “It’s fucking perfect. Think Teagan’s going to be pissed?”

“I would be if it was anyone but you,” Teagan says from behind us. I look over my shoulder just in time to see him looking away from Goose’s arm around me.

I step out of reach of any of them and lean my back against the rail, “Well, I feel special right now, so seriously. Thank you.”

He smiles, and Goose reaches out to me, “Can I see the camera just a second?”

My eyebrow lifts in question, but I hand it over.

“Say cheese,” he tells me.

I cross my eyes and stick out my tongue just as I hear the small clicking noise. The three of them look at the picture and crack up. It’s contagious and I can’t help the laugh that comes out of my mouth. Then the camera goes off again. Oh, sneaky bastard. He might have actually got that one.

“Ok, give it back,” I demand.

“Only if you promise not to delete those,” he says holding the camera up where I can’t snatch it from him.

I sigh, “I don’t even know how to delete them.” There’s no way I’m playing with that button either. I don’t want to risk losing the ones I’ve already taken.

“Give it back to her,” Mav says walking into the room. “I want to get into town and make it back as soon as we can. It’s supposed to start snowing again soon and I don’t want to get stuck in town.”

The others may have missed the hard look that he throws me, but I feel it like a dagger straight through the heart.

Silence Of The Night

The quaint little town that we go to for food is just that. Quaint and little. There can’t be but a few shops that look like they’ve survived the last century at the base of the mountain. The grocery store is the most up to date out of all of them. It’s very modern, and has everything that we’d have back home.

We make a quick run through as the guys grab everything that they think we’ll need. You’d think that we were staying the month with how much food they load up in the buggy. When I comment on it, they remind me that they are still growing. Which of course, makes me laugh, because if some of them get any bigger they’d be the size of a fucking house.

By the time that we leave, the snow has started to fall. It comes down in tiny flakes at first and within a matter of minutes, they turn into fat blobs that don’t disappear when they land on you. Maverick rushes us back into the car, and this time, I’m grateful for the space heaters in the back. It feels like the temperature has dropped at least fifteen degrees. There are crazy amounts of salt on the road, but the snow is just coming down too fast. Even with Mav driving super slow, we still slide around a bit.

My anxiety spikes and I have trouble breathing at one point, but Lucas and Teagan grab my hands to keep me grounded. Once we make it back to the cabin, I could literally puke in relief.

“I thought you said you checked the weather,” Teagan accuses Goose.

Goose automatically jumps on the defensive, “Hey, I did check it. This is some of that crazy mountain weather. They aren’t always right about that shit, you know.”

We all grab some bags and haul ass inside. It’s even colder up here. Ryleigh comes out to eat dinner with us then goes back to nursing Eddie with an apology.

“So, what’s there to do if we get snowed in?” I ask them as we settle in the living room. Mav and Goose sit on the couch with Teagan in a chair to my left and Lucas on the floor with me to my right. The fireplace blazes behind me and it feels fucking amazing.

Goose winks at me, and I feel my face go red.

Mav watching us says, “There’s a fuck ton of board games in the closet.”

“I call Monopoly,” Lucas calls out to Mav as he moves to the closet.

“No way man. You got to choose last time,” Teagan complains. “Get the cards out and let’s play some poker or rummy.”

“Strip poker?” Goose suggests with a grin at me.

Mav and Teagan are raiding the closet and aren’t close enough to hear, but Lucas is. “I second that.”

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