Page 39 of Revelry
I threw my hands up in surrender. “I promise.”
He smirked, just slightly, and handed the bag over, tucking his hands in his front pockets.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I asked, peering into the bag at my project before setting it just inside the cabin and locking the door behind me.
“I can’t,” he said, lips pressed together. He was tense, the muscles on his forearms tight as he glanced around at pretty much everything but me.
I opened my mouth to ask why but was cut off by the sound of a truck flying into my drive, tires sliding against the gravel.
Tucker was in the driver’s seat with Davie in the passenger. Sarah and Yvette sat in the back, laughing with their hands up as the truck skidded to a stop. They were both sprawled out on a pile of tubes, wearing bathing suit tops and tiny shorts.
All of their faces froze when they saw Anderson.
“Hey, you ready, Wren?” Tucker asked warily, his eyes moving from where Anderson stood in front of me, to me, and back again.
“Yeah, one sec!” I called back.
I turned to Anderson, but his eyes were hard on Tucker, jaw ticking under his skin. When he faced me once more, an anchor fell from my throat into the pit of my stomach, immobilizing me completely. Because even though I ‘d tried to convince myself I was wrong, I recognized the look in his eyes.
Possession.
And when his nose flared and he took one big step toward me, our chests brushing, his hand reaching out to rest almost imperceptibly on my hip, the anchor in my stomach exploded into flames, burning a desire so fierce I inhaled a toxic breath and didn’t let it go.
“Be careful, okay?” His eyes locked on mine just before he leaned in and swiftly kissed my cheek.
He turned on his heel and jogged down the stairs and past the truck. Sarah called his name, but he didn’t acknowledge her, just kept his gaze forward until he’d disappeared from view.
And then everyone looked at me.
My legs were lead, but I managed to drag them down the steps and into the back of the truck with the girls. The skin on my cheek still tingled as Yvette slid up next to me.
“What was that about?” she whispered as Tucker threw the truck in reverse.
Inside I quivered, but outside I forced a smile and shrugged it off. “He was just dropping off some clothes I’m going to take a look at to repay him for helping around the cabin. No big deal.”
“Ah,” she said, as if she understood, but her puzzled expression told me she had a thousand more questions where the one she’d voiced had come from.
Sarah watched me, too, arms crossed and scowl firmly in place. She eyed the body chain I wore with a quirked brow and I blushed, realizing it might not have been the smartest choice for tubing down the river.
I shifted on the tubes, clearing my throat and unclasping the chain as Tucker finally backed the truck up onto the road. Momma Von pulled in behind us with a few others and everyone started hollering out directions and playful banter.
As the laughter replaced the awkward silence, I relaxed a bit. Excitement started to buzz, and it seemed my exchange with Anderson was forgotten.
At least for the moment.
It didn’t take me long to decide that it didn’t matter if it was thirty or one-hundred degrees outside, the river was too fucking cold.
Period.
Even with the cloudless sky and the sun burning hot, goosebumps had permanently risen on my thighs and arms, and my teeth chattered as we floated along. Tucker had tied our tubes together before we’d gotten in and was helping me navigate, careful to avoid rocks, which I was pretty sure I’d have hit if I were on my own.
The water was freezing and the rocks bumped our butts from time to time, but I was having a blast. Momma Von had packed a cooler full of beer, and it floated down behind us, the water keeping the cans cool as we polished them off one by one.
The views almost made up for the icy water, too. We floated down the clear river between cabins set in the mountains, trees green and tall all around us, the smell of pine thick and fresh. In the distance, the mountains that would be powdered with snow in the winter were bright and green, too. I inhaled a long, slow breath, breathing in what I imagined a new beginning would smell like if it had a scent. It reminded me of the first day on the back porch with Abdiel, that feeling I’d had—like I belonged here.
“I can’t believe I’m floating down the river with Wren Ballard,” Julie said, giggling a little as she let her head rest back against her tube.
Her big, unruly blonde curls were piled in a wiry bun on top of her head and her sunglasses covered half her face. She was one of only two out of the crew without a beer in her hand, the other one being her boyfriend Zeek, who was floating a few tubes behind us.
