Page 62 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

22

Haley

What kind of idiot was I to suggest sharing a tent with Caleb?

The world’s biggest.

I blame it on postorgasmic confidence. I was riding the waves of serotonin, and I wasn’t thinking clearly.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that until after I’d already convinced my parents to let me go on the trip in the first place.

I lie to them, of course. My parents have no idea that my relationship with Estefania is in the toilet, so I tell them it is going to be a girls’ night at her house.

In middle school, my mom would call Estefania’s mom to check on my plans and make sure everything was arranged. But now that I’m eighteen, she trusts me.

Her trust makes me feel like shit since I’m lying, but it’s convenient, and I mentally pat myself on the back as I load my stuff into my car and drive away.

By the time I loop back around a few minutes later and pull into Finn’s open garage where Caleb is waiting for me, I feel nauseous.

Twenty-four entire hours with Caleb.

Before this, we’ve spent no more than an hour, maybe an hour and a half, together, and even that has had a spotty success rate.

We’ll kill each other.

Or … not. There is a very different option on the table, as well, that I do my best not to think about as Caleb transfers my duffel bag from my car to his truck.

He’s wearing a white short-sleeved Henley shirt, khaki shorts that cut off a few inches above his knees, and tall socks with hiking boots, and he looks like he just jumped out of the pages of an outdoor lifestyle magazine.

I’ve never had a thing for the Boy Scout type, but the look is lighting my fire for sure.

“You look like you’re about to be sick.”

I blink and realize Caleb is looking at me. The tent, a cooler, and two sleeping bags are now in the back of the truck, and his hands are resting on his tapered hips.

“What?”

He circles a hand around his face, brows lowered in concern. “You’re paler than normal. I don’t want you to barf in my truck.”

The spell lifts suddenly, and I roll my eyes and brush past him to get to the passenger side door. “Then you better stop talking. The sound of your voice is making me queasy.”

Nothing could be further from the truth, but I need some quiet to get my thoughts in order.

Luckily, Caleb actually listens. Aside from telling me where we’re going, we don’t talk. The cab is filled with his warm scent and the sound of the local classic rock station.

“If you need to call or text anyone, I’d recommend you do it now.”

We are just north of town, farmhouses scattered along the stretch of country road, and his voice sounds loud after such a long stretch of silence.

“The service out here isn’t great.”

I angle out of my seat so I can grab my phone from my back pocket. “That sounds like the beginning of a bad horror movie. You do realize we are going to be murdered in our sleep now, right?”

I glance over just in time to catch Caleb’s mouth tilt into a smirk. “Don’t worry, Haley. No one will touch you but me.”

He is being facetious, but my body still warms at the thought.

It goes immediately cold, however, when I check my phone and realize I have a missed text. From Estefania.

---