Page 22 of Bailey

“Then run,” he responded in a low voice. “If you can return to the trucks without me catching you, then you win.” Excitement zipped through me, and I took off blindly while he started counting. “Ten.”

I stopped at the end of the hallway the bathrooms were in and flicked my flashlight on to get my bearings quickly before turning it off again.

“Nine.”

I slipped off my sneakers and went to my right.

“Eight.”

I hadn’t been to this part of the store, but I knew the guys had because this was the lumber department. I was hoping Boone would assume I would go left to the area of the store I was familiar with.

“Seven.”

I knew this was a straightaway to the end of the store, but in the dark, I couldn’t tell how far I had gone. What I did know was that I needed to be as close to the trucks as possible before he was done counting, which meant heading toward the slightly lighter darkness.

“Six.”

I slowed down and gingerly began to feel for the opening of an aisle, praying that I didn’t knock anything to the floor.

“Five.”

I couldn’t risk turning on the flashlight because he could be watching for precisely that. I also didn’t want to run into something and hurt myself.

“Four.”

I started taking small steps with my arms in front of me. My hand brushed cold metal, and I followed it slowly.

“Three.”

Confident I had found an aisle, I began to move a little faster, with one hand held out in front of me and the other sliding along the metal.

“Two.”

I wanted to celebrate when I ran out of metal. That meant I reached the middle of the store and was halfway towards winning this thing.

“One.”

I knew the next aisle was ahead of me and confidently walked forward. I didn’t anticipate a display in the middle of the cross aisle and smacked into a pile of something. The boxes hitting the concrete didn’t make much noise, but they made enough. I heard Boone’s dark chuckle much closer than expected, and my heart began to thunder in my chest. First things first, I needed to get away from this spot. As quickly as I could, I moved down a few aisles. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the light bouncing around as Boone jogged up an aisle. Cheater!

I turned down the aisle. It was getting easier to see now that the sky outside was brightening, and I could almost discern the dark shape of obstacles in my path. I was moving as quickly as I dared down the aisle when I heard growling ahead of me. Not now, Witch! The pounding of Boone’s feet halted, and he couldn’t contain his laughter as he switched directions. I knew he would be on me in seconds. Thinking quickly, I grabbed something off the shelf that ended up being a metal pipe and threw it behind me as hard as possible.

It clattered to the floor loudly in the back aisle, causing Witch and Boone to move to the sound to investigate. I reached the end of the aisle, and now everything was gray as the sun began to rise. The trucks in sight, I moved into an all-out sprint, hoping I had given him just enough distraction to give me time to reach them.

I pumped my fist triumphantly as I reached the beds and ran across them, disturbing Caleb and Pike. Ethan looked at me from the door and shook his head as I put a finger to my lips and climbed into the back of the pickup. I peeked over the side and watched Boone appear from an aisle and look around at the trucks before grinning and stalking down another aisle, Witch hot on his heels. As soon as he was gone, I pulled myself up to sit on the truck's cab with my feet dangling in front of the passenger side window.

I grinned down at Pike and Caleb, who looked confused as they stared up at me. “What are you..?” Caleb started to ask but stopped when I put my finger over my lips. Boone appeared again as he exited the aisle by the beds. He looked around again, his eyes sliding over me, and went to walk towards the other end of the store when his head snapped back around to look at me.

“How long have you been there?” he asked, stalking toward me.

“Not long, but I win,” I said, laughing.

“And how long were you going to let me look for you?” he asked, stopping a few feet away.

“As long as your big ole heart desired,” I chirped. I launched myself at him, and all four men let out a small yell as he lunged forward and plucked me out of the air.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Boone demanded. I could feel his heart racing beneath my palm.

“Because I knew you would catch me,” I said simply, kissing his cheek. “Now, can we leave? I’m hungry, and thanks to that mutt eating our food yesterday, we don’t have anything left for breakfast.”

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