now coming out to play. He leans in, his mouth now grazing my ear right as Royce’s eyes find mine in the mirror.
“Those lips of yours will be on me soon.” His tongue hits my earlobe and I dig my nails into my thigh to keep from reacting. “Plan on that.”
He pulls back, moving over to retake his seat by the window and I close my eyes, forcing myself to repeat the national anthem in my head, over and over again until we’re pulling onto a dirt road surrounded by large trees.
The boys roll the windows down and the smell of fresh, clean air hits my nostrils.
I sit forward, reaching over to roll my window down as well and take another deep breath.
“What is that?”
“What?” Captain asks.
“The smell.”
He meets my stare in the rearview mirror. “Pine?”
When I shrug, he spins, looking over his shoulder at me. “Have you never been to the mountains?”
Suddenly I’m hit with a need to lie, but before I do, I look at the other two.
Again, no judgment stares back, so I go with honesty.
“No. Is it, I mean, is it always fresh like this? Like, clean air or whatever?”
Captain nods and continues to pull forward, swerving around a few large cabin homes.
“People live here?”
“Nah,” Royce answers. “These are vacation spots. Nobody stays year-round.”
Must be nice to have not one, but two homes.
“Is that?” I lean out my window and take another deep breath, ignoring the chuckles behind me. “Campfire?” I look over my shoulder. “Real campfire?”
“Is there such a thing as fake campfire?” Maddoc’s brow lifts but amusement shines in his eyes.
“Yeah, there is. We had bonfires all the time, but that was, I don’t know, a burnt, smoky smell. A fire kept going by beer boxes and trash. This is ... clean and” – I look out the window again – “intoxicating. Almost...” I can’t find the word.
“Peaceful?” Captain offers, staring at me in the mirror again.
I nod but don’t meet his eyes.
“Come on, Cap, move the car.”
Captain licks his lips and continues down the path again until we’re pulling up in front of a huge cabin.
It looks like a plain square, nothing fancy but with a porch that wraps all the way around.
When they get out, I do too, and the closer I move to the place, the more I see. It may be simple as far as the front goes, but there’s a huge deck on the back, held up by thick wooden beams, it sits at what looks to be the second story of the cabin.
“The rooms are on the bottom, top floor’s the party room, kitchen and deck. It’s got a sick view of the creek.”
“It’s badass.”
Maddoc passes me with my bag, so I try and take it from him, but he glares, yanks it away and keeps moving.
I raise my hands and trail behind him.
Right when you walk in the place, it’s an empty entryway. To the right is a set of stairs and to the left a small hallway with several doors. Maddoc keeps moving until we reach the one farthest to the end.
“This is yours. You’ve got the bathroom, so you don’t have to come out at night once you’re done partying.”
I nod, walking in to find the bathroom on the right of the room, not even a door to close it off from the small room. There’s a dresser and bed with a mini fridge tucked beside it, and nothing else. But it’s way more than enough.
“So, you guys don’t have a bathroom in your rooms?”
“No, but that first door we passed was one, so we have our own.” He turns to me with a glare. “Don’t let Royce tell you different.”
I laugh, dropping my jacket on the bed.
“This is cool, thanks.”
He eyes me a moment but then his brows furrow and he walks out.
“Come on.”
I follow behind him, stopping at the next door, the room right next to mine.
“This is me, across from me is Cap, then it’s Royce, a spare for Leo, in case he needs it, and then the bathroom. You’re the last room in the hall ... surrounded by us. Don’t try to pull no shit.”
Dick.
“RaeRae, Madman, let’s go. Shots!”
I wiggle my eyebrows then follow the boys’ voices up the stairs.
“Oh man.” I look around the room, grabbing the shot Royce hands me. “This place is dope.”
Wooden log futons act as couches on both sides of the room, a wide-open kitchen on the right and slider doors on the left.
Captain nods his