for the guy’s future though.
None of us were pleased about having to head into Troy’s home without the bulletproof vests, but we couldn’t waste any more time while Blake’s dad was in trouble, so we just had to hope that we wouldn’t need them.
So when we set off in our hiking gear as the sky began to pale, our packs were full of everything we’d need for the trek even if they were a little light on body armour.
There was an old path that led us out to the mountain we needed to cross but we were soon climbing through rocky terrain, our breaths misting before us as we marched on resolutely, wanting to gain as much ground as possible. We only paused briefly to eat lunch and drink hot coffee Nash had put in a flask, all of us lined up on a fallen trunk as the cold air whistled through the trees around us.
The forest grew denser as we moved on and occasionally I’d check the GPS with Saint to make sure we were still on track. My guys followed me, trusting me to guide them and by the time night was falling, I’d led us into a sheltered ditch between two huge rock formations and started teaching them how to pitch a tent. Monroe was the only one of them who had any real experience camping, so he helped me teach the others.
Kyan crouched down beside me with the hammer, excited to beat the tent pegs into the ground as I worked to get it in place.
“You have to do it at an angle,” I told him before he went Rambo on the peg I was positioning at the side of the tent, the elastic wrapped around the end of it.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because if it’s straight, the tension of the elastic could pull it back out of the ground. This makes it more stable.” I held out my hand to take the hammer from him, but he clutched it to his chest like it was his new favourite toy. I snorted, rolling my eyes at him. “Fine, just hammer it in this way.” I showed him how to hold the peg and he nodded, taking it from me and bashing it into the ground before looking to me for approval like a murderous little puppy dog.
“Perfect. Now do the rest of them.” I kissed his cheek and stood up, heading over to help Saint who was laying out the pegs on the ground, adjusting them so they sat in a straight line. Real helpful.
I poked him in the back. “Do you wanna help me collect some firewood?”
He turned to me, looking so out of place here in the wild that I had to swallow a laugh.
“Alright,” he said stiffly, and I sensed something was off as I took his hand and led him into the trees beyond the camp.
“Ahh! A peg just popped out and hit me in the eye, Kyan!” Blake shouted from behind us. “Put it in sideways like Tatum showed you.”
“That’s what she said,” Nash joked and Kyan roared a laugh as I looked to Saint with a grin, but tension was lining his brow.
“Are you okay?” I asked when we got out of earshot of the camp.
“Yes,” he growled, looking at the ground. “What’s suitable for burning?”
“The dry stuff. There’s usually some under the pines or any kind of tree that doesn’t drop its leaves.” I led him over to one and started piling branches in my arms beneath an old conifer.
Saint crouched down to help, examining each branch critically before building a pile of the ones which passed his assessment. We started making a good hoard, the light of the moon bright enough that we didn’t even need to use our flashlights.
“These aren’t dry enough,” Saint snarled suddenly, standing up and kicking his pile so they scattered everywhere. “I’ll start again.”
“They’re fine,” I insisted, but he moved to examine another small branch with narrowed eyes and I sighed, throwing an armful of sticks onto the ground.
“Saint, what’s going on?” I marched toward him and he stood upright, brushing down his knees before looking to me with the Devil in his eyes.
His jaw ticked and I could sense he was hovering on the verge of losing control. I hurried closer, cupping his face in my hands to get him to focus on me.
“I’m not used to this,” he rasped. “It is one thing to be surrounded by my own things while we’re