Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
He’s the one who’s been acting like a spoiled teenager with zero conflict resolution skills.
“What?” I ask, propping my hands on my hips. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I can’t believe you did this.” His voice is a low, ominous rumble, like the thunder punctuating the air this morning.
Turns out, I was wrong about the weather holding. A storm to the south shifted course overnight and is set to dump several inches of rain on us later this morning. But it’s a fast-moving system and should clear out by the time we reach the bluffs.
The storm building inside of me, however…
“What are you talking about?” I ask, sharply. “You can’t believe I did what? Signed up for the same climbing trip that you did? Believe me, if I’d known you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have come.”
That isn’t true—I absolutely would have come; I’ve been dying for a face-to-face with him since my text messages started bouncing last night—but that doesn’t matter.
What matters now, is showing him that he’s being an idiot.
Throwing away our chance to be something more than friends is stupid, but throwing away our friendship? The best friendship of my entire life, and I would wager, his, too? Well, that’s insanity, plain and simple. That’s boss level dumb-dumb shit, and I’m not going to let him get away with it.
He’s better than that. He’s…the best.
I try to remember that as he huffs out a humorless laugh and shakes his head. “So, who helped you plan it? My mother? Sprout?” He curses beneath his breath as he begins to pace back and forth, his hiking boots silent on the pine needles. “I should have known. She was way too excited for a school day. All that grinning and dancing around the kitchen… But stupid me, I thought maybe the bullies had finally decided to take it easy on my kid.”
My stomach tightens and my synapses fire, flinging images of Wendy Ann and Sprout whispering together over wedding cake to the surface of my mind.
Then the two of them whispering over chips last night at the shower when Sprout’s sitter dropped her off near the end of the party…
But no…
She wouldn’t. My sister knows better than to collude with an eight-year-old in some kind of crazy Parent Trap scheme that isn’t a Parent Trap scheme because Sprout isn’t actually my child. But I know her better than a lot of moms know their kids, and I wouldn’t put this past her for a second. She has her father’s wild and stubborn streak, her grammy’s meddling streak, and a drive to make her dreams come true that’s going to serve her very well someday.
It might also, however, get her father and myself killed.
“Surviving for three days,” I blurt out as I begin to pace the clearing, too.
Fuck, this is really happening. Wendy Ann did this. Maybe with Sprout, maybe alone, but either way she—
“No, it couldn’t be alone,” I mutter. “Or he wouldn’t be here, too.”
“What are you talking about?” Seven asks, his tone as exasperated as mine as I turn to shout, “You! You wouldn’t be here if my sister had planned this alone. She had to have had help. Who dropped you off?”
His scowl fades as his eyes slowly widen. “My mother.”
I pause, blinking in surprise. “Bettie? But she knows better. She knows the woods can be dangerous, even for experienced outdoorspeople. She wouldn’t put us in harm’s way to play matchmaker. She just wouldn’t.”
“You really had nothing to do with this?” he asks in a softer voice.
I shake my head. “No! I didn’t. I thought I was going on a climbing trip organized by Wendy Ann’s friend Lilac.”
“I did, too,” he says. “My mom told me about it yesterday, a last-minute chance to get thirty percent off on a—”
“—a three-day Golden Spire bluffs excursion,” I finish for him. “Yeah, I know. Same.” I drop my head back with a sigh, watching the clouds swirl ominously above the trees. “I let Wendy Ann book it for me. I should have called Lilac myself. I should have known something wasn’t right.” I lift my chin, anger rising inside of me again as I pin Seven with a glare. “I probably would have if I hadn’t been so distracted by my best friend blocking my texts like a huge, fucking asshole. What the hell was that about, Seven? Aren’t you supposed to be the mature one? I mean, you’re always acting like I’m too young to make adult decisions about my romantic life, but I’ve never ghosted someone because I was too chicken to have a conversation.”
His scowl returns. “We don’t have time for this right now. We have to make contact with someone back in town. Get them to pick us up before the storm breaks.” He nods toward my pack. “But we’ll have to use your phone. Mine seems to have mysteriously gone missing. I’m guessing one of my double-crossing family members took it out while I was making coffee this morning.”