“Stella, are you going to stand there all day in a Sam-induced fog,” Zahra demanded, “or get over here and tell us what is going on? Because it looked like he kissed you.”
Stella felt color creeping into her face as she walked back to her friends. “I assure you he did not.” It took effort to keep from pressing her fingers to her suddenly tingling lips. “I’m not certain what you thought you saw, but it wasn’t that.” She put her hands on her hips and regarded Shabina and Zahra, studying their clear, glowing skin. “You went to the spa first thing this morning, didn’t you?”
The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“While I was nearly getting killed by some madman, you were wallowing in luxury,” she accused, happy to divert attention from Sam’s goodbye to her. “And I don’t see any remorse on your faces at all.”
Shabina shoved her sunglasses onto her nose. “Girl, if you were hurt, we would be upset, but everything turned out just fine, so there’s no reason to be anything but thankful we had a spa morning.”
“I had a harrowing experience.” Stella threw herself into her camp chair.
“You shared an experience with Sam, the hottest man on earth,” Zahra corrected. “That’s what she said last night, Harlow. Over and over. She kept saying he was the hottest man on planet earth.”
“I certainly did not,” Stella denied, afraid she might have. Probably on the way home. With Sam driving. It wasn’t like he couldn’t have heard. She groaned. “Just kill me now.”
Harlow burst out laughing. “Stella, did you drink too much last night?”
“Apparently so. Let’s not talk about this anymore. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.” Stella delved into her small backpack to pull out her sunglasses. She needed them to hide behind.
“Perhaps blurting out in your drunken state that you thought Sam was hot paid off,” Harlow pointed out. “He did hold your hand.”
“What?” Zahra nearly jumped up and down. “You are holding out on us. We’re your best friends and you’re lying to us. He did kiss you goodbye.”
Shabina pulled her sunglasses down to peer over the top of them at Stella. “I’m texting Vienna and Raine right now to keep them in the loop. Kissing. Holding hands. What else happened? All in a couple of hours in the morning too. It is a good thing we went to the spa, Zahra. We’re like matchmakers. Without our timely intervention, they probably would never have gotten together.”
Stella couldn’t help laughing. That was the way it always was when they got together. They could go from serious to funny in a heartbeat, taking each other’s backs always.
Vienna and Raine didn’t join them until the afternoon. They set up the campsite the way they liked it when all of them were present. Vienna looked tired, and the others suggested she rest while they did the bulk of the cooking when it came to dinner, but as always, she insisted on pulling her weight. They played cards and talked long into the night. Stella still felt uneasy and often walked around with Bailey to see if he was picking up any signs of an intruder close by. Bailey seemed as wary as she did, but he didn’t growl or posture, simply stayed alert when he normally would have been relaxed. No one else seemed to notice the ominous feel in the air the way she did. Stella tried to put it down to her nightmares.
One by one the others went to their tents. She stayed outside with Bailey, patrolling around the tents and then down by the lake just to make certain everyone was safe. She even took her gun out of the compartment in her 4Runner, loaded it and put it in her backpack, which she kept close to her at all times.
When she returned to the firepit, the fire had died down and only Raine remained seated, clearly waiting for her. Stella retrieved a blanket and then moved her chair just a little back from the fire, more to keep the light from hitting her face than anything else. She knew Raine had waited up for a purpose— to talk to her alone.
“Is everyone asleep already?”
Raine nodded. “You’re restless tonight.”
“I just keep feeling like someone is watching us. I know it’s probably a leftover thing from this morning, but I can’t seem to shake it.” Bailey shoved his head in her lap and Stella scratched his ears.
“I made you hot chocolate and put it in your hot chocolate mug.” Raine handed her the to-go mug. “That should keep you warm.”
“You want to talk about something?” Stella figured she might as well get it over with.
“How involved are you with Sam, Stella?” Raine asked very quietly, looking around as if the others might overhear them even though she’d waited until they were asleep in their tents. She and Stella sat a good distance away, by the firepit, but she was still concerned.