I do.
Except, it wouldn’t be a prank.
He’s in prison, though.
He is. I checked before I came here. Only weeks ago.
He’s not here.
There has to be a simpler explanation.
“No, I don’t have anyone who would want to do something so stupid.”
Rhett nods. “I’ll talk to everyone, see if I can get to the bottom of it. You’re safe with us. Where we’re going, nobody is going to come along. We’ll dive deeper into this when we get back, yeah?”
I nod. “Okay.”
I walk back to the group of girls all chatting, passing Enzo on the way. He grins at me, only it’s a grin that promises devilish things. There’s a sly twist to his mouth that tells me he’s thought long and hard about what he’s going to do to me while we’re away. I shiver in response, and he notices, and that only makes his expression a little darker. Oh boy.
I’m in for a treat.
“HOW MUCH LONGER?” ALICE whines from behind me, stomping so loudly it’s becoming a little irritating.
“If you keep complaining like that, it’ll only take longer,” Linda calls from behind her. “Stop stomping your feet and you might save some energy, you’re not a god damned gorilla, Alice.”
I pause, turning and looking past Alice and Linda. “Listen, Linda, one shove and you’ll go tumbling back down this mountain like the stale boulder you are. You better shut it.”
“Or what?” she growls.
“I just told you what,” I bite out. “Leave Alice alone.”
“She’s walking like a damned elephant, no wonder she’s whining. You try walking behind her and listening to her huffing and puffing.”
“Oh, because you’re so good at climbing mountains you’re not even breaking a sweat? Your shirt tells me you’re lying, so keep your mouth closed.”
She touches her shirt, which is drenched in sweat.
Her mouth tightens.
Alice grins.
Chev pauses in front of us and looks over her shoulder. “Come on, ladies, I know I’ve had enough of this damn walk already without having to break up a fight. Can we just get there and then you can have at it?”
I smile sweetly. “Of course.”
We continue walking for what seems like hours, but, finally, we reach the top of our hike and come across a beautiful stream that is probably waist deep and flows on for miles in a big body of water, backed by mountains and the most incredible view I’ve ever seen.
“Oh wow,” I say, staring around us.
Enzo was right.
How can you not love this place?
“This is incredible,” Faye says, stopping next to me. “Oh, I feel like I’m in a movie.”
“You can create your own version of blue lagoon.” I grin at her and she laughs.
“Okay, ladies, last time we came here with campers, we set up tents, but because this time we’re goin’ it a little rougher, we’re goin’ to cross the stream and use those trees on the other side to tie a tarp for us to set our beds up beneath,” Rhett informs.
Cross the stream?
I mean, hell yes.
It’s not deep, you can see the bottom from here, and I can just picture the bears that would come here, swatting their paws into the stream and pulling out fish.
Wait.
“Are there bears here?” I call out to Rhett.
“They’re not local to the area, but there are other wild animals so you should never go off alone.”
“And we’re just sleeping out in the open?” Faye squeaks, suddenly a little nervous.
“We’ll have a fire going all night, and we’ll be together. You don’t need to worry,” Rhett assures hers.
She looks to me, and I shrug. There’s no turning back now; we’re here, and I don’t think we’re going to get much choice in what happens from now going forward.
We all go to the river and Rhett goes through first, testing the depth. Then he gives the go ahead and the guys sort of go in front and behind us, to ensure we’re all in a group surrounded by them, and we walk through the cool, crystal-clear water. Fish can be seen swimming around our feet, and if you look into the distance, you can see bigger ones dashing for cover.
“Oh wow,” I stop, staring down as a beautiful silver fish darts past my legs.
“Those are good eatin’,” Enzo leans over and murmurs in my ear.
I elbow him and he grunts then chuckles.
We keep moving, and when we get to the other side, it’s even more beautiful. I don’t know how that’s possible but here we are, thick trees lining the rocky shores of the river that disappear into the horizon. It’s perfect, and I’m suddenly very glad to be here, I take back everything I thought about this task, it’s exactly what we needed.
Maybe they were right, we were going a little crazy.
“Okay, ladies, pair off and we’ll give you some tasks,” Lake calls.
I go with Faye, and everyone else pairs off beside us. Lake steps forward, a big cheeky grin on his gorgeous face.