Chapter 4
Dex
“That was a fucking weak excuse for a kiss!” Uncle Rhodes roars as the last of the couples breaks apart. I realize he’s drunk, just like half of our team.
Scattered laughter rises from the crew, some of whom are wiping their lips off emphatically after the first peck.
“It’ll take you a year to win the cabin at this rate! Put some heart into it.”
“I’m out, then,” Brett says with a smile. “I haven’t had nearly enough whisky for this.”
“You doing this?” I ask Korren, who is shifting uncomfortably.
“You’d better bet I am. I’m fucking winning that cabin.”
I grin. “Same.”
I down the rest of my whisky in a swallow that has my eyes watering and toss aside my cup; after a moment, Korren does the same.
Then I put a hand on Korren’s shoulder and stare into his eyes with all the intensity I can muster, hoping he’ll chicken out before I have to go through with this.
Korren stares right back, and fuck, I’ve got nothing on his intensity. There’s so much hostility and desperation and hurt in his eyes that I feel like he’s just given me a look into his soul even though I don’t know the first thing about him.
I lean closer, holding his eyes, and he does the same. We’re almost close enough for our noses to touch when Korren hesitates, his breath ghosting across my mouth.
“You chicken?” I whisper.
“You wish.”
I close my eyes and slam my mouth against his. I’d been half-expecting him to pull back, but he doesn’t. I’m committed.
With my eyes closed, I can imagine his soft lips belong to my favorite actress, so I deepen the kiss and dart a tongue into his mouth. I had expected to find this disgusting, or at least somewhat unenjoyable, but it’s not. I’m kissing another human, and kissing is nice. That’s all there is to it.
Either Korren’s very good at pretending, or he’s actually getting into this, because his whole body seems to soften as he returns the kiss, our tongues tangling together.
And suddenly I discover I’m no longer thinking about the actress, just about this beautiful, scruffy man who tastes of whisky and campfire.
I tighten my grip on his shoulder and kiss him more roughly, which sparks something unexpected inside me.
It’s a moment before I register the cheering and wolf-whistling.
Korren and I break apart at once. He looks as flustered as I feel.
I give a hearty laugh, leaning forward and slapping my knees as I wait for my heart rate to slow down.
I catch Korren scowling at me when I straighten, and I throw him an apologetic look.
Around us, a few other pairs are still dancing around each other, neither willing to make the first move.
But Garret and Ambrose are kissing just as emphatically as we were, and when they break apart, they bump fists.
That’s what happens when you’ve been working together for too long and everyone’s drunk.
It seems one other pair has gone through with the kiss, which makes three of us.
“I didn’t expect you fuckers to go along with that!” Uncle Rhodes says.
“What’s the next challenge?” Garret shouts.
“We’re done for tonight! I don’t want to see anyone taking off their clothes!”
Everyone laughs.
“Actually, you’re on your own for the rest of the challenge,” Uncle Rhodes says. “I’ll change up the pairs if one person drops out before the other. Don’t be stupid!”
Then, because I know everyone is watching us, I leave Korren and stump over toward the bonfire, where I grab another beer and chug it with the heat of the fire scorching one cheek.
I can’t stop thinking about that goddamn kiss. Not because I want to kiss a guy again, but because I hadn’t realized until that moment how fucking lonely I am.
When the sun finally sets, I offer Korren a ride back from the bonfire.
Apparently he only flew in a few hours ago and has dumped his shit at the end of the road where we’ve all parked, which tells me he knows nothing about Alaska.
I’m half-expecting to find a bear rummaging through his bag when we get back to it.
We trudge back from the beach along with the rest of the crew, the sky still light enough to illuminate the path.
No one talks much as we split off toward our cars.
Most of the crew has carpooled—it’s expensive and fairly pointless buying cars here, since the town is compact and there’s nowhere much you can drive—and Uncle Rhodes is letting Brett drive his car home since he’s plastered.
A beam from the headlights of a mud-splattered truck illuminates Korren’s luggage. Thankfully it’s intact, but he doesn’t have much, considering he’s planning to live here permanently. It’s just a single ratty old backpack that might’ve once been suited for hiking.
“Where’s all your other stuff?”
“Sold most of it,” he mumbles.
We climb into my car and start back along the bumpy dirt road toward Copper Creek. Uncle Rhodes lives right at the edge of town, and he’s got a massive property that’s half-covered in pines.
I’m tired, and I’m trying my hardest to keep driving in a straight line, so it isn’t until we’re halfway back that my thoughts return to our kiss.
“Are you gay?” I ask casually.
“What? No!”
“Because it wouldn’t be a problem if you were. I just thought, I mean, you’re new here and my uncle was making a lot of assumptions—”
“I’m. Not. Gay.”
“But you were enjoying that kiss.”
“I was just going along with the challenge, same as you.” Korren looks sideways at me. “Or are you saying you were enjoying it too?”
I wasn’t not enjoying it. But Korren doesn’t need to know that. If he gets the wrong idea about me, this is going to turn very awkward very fast. “I’m better at pretending than you.”
“How d’you know?” Korren asks.
I give him a look of deep skepticism.
“Watch the road!” he snaps.
We’re quiet for a long time, and I think he’s done with the topic. But eventually he mumbles, “I guess it’s been a while since I’ve kissed anyone.”
“Same.”
He snorts. “I doubt that.”
Part of me wants to dig deeper and see if I can learn more about him, but we’re already at Uncle Rhodes’ place, and it’s time for me to face the houseful of children that I’ll be living with until Korren loses the challenge.
“That’s the campervan,” I say as my headlights spill across the old thing. All four tires are flat, and there’s a leak in the back, but it seems like a palace compared to where I’m going to be living. “It’s not hooked up to water or anything, so you’ll have to use the outhouse over there.”
“Thanks,” he says. “And where’s the cabin?”
“I’ll show you another day, when it’s light. It’s in those woods back there.”
Korren grabs his bag and slouches off toward the campervan, and I trudge across the weedy grass to Uncle Rhodes’s house. He isn’t home yet, and I’m guessing his kids are asleep—if my tent hadn’t been back at the fire station, I would’ve just slept there another night.
Instead I crack open the door, which squeaks the whole way, and pad up the stairs to what I’m praying is the boys’ room.
They’re both snoring loudly, so I lower myself onto the mattress on the floor and lie there, fully clothed and reeking of smoke from the bonfire, cursing all the bad decisions that led me to this moment.