Chapter 8 #2
I didn’t wait for confirmation of Marlow following after me, trusting he’d be a good noodle and do so while I made my way over to where Talos was.
He was still talking on the radio to dispatch, confirming that the ambulance was on its way before switching the channel back over to the main one and looking over at me.
“We’re all set. They should be down here within fifteen.”
I nodded. “Good. I’m going to head back up. I’ve got Jay doing a headcount. Once you’ve got everyone back up our way, take them to the mess hall. I’ll have the cooks fire up the grills. They deserve an early lunch today after all of this.”
Talos glanced behind me and then said, “You taking him with you?”
“It’s my special day,” Marlow replied, directly behind me.
A shiver raced up my spine unexpectedly from how close he was. “Yeah, I’m going to send him off in the ambulance, too. Think there are still a couple of screws loose in there.”
Marlow gasped dramatically the second I tapped my forehead. “My mom had me tested. She said I was fine.”
“That’s what all parents say when they have a hard time breaking the real news to their kid,” I quipped back easily. “Sorry to be the one to tell you.”
“No, wait. I have the paperwork to prove it!”
Talos wasn’t at all subtle with the befuddled shift of his eyes between us both. “Uh huh... well... I wish you all the best. I guess...”
My poor second. He already had enough to deal with, with just me on a daily basis. Adding Marlow to the mix and doubling down on our eccentric conversations was probably already giving him a migraine.
Without thinking, I reached behind me and grabbed Marlow’s wrist, his skin burning my palm the instant I touched him.
Why the fuck did I do that?
Touching him was off-limits with my libido acting like a starved teenager just discovering what a boner meant. Yet, no matter how much I tried to will myself to let him go, I couldn’t.
I tightened my grip around his wrist, using it to yank him with me and march toward the remaining golf cart parked haphazardly on the side of the trail. The keys for it were still stuck in the ignition.
Regretfully, I wrenched my hand away from him and flexed my fingers a few times to shake off the feeling of his skin imprinted into mine.
Adrenaline was shooting through my veins in rapid bursts, making it hard to concentrate on swinging my body onto the seat and grabbing at the key to start the cart.
“Oh...” Marlow said, catching my attention. To my deep and utter surprise, he began to unclip the life vest from his body and strip himself of it, revealing his rather impressively muscled chest and abs. “You want this?”
Fear at being caught blatantly checking him out slapped me right back into reality. “W-what?”
His smile was cheeky, tinged with a bit of smugness that I didn’t at all appreciate in the slightest. “The vest, Blake. You want me to leave it here?”
I swallowed. “Oh. Uh... yeah, clip it to the back seat.”
Holy fuck.
Ripping my eyes away from him, I focused on getting the damn cart started and clenched my fingers around the steering wheel, willing myself to behave as he slid himself down onto the bench next to me.
Despite his still damp skin, he was warm next to me, practically radiating heat. I jumped the moment his arm brushed against mine, slamming my foot down onto the gas and jerking the entire cart forward.
“Yeesh,” he laughed. “I feel like I’m back on that raft.”
I ignored the clenching in my stomach as he shifted next to me and threw an arm around the back of our seat, his hand subtly ghosting close to my arm on the other side of me and just barely not making contact as long as I sat up ramrod straight.
He had to be doing this on purpose. Pushing my buttons to get a reaction out of me just like he’d been doing the past few days.
All of this was a game to him, plain and simple.
I was conveniently the most fun target he had so far.
Until he found himself entangled with someone else to occupy his time until this vacation was over.
I tried not to let that thought taste bitter on my tongue while we headed up the incline in silence. I should’ve been happy he was all right and made it out of that harrowing situation all in one piece with not a single scratch on him. It was a miracle, really. One I should be celebrating.
Blowing out a breath, I gunned it up the rest of the incline until we were at the top, base camp coming into view just beyond the end of the pathway.
Fingers lightly trailed along my arm. “Don’t tell me you ditched me again for paperwork.”
My knuckles were white from how hard I was holding onto the steering wheel. “Got that event next week, remember?”
Actually, the small miracle was in fact me being able to form coherent sentences while Marlow’s fingers traced halfway up my arm and then back down again at a maddening leisure.
“Want help?”
I forced out a laugh to keep from doing something way more embarrassing, like moaning. How fucking sad I was getting turned on by being touched. “You a party planner?”
“Had a few shindigs in my time.”
“That business lingo for ‘rager’?”
He laughed. “Nah, I know how to tone it down for the right occasion.”
Tempting. Too tempting to take him up on the offer, if only to spend more time with him. A bad idea, given how rapidly hard my dick was getting.
From a fucking arm caress.
How goddamn sad was that?
“Think I’ve got most of it figured out.” My mouth felt full of cotton, along with the inside of my skull.
What would happen if I jammed on the brakes and parked us off the path somewhere and see where else that hand of his would wander off to?
“So, that means you’ll be at the bonfire tonight.” His tone was firm. A little surprising considering how light it’d been second before.
I chanced a glance over at him right as we were passing through the entrance back into the main part of the grounds.
He wore a playful smile, but there was something in his eyes that spoke differently—that same darkness he’d had the night before when he’d practically cornered me into bringing him condoms.
“It... depends,” was all I could think to say.
He shook his head slowly. “You’ll be at the bonfire.”
Was this some sort of hypnosis trick?
If so, I was falling for it hook, line and sinker.
I let my foot off the gas, letting the cart roll until it finally stopped near the drop-off station.
The ambulance was just pulling in from the main road right when I parked the cart, the lights flashing but the siren off.
The second it cleared the entrance, it parked along the roundabout, two EMTs popping their doors open.
I killed the ignition and quickly scrambled out of the cart. “Come on, let’s go get you checked.”
So I can get as far away from you as I can.