Chapter 20
HUNTER
Camping seemed like the worst possible idea.
It’d been days since I walked out of Darlin’ Delights, days since Maggie had answered any of my texts, and I felt like I was going fucking crazy.
I didn’t even try to hide how much I was watching her.
Maggie had spent the last hour pretending I didn’t exist, which was impressive considering there were only seven of us here, and that included Ruby.
Maggie was down by the edge of the river with my niece skipping rocks. I dragged the brim of my cap lower, squinting through the sunlight reflecting off the water. Their laughter drifted up the bank, and the sound of Maggie so happy, so at ease, did something to my head.
She was less than twenty yards away from me, and she looked completely, effortlessly fine. And here I was, unable to look anywhere else.
I’d already set up my tent, helped McCoy with his, and I’d gritted my fucking teeth when she’d set her backpack next to his.
She’d wanted space, and I’d reluctantly given it to her. But she was out of her damn mind if she thought she was going to sleep in his tent.
There wasn’t a fucking chance.
“I’m really not sure if I’m the camping type.” Sutton looked around the campsite, and I chuckled as Blaire came up beside her.
Blaire shot me a look over the tops of her sunglasses, and Sutton just groaned. “I think a hotel with a pool bar would’ve sufficed, honestly.
“Where’s the fun in that?” McCoy grunted as he carried a cooler through the campsite and set it next to one of the trees.
“One.” Sutton ticked off on her fingers. “No bugs. Two. Pool boys.”
“I could be your pool boy.” McCoy waggled his eyebrows and gave Sutton a wink, which made her full-body shudder dramatically enough that Blaire snorted out her drink.
Sutton did a slow, mocking once-over of McCoy from head-to-toe, then shook her head. “You’d have to wax a lot of places to qualify as a pool boy.”
“For you?” He shot back, hands going to his belt like he was going to strip down right here. “I’d do anything.”
Sutton rolled her eyes. “You talk such a big game.”
“That’s what big boys do.” He patted his belt buckle, and despite my foul mood, I couldn’t help but laugh.
I picked up the empty beer can at my feet and aimed for the trash bag strung on a branch by the food table. “Don’t encourage him, Sutton,” I said, heading toward his tent. “Unfortunately, he does have a huge dick to back it up.”
There was a second of dead silence before Blaire and Sutton’s heads whipped around to face me. McCoy just grinned like the shit-eating bastard he was.
I lifted my hands, palms up. “What? I’ve lived with him for too long. Some things you can’t unsee. Like the time he—”
“Don’t you dare finish that story,” McCoy said, pointing a warning finger at me. He turned to Sutton and winked. “You could always see for yourself. I’m nothing if not generous.”
Blaire laughed, hard. “I swear to God, McCoy. If I didn’t know you, you would be able to pick me up so easily.”
“What the fuck?” Colt said as he dropped a pile of wood next to us, but Blaire just reached out and patted his ass.
“What? He’s charming.”
Colt shot Blaire a look over his shoulder, but she just grinned up at him.
“McCoy go bother Maggie or something.” Sutton shooed him away with her hand before she turned to face Blaire. “I honestly can’t believe we convinced her to come.”
“I know,” Blaire said back quietly, but I could hear every word as I grabbed Maggie’s backpack and slung it over my shoulder. “She needs this though. Going home was rough.”
I walked to my tent and dropped her backpack just inside the flap. There was something about touching her things, even just a damn backpack, that made my chest tighten and my pulse trip all over itself.
“You know that’s going to piss her off, right?” Blaire cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Well aware.”
Maggie was on her way up from the river with Ruby trailing behind. Their faces were flushed from the sun, and Maggie’s ponytail swung with every step.
I swear she was purposely not looking at me, looking anywhere but in my direction. I’d spent the entire last week trying to talk to her, trying to “accidentally” run into her in town, and all she did was avoid me.
I watched her now, and she was so damn beautiful. I wanted to go to her, haul her up against my chest, and strip away every stubborn inch of distance she kept putting between us.
It was infuriating, honestly, how she could act so cool while every cell in my body vibrated just watching her.
I stood there with my hands fisted at my sides, pretending like I gave a damn about anything but the curve of her mouth when she smiled at Ruby, or the way her shorts rode up her thighs as she hustled back up the bank.
But the harder she pushed me away, the more it tunneled under my skin.
It was infuriating, honestly, how she could act so unbothered while every cell in my body vibrated just watching her move.
I wanted to wrap my arms around her and force her to look at me, to talk to me, to stop running for half a damn second.
She stopped at the top of the hill and finally looked at me. Her eyes met mine for only a second before they dropped away just as quickly, but all it took was that one damn look to see how much she was hurting.
She tried to cover it, shoulders squared like she hadn’t been scraped raw in Alabama, but I knew better.
I knew the fake shine of a smile meant to distract, the way she locked her jaw tight for half a breath after she laughed, like she was bracing for a hit.
Whatever happened at her parents’ house had wrecked her.
Maybe she thought nobody noticed, but it was carved onto every inch of her, and I’d be damned if I let her carry it alone.
So, I didn’t.
I waited until Ruby raced ahead with a fistful of river rocks before I moved across the clearing and intercepted Maggie at the edge of the trees.
The sun caught the gold in her hair and lit the film of sweat at her temple, and all I could think about was burying my hands in her hair, forcing her to look at me, and stripping every last excuse out of her.
I wanted to bleed out every reason either of us ever had for why we couldn’t love each other until there was nothing left but the truth. Because none of it was strong enough to keep me from her.
Fuck, I loved her, and even when she tried to push me away, I knew I’d keep reaching for her.
There was no amount of fear, history, or doubts that could stop it.
She tried to sidestep me, but I stepped into her path. She pulled up short, close enough that I could see the flutter at her throat and the slight catch in her breath.
“Hey, Sunshine.”
She took a half step back, but I closed the distance, matching her move for move, until her shoulder brushed the rough bark behind her. A single gold hair had slipped loose and stuck to the sweat on her cheek, and I wanted to reach out and push it out of her face.
I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that.
“You really not going to talk to me?” I bent slightly until we were eye to eye, but she still wouldn’t look at me.
“What do you want, Hunter?” She steeled her shoulders, but her voice still trembled. I wanted the truth.
I wanted her vulnerable, bared open, no matter how much it cost either of us.
But I couldn’t say that with everyone five yards away and her pressed up against the trunk of this Tennessee Hickory like she’d claw straight through the back to get away from me.
“I want you to talk to me, Mags.” My voice came out low and rough. “What’s going on?”
She hesitated, lifting her chin stubbornly, but something wavered in her eyes.
“I’m fine,” she said, but we both knew it was a lie. “I’ve got a lot going on right now.”
She tried to turn, but I pressed my hand to the tree just above her shoulder, caging her in.
The words burned through me, barely tethered. “Dammit, Maggie. Let me help.” She flinched at my words, but I didn’t stop. “Whatever it is, I’ll carry half of it. Hell, all of it, if you just give me the chance.” My voice dropped, rougher than anything I’d ever said out loud. “You are not alone.”
Her breath caught, and so did mine.
She looked up at me with those wild, wounded eyes like she was about to split at the seams. Her lip trembled, and I wanted to bury my face in her neck and inhale every last bit of her, like I’d never need air again so long as I had this.
“I can’t do this right now,” she said finally, and her voice shook so hard that my chest ached with it.
I wanted to argue, to force her to meet me in this place where neither of us had a map to what the hell we were doing, but I knew from the set of her mouth that she was already halfway gone.
“Mags—” I reached for her, my hand grazing her wrist, but she twisted free and ducked past me before I could close my fingers.
I stood there and let her walk away from me until she finally stopped by McCoy’s tent. She stood there a beat too long before she turned, and I could see the slight rise and fall of her chest as she steadied herself.
“Do y’all know where my bag is?”
The fire cracked, and Blaire’s eyes cut to mine. Everyone else became suddenly interested in their beers, the trees, anything but us as I moved toward the clearing.
I crouched down, picked up a log, and set it on the fire without looking away from Maggie.
“In my tent,” I said. “Where it fucking belongs.”
A hush settled over the campsite. For a second, nobody moved. There was just the crackle of the fire and the low rush of the river. Maggie’s eyes flicked to mine, something fierce and uncertain burning in the green.
Nobody said a word. Even McCoy’s grin slipped, and Blaire looked between the two of us like she might jump in, but thought better of it.
Every part of Maggie was pulled tight, from the careful set of her mouth to the stubborn line of her shoulders. She was pissed, I could see that, but underneath the fire in her glare was something raw and so close to breaking I almost forgot how to breathe.
“You can ignore me all you want.” I stood and ran my hands over my jeans. “Push me away. Pick a fight. I don’t give a damn.” My eyes cut to my tent, then back to her. “But if you think you’re going to be in anyone else’s tent tonight, you’re out of your mind.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth parted on a ragged breath.
Nobody moved then Blaire let out a slow breath. “I take it back,” she said, fanning herself. “Hunter’s the one I’d end up with not McCoy.”
Colt made a noise that was pure exasperation. “Strawberry.”
“I’m just saying.” She lifted her hands. “That was hot.”
My eyes didn’t move from Maggie’s. She was still watching me from across the fire, chest rising and falling too fast, jaw set like she’d already made up her mind.
Good.
So had I.
I was done walking around like I didn’t think about her every goddamn second, letting her hide behind whatever excuses the two of us had created.
She could pretend all she wanted. She could try to ice me out, but I had enough fire in me for the both of us.
I wasn’t backing down. Not now. Not ever again.