Chapter 27
Aisling
Present day
“What d’you think?”
I place my hands on my hips and purse my lips to hide my smile, turning in a slow circle with my head titled back, admiring the golden light streaming in through the emerald canopy. The rest of our group is scoping out the small sign-posted campsite.
Connell’s football teammates are playing a ‘no rules’ version of football with the hockey guys, except for Hunter and Caden who are cosied up with their beautiful girlfriends.
Fallon and I are the only campers who actually brought a tent with us to Larch Peak, seeing as camping out was on our summer bucket list. But Hunter and Connell are going to head into town to buy a couple more, so that the whole group of us can spend a few nights here – so that we can all be together before Connell and the football guys who are just about to start their professional careers in the NFL leave, moving into their new places and starting their training.
“I think it’s cool,” I say, grinning as I turn to face my brother, and he gives me a grin of his own as he squeezes his arm around my shoulders.
“So we’ll spend the rest of the week chillin’ up here, then I’ll head with the guys, unless you want me to be around for when Mom gets here?” he asks as he takes off his cap, scrubbing roughly at his messy golden hair before flipping the brim and placing it on his head backwards.
I shake my head at him, answering his question before the words even leave my mouth, and he gives me an understanding squeeze as he pre-empts my reply.
“You totally don’t have to stay to make sure that everything’s in place for when Mom comes down to see the lake house. I’ve basically finished it already so, fingers crossed, everything’s pretty much in place for when she visits.” Except for the bed, but I’ll still have a couple of days to build that thing after we get back from our camping-in-the-mountains adventure.
Connell winces, breathing out a laugh.
“When you put it like that, it kind of makes me feel like I should stay even more.” He shrugs the shoulder that isn’t resting over mine and says, “But honestly Ash, I think that she’ll be happy with whatever you do. I can tell that you’re freaking out about her not liking it, but there isn’t anything not to like.”
I have to blink a couple of times before I fully understand what he’s saying because his use of a double-negative is a little stretching for my early morning brain.
Sensing my confusion he shakes his head with a grin and prods my cheek with his big pointer finger.
“I mean that everything is going to be fine,” he explains, his eyes kind and bright when I finally nod. “And even if it wasn’t? There would be no point stressing out over it beforehand. If they honestly decide to knock the whole thing down, it would be out of our hands. But that’s not going to happen because they’re going to see how much you love this place and it’s going to make them fall in love with it too. If things don’t go to plan and they don’t like your ideas for the company – which is not going to happen ,” he adds, head ducked down to mine when he sees a surge of fear in my wide eyes, “then I’ll get my ass right back here, comfort the shit out of you, and then, like, probably buy you a place right next to mine.”
I let out a shaky exhale, dropping my eyes to watch my twiddling hands.
“Ash, look at me,” he says, prodding me gently in the ribs until I do. “You’re my sister and I’ll do anything for you. No matter how this thing goes, I’m going to always be on your side. I’m going to always be there to look after you, even though you’re such a tough fuckin’ cookie that I know you don’t even need it.”
I feel a dangerous stinging behind my eyes but don’t blink away from him – trying to put up my tough cookie front.
He keeps his eyes locked on mine for a long, searching moment, and then he nods, standing back to his full height, before a smile starts tugging at the corner of his mouth.
There’s a knowing glint in his dazzling irises.
“So, uh…” He looks away for a second, laughing as he plays with the brim of his cap. “Tanner seems pretty keen to help out.”
“What?” I instantly blurt, eyes growing wider as I stumble over my words. “Tanner? The hockey guy? Help out? I d-don’t know what you’re… what you’re talking about–”
“I am so glad that you aren’t one of those chicks who wanted to get into acting,” Connell says with a grin, swatting away my fist as I try to punch at his abdomen, and hunching low so that he can shove his shoulder into the back of my knees. I yelp loudly as he stands upright, bouncing his shoulder up and down so that I have to claw my fingers into his giant quarterback neck.
“Shoulder throne,” he grins, and I squeak as he jerks me into the air, laughing as he easily catches me.
Okay, I admit, I do kind of enjoy that.
“You’re so freaking annoying!” I yell, even though I can’t hide my smile, knowing that he’s just trying to distract me from my anxious thoughts about the lake house.
“So do you like him?” he asks, and I smother my face in my hands as colour rushes to my cheeks.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” I whisper, peeking down at him through a gap in my fingers and then shoving my whole palm in his face when I see that he’s still smirking up at me.
“Shouldn’t you hate that?” I ask him as he grabs my wrist, shoving my hand off his face.
“Hate what?”
“ That ,” I say, giving him the duh eyebrow raise. “The idea of me liking someone like him .”
Connell drops the smile and inhales deeply, looking briefly away from me.
“Well, uh,” he murmurs, his voice deeper than it was a moment ago, “maybe we don’t need to think about it that deep right now. About his, uh” – he clears his throat hard, frowning as he tugs at the brim of his cap again – “reputation and shit.”
I give him a sulky look, crossing my arms over my chest. “I thought you were just saying how you were always going to look out for me.”
“And I am,” he says immediately, deep and resolute. He blinks away from me, shaking his head as if he hates having to think about this – which is, admittedly, very understandable – before doing another chest-swelling inhale and flicking his eyes back to meet mine. “Look, I’m a guy, and my college experience was pretty similar to his.”
“ Ewwwwww !” I start, even though I already know that Connell was a total player when we were at Carter U.
He snickers. “Yeah, yeah. My point is, I got to talkin’ to him while we’ve been here and… you can tell when someone’s being genuine. You’d know right off the bat if someone’s intentions weren’t good. Or maybe” – he looks away and laughs – “maybe Tanner wears his heart on his sleeve the same way that you do. But when we spoke, especially when we spoke about you, I could tell that he’s–”
“You spoke about me?” I squeak, cheeks heating in alarm.
“Shit,” Connell mumbles, ducking his head so that he doesn’t have to look me in the eyes, avoiding our secret twin bond that lets me see exactly what he’s thinking.
“Well, what were you saying about me?” I ask, brow arching at the horrifying thought.
My brother’s eyes flash up to meet mine, to where I’m still sitting on his ‘shoulder throne’.
“You think I’d talk smack about you?” he asks, genuinely offended. “As fucking if, Ash. Besides, we weren’t really talking about you. Tanner asked some questions that he thought were subtle, but I could sense what he was trying to ask me loud and clear.”
“Which was?” I ask, unblinking and alarmed.
Connell shrugs and I almost go flying.
“If he thinks that you’d give him a shot. And if I’d chop his dick off for even thinking about it.”
I press my face into my hands, muffling my squeal of mortification.
Connell gives me a tap on the side of my leg, silently asking me to look at him. My face is almost as bright as the sunrays kissing my shoulders when I finally drop my palms and look down at him, so embarrassed that I’m almost in tears.
“I’ve never seen you be so shy about a guy before,” Connell murmurs, head tilting slightly to the side as he looks deep into my eyes. “But you don’t need to be embarrassed. Whatever happens, you know I’ll support you. But in case you were wondering,” he adds, giving me a vicious grin, “I will chop his dick off if he does anything to hurt you.”
Wow. I don’t really know what to say to that.
“…Thank you,” I say, watching him warily.
He gives me another grin. “Anytime.”
Okey-dokey then.
He carts me over to where Fallon and Hunter are messing around at the edge of the clearing, before leaning down so that I can slide off of his ‘shoulder throne’. Fallon shoots me an excited smile as Hunter wraps his arms around her waist, stabbing his stubbled jaw into the curve of her neck as he gives Connell an easygoing what up, man? smile.
“I’m so excited!” Fallon exclaims, her eyes alight with happy sparkles. “I’ve never been camping before!”
“You’re gonna have the best time,” Hunter murmurs, his voice a deep country drawl. “Used to spend every summer here with Tanner and his brothers. Sleeping outside is fuckin’ awesome.”
At the mention of Tanner, Connell’s eyes slide my way, and my cheeks instantly burn crimson.
“You guys used to spend every summer at Larch Peak?” Connell asks, and I roll my eyes at his not-so-subtle digging on my behalf, the lazy grin on his face obvious without my even glancing up at him.
I give him a swift elbow to the ribs but he just chuckles, pulling me into a side-hug.
Fallon’s eyes flash to mine and she smiles mischievously, but she cuts in anyway because she can tell that I’m way embarrassed right now.
“So are we setting up camp tomorrow afternoon or in the morning?” she asks, deflecting for me like an angel. “We need to grab supplies in town so that we won’t have to do any morning trips down the mountain, and that way we can just chill out and explore while we’re up here.”
Hunter and Connell exchange a look, both of them shrugging to indicate that it doesn’t really matter.
“Early afternoon,” Hunter decides, to which Fallon nods eagerly and unlocks her phone, tapping the information away into her neat digital planner.
Hunter jerks his chin at Connell and asks, “Y’all wanna see any of the other campsites, or are we set on this one?”
“This one’s good – equidistant between the cabins and some of the vantage points overlooking the lake.” Connell grips at the brim of his cap and winces a little as he adds, “Don’t really wanna go deep into the mountain just in case there’s any… animals, or whatever.”
Hunter nods in understanding even as he rumbles, “The wildlife here isn’t really like that.” He gives Fallon a little squish with his bulging forearms and adds with a smile, “You think I’d bring my girl here if it was?”
Connell breathes out a laugh and drops his eyes, nodding down at his boots as a gentle blush spreads up his cheeks.
It’s no secret that Connell adores Fallon, although now he sees her like a second sister rather than as a potential girlfriend. But I wonder if seeing Fallon and Hunter together, as well as Winter and Caden, has made him think about his own romantic status as I’ve been thinking about mine.
An exhilarated squeal snaps my attention to my right and I look toward the narrow break in the trees just in time to see Winter flying into the clearing, excitement sparkling in her eyes as she glances back over her shoulder. She lets out another happy scream before meeting my gaze and grinning, and then using my arm to propel herself so that she can whip around and hide behind Connell.
Connell glances down at her over his shoulder, an amused smile on his mouth as he gives her a wink, and then we turn back to the trees where Caden – her huge, tan, tattooed boyfriend – is trudging as quickly as he can down the slope without slipping, eyes on his boots because he’s too large and muscular to race down the incline with the same lithe agility as Winter.
When his eyes flash to our small circle he instantly skids to a stop, his small smile immediately dropping as he takes in the fact that he’s looking at Fallon, Hunter, Connell and me – rather than his girlfriend.
He blinks down at us and a hint of colour blooms on his cheeks.
But then he drops his eyes to our boots, spots his girlfriend’s, and that almost-smile reappears again.
He restarts his trudge down the slope, not running this time, until he’s walking slowly over to us. That is a lot of ink on his forearms. His palms smooth over his dark spiky hair so that he can push it back from where it’s fallen over his tan forehead.
Hunter glances between where Winter is ‘hiding’ and where Caden’s smirking, and he shares a brief grin with him, shaking his head in amusement. Caden being shy and love-struck is such a contradiction to his intimidating exterior.
Slowly Winter peeks out from behind the swell of Connell’s biceps and Caden’s arms immediately fly out to grab her, making her scream with giggles as he hauls her against his chest. He hides his quiet laughter in her hair before pressing a quick kiss to her flushed cheek.
“Found you,” he murmurs.
Connell slaps his hand over his eyes and groans, “I am soooooo single.”
I roll my eyes and laugh, shoving my elbow in his ribs.
Hunter snickers and tips his chin at Caden. “Y’all wanna hike, or d’you wanna head back down and we can grab some tents in town?”
Caden looks a question at his girlfriend, searching her eyes to see if she has a preference, and they have a telepathic conversation filled with sparkly eyes and dimply smiles. Then Caden glances back up at Hunter and nods.
“Yeah,” Caden rumbles quietly, his voice deep and gravelly. “We’ll head down with y’all.”
Winter looks up at me with raised eyebrows. “Are you not coming?” she asks gently, a little bit of her cute Kentucky twang slipping through.
I’m too nervous to head back to the lake right now, knowing that only one guy from our group is there doing who-knows-what.
Yeah. Tanner stayed back at the lake.
I swallow quickly and shake my head.
“I’m gonna hike a little with the guys,” I tell her, looking nervously up at my brother. He gives me a reassuring smile and a nod of his head.
I nod back at him, grateful for our twin synergy right now.
A light whizzing sound filters through the air and in the next second Connell’s head is whipping to our left. His arm slices through the air, grabbing the football in his large practiced grip before it can smack straight into my shoulder.
“The fuck?” he asks, tossing the ball in his hand as he shakes his head, glancing over to where his teammates are ‘teaching’ the hockey guys how to play.
Logan puts his hands in the air in surrender before pointing at Hughes, which makes Hughes drop his arms and groan “aw man” .
Connell snickers and hurls the ball straight at our attacker, who stealthily ducks it but then throws me a genuine apologetic smile.
Connell’s teasing throw says, try that shit again, I dare you.
He glances back toward Hunter and jerks his thumb over to his former hockey teammates, an easygoing smile on his mouth but a glimmer of real threat behind his eyes.
“Tell me he wasn’t actually aiming over here to get Ash’s attention,” Connell says.
Hunter’s eyes are playful as he glances between Connell, Hughes, and back again.
“What, you wanna give him a right hook?” he rumbles, a smirk playing on his mouth as he settles his chin comfortably on Fallon’s shoulder.
I breathe out a laugh and shake my head.
“He was just being an idiot, let it slide,” I tell my brother, casually admiring my twinkling nails as the sunlight catches and refracts against the golden sparkles.
Connell’s jaw muscle flexes as he gives me a direct unblinking look. He seems to think about it for a long moment and then he breathes out a deep exhale, shooting another glance to the guys still throwing the ball across the clearing.
“Fine,” he says curtly, dropping a heavy forearm over my shoulders. “But if he does that again his ass is grass, Aisling, I swear to God.”
Hunter grins, clearly relating to those over-protective older brother genes, and then stands to his full height, enveloping Fallon’s small hand in his large one. “Right, let’s head.”
Connell and Hunter do that secret dude hand-smacking thing while Fallon stares at me with her huge eyes and a mischievous smile that she’s trying to rein in – even though, after being roommates pretty much all through college, I know exactly what she’s thinking. She wants me to tell her every juicy Tanner-related thought in my head. I do a little sigh and give her a subtle nod.
Later , I mouth to her.
She looks fit to combust with excitement by the time that Hunter hauls her over his shoulder and begins carrying her back down the incline. I laugh and give her and Winter a little wave before turning back to my brother, who is using his arm over my shoulders to steer me toward the extremely testosterone-fuelled game of pass that’s happening right now.
“Fucker’s don’t understand the basic rules of football,” Logan says with an amused grin as we reach him, the ball hurtling through the air as he releases it from his large fist.
“Heard that,” Austin calls back to him, throwing the ball with a little more vengeance than before, and smirking when Logan has to jump up to catch it.
Logan thumps back to the ground and turns to smile at me, bowing slightly as he holds out the football like an offering.
“M’lady,” he rasps, before glancing up at me with a sexy wink.
“Alright, that’s it.” Connell swipes the football out of his hand, making his best friend grin as he confiscates the ball, and then he begins dragging me up the incline with him.
I offer Logan a quick grin over my shoulder, knowing that he’s just messing around, and he smiles back at me as he falls into step with his teammates. The hockey boys jog ahead of the footballers so that they can walk beside me.
Connell glances down at me with a slightly wary expression, casually tossing the ball in the air with his free hand.
I give him a reassuring smile to let him know that I appreciate how he looks out for me, and that no harm has been done, so everything’s fine.
He nods his head and then gently tips the ball into the air for me to catch. I laugh as I jump up and grab it, throwing it back to him as high as I can. He smirks as he drops his arm from my shoulders so that he can get into position, reach up and grab it.
“Tyrant,” he grins, before running up ahead. He turns around and throws the ball lightly my way, his hands fiddling with his cap before he throws them back in the air, awaiting my next throw.
We laugh the whole way to the top.