19. Jack
NINETEEN
Jack
“Ouch.” I lifted the hammer off my thumb and cringed. I hadn’t hit the nail too hard. Actually, I hadn’t hit the nail at all, and it hurt. Luckily, I had my work gloves on, so it was just a sharp pain that would be gone in a minute. My distracted brain, however, was another problem altogether.
Two days had passed since Nat’s drunken confession, and I was having a hard time concentrating. What would happen if I brought it up? Would she deny it? Would she fill me in on what I’d clearly missed?
Whether or not she remembered it, she acted as if nothing had happened.
She’d told me she’d had a crush. And she might still have a little one, if I was understanding correctly.
That blew my mind. I knew she had hatred for me, but it didn’t seem that strong lately.
Living together was still a struggle, but was that because we liked getting under each other’s skin?
And fuck it, I had to acknowledge I was very attracted to her.
It was finally time for me to admit I wasn’t indifferent to her, and I was having a hard time with that.
Two knocks sounded on the frame of Nat’s door, and I happily put the hammer in my tool bag, tilting my head in confusion when Nat and Leo entered. What could this be about?
Nat’s eyes darted to me, then to the side, where a buoyant Leo filled me with worry. Earlier this week, he’d been incredibly frustrated with us. So why was he so happy?
Leo cut to the chase. “I wanted to talk to you two. Together.”
As they entered the cabin, Nat shrugged, looking around at my progress, running a finger down the wood framing, admiring my craftsmanship. It wouldn’t be too long before she could move back in.
“What’s up, Leo?” Nat asked. The anticipation was also killing me.
“As you know, tomorrow’s Camp Wars competition is the obstacle relay, and it ends in a mud crawl.” He said this like we didn’t already know. The whole camp was excited. “So I decided that you two are going to go set up the mud pit. Call it your penance.”
I figured I’d be the one to do this, but I wasn’t expecting to do it with Nat.
I sighed. “Come on, Leo.”
He gave me an unamused look. “I’m sorry, did you not ruin someone’s engagement? Or am I misremembering?”
“You could argue that two people did end up engaged, so was it really ruined?” she tried.
I nearly laughed until Leo’s eyes narrowed. He was still disappointed. Of course, he was. And he was not having it. He waited for an answer from us.
I let out a disgruntled, “Fine,” at the same time as Nat.
Leo clapped his hands. “Great. And I know you’re going to do a great job because you promised me you two would get along, so what could go wrong?”
Turned out, a lot could go wrong.
An hour later, Nat was frustrated with this as much as I was. “I don’t know why he thinks we have to do this together. We can be around each other fine.”
Was she delusional or just a liar?
“You’re right,” I lied. “And I’d be much more effective working on this alone.”
That got under her skin. She stiffened and turned her head slowly at me as we walked to the location of the pit. “Adding me into the equation does not make you less effective. I can get my hands dirty. You know I can.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” she said, aggravated to the point that I regretted saying what I’d said.
She grabbed one of the buckets we’d brought and angrily dunked it into the lake and poured it onto the dirt.
I did the same once, then twice. It wasn’t enough time to get my thoughts in order, however.
“The point is, this is a one-man job. One-person job,” I corrected. “You’ll just get in the way.”
And if I hadn’t shoved my foot in my mouth before, she made it abundantly clear that I had now.
She dumped another bucket of water, this time way too close to my feet. I picked up my heavy-duty rake and tried mixing the water into the dirt. We were lucky that it had rained overnight, because there was already some mud. We were just making it a little bit better.
“You think everything is a one-person job, and that’s why it takes you forever.”
I glared. “If you’re talking about the cabin, that’s entirely out of my control.”
She threw her hands up, dropping her bucket in exasperation.
“I’m talking about everything. You won’t even delegate something as small as changing a lightbulb.
Your place is falling apart, but you don’t care because you’d rather help everyone else.
And no, you don’t want my help with my cabin.
Did you ever think I’d be interested in learning a new skill? ”
“And when would you have the time, exactly? When you’re working here or working on content?” This argument was going off the rails. “You don’t stop to take a breath.”
“And neither do you,” she practically screeched, stepping toward me. “You are a textbook hypocrite.”
Steam had to be coming out of my ears. “Don’t call me that.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She grabbed the bucket, gathered more water, and poured it near me again.
Why was her defiance so hot?
She turned away, slipping slightly before regaining her footing. Then she gathered more water and poured it near me. Again. I ignored her display and kept raking, which was a lesson in patience if I’d ever seen one. I should have been studied.
“You know what your problem is?” she accused ten minutes later, as if she’d been ruminating on it this entire time. “You think you’re the only competent person. You think you’re better than people.”
“I do not.”
Her eyes flared hot as she dumped another bucket of water. “Fine, then you think you’re better than me.”
Was she right? No. I didn’t think that. But had I acted this way?
Maybe. It wasn’t like I gave her the chance to help me with anything.
But that was purely because I didn’t want to be around her, and my reasons for not wanting to be around her were that I hated her.
Not because I wanted her. It was absolutely not that.
Just thinking about Nat’s combativeness had my defensiveness rising.
The truth was, I’d been wrong about today. This job was going so much faster with her help, bringing the water while I mixed the mud. If we weren’t at each other’s throats, maybe we’d make a good team, but I couldn’t control myself with her, and it was maddening.
Nat grabbed more water and walked it over to me, causing my hackles to rise. I was watching her more than raking mud now, and her raised eyebrows told me she took notice.
I needed to get some control back. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. And if you pour that thing near me one more time, you’re going to regret it.”
She squared her shoulders, her smugness shining through. “Ooh, threats. Just what I’d expect from you.”
I reached for the bucket, yanking on the handle. Some water sloshed out, right on her shoes. She stared at her feet, then into my eyes, sending a death glare right at me.
Nat’s next words were full of malice. “You did not just do that.”
“Like you haven’t been doing it the entire time.”
She shook her head and yanked on the pail, which she didn’t get back because I wasn’t giving up. “Give that to me.”
I gritted my teeth. “Take it.”
She yanked harder, pulling it away from me, and sloshed even more on her shoes. I laughed, which must have been the final straw, because she pulled it and me, causing me to lose my footing, and I went down.
I slipped, landed, and wondered how young was too young to throw your back out. If it were going to happen, it’d be now. But one flex and I felt fine, more or less. Thankfully.
I lifted my hand to block the light from the sun, and a clump of mud fell on my cheek. That was when I heard the sound of pure, unadulterated laughter.
Nat bent in half, clutching her side, giggling at my misfortune. She was downright gleeful, and that little spark, the one I told myself to ignore, was creeping through me in full force.
In this moment, I could have remembered why we were here, why Leo was so upset with us, and what our mission was. Hell, I could have just had one brain cell devoted to thoughts an adult should have. But I didn’t.
No, I wanted her to get down and dirty just like me. See if she laughed then.
I swept my leg and took her out at the knees. She flailed in slow motion, as if she were trying to grip the air, but it obviously didn’t work. What I hadn’t accounted for, however, was her falling right on top of me.
“Jack!” she yelled as I tried to catch my breath again after getting the wind knocked out of me. I wouldn’t be surprised if wildlife scattered at the shrill sound.
Now I was the one who was laughing. No, it was more like wheezing.
“You.” She took a huge breath, and I realized the gravity of what being chest to chest meant. How close all our parts were to each other. The way her face was inches from mine. “You—”
“What?” I cleared my throat, hoping she didn’t notice the effect she had on me. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to have a major problem on my hands. Or in my pants, if I were being honest. What I needed was a distraction.
Nat still hadn’t moved from my hold. “I can’t believe you—”
I pulled my hands from the muck. A loud slurping sound followed before I ran my hands to the small of her back.
The squeak she let out as I found skin would have been precious had it not been coming from her.
Her eyes widened as she took in what I assumed was a smirk on my face.
And the rare moment of silence from her lips was broken as she purposely moved her hand in the mud and rubbed it on my biceps.
Joke was on her. I was already covered in it anyway.
But when she’d done the deed and should have been stopping, she kept rubbing them, looking down before realizing what she was doing and letting my arm go.
Her gaze raised to mine, almost apologetically, but I didn’t wait for her to take it back.
I lost all sense of reason, cupped her face, and pressed my lips to hers.
I would have expected some hesitancy, maybe even resistance, and a push away from either of us as we realized what had been done, but I was met with instant surrender.
Nat leaned down, and my head met the ground again as she moved her mouth against mine, melting into me, begging for more.
Her pillowy lips were soft as silk, just like I’d imagined.
Because I’d dreamed about crushing my lips to her more times than I’d like to admit.
Nat leaned into my touch, and when we pulled apart, staring at each other, she closed the distance once more, extending this euphoric sensation of what I’d imagined kissing her might be like. And there was definitely nothing better.
And when I rolled us over so her back was in the mud, she didn’t complain.
No, she raised her thigh around me and allowed me to grind into her.
There was no hiding the effect she had on me, and I didn’t care anymore.
She smelled of flowers, expensive and luxurious.
She didn’t belong in the mud, making out with a man like me, but she’d softly whimpered when we kissed again, so maybe she was fine with it.
Her back arched slightly, and she kept hold of me.
My hand went up her other thigh until I reached the hem of her shorts, longing to be beneath them, but I squeezed her thigh instead, having the sense not to try anything further.
Her fingers tightened around my arm ever so slightly, and I wondered if she’d try to break the mood or extend it.
I gave her a moment to end this, to pull back.
Only she didn’t move away. Nat pulled me closer.
The place didn’t matter. The mud clinging to our skin didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were lost in each other.
And when I pulled away from her, she didn’t glare or shy away. She stared into my eyes, breathing heavily, just like me.