37. Daisy
DAISY
ABOUT TWO MONTHS LATER
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m coming?” Violet asks as Jordan drives us up the winding road.
It’s a rare weekend he has off from practice and games, and we’re camping on top of Mount Loken. Liam and Cole are meeting us there. Jenkins, too, with a girl he just started dating, Taylor. I haven’t met her, but Jordan says she’s nice and that I’ll like her.
“Yes,” I say for at least the third time since we left.
“I feel like I’m intruding on a couple’s getaway.”
“It’s going to be a blast,” I promise.
Jordan looks at her in the rearview mirror. “Jenkins has an extra tent.”
“Good because, no offense, but I don’t want to hear you banging my cousin.”
“None taken.” He looks back out to the road. “I plan to bang her a lot. Loudly.”
Vi scrunches up her nose, and I give Jordan a playful smack on the arm.
Our friends were all busy this weekend. Dahlia had a golf tournament and Jane flew home to visit family. Violet decided camping was a better option than staying at home by herself. But just barely.
We’re the first to arrive at the campsite. Jordan pitches our tent while Violet and I unload the rest of the stuff.
Liam and Cole show up next, and then Jenkins arrives. From the passenger side, a girl who I assume must be Taylor gets out, and then the back door opens. I yelp.
“What?” Violet asks.
I stare at Gavin unfolding himself from the small car and stretching. He scans the campsite and spots us.
I can’t make words come out of my mouth, but when he waves, I lift my hand to reciprocate.
Violet swivels around, and I watch her expression slowly morph from confusion to shock to anger.
“What the hell is he doing here?”
“I don’t know,” I say quickly. “I promise. I had no idea he was coming. Jordan said he had a date or something.”
Her eyes blaze with uncontained frustration. “Lucky girl. She dodged a bullet.”
“Do you want to go? I can ask Jordan to take us back, or maybe Uber comes up here.”
She shoots me a doubtful look. We’re more than thirty minutes from Valley, and reception is sketchy.
“It’s fine,” she says, and goes back to moving stuff out of Jordan’s SUV. “He isn’t running me off. I was here first. I’ll just avoid him for the next forty-eight hours.”
When camp is set up, Jordan, Vi, and I go for a hike. Violet is taking pictures with her phone from the overlook. Jordan and I walk farther down the trail, where it narrows and drops. A big rock perches next to us, but it’s too steep for me to climb.
“I think I’m good here.” I stop, and he takes a step, tugging me behind him closer to the dropoff.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He grabs me by the waist and lifts me onto the rock. His hand goes to my ass, steadying me while I crawl to the middle and sit. He’s right behind me and sits beside me. Valley is off in the horizon.
“I feel so insignificant up here.”
“Not to me.” He bumps his shoulder against mine and takes off the backpack he was wearing.
He hands me his water bottle and then unzips the backpack.
“Got anything good in there?” I ask. All the hiking made me hungry.
He pulls out chips, beef jerky, and then with a grin, a candy necklace.
I take it from him and put it on. His eyes flash with desire as I nibble on a candy bead.
“I brought this too.” He hands me my sketchbook and pencils.
I flip it open eagerly. When I packed it for the weekend, I imagined getting up early and sketching while he was still sleeping or maybe when he was off doing stuff with the guys. “What about you?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I know how to keep myself occupied.” He moves my hair away from my neck and places a kiss just above my new candy accessory. His teeth wrap around my necklace, and goosebumps dot my arms.
I don’t get very much sketching done.
Later at camp, we grill burgers and hot dogs, and then gather around a small fire. Jenkins brought a speaker and plays music while the eight of us share stories and roast marshmallows.
Violet sits next to me with her knees pulled up to her chest. She’s managed to mostly avoid Gavin today, but I can tell she’s still feeling his presence. He’s quieter than normal, too, drinking from a bottle of Jager that never leaves his hand.
“We should play cards or something,” Liam says.
“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” Vi says.
“Your bag is still in the SUV,” Jordan says, and tosses her the keys.
“Thanks.” She lets her head fall on my shoulder. “See you in the morning.”
“Night.”
She retrieves her bag from Jordan’s vehicle, then takes it with her to the bathrooms not far off on the main grounds.
Liam grabs a deck of cards from his tent, and we move our chairs closer together.
“Don’t deal me in on this one,” Gavin says. “I’m going for a walk.”
He stands with his bottle dangling from his fingers.
“Are you good?” Jenkins asks him. “Want some company?”
He gives his head a shake. “All good. Probably heading to bed after. Which tent is mine?”
I nuzzle closer to Jordan as Jenkins gets Gavin squared away on the sleeping arrangements.
“I think I might be ready for bed too,” Jordan whispers in my ear and hooks a finger around my necklace.
He’s been nibbling on it all day. Slowly, and a little bit torturous.
He kisses my neck, leaving a trail of warm kisses along my skin. He slides a hand under the bottom of my sweatshirt, and his cold fingers travel up until he finds the hook of my bra. It gives under his touch, and he brings a palm around to cover my breast.
“Jordan?” Liam’s voice interrupts our makeout sesh like it isn’t the first time he’s said his name.
My boyfriend doesn’t move his hand but looks up. “Yeah?”
Liam chuckles. “Are you two playing?”
Jordan deflects the question to me with a glance.
“One game.”
We settle on Fuck the Dealer with a minimum ten-second drink wager.
Jordan has the deck, and Liam is up. I’m nuzzled into my boyfriend’s side, giving me a view of the cards as he places them on the table.
Liam gets the first two wrong. He glances at me before he decides on his final card.
It’s a nine, and the last card was an eight, and I can see the hesitation on his face.
Moving my other hand just above the table, I point my thumb up.
“Higher,” he says.
Jordan flips the card with a groan, and Liam grins as we count to ten while Jordan drinks. Cole goes next, and I do the same thing, forcing Jordan to drink for ten more seconds. Taylor isn’t playing, but Jenkins guesses the right suit on the very first card, no cheating needed.
“Fuck.” Jordan finishes off his beer with another long chug.
“The dealer,” I say with a smirk. “My turn.”
Jordan angles his body to keep me from seeing the cards.
Liam gets up to get another beer as Jordan shuffles and lays out three for me.
I do not have the same good luck as Jenkins, but when Jordan flips over the third card, a five, Liam lifts both arms like he’s stretching and gives me a thumbs down with his right hand.
Jordan catches me looking at Liam and follows my gaze. Liam doesn’t drop his hand fast enough. He tries to play it off, but that nice guy smile turns into a devious smirk.
“You,” Jordan says, tossing the cards down. He stands and looks at me, jaw dropped. “And you. My own girlfriend. You’re totally going to pay for that.” He grabs me around the waist and lifts me over his shoulder.
“Nice playing with you,” he says dryly before hustling off toward our tent.
“Sorry, man,” Liam calls after him. “Don’t go. We’ll play nice.”
Jordan smacks my ass before setting me on our blankets inside the tent.
“I can’t believe you, sweet Daisy.” He pulls his sweatshirt over his head.
“I’m sorry. We can go back, and I promise I won’t cheat.”
“Oh, please cheat, baby. It’ll make it sweeter when I torture you until you scream my name so loud the entire campsite hears you.”
He crawls on top of me, sliding one hand back under my sweatshirt and my still unhooked bra. The material bunches up around my chest, and he pushes it higher, forcing me to raise my arms. He leaves me tangled in my sweatshirt and bra with my hands above my head.
He goes to work removing my jeans while I try to wriggle the rest of the way out of my sweatshirt and bra. I’m not as successful as him, and when his mouth covers my pussy, I stop caring that my arms are restrained.
I arch into him, and he brings me to the brink of orgasm, body trembling. A scream outside stops us both.
“Was that Violet?” I ask, scrambling on my hands and knees to unzip the tent.
My heart is racing as I stick my head out to check on my friend. She’s two tents down, hair piled into a bun on top of her head and in sleep shorts and a tank top yelling at a shirtless Gavin.
“What the hell?” she screeches. “This is my tent.”
“No, this is my tent,” he replies.
The rest of our camp has gathered to see what the yelling is about.
Violet and Gavin both look to Jenkins. He rubs at his jaw and fights a smile. “Yeah, sorry, I forgot.”
“You forgot?!” Violet’s eyes are wild as she narrows them at him. “Forgot what?”
“I promised you the tent before I knew that Gavin was coming, but it’s actually his tent.”
“See?” Gavin says, and pushes past her back inside the tent.
“Oh no, get out of there.” Her voice trails off as she follows him.
Jordan chuckles and kisses my shoulder. “Well, that’s going to be interesting.”
“I should probably go check on her.”
“In a minute,” he says. “You haven’t finished fucking the dealer.”