Chapter 18
Gwen
Iwaited until the sky had turned gray and the wolf boys had swum away to ask Sabine how long she had left on her shift.
She looked at her waterproof watch. “Forty-five minutes.” A distant roll of thunder sounded overhead. “Unless that storm gets any closer.”
Faith, who was halfway lifting herself onto the dock, lowered herself back down. “You know . . . ,” Faith hedged in an incredibly conspicuous way. “I think I’ll swim back now. You two have fun.”
She flashed me a shit-eating grin, gave me a thumbs-up, and started heading back to shore.
“I don’t think we’ll be long after you,” Sabine called as she frowned up at the clouds.
“I’ll need to pack up the life jackets and paddles before the storm blows them into the lake,” she said to herself.
“I’ve been asking Dagmar to spell them to stay put, but she doesn’t think it’s necessary.
Of course, we haven’t had such a stormy month at Lake Nevermore in my lifetime. ”
“Come on.” I tugged her by the wrist. “I’ll help you.”
Her hand covered mine for a second, holding my skin to hers. “I really wish we weren’t out in the open right now.”
Even though she was wearing sunglasses, I knew the exact glint that would be in her eyes.
“Because of the storm?”
With a grumble, she released me and spun to check the forest lining the lake. “Among other things,” she said in a way that had my gut clenching.
She climbed down the ladder into the lake, and I swam after her back to shore. In the short distance to the lakeside, the sky darkened until everything was cast in an eerie shadow. By the time we got to the shallows, thunder was rolling in and the skies opened, a deluge of rain pouring down.
“Change of plans!” Sabine shouted to be heard over the rain. “We take cover until the storm passes.”
“We’re already wet. Why don’t we just finish packing things away?” I called back as I started gathering up life jackets. A few caught the sudden breeze and flew into the water just as lightning flashed overhead.
“Leave them!” Sabine called when I moved to grab them.
“Seriously, I don’t mind—”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Get over here!”
“What?”
Sabine grabbed me by the arm and yanked me toward the boat shed. “They don’t have lightning storms in the city?”
“You’re worried about being struck by lightning?” I guffawed as she practically dragged me inside.
“No skyscrapers here, Gwen.” Waterfalls poured off the tin roof of the boat shed, framing the doorway of rusting corrugated iron. “You should take it seriously. One of the pumpkin monsters got hit at camp last year, and it took five witches to put him back together, Humpty Dumpty style.”
“You know, sometimes I think this whole place is a fever dream,” I muttered as we stumbled inside and Sabine shut the door behind me.
I leaned against the closed door, still dripping from the rain and lake water.
Sabine’s face was only inches from mine, the storm so loud I couldn’t hear anything but its drumming on the tin roof above. I searched Sabine’s eyes as she tucked a wet strand of auburn hair behind her ear.
Without thinking, I grabbed her and spun her around, pinning her to the door. The barest smile curved her lips as I bent my head and kissed her. The downpour drowned out any sound of pleasure between us, but the vibration on my lips drove me wild.
I wanted to devour her, but I pulled back.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble.” My brows knit together as I searched her face. “I know you want this to be your last year, and if we get found out . . .”
Her lips parted as she shook her head, her eyes dipping to my mouth. “What’s one more year?” she asked breathlessly before she grabbed me by the back of my neck and pulled my mouth back to hers.
Relief and heat flooded through me in equal measure as my hands roved over her wet body.
She was perfectly soft, with gentle curves over lean muscle.
The fresh scent of rain and lake water wafted around us as the storm slowed.
A mix of coconut sunscreen, the peaches and cream of her shampoo, and the warmth of her skin drowned out the rest of the world.
Suddenly, I could only focus on the way her arms gripped me.
I bet she was into rock climbing, judging by her forearms.
I had quite a few other ideas of how she could give those forearms a workout . . .
I pressed into her tighter at the thought, my tongue dipping into her mouth.
Heat streaked through me as lightning flashed through the window.
A pounding on the door stopped us.
“For fuck’s sake,” I grumbled, so desperately turned on that I didn’t think I could survive being pulled away.
“Sabine!” Dagmar barked, and I saw the sudden panic on her face.
Instinctively, I darted to the other side of the boat shed and hid behind a kayak leaning against the far wall.
The storm had already started to ebb, leaving just as quickly as it had come, and I prayed to the goddess that Dagmar didn’t hear my panting breath and racing heart.
I heard the door creak open and Sabine stepped out, letting it thwack loudly behind her.
Dagmar’s words were garbled, something about taking the boat out to pick up the things washed into the lake during the storm.
“Fine, I’ll do the fixing spell if you really can’t handle it,” I heard Dagmar mutter.
I balled my hands into fists and had half a mind to storm out there and give the head witch a piece of my mind. Nobody fucked with people I cared about. I let out the tiniest growl and poof! The buoy next to me turned into a toad.
“Seriously?” I whisper-hissed at the unblinking toad. “Why can’t I have cool magic, like flying on a broomstick?”
Sabine and Dagmar’s voices faded before I could hear more of their conversation, but it sounded like they were laughing, so at least I didn’t have to go hex a powerful witch for insulting my crush.
It didn’t surprise me that Sabine knew how to handle Dagmar.
She was the epitome of charming, after all.
I lifted a hand to my swollen lips, a chuckle escaping them as I floated toward the door.
Maybe summer camp wasn’t so bad after all.