Chapter 12
Ethan
“So,” I start, because silence isn’t really my thing. “Do you always bring a guy back to your camper after committing a felony?” I ask, as we walk through the trail to her carving station, like she’s done this a hundred times before.
She glances over at me and scowls. “You’re annoying.”
I huff. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I kick a loose rock on the trail. “And here I thought I was special.”
We walk a little farther until the clearing comes into view, and everything that happened last night hits me like a freight train. The tree. The rope. The body. Everything we did and what we left. My steps slow slightly, and she notices.
She stops to look at me. “You can go back to camp, Ethan. I don’t need your help.”
I shake my head and swallow the lump that’s formed in my throat. “No, no. I’m fine. Let’s go.”
She lets out a breath when we read what’s left of the body and drops her brown bag to the ground. “Okay. This is the part that you do exactly as you’re told, or you go back to camp.”
I nod. “Copy.”
She takes out a saw and lays it on the table alongside a pair of cutting shears. “We will need to dismantle the bones so that we can scatter them in the forest. This is going to require burying them. Are you up for that?”
I shrug. Sounds easy enough. “Sure. Want me to start digging the holes?”
She looks at me for a moment and then nods. “That would make this go faster, yes.”
She hands me a folded-up shovel from her bag, and I walk into the tree line a bit before shoving it in the dirt. I make sure the hole is deep enough that no animals will know there is a bone under the dirt.
“Here, spread this over the bones once you place them inside; it will help mask the smell,” she hands me a bag of quicklime and heads back to where she was working.
I place the first bone inside my hole and spread the mixture over top of it before shoveling more dirt over top of that.
By the time we are done, it’s nearly lunch time, and surprisingly, I’m starving.
I lean against a nearby tree as Kayla packs up her tools and folds up her table. She hands me her bag as she walks near, and we head back toward camp.
“I guess I should go check in with Jared and them. They are probably wondering where I’ve run off to.”
She stops mid-step as we make it to the main trail. “You going to rat me out now? Run over to your family and tell them about the big bad monster you’ve encountered?” Her voice sounds serious, but I can see the smile plastered on her face.
I step into her, walking her back until she is pressed against the tree. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” I lean down and kiss her neck, running my tongue against her skin.
She presses against my chest. “You sure. Now is your chance. You could be free of me.”
I yank her to me, running my hand to the back of her hair and tugging on it lightly. “What if I don’t want to be free of you. What if I want to have my way with you right now? What if…”
Voices come from down the trail, and I quickly let her go, giving us both a once-over before people see us. We look normal. No blood or body parts on us. We should be safe.
“There you are!” Avery’s voice comes from where she, Jared, and Susie-May all walk hand in hand down the main trail. They are up early.
Susie-May releases her mother’s hand once she gets around ten feet away and rushes up to me, letting me pull her into a hug. “Hey, Uncle Ethan. You didn’t do bedtime stories last night,” she frowns at me, and my heart melts. I forgot all about that.
I kiss her cheek and rest her back on the ground. “I’m sorry, kiddo,” I run my fingers through her hair. “I promise to do it tonight.”
She holds out her pinky. “Pinky swear?”
I latch onto her finger and nod. “Pinky swear.”
Jared stands behind his woman, giving me a look that says, “You got laid last night, didn’t you?
” I give him a sheepish grin as I let my tousled hair flip to the side.
He has known me my entire life. He knows when I’m in a happy mood.
He just shakes his head as he grabs his wife’s arm and steers her away from us.
“See you back at camp,” he says over his shoulder, and the trio walks out of sight.
When I turn back toward Kayla, she is quiet. Almost too quiet. Her expression isn’t even readable right now. “What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. I just… I don’t know, they didn’t even ask questions. They were just worried about you, nothing more.”
I tilt my head. “Yeah, they’re my family. Isn’t that what family is supposed to do?”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure. I’ve been alone for so long, I’m not sure I know what that looks like anymore.”
My heart aches for her. To know that she sits at home, alone, in silence, and has no one to share anything with. Even if her… hobby is weird as hell. Still, it brings her joy, and for some reason, that brings me joy too.
“Where do you live?”
Her eyes widen. “Why, so you can call the cops and send them my way once we leave here?”
I scoff. “When are you going to trust the fact that I’m not here to hurt you, Kayla?”
Her face deadpans. “Everyone always wants something from me, Ethan. I just haven’t figured out what you want yet.” She lets out a breath and heads toward camp, leaving me staring at the back of her.