Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Just trees, more trees, round the bend and yep, more trees.
This goes on for a couple of hours or so. While we all started out eagerly traipsing down the road when we got past the dying deer, now we’ve all slowed down. Everyone is dragging their feet and yawning. Silas starts to cry and begs for his dad to carry him.
“I can’t feel my hands,” Elise gripes, her voice carrying all the way from the front of the group to where we are in the back. “We’re going to die on this road.”
Though I know we all feel the same, I can’t let everyone fall into that line of thinking. They’ll give up and we’ve got too far to go to give up.
“We’ll stop soon,” I assure her. “As soon as we find a place suitable to camp.”
She makes a huff of displeasure but doesn’t argue. Once we’re back on our way, Tyler nudges me with his shoulder.
“When we stop, want to share a tent?” He looks over at me and then laughs at my lifted brow. “What? You’re warm. I’m not trying to get fresh with you.”
At this, I smirk. “Sure, man, sure.”
He elbows me and I grin at him. This earns me a bright smile in return. My first instinct is to shy away from the idea of sharing a tent with this good-looking younger man because my employees and the others in my group will be witnesses to it. But the more time I spend with Tyler, the more I realize I don’t give a damn.
Life, apparently, is too short.
You have to take all the pleasure in it while you can.
Sharing a tent would be an absolute pleasure, too. Would we just hold each other? Would we play tic-tac-toe? Or would we do more?
Kiss. Touch. Put our mouths all over each other.
I thicken uncomfortably in my pants. Now’s not the time to think about having sex with Tyler. Hell, later, in the tent really isn’t the time either. Surviving this shit show should be my primary focus.
And yet…
I can’t help but wonder what sort of bedroom antics he likes. He’s younger and slightly smaller than me, but that doesn’t necessarily make us compatible in bed. Maybe he likes to top. And I’m no bottom. This attraction could be snuffed out as soon as we zip up our tent and act on it.
Then what?
Will things be awkward?
Will he leave my side to stand by his brothers?
I hate the roiling in my gut at that thought. I’ve become attached to Tyler as if I’ve known him my whole life, not just for a matter of days. Allowing distance to be put between us over something as silly as sexual positions sounds like torture.
There will definitely be no sex happening.
I can’t lose him. Not when I need him so fucking badly.
As if tuned into my thoughts, he shoots me a curious stare. He reaches back to take my hand. His skin is icy, but with our hands gripping each other, they both quickly warm.
His easy, affectionate touch is all I need. I’m certainly not risking losing it over hooking up.
But, God, I’d love to pin him beneath me and kiss him breathless.
“Look!” Elise yells, her voice piercing the quiet night. “A hot spring! Look at the steam!”
She runs ahead, the wind whipping her dark hair around in violent circles.
“Elise,” I call out after her. “Slow down.”
“Don’t worry, Kellen, I’m not going to drink it. I’m just going to warm my hands up.”
We all trot after her, eager to also put our hands in the hot spring. Hell, maybe even our feet, too. She reaches the steaming pool on the side of the road before any of us. I get a whiff of something peculiar.
Elise drops to her knees, grinning back at us before she dips her hands into the water. The horrified howl that escapes next has us all staring at her in confusion. Her face twists into one of pain as she jerks her hands back. She looks at her shaking hands and then starts screaming at the top of her lungs.
I charge forward, hot on Aaron’s heels. When we make it to her, we quickly take in the scene. Her hands are something out of a horror show. They sizzle and steam as the flesh erodes and falls away in chunks. This causes her screaming to turn shriller and she begins flailing. Before we can stop her, she flings more bloody tissue from her hands all over the ground around her.
What the hell just happened?
“Stay back,” Aaron yells to our group. “Something’s wrong with the water. It’s turned to acid.”
Elise’s wails are cut short when she passes out, no doubt from the horror and pain, and her head hits the ground with an audible thump. Tyler shows up in an instant beside me, already pulling his first aid kit from his backpack. He squats beside her to inspect her hands.