The Camp (6 page)

“Emma.” I replied, turning my attention back to Steph as she managed to climb back down with one hand. God that seemed dangerous.

“Next time it’s your turn.” She grinned, walking over to me.

“No way.” I shook my head and grabbed the cereal
bar, while she handed Sam the granola bar. “But I’ll always be down here waiting for you.”

The wind began gusting again
, and I realized it would be impossible to eat at one of the tables that we were standing next to, even though it was only a lousy cereal bar.

“Things aren’t as they normally are with the storm and everything.” Steph said as we walked back toward our tents.

“How so?”

“Usually
everything is very structured…up at a certain hour, eating, and then off to do chores or service in the field. I’m gonna go grab my bag and meet you in your tent, if you don’t mind.”

“Sounds great to me.”

I made my way through the tight space between my tent and Liam’s and fought the worry that was creeping through me. Why did he have to go play hero and why wouldn’t he have told me?

I sat down on my
sleeping bag and ripped into my cereal bar, polishing it off before Steph even arrived. I slid open the bear proof disposal bag and stuck my wrapper inside and closed it back up. That was going to be really annoying for the next few days.

Steph finally arrived and tossed her sleeping bag and pillow inside the tent just as a huge downpour began
.

“I’m really worried about him,” I confessed, looking over at Steph. Judging by the look in her eyes she was too.

“I fully believe in my cousin’s ability,” she stated, but it was more like she was solidifying that thought in her own mind by reciting it.

“Is he armed?” I asked, thinking of all the bear precautions that I was taking just with a food wrapper.

“Most definitely.”

We both snuggled into our respective sleeping bags and listened to the rain
pounding on the tarp outside as we talked incessantly about how stupid it was that he’d left until we both fell fast asleep.

The yelling outside the tent
roused me out of my sleeping bag. I looked over at Steph who was just starting to wake up. I shook her to speed up the process. It seemed pretty dark outside, but I think that was only the storm clouds producing the effect. The shouts were getting louder and coming closer. It sounded like the entire group was at the opposite end of the clearing from where my tent was.

“What’s going on?” she asked, throwing her bag off.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” I slid my boots on and climbed out of the tent, barely waiting for Steph to catch up.

I ran through the maze of tents
. The voices were getting louder as I went until I finally came to the center where we’d had our camp meeting.

There was a crowd congregating and yelling, throwing their fists in the air
, and my body began to fill with terror with every step closer. Did something happen to Liam and they’re all happy about it?

I stopped suddenly as the fear
pulsed through me, and Steph put her hand on my shoulder, paralyzed with the same mounting fear. The disorganized shouting turned into a rhythmic chanting, and I realized that they were now chanting Liam’s name. I ran through the crowd, pushing everyone aside as I made it to the front and what I witnessed shocked me beyond belief.

There was a guy bound and tied to one of the logs we had used as a bench the day before. Liam was complet
ely drenched and muddy, sitting next to the guy. His head was in hands as he looked down at the ground, breathing heavily. I scanned for Luke and Dan, but I didn’t find either of them.

“Liam?” I called quietly at first, but
the chanting from all the guys drowned out my voice so I kept walking, calling his name.

“Emma?”
Liam lifted his head, his brown eyes connecting with mine.

He stood up quickly, smiling at me. There was something different about him
, his eyes. They were more primitive, virile than I was used to seeing as he scanned quickly up and down my body, before holding out his arms.

I ran
around the fire and directly into his arms. He hugged me tightly, bending his head down to mine. His soft lips touching my ear as he held me.

“I told you I’d take
care of the problem,” he whispered, sending chills down my spine. I hugged him back as his words sunk in.

“Thank you,” I whispered
.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, ever.”

C
hapte
r
S
even

“Hey, I want to show you something,” Liam said, grabbing my hand, pulling me through the camp.

“Okay
…” I said surprised, looking behind me back at Steph. I waved at her quickly as Liam pulled me along with him.

We walked
through the camping area and up a trail about fifty feet when I saw something off in the trees.

“What’s that?” I asked. “Is that where we’re going?”

He didn’t say anything but kept hauling me up the trail. The ground was still soggy, and I really didn’t want a repeat of the night before so I was grateful that he held onto me.

As we got closer I saw a building that
looked ancient, with darkened timbers for walls and very few windows. The building itself was fairly large, but there was one big issue that I saw with the structure. It was missing a wall on the side. The conifers towered over the building, but the structure still looked pretty substantial. The roof was completely covered in green moss but that probably helped to keep the water out at this point.

“What was this place?” I asked, looking into the building. There were a few
wooden tables that looked as old as the building, and some large chains and hooks hanging from the ceiling but nothing else inside.

“It’s a smokehouse,” he replied, letting go of my hand as
he motioned for me to follow along the side of the building.

The glass in the
windows rippled showing age, but they were all intact, which I thought was pretty amazing for around here. On the ground, I saw what was probably the missing wall of the building. Vegetation had completely swallowed it whole, with only the worn corners sticking out.

“How old is it?” I asked, staring at the chains that dangled down.
That was definitely creepy.

“From the 1940s.
That wall was actually a sliding door. I’m showing you this because I haven’t been comfortable with the new layout of the camp since I got here, and even though I managed to find the dick who did that to you, we’ve still got the issue of brown bears…” his voice trailed off.

His eyes darkened as he looked back at the building.
There was something else bothering him.

“
I just don’t agree with the new management of this place. I’ve lived up here. I know the dangers, they don’t. No matter how much I tell myself that people go camping on the island and nothing happens, the truth of it is, we do get bear attacks. And it’s usually only the tourists who go camping, not locals. There’s a reason for that.”

“
Huh,” I broke off, not sure what to say. I was hoping to make it a couple more days before I left.

“
We still have another yurt we could put up so we’d have two, and then we could rebuild this section and use this to house people too.”

“You think you could get the guys to help rebuild it?”
I asked.

“That’s what they’re up here to do. We’ve had an odd couple of days because of the weather. But usually all we do is work them, give them responsibility,
and skills to take with them when they leave.”

I shook my head and crossed my arms in front of me. The chill in the air was getting
colder by the minute. “In all honesty, I’d feel better in either a yurt or this compared to my piddly tent.”

“I thought so. Steph would too.
I’ll coordinate with the CLs and hopefully get the guys working on it as soon as the weather lets up.”

“I hope it does. I’d like to see a little bit more of the island before I go back home.” I flashed him a smile and held out my hand.
“Are there more places like this? This is actually kind of creepy.”

The thought of going back home really wasn’t appealing. Having to deal w
ith my stepfather’s taunting or whatever else he conjured up seemed horrible.

He nodded.
“There are abandoned hunting cabins and all sorts of weird things around here. It would be pretty cool to show you around. And some of the stuff is far creepier.”

He began walking toward me and grabbed my hand as we made it back down the hill.

“How did you find him?” I asked, his grip tightened.

“It w
asn’t that difficult, but he wasn’t at his camp when we tracked him down so we had to sit and wait awhile,” he said.

“I wonder where he was
while you guys were waiting?”

Liam shrugged his shoulders as we made it back into the camp.
It was still pretty empty since most people were choosing to huddle in their tents to keep warm and dry. The rain would come on suddenly and by the time anyone made it back to the tent, they’d be drenched. But I liked being outside, mainly because it bought me more time with Liam.

It was going be getting dark soon, and I hoped that Liam would still be willing to stay in my tent
overnight, even though the guy was caught.

“Did you figure out who he was
or why he was doing what he was doing?” I asked.

We sat
on a wooden picnic bench together and Liam turned to face me.

“I grabbed his identification
and Dan called it in. The authorities might be able to track down what flight he came in on and all that stuff.” I could tell he was hiding something. “When they come for you, once the storm is over, he’ll be put on the plane.”

“The same plane as me?” My voice trembled
unexpectedly.

It would make sense, but I guess I didn’t think that far ahead.

“He’ll be restrained. There won’t be any issues,” Liam offered, his eyes narrowing as he watched my reaction. The protectiveness continued to build behind his caramel eyes, and he gently touched my arm that was shaking slightly. I hadn’t even realized it until his finger touched my wrist.

I shook my head.
“That just doesn’t sound appealing. I mean those are small-ass planes, and it was bad enough flying in with these guys.” I motioned around the campground. “And they seem harmless in comparison.”

“I know. I didn’t really want to bring it up, but I though
t I’d better.”

I let out a deep sigh. My life kept getting better and better.

“What’s with that look?” he asked, a ghost of a smile touching his lips.

“I keep hoping my life will turn around soon,” I mumbled.

He reached over and cupped my chin in his hand. “It will. I promise. Once you get to college, you’ll see how quickly things can change. I won’t pretend to understand the kind of shit you’ve had to deal with back home, but it’ll get better once you can distance yourself.”

“Did that happen for you?” I asked, enjoying the tenderness of his touch along my jaw.

He nodded his head. “I actually wouldn’t be coming back to the island at all if it weren’t for this job. After this summer, I don’t even know how long it will be before I come back, if ever.”

Wow.
What’s haunting him back at home?

His hand fell from my face and he turned around, facing the campsite.

“Wanna go sit in front of the fire?” he asked, standing up. “You look like you’re freezing.”

“I’d like that very much.”
I hopped up and followed him, listening to my boots making the soft squishing sound with every step. But this time I was twisting and lifting with each step to make sure I’d make it without getting an Alaskan spa treatment.

“So you really believe things will get better once I get to college?” I questioned, sitting down on one of the logs near the
flames.

Liam was placing more wood on the fire, and spark
s rose with every crackle.

“I do.
” He started grinning an overly cocky grin, and the desire began stirring deep inside me, but then, unexpectedly, so did a bit of jealousy.

I recognized that expression
in his eyes. Carnal desire flickered behind the caramel color, and I flushed realizing he must have been thinking about his conquests over the year. Of course, leave it to a guy to go there first. No wonder he loves college. I mean I couldn’t blame him. As good looking as he was, I couldn’t even imagine the number of girls falling at his feet, but I wanted to imagine myself as one of them — possibly the only one. Knowing I had to get my thoughts on something else less absurd, I flopped my hood over my head and tucked the strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ears.

“So what college do you go to anyway?” I asked.

He strode over to me, sexy confidence bursting with every step, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what drove this abundance of maleness all of a sudden. Maybe it hit him how enamored I was with him or that he managed to capture someone almost singlehandedly, and he was pretty proud of himself.

He sat down next to me, his energy radiating over my body.
The warmth of him spread through me at an unexpected rate. It was hard to even remember what question I had asked as I watched the circle of his lips begin to part. I couldn’t break my stare away as his mouth slowly moved. I was really doing a terrible job of hiding everything. This was definitely not the Emma from back home. I glanced away quickly and stared at the roaring fire. I had to maintain control of myself.

“OSU,” he responded coolly.

I was stunned and there was no hiding it. My jaw dropped and I couldn’t pick it back up again.

I didn’t have to turn to face him to see the smile spreading o
ver his lips as he waited patiently for me to use my words.

“So you’ve known
this whole time that we’d be at the same school?” I pretended to be annoyed but there was no way that was the expression that was happening. I jabbed him in the arm and huffed, but he scooted closer to me. His leg rubbed against mine as his side pressed into me.

“
That definitely gives me something to look forward to,” I teased, getting my bearings.

“I’ll certainly be watching over you,” he warned
, his eyes darkening.

A
part of me felt disappointed. Was he taking on a big brother persona with me?

“I’m sure you’ve got plenty of activities to keep you busy besides worrying about me. Besides, I can completely take care of myself. It’s
just living in bear country that’s a little bothersome and brings out the best in me. I’ll be fine on a campus in Oregon.” I rolled my eyes. “Believe me.”

“I don’t doubt that you’ll be fine on campus. I
only want to make sure that you’re more than fine,” he murmured, bringing his lips close to mine.

Okay
, so maybe it wasn’t the big brother thing. Thank God!

“I think I might like that,” I whispered breathlessly
, unprepared for my reaction to him. Trying to get my wits about me, I moved away from him slightly.

“So do you live on-campus?” I asked, staring at the
flames.

Even though I was trying not to look at him I saw him anchor
his chin on his elbows as he bent over, and the contraction of the muscles in his forearm made my mind go down the Neverland hole again of him holding me and doing so much more.

“I was in the dorm last year, but this year I’m livi
ng off-campus with a bunch of guys.”

“Sounds like a party house.”

“Probably. But I’m not really that into it. I’ve got to keep my GPA up for the scholarships I’m on. But the money from here will pay my part of the housing for the year.”

“That’s cool. I can see why you did it.”

“What about you?”

“I’m in a dorm.”

“Yeah. It’s fun for the first few months, but by the end of the year you’ll want out.”

I laughed and found myself scooting closer to him again.

The CLs were starting the preparations for dinner and most of the guys, including Luke, were completely leaving me alone and were really pleasant when I did interact with them now. I realized that this wasn’t that bad of a place to be, now that the guy was apprehended.

“So remind me again of all the CLs’ names.”

“Dan, Caleb, Dave, and Steph.” He pointed to each of them and caught Steph’s attention. She returned his gesture with a curtsy and continued seasoning something that was in tinfoil. “And it’s Marty’s turn to stare at the guy we captured so he’s not out here.”

“Aw.” I squashed the tiny tremor of fear that wanted to emerge.

“How about if it clears up enough tomorrow I take you to a special spot?” he asked.

There wasn’t any way that I’d want to say no to that offer, and his smile
full of anticipation was enough to melt my core.

“That sounds awesome. What do you have planned?”

“There’s a great lookout point up the hill behind us. I thought it would be cool to show you what you’re missing before you leave.” His mouth turned up in a tempting smile.