“You?” She snorted, but she wasn’t looking at me anymore. Her head was down, and she was ripping a stick apart. Hell. She was shredding it, and then she threw the little pieces on the fire.

“Me or someone else you trust. I can’t leave you out here. The man in me won’t let me.”

“The man in you needs to take several seats down.”

Okay. I grinned. That was funny.

She glanced up, saw my grin, and smiled before she looked back down. “I’ve been camping for years. It’s something I did with my brother.”

Her brother.

I remembered—those movie producers were Nate Monson’s parents.

“You mean Nate?”

She stiffened before looking at me. “You know about my older brother?”

I shrugged. “I just put it together. Zeke’s obsessed with your brother’s best friend, so I hear those names quite a bit.”

The blood drained from her face. “You haven’t said anything to him about me, have you?”

I shook my head. “You want a drink?” I grabbed for some ice in that weird trash can/cooler thing.

She shook her head, then stopped. “Yeah.” She sighed. “You make me need to drink.”

I grinned, handing her mine. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She took the cup, making sure to avoid touching my fingers, and I wiggled my eyebrows, letting her know I was aware of what she’d done. Then I gave her a cocky smirk and she flushed, pulling the drink away.

After I poured myself a second cup, I moved to the chair, but that didn’t seem right. She was on the ground, so I eased down too, sitting close enough that my knee could touch hers if I wanted.

I sipped my drink. “I’ve not said anything to Zeke, but he’s going to ask me. He knows I took off tonight, so he’ll be up in my business, wanting to know where I went, who I was with—all that shit, just to warn you.”

“And you have to tell him?”

I thought a moment. “Zeke can be a douchebag, but he’s been a good friend to me. Doesn’t feel right to totally lie to him.” Alarm moved across her face. “But I won’t say shit about your family. And I could give two shits who your brother is or who he’s friends with.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders sagged. “Thank you.”

I nodded, watching her lips as she took a sip of her drink.

My dick twitched, and I tried to ignore that.

“Good?” I asked.

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” She went back to watching the fire. “Nate’s not the brother I used to go camping with.”

I watched her and sipped my drink. I could do this all night long, and it would be a great fucking night. This level of contentment was alien to me, but I wasn’t thinking about that crap. I just listened.

“We had another brother—Owen…” She stopped, looking down.

A moment.

Her voice grew hoarse. “Owen and I camped together.”

That was it. That was all.

Didn’t need to read between the lines to figure out something had happened to Owen.

“That’s why you go camping?”

She nodded, her tone tight. “I usually ‘feel’ him, if that makes sense.”

I raised my eyebrows. “That frustrates you?”

“Well, this time I’ve not been feeling him. Does it make me crazy that I’m pissed about that?” Her voice took on a distant tone. “Camping’s like air to me. I need it to... I just need it.” Her eyes found mine, hardening. “You can’t take that away from me. I won’t let you.”

I held her gaze, reading a promise there. It hit me that she could disappear. She could easily pack up and take off, and I’d not know where she was until she decided to show up.

Well, fuck.

That just meant I had to sneak another app on her phone, ’cause if it came to that, she’d delete the other one.

I nodded. “Got it.” Yeah, right. She wasn’t going camping alone, not ever again. Was I an extra asshole for worrying about her? Who were the assholes that knew she did this and let her go? ’Cause they were the real assholes.

But she seemed appeased and nodded, lifting her drink again. “Thank you.” Then she frowned. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

I gave her a crooked grin. “Hiding. Same shit as you.”

ASPEN

I jolted when he said that.

Hiding.

Yeah, I was hiding, I guess. I was hiding from school, from my parents. I was hiding from being alone at the house. But I wasn’t only hiding. Who was this guy to come in and declare that I couldn’t do it anymore? He was the dick I’d heard stories about, that’s who. He wasn’t God. He didn’t get to decide these things about my life. He wasn’t my dad or my brother.

I mean, yeah, we’d kissed, and those were some amazing kisses, but that was it.

Were we even friends?

I had no clue.

All I knew was I was confused.

I’d been doing my own thing and then bam, Blaise DeVroe was in my life in a big way. He was at my campsite. That was about as big as it got for me, and he was here, shoving his weight around.

I sighed.

I missed Owen.

Why wasn’t I feeling my brother? It always happened when I went camping.

He’d abandoned me, and Owen was the one that never abandoned me.

I was nuts. That was the only answer for this. But I wasn’t. I was fine. It was normal to do something you’d enjoyed with a loved one to carry on the tradition, and with the idea that they were still with you, just on the other side. I wasn’t crazy for believing in that stuff. There were enough signs when Owen was around—like his favorite song coming on the radio or hearing his voice say my name.

“What are you thinking about over there, weird girl?” Blaise tossed a piece of bark at me.

I frowned, tossing it on the fire. “Don’t call me that.”

“Weird girl?”

“It’s insulting.”

“Okay.” He smirked. “How about Hottie? Hottie with the legs? Legs?”

I tried to glare at him, but I kinda liked the names.

“What?” he mocked, grinning. “Want me to go with Colorado? Colo? Asp? That sounds weird.”

“How about just Aspen?”

“Nah. I’ll go with Colorado. Or I can go with Tree? Birch?” His grin turned wicked, and I could almost imagine the next word to come out of him.

I held up a finger. “If you dare call me a female dog, I will slice your tires when you’re sleeping tonight.”

He paused, holding my gaze, weighing my words.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I think you’d actually do that.”

“Don’t mess with the Birch Lady.”

And he was back to grinning. “Noted. I will forever fear the Colorado Tree Lady.”

I grunted. “Damn right.”

Then he laughed. “Man, you’re a trip.”

I smiled too, but his laugh abruptly stopped, and he pulled out his phone.

He swiped over the screen and sighed audibly. “I gotta handle this. My mom’s throwing a fit.” The screen lit up, and he hit a button, putting it next to his ear. “Mom.”

A pause.

“I’m hanging out with friends.” More silence, then a small growl. “Don’t even start with that. Mom! Mom.” He stood, his drink in one hand and the phone in the other. “I swear to God, Mom.” He stopped, his head falling back to look at the sky. His voice rose. “I didn’t ask him to come out here. I don’t want him here. That douchebag’s not here for me. He’s here for you. He’s sniffing around you, hearing you’re shacked up with your real baby daddy. I’m the goddamn excuse, and I ain’t dealing with it. Let’s go back to New York. Let’s pretend we’re back there, and the same shit would be happening. You and him are fighting about stuff that’s got nothing to do with me, and I’m gone. I’m not even in the house, and here you are calling me, trying to get me to come back, so you and him have a reason to be fighting. He doesn’t want you, but he doesn’t want to let you go either. It’s called a toxic relationship. I’m eighteen. I’ve got my own money. You’ve got nothing to ‘make me’ come back, so I’m not coming. As long as he’s there, I ain’t.” He stopped, listening again. Then his next words came out softer. “I know you’re hurting. He cheated on you, but I knew he was going to decide he wanted another go with you. That’s why I was going out there this summer. I wanted to see what he was going to do to mess with you. I can’t imagine what Stephen is thinking, and Stephen seems like a decent guy. Don’t let Griffith get in there and damage what you have with Stephe—” He stopped.

I could hear a female voice speaking on the other end.

He gave another sigh. “Mom. Mom, listen to me. No.” A pause. “I’m not coming back tonight. I told you, I’m with friends. Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t let him sleep there, Mom. I mean it. If he’s sleeping there when I get back tomorrow, I’m going to beat his ass. I’m telling you what I’ll do.”

They kept talking, but some of the fight had left him, and after a few more minutes where he was just silent and listening to her, they hung up.