I squeeze my hands, itching to check him over. “Can . . . can I come see you?” I ask.
“Here?” he asks in surprise. “It’s a fifty-minute drive.”
“Doesn’t matter. If it’s okay with you and Red, I’d like to come.”
He relays my question to Red, and she immediately agrees. I smile into the phone as I cradle it to my ear, my exhaustion fading away.
“We don’t have any power out here for your laptop,” Ricky warns me. “But if you’re coming, you may as well bring a sleeping bag and pillow.”
I chuckle. “For what? A sleepover? Sounds like school days.”
“Yeah.” His wistful tone squeezes my heart.
Is it too much to hope I’m not the only one missing our friendship?
Ricky clucks his tongue. “I mean, you’ll probably have to bail Zack out of trouble in the morning, anyway.”
I laugh. “Good point. I’ll grab my charging bank, but the other gear is still at your apartment.”
“Well, if you’re swinging by, can you grab some other stuff for me?”
Warmth swells through me. “Yes, anything you need.” Anything at all.
An hour and a half later, I pull over in the dark on the verge near Laversham’s Alpha Lodging prison. The OCB campervan door flies open, and I shield my eyes from the glare of aflashlight. “It’s just Callisto,” I call, pleased to find the agents on high alert.
“Evening,” Agent Josef says, swishing the light away. “Everything good?”
“Yeah, just came to drop a few things off.” I open the trunk and fill my arms with clothes and sleeping gear. “Brought you guys some donuts, too.”
“I knew you were my favorite lawyer,” he crows, making me laugh. He grabs the top box off my pile and glances at the second. “Bribes for everyone, I see.”
“An alpha’s gotta try,” I say before turning to the tent. I don’t want to hang around to see the pity in his gaze.
Rickon unzips the tent flap, holding it wide open so I can duck inside. “Welcome to our humble abode,” he quips.
“Well, this is cozy,” I say.
A string of globes hang from the peak, illuminating the interior, and judging by the cord disappearing through a flap in the wall, the lights must be solar-powered. Faint light from the prison gates glows through one side of the canvas, adding to the ambiance. The tent stretches into a sizeable space, suited for eight people perhaps, with a mattress on the floor to one side and a table with some cooking gear on the other.
“Portaloo’s out the back,” Rickon declares, unloading the stuff in my arms. “Be careful you don’t trip over the strings and pegs when you go out.”
Red sits on the bed, headphones nesting over her ears. As I step closer, her nostrils flare and her eyes snap open to meet mine. The sleepy little smile she flashes turns my heart to goo. The omega wears her hair in a messy bun with loose strands spilling around her face, and a cotton tank top hugs her curves. One strap slides carelessly down her arm as she waves from her cozy bundle of pillows and sleeping bags. In fact, this is the mostnest-like I’ve ever seen her. It’s sweet and natural, a far softer picture of her than I’ve witnessed before.
The omega finds the pause button on her phone and slips the headphones off. “Hi, stranger.”
My heart stings. I want to pull her into my arms after that greeting, but I restrain myself. Red’s not mine to hold however I like—and Zack asked me not to.
“Hi, Red,” I murmur, the words far from adequate. I hold up my sleeping bag. “Thought I’d join the camping crew tonight, if that’s okay?” I glance around, noting only one mattress.
Red slides over to the edge and pats beside her. “For sure, but I hope you don’t mind roughing it. We’ll squeeze in here.”
“Not so rough anymore since he brought donuts,” Rickon says, offering her the box.
Red makes grabby fingers and balances the tray on her knees. “So much yes!” she cries, lifting the lid and inhaling. “Damn, these smell amazing!”
I return her smile. “Thought you might like a taste of civilization.”
“I like the way you think.” Red takes a huge bite of a chocolate iced donut and groans. “So good!” She chews some more and then shakes her head. “Zack would go mental over these.”
