“It looks great,” I said, turning and taking in the camp. He’d set up a hammock between two trees, had the cooler sitting next to the picnic table, had the picnic table bursting with a bunch of unpacked things, and two Sasquatch Inc. camping chairs were set up by the fire pit. I pulled up my camera from my neck and snapped a picture of the chairs.
“One tent down. One to go,” I said, turning back to him. “Is that the only thing left?” Caspian’s eyes widened slightly and he looked off towards the trees. “Cas?” I asked in suspicion.
“Well, you see I forgot to pack my tent.”
“You forgot to pack a tent… for camping?” I looked at him in disbelief. His rich brown eyes settled on me.
“Silly me, being so forgetful,” he said with a taunting smirk and smoldering eyes. I felt things tighten low in my body and swallowed.
“You loser. What are we supposed to do?” I asked, shoving him playfully. He stumbled slightly and his smirk grew to a full smile.
“It means, dear stepsister—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“That we’re sharing a tent,” he finished. I groaned then eyed my tent. It wastechnicallya two-person. However, that didn’t account for personal space. Two bodies could fit in there for sure, pressed up tight like little sardines holding each other in a tin can.
I couldn’t handle that. Not with him.
“Sleep in the SUV. We’ll put down the back seats.” Caspian’s smile turned to a look of offense.
“Seriously?” He asked, eyes boring into mine.
“Yeah?” I said in confusion. He made a frustrated groan towards the sky and stomped off. He moved down the little campground road, heading towards the bathroom building.
Then it was just me and nature. A nice silence intermingled with the sound of birds chirping and leaves rustling. Caspian was acting weird but that was pretty typical. Eccentricity was part of his package.
He didn’t really want to be all squished up together in the tent, did he? I’d likely embarrass myself if we were forced to have our bodies pressed tight in a hot tent.
I imagined us in our sleeping bags together in the dark, his teasing voice making jokes as I felt his large body behind mine.
“You love your stepbrother, don’t you?” He’d joke, his fingers scratching into my scalp, moving my hair away from my ear. “Want to show me how much you love me?” He’d murmur, his breath tracing the lines of my neck.
“What's wrong with me?” I mumbled, swallowing thickly and crossing my arms over my hard nipples. Why did he have to joke about those types of things all the time? He was putting strange thoughts in my head. Especially now, with the whole world thinking we already had sex. That we used to sneak around, living in the same house, fucking when everyone’s heads were turned.
I groaned and smacked my heated cheeks, trying to dispel any and all visuals suddenly flashing in my head.
I heard the abrupt beep of a little vehicle and jumped. Turning, I saw a golf cart at the front of our campsite. A woman sat on it and she did not look happy to see me. Had I done something wrong? Was I supposed to check in with her first? There hadn’t been instructions or even a building at the front of the campground, so I’d just drove on in.
The woman sat there staring at me, not getting up or waving at me to come hither. She had gray and brown curly hair cut into a mullet. On her head was a pair of sports sunglasses and on her feet were sandals that looked a size or two too small.
On her waistband was a gun.
I heard the screams and felt the panic from the concert.I love you, the girl gasped. Teeth and metal touching.
I blinked and took a deep breath, letting the visceral memory die.
I couldn't seem to stop looking at the weapon though. My tongue felt dry and the woman's apathetic expression now felt tainted, as if she was masking anger, her hand itching to snatch the metal from her hip and point the dark tunneled end right at me.
“Well aren’t you a pretty little thing,” she finally huffed out. “Here,” she said, grabbing something from a fanny pack and holding it out. I walked over and took the paper from her hands.
“Put that in the front window of your vehicle. Write in the days you’re going to be here, your campsite number, your name,” she paused and I looked up to see her hawking a mucousy piece of spit loudly into the dirt. I jerked my gaze back to the little paper and nodded my head.
“How long you here for?” Her tongue came out, swooping across her lips almost nervously, as her eyes darted around.
“A week." My eyes drifted back to the gun. Why did she need to wear it around a campground? Was she that concerned about campers? Or maybe it was something else she was prepared for just in case. Her eyes snapped back to mine after scanning the woods.
“Them two with you?” She asked, jerking her thumb towards Caspian’s bandmates.
