Taz set her jaw and grabbed her clothes, her movements jerky as she yanked her shirt on.
“I’m sorry,” I swallowed a dozen other words I wanted to say but it was too late.She turned her back on me and slapped the tent flap open, disappearing into the dark in a few furious strides.
I stared at the place she’d been standing and wished I could undo everything about the last few minutes.
28 Taz
Ineeded to talk toPenny.My head was a mess and I needed someone else to tell me what to do.My gut was telling me to go back to the tent and face Dargo like a big girl.But there was a sick tightness in my chest that I couldn't fight and all I wanted was to get far enough away from him to clear my head.
How could he say he loved me like it was nothing?The three most loaded words in the English language and he’d just laid it out there, raw, no prep.
Just remembering his face when he’d said it made my stomach cramp.He’d looked so sincere, so damn happy as he’d blown my world apart.I’d almost let myself believe him.But people said things they didn’t mean all the time, and I couldn’t handle him being so casual with the ‘L’ word.
Love, if it even existed, was a big fucking deal.Too big for me to handle right now.
Striding through the camp, I ignored the stares of the males near the fire and headed toward Penny's oversized tent.A low moan froze me in my tracks and I listened to the muffled murmurs coming from inside.A feminine gasp sent me stumbling back as I realized what was going on.
Nope, not talking to Penny if she was getting down and dirty with Adak.
What was I supposed to do now?I wasn’t going back to my tent and Dargo’s heartfelt arguments.The last thing I needed was to pull a stupid and believe him.Experience had told me that I was volunteering to be gutted when shit went south.
And it would go south.Everything did.How many times had people said ‘it’s not like the world's ending’?Then,bam, aliens invaded and the world ended.
Walking blindly, I headed to the edge of the camp.The darkness away from the fire was intense but I couldn't force my feet to carry me back to the safety of camp.Camp meant Dargo, and he’d become the trigger for a boatload of ugly feelings I didn’t want to deal with.
My heart felt like it was trying to squeeze itself into a little lump of rock and I tried to ignore the terrifying realization that I’d started to care for the big charmer.Dargo had gotten under my skin and I needed him gone.
He was too easy to be around, he took my shit in stride like no one ever had, and I’d started to feel like he was a safe place to rest.And that was very, very bad.I liked him, I liked fighting with him, and I liked touching him, but I wasn't made to be with someone the way he wanted.
Hope and Penny had fallen so easily into this new world.But I couldn't seem to figure it out.Every instinct I had screamed that it was only a matter of time until it blew up in my face.I was picking fights with Dargo, snapping at him over stupid things and I hated it.
The only reason I was here was because my friends didn't want to leave.I'd known I wouldn't fit in and I'd stayed anyway.Now Dargo thought he loved me.
Fuck.I blinked back a burst of tears and forced myself to strangle the beginnings of a sob.I wasn’t having a panic attack at the thought of him loving me.I was stronger than that.
I moved faster, jogging blindly into the dark, leaving everything behind me.
