Especially not after we came back in the house and she acted like it never happened. Or at least, she seems to be fine with kissing me but is also game to do the same with my two best friends. I’m not sure what to make of her blatant advances on the three of us. Sometimes it feels like no big deal, simply because that’s how she looks at flirting with all of us. Other times, I’m like,what the fuck?I licked her first and call dibs.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts and refocus on securing the perimeter. It stopped raining sometime when I was asleep and Madix was on watch, but there’s a residual dampness hanging in the air like a threat promising more rain to come.
I walk quietly to the back of the house and peek through the window above the sink in the kitchen. I freeze when I spot a faint orange glow pretty far back in the trees, but not far enough to go undetected. That sure as fuck wasn’t there last time I checked. My heart starts to race, pumping adrenaline through my whole system like an alarm that screams,you better fucking get ready because shit is about to go down.
I stare at the orange glow, daring it to do something, but it doesn’t get any closer or move further away. I risk taking my eyes off of it to go wake the others. I waste no time kicking Madix’s feet until he starts sputtering curses and sits up. One look at my face silences him, and he starts pulling on clothes and strapping on weapons while I move to alert Theo.
Theo’s prosthetic is leaning in the corner of the guest room, and I almost knock it over in my effort to wake him up. He’s awake after my third nudge, and once again, I don't have to say shit. He notices my expression, and he’s up and getting ready for action. I know he’ll take longer to get mobile, so I signal to him what the issue is and where, and then leave him to it, knowing he’ll meet Madix and I at the back of the house as soon as he straps into his leg.
We fall right back into theready for actionmindset we’ve honed over our time in the Rangers, as if the injuries and trauma were just a bad dream that we’re waking up from, and we’re still active duty and in the middle of a mission. It feels oddly reassuring, but there’s a slight feeling of emptiness now that I’m not sure I’ll ever get rid of.
I walk quietly back to the kitchen, avoiding the three floorboards that squeak when you walk on them. Madix is there, looking through the parted curtains on the back door, already honed into the orange glow that’s exactly where I left it.
“What do you think? Fire, maybe?” he asks, never taking his eyes from the potential threat.
“Yeah, that’s what it looks like to me,” I confirm, just as Theo walks in to join us.
He takes one look out the window and swears quietly. “I thought Remi said no one comes out here?”
Madix gives an incredulous snort. “Maybe not normally, but the country is fucking dying. It’s probably chaos out there. There’s nothingnormalabout anything anymore. I’m tempted to wake her up just to say I told you so.”
I turn to Theo. “We should wake her up anyway, if there’s a threat. Maybe she knows whoever is out there?”
“That chick is more likely to cause a problem than solve one. Let’s check it out first. We’ll assess the situation before we go inviting more trouble by waking up the hot love child of Ace Ventura and the Tasmanian Devil,” Theo says. “Let her sleep, and we’ll appraise the situation.”
I chuckle lightly, but quickly expel the amusement and replace it with tactical seriousness as Madix says, “Theo and I will cover the front. You cover our back and keep an eye out on the house as we check things out.”
Theo and I nod, and then we’re pouring out the door and advancing on the distant glow in no time. We’re all on high alert, and we walk quickly and quietly through the mud toward the treeline. We slow down a bit once we hit the foliage, picking our way through it carefully in order to stay as silent as possible so we can maintain the element of surprise.
As we slink closer, Madix suddenly stops and gives us the hand motions to split up and surround whoever is out here. Theo and I both nod our understanding, and each of us takes a different path toward what is now confirmed as a campfire.
There’s no noise giving away how many people might be leeching warmth from the decent sized fire, and I don’t have a clear vantage point yet from my spot in the woods. The rifle in my hands feels more like an extension of my arms, and I weave through the trees until the fire comes into view.
My eyes dart around, but I don’t see any tents or even people-filled sleeping bags surrounding the orange and yellow flickering blaze. The smoke is curling into the humid air, and through the smoke, I see a hint of a shadow from someone who’s sitting on the other side of the fire. I can’t make out their details, but there’s a makeshift spit that’s triangled above the flames and cooking pungent fish.
I start to move so that I can get a clearer view of the person, when a booming, angry voice shatters the silence, and I respond to it without consciously making the decision to do so. I run towards the fire, weapon-ready, at the same time Madix comes into view from my left.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he shouts, stomping forward. “What the hell are you doing out here?” Madix demands, rage bleeding out of each word.
Theo and I flank him, and my eyes widen when I can finally make out the shadowed shape and see that it’s none other than Remi. No wonder Madix is spitting mad. But how the hell did she sneak out of the house? I never heard or saw a damn thing.
Remi stands and puts her hands on her hips. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m smoking fish,” she replies, pointing to the fish on the spit like Madix is the daft one in this situation, even though it’s four in the morning and she’s out in the middle of the wet, cold woods wearing nothing but cutoff jean shorts, bright yellow rain boots, and aWonder Yearssweatshirt.
Anger gets the better of Madix as he sputters incoherent swear words, punctuated by infuriated hand motions in Remi’s direction. There have been a couple of times since coming here that I’ve thought that Madix’s approach to Remi was too intense and overbearing, but now is not one of those times.
What the fuck was she thinking? What if someone else had found her, or one of us got trigger happy when we were checking things out? This shit is not a fucking joke. We’ve told her what is going on out there multiple times, and we’ve explained what that means for all of us. Clearly, none of that is sinking in if she’s pulling stunts like this. It’s reckless and fucking stupid. Even Theo looks pissed off, and he’s the most laid back guy I know.
“How the hell did you even get out here?” I ask incredulously.
“Keep pointing yours at me, and I’ll point mine at you,” she says testily, waving a hand at the shotgun that’s leaning against the stump she was sitting on.
All three of us realize that we are indeed still holding our weapons up, and we immediately lower them. “Remington, what are you doing out here?” Madix grits through his teeth.
She huffs and gestures at the fire again. “I told you, I’m—”
Madix cuts her off.“Whyare you smoking fish at four in the goddamn morning, without telling us you were coming out here first?” he demands. “It’s dangerous.”
Instead of bristling like I expect her to do, she rolls her eyes and starts to remove the spit from the fire to balance it against a rock. “I come out here every morning around this time to feed Jim Bob. He likes it when they have a smoky flavor,” she explains, nodding toward the fish on the rock. “It’s not dangerous, and last time I checked, I don’t need your permission to walk around my own property.”
