Then anger explodes so hot it burns the fear right out of me.
“Camping?” I shout. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
A groan answers from somewhere deeper in the cabin.
I freeze.
There’s another room.
I move slower this time, every nerve screaming, and push open the door.
Oaks is sprawled on a narrow couch, boots on the floor, one arm thrown over his eyes like the light personally offended him. His hair’s a mess, his jaw shadowed, and he looks like thekind of man who can fall asleep anywhere as long as danger stays on his side of the door.
He squints at me. “You’re loud.”
“You kidnapped me!” I hiss.
He drops his arm and looks at me properly. “Jesus, Brit. Lower your voice.”
“Lower my voice?” My hands are shaking now, fury making everything tremble. “You drugged me? You took me in the middle of the night? What the hell is wrong with you?”
He pushes himself upright, rubbing a hand down his face. “Didn’t drug you. You’re just a heavy sleeper.”
My mouth falls open. “Excuse me?”
“Holler and I carried you out,” he says like he’s discussing grocery bags. “You didn’t even wake up.”
“You…” I choke on the word, because I don’t even know which part of that to fight first. “You can’t just decide I’m going camping and haul me across a lake like I’m a duffel bag! Strand me in a cabin in the middle of an ocean.”
“It’s Herrington Lake,” he says. “Not the damn ocean. It’s a floatel.”
It’s like float and hotel had a baby. Floatel.
“That ain’t the point! Might as well be. I can’t swim. There’s no boat.”
He stands, and even half-asleep he’s big. Too big for this small wood-paneled room. Too much of him, too close, too controlled.
“The club’s down here,” he says, voice lower now, all the humor gone. “We’re running leads on a girl who went missing two nights ago. Sheriff Dix ain’t worth shit. Pearly Gates property lines run close to the water leading here.”
My anger stutters, but it doesn’t die. It just changes shape.
“So you what?” I spit. “Thought you’d stash me on a floatel like I’m extra gear?”
His jaw tightens. “We didn’t want the old ladies sitting in town while this plays out. Too much danger right now. Too many eyes. So, we made it look like a good ol’ Kings of Anarchy MC camping trip.”
“And I’m what?” I shoot back. “An ol’ lady now?”
He exhales hard through his nose. “You’re someone I can’t leave unguarded.”
“I don’t belong to you.”
“I know that.”
“Then stop acting like I do!”
He steps closer, not touching me, just crowding the air between us like he’s trying to block the world with his body. “You think I wanted to haul you outta a bed in the middle of the damn night? You think that was fun?”
“I didn’t ask you to worry about me!”
