“Where are we?” I asked.
“Somewhere safe,” was the only thing Doc said.
I got too curious. I must’ve moved around too much in his arms, because once we got to the threshold of the door, Docplaced me down. And when I gazed out over the front of the property, holy fucking shit.
It was nothing but trees for miles.
“There’s an entertainment room in here!” Jasmine squealed.
“Is that a hot tub out there? Oh hell yeah, I was jealous that I didn’t get to use Doc’s.”
“Ice cream!”
“Oh my God, this couch is fantastic.”
“There’s a room for each of us!”
I slowly looked up at Doc, only to find him already staring down at me. He walked in front of me, blocking my view of the endless amount of trees that sprawled out before us. He reached down. Tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Wiped at a bit of perspiration on my brow that I didn’t even know II was brewing.
The words were out before I could catch them. “I really like you, Doc.”
His hand paused, his fingertips caressing my skin before he cupped my cheek. “I really like you, too, My Liz.”
My smile blossomed before he slid his hand from my cheek, down my arm, all the way to my own hand. He laced our fingers together, his long, dexterous ones slotting perfectly in between my own. And when we turned toward the house, we found multiple sets of eyes on us.
“Hell yeah,” Cap said with a grin.
The girls were two seconds away from giggling their heads off, which made me shake my own. “You guys are insufferable, you know that?”
My question unleashed the cackling.
Marla came over and slipped her arm into mine, and that was it. The girls gathered around me, and away we went, venturing deeper into the massive log cabin home. There wasn’t much to see. Not many decorations, enough furniture to fill the place in order to function for whoever utilized it. The air was tainted witha slight stale smell, and the fine layer of dust over everything told me that this place hadn’t been disturbed in a while.
And one by one, the girls slipped into the rooms that they loved.
“This one’s mine!” Amanda said quickly as she dashed into the room filled with books.
Wrecker just chuckled and followed in behind her.
“Ooooh, this one is lovely,” Ariel said as she ventured into a bedroom with a television mounted to the wall.
“Hey, Range!” Cap barked as he slipped in behind her. “We got a way to lock down these televisions in here!?”
“Working on it!” he called out.
I looked around and realized that Marla wasn’t with us. Somewhere along the line, she let go of my arm, and I didn’t even feel it. I furrowed my brow as I went in search of her, and I found her perched on Ranger’s lap in the only room that had a desk outfitted in the corner.
She peered over his shoulder and smiled at me, waving. “Hey! Sorry I slipped out earlier, Ranger already snatched this room up for us.”
“Got the most outlets,” he said as he fingers flew across the keyboard of a laptop.
I just smiled and shook my head. “Just wanted to make sure I knew where you were. Love you.”
Em smiled. “Love you.”
“Love you!” Range called out playfully.
“Don’t electrocute yourself!” I called back.
