Dana points to a purple suitcase open on the bottom bunk. Clothes are strewn everywhere, and a pair of hair straighteners dangle over the edge of the bed. I’m no longer surprised by teenage girls who bring hair straighteners to camp. I just hope they grow out of it and realize their self-worth is about so much more than the way they look. All I threw in was a hairbrush and a hair tie.
I throw her belongings into the bag and zip it up.
“Is Madison going home?” Becky asks, her eyes wide, no doubt hoping for a bit of gossip.
“No. I’m just helping her find something.”
By the time I get back to the cabin, Joel is speaking animatedly, and Madison is sipping her tea with a smile on her face.
They both glance up at me as I set the suitcase on the bed.
“Plan A,” Joel says. “A second pair of eyes goes through your belongings.”
“What’s Plan B?” says Madison.
“Plan B,” I say, unzipping the case. “If the medication isn’t in here, then I call your mom and arrange to get it sent up here to you.”
Madison’s face crumples. “But that won’t be until tomorrow.”
Joel puts a hand on her shoulder. “But that’s okay. That’s plan B, and we’ll only think about Plan B if Plan A doesn’t work.”
He keeps speaking to her while I go through the case slowly and methodically. Her clothes are in bundles, unfolded, and I take each item out of the case, shake it out, fold it, and leave it on the bed. I pull out a purple t-shirt, and a package falls out of it.
Madison gasps. “There they are!”
She grabs the pill case and lets out a long sigh of relief. “I thought I’d left them at home.”
It’s good to see her smile, and I’m relieved too; crisis averted.
I help her fold up the rest of her clothes and put them in the suitcase. She stays in the cabin drinking her tea until the color returns to her cheeks.
Joel carries her case back to her cabin, and I watch him go.
He knew exactly how to handle Madison. He’s more than just muscle. There’s a thoughtful, calm, caring man under that hard exterior.
10
JOEL
Iwake before Brooke and lie awake listening to her steady breathing. She sleeps with a foot poking out from the bedsheets and one arm thrown above her head. Her expression is soft with sleep, vulnerable, and her pale pink lips are slightly parted, as if she’s Sleeping Beauty waiting for a kiss. The sheets fall loose over her body, barely covering her torso. She wears a white t-shirt to bed, and it rides up, exposing a patch of soft skin on her belly. Her stomach rises and falls as she breathes, and if I reached my hand out, I could almost run my fingers over her skin…
I tear my gaze away from the sleeping beauty and quietly get out of bed. I need a distraction from her soft belly and kissable lips.
The cabin creaks as I pull on my sweatpants and pad to the door, but Brooke doesn’t stir.
Dawn is breaking outside, and the sound of birdsong greets me as I slip out of the cabin. Outside is stillness. The other cabins are dark, and a gentle breeze rustles the trees.
I’ve always been an early riser. The military drummed that into me. I walk the perimeter of the Rabbit camp, but all is quiet. There are no students sneaking back into their beds, so that’s something.
I set off jogging down a path that leads into the woods. The path crosses the river and heads uphill, the trail turning from a well-worn path to a forest trail.
I settle into a steady rhythm, but with each breath, thoughts of Brooke pound through my head.Soft skin, parted lips, smooth belly. Soft skin, parted lips, smooth belly. Soft skin, parted lips, smooth belly.
I can’t outrun the images that flash through my mind and the growing need I have to taste her lips, to touch her hair, to run my fingers over her skin.
I run faster and faster until my chest aches and my body screams at me to stop. Only then does my head clear of the indecent thoughts I’m having.
The trail circles back, and forty minutes later I come out on the other side of the camp by the Wolf sector.
