She knew it, too. I could see it in the way she didn’t back down, in the way her eyes tracked me across the room.
We weren’t done. Not even close. Let Shane and Sabrina play at being happy campers. Me and Amelia, our story was dirtier, messier. More fun.
And I was ready to let it burn.
Night came fast in the mountains. It flattened everything, made the world smaller, like the cold had come to close its fist around us. You could feel the darkness pressing in through the windows, aching against the glass, hungry to get inside. The only light was from the fire and a couple of overhead bulbs that sputtered and buzzed.
We gravitated back to the lounge after dinner, because none of us wanted to admit how tired or fucked up we’d gotten from a single day together in the wild. Shane turned on a movie and tried to be the world’s best host, making popcorn, pouring drinks, keeping the conversation fizzing.
Amelia walked in last, right when I thought maybe I’d gotten my head on straight. She wore tight black leggings that stretched over her hips, over the lines of her thighs. The shirt was soft, thin, clinging to her chest. The outline of her tits was impossible to ignore. I tried, fuck me, I tried. But my eyes were heat-seeking; every inch of her body was a punch in the face.
She didn’t know what she was doing to me. Or maybe she did. Maybe that was the whole point.
If so, she was winning. Even the shame was addictive.
She took a seat at the end of the sofa, legs folded under her, hair falling over her cheek. She hugged a pillow like a shield, but it didn’t do shit to hide the way her body fit together.
Sabrina made a show of digging through her phone. “Okay, ground rules. If anyone falls asleep on movie night, they owe the group breakfast.”
Amelia smiled, just the barest twitch, the one I remembered from high school that meant she was about to get mean. “Guess Caiden’s our breakfast guy, then. Or are you planning on stayingawake this time?”
Her eyes glinted, daring me.
I smirked. “I’ll stay up if the company’s worth it.”
Shane just laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. “Look, I can’t promise much, but I did spring for the highest cabin package. At these prices, they should have housekeepers to tuck us in.”
I grunted, more sound than laugh. My gaze kept snagging on Amelia, like I was trapped in some fucked-up gravity field. Every time she shifted, the shirt moved with her, nipples visible against the fabric for a heartbeat, then gone. My mouth was dry. My hands itched to do something. Grab a drink, crush a glass, maybe even close over her throat.
You don’t get to want that. Not with her. Not after everything.
Still, I watched.
The longer we all sat there, the worse it got. Sabrina wanted to play games, dragged out a deck of cards, making us do “icebreaker questions.” Shane steered every answer into a joke, but all I could think about was the pulse in my jaw, how every muscle in my neck locked up whenever Amelia spoke.
“What’s your most irrational fear?” Sabrina asked at one point. She looked at me, then Amelia.
Amelia’s voice broke the silence. “Drowning. I hate water. Just being under it. Not breathing.”
I remembered the time I shoved her at the lake, all those years ago. Watched her go under, gasping like a fish, eyes wild. She never forgave me for that. Not that I blamed her.
Shane’s eyes landed on me. “What about you, Caiden?”
“Losing control,” I said, and if I’d had a knife I could’ve carved the words into my own skin.
Amelia’s gaze cut to me.
You want to see what happens when I do lose it? I almost said it out loud.
But I kept the mask up. I had to.
At one point, I went for another beer in the kitchen. She followed, of course she did, stalking me like prey.
We were alone in the narrow galley, counters catching gold from the hallway lamp. Her back was to the fridge; she looked at me like she wanted to peel something raw off my bones.
“You keep staring,” she said, voice a whisper. “You want something?”
I stepped closer, letting the door fall shut behind me. “Not from you.”
