Page 117 of River & Rue

I blink, the pain forgotten. “I’m sorry, did you say purple nurples?”

She takes a step toward me. I backpedal fast, hands up, and try to stop laughing.

“Okay, okay. Yes, I remember. You let me read your book, I tried to kiss you, you ran away.”

“Did… did you mean it?”

The hesitance in her voice kills my smile.

“Yes. I meant it.”

Her shoulders relax, the tightness around her eyes disappearing. “Then we’re even, because I wish I’d kissed you too.”

“Yeah?”

She smiles softly. “Yeah.”

I prowl toward her with every intention of stripping her out of her clothes and defiling the sun-warmed boulder.

I make it two fucking steps.

“Hey-o, campers! Sure am glad to see you two alive and kickin’. Thought for sure we’d be mopping up parts.”

Kirk’s cackle echoes down the creek.

39

river

​. . .​

lose to win

“Are you sure it was a bear and not, like, a deer?”

Rue squeezes my thigh under the dining table before I can tell Matteo to go fuck himself. I throw her a disgruntled look before taking another bite of my sandwich.

After Kirk the Cockblocker showed up this morning with two armed park rangers in tow, we spent over an hour giving our statements before breaking camp and hiking back to PAC. We only stopped at our cabins long enough to drop our packs before coming to the Lodge for a late lunch, and now, apparently, an inquisition from a pothead.

I’m exhausted, dirty, and cranky, and Rue is too. But she’s a better person than me, managing a polite smile for the asshat sitting across from us.

“We’re sure. The rangers who found us confirmed it was the same bear that attacked other campsites a few days ago.”

They also told us why it happened. Due to irresponsible assholes not using the provided lockers, the bear had become food conditioned and lost the desire to forage. People now meant dinner. There’s no coming back from it, either, and relocation isn’t an option. Bears have insane homing instincts and will always return to the source of their preferred food. When the rangers find him, he’ll be euthanized.

Ghostwood Creek had been empty because the entire area was locked down while they tracked the animal. Whether through bad luck or sheer coincidence, the trail Kirk led us on hadn’t been closed like it should have been. When the rest of our group arrived at their much larger campsite, they found a ranger waiting and were escorted out of the park.

As everyone else at PAC panicked about Rue and me being lost and potentially mauled to death, Kirk snuck back into the park and searched for us all night. The rangers found him snoozing in a tree at first light. Rather than waste time escorting him out, they let him join them as they headed for Ghostwood Creek.

Matteo leans forward, shaking his head. “How did they know, though? You didn’t see it.”

Jae throws a commiserating glance our way. He and Elio, the only bystanders to this bullshit, are making drinks at the nearby espresso station.

Rue’s smile tightens. “In addition to matching tracks in the dirt, there were markings on nearby trees, tufts of fur, and piles of shit.”

“But, like, the bear could have been there days ago. Not saying you didn’t hear something weird, but it could’ve been anything. I just think it’s lame that we missed out on the annual camping trip for nothing.”

I toss the uneaten half of my sandwich back to my plate. Rue doesn’t bother squeezing my leg this time.