Page 16 of Raven's Dawn

RAIN

It didn’t take long to set up camp. Putting together tents wasn’t all that difficult of a process. Not for me and Graham, at least. Ezra and Warren? Well, if we would’ve left it up to them, we would’ve been up all night.

Graham and I camped a good bit as teenagers, then periodically as adults as well. It just made sense, really. He was a Fae. They loved nature. There wasn’t enough of that back home. So from time to time, we loaded up my car, rented a campsite at a nearby state forest, and we crashed in the woods for a weekend.

Ezra and Warren had never camped. Not even once. They had no unearthly idea how to open a tent, and neither of them were too thrilled about sleeping in sleeping bags.

Once our tent was assembled, Graham kissed me and said he was going to go hang out around the fire with Jake. Also with Amara, basic deduction skills told me, which was fine.

He and Jake hadn’t gotten much time together lately. And I trusted him. Wasn’t a huge fan of Amara, but I trusted him.

It was fine.

“Uh-oh,” Ezra said, ducking to keep his head from hitting the top of the tent as he laid a blanket on the plastic floor. “That’s not a good sign.”

“What’s not a good sign?” I asked, lowering myself onto the pallet we planned to call the bed.

“‘Sure, that’s fine,’” Warren said in a mocking falsetto. He was the tallest of us all, thus having the most difficulty maneuvering through the tent. Tiptoeing around our bags scattered throughout, he grasped Ezra’s shoulder to steady him. Carefully, he sat beside me. “When a woman says, ‘sure, that’s fine,’ it’s never fine.”

“I don’t talk like that.” I playfully shoved his shoulder. “And you’re stereotyping. That’s not true. I said it’s fine, and I meant it. It is fine. I want him to spend time with Jake. Any of his friends. All of his friends, if that’s what makes him happy.”

“Even the ones with pretty purple hair?” Warren asked.

Arching a brow, I gave a half smile. “Oh, so you think she’s pretty.”

“Don’t answer that,” Ezra said, finally joining us on the ground.

“I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.” Warren coiled an arm around my waist and pulled me into him. “And I think that you mean everything and more to Graham. You don’t need to be jealous.”

“Exactly.” I craned awkwardly against his chest to look up at him. The sun had set, and all we had was a single battery-powered lamp in the corner of the eight by ten tent to brighten the space. “That’s what I said. It’s fine.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Ezra asked, spinning around to rest his head in my lap.

A low growl sounded in my throat. “How many times do I have to tell you guys that everything’s fine?”

“I know that would work on a straight guy, but we know better.” Warren swept some hair from my face. “If you’re jealous of Amara, tell him so. Talk to him about it, or he’s gonna feel completely blindsided when you eventually get pissed and blow up on him.”

Another grunt escaped me. Not because they were wrong. But because I felt ridiculous.

“Alright, alright,” Ezra said, finding my hand and locking our fingers together. “You don’t want to talk about it. You don’t have to.”

“What the hell am I supposed to say?” I asked. “He can’t have a friend because she’s a woman? That’s ridiculous. Especially coming from me—the girl with three boyfriends.”

“More like,” Warren began, “tell him to check his friend because she was a bitch to you.”

“She was kind of a bitch, wasn’t she?” I asked, looking between them for confirmation. “Laila thought so too, but I didn’t want to be dramatic.”

“Oh, she most certainly was,” Ezra agreed. “She’s probably jealous that you’ve gotten so much time with someone she cares about.”

“And you’re probably—rightfully—a little jealous that she has history with him that you don’t,” Warren said, combing some more hair behind my ear.

“I’m not jealous.”

Ezra smiled.

Warren chuckled.

“Okay, fine. Maybe a little.”

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