Page 27 of Calla's Boys

Chapter Twenty-Four

Doc

I’ve thought it before, and I’ll think it again—Clyde is an ass. But, I can’t deny that this hike is the perfect opportunity to get out and really explore. After thefulland exhausting morning Calla has had, I’m just hoping she feels up to it and can keep up. I’d hate for her to get left behind and miss out on this.

Calla walks out of the bathroom, her hair wet and smelling absolutely incredible. It makes me want to dirty her up all over again. But, for now, we have other plans to get on with.

“Were you all waiting for me?” she asks, looking a little sheepish.

“Not for long, we’ve only just finished getting everything ready to go out.”

“Oh, okay,” she replies with a small nod, smiling now.

“You ready?” Clyde asks, looking between each of us.

I nod, and the others do, too.

“Great, let’s get going then.”

We file out of the bedroom and into the other room where all of our bags are waiting.

Calla raises an eyebrow at the sight of the four bulging backpacks sitting in a line by the door and the smaller one sitting beside them.

We each grab our bags, and Calla shoulders the smaller one, which is hers.

“Fuck, Clyde. What did you and Billy put in here? Bricks?” Jesse exclaims as he puts his on.

“Don’t be a pussy, it’s your shit.”

He laughs and shakes his head before walking out of the hotel room. Grimacing a little as I adjust the straps to make it more comfortable, I can’t help but silently agree that it feels heavier than just our hiking gear. It’s not so bad once I’ve gotten it settled in place and the straps sorted, but I can tell that by the end of the day, we’re all going to be feeling the burn in our backs and shoulders, just from carrying these.

Calla is the last one to leave, and she slides the keycard into the front pocket and zips it up before putting hers on. At least this time we aren’t going to be locked out of our room when we get back.

I chuckle a little, and she looks at me quizzically for a second but doesn’t say anything.

As we leave the hotel lobby, I blink and squint in the bright sun and put my baseball cap on. I notice the others have followed suit, although Calla has put on a pair of sunglasses instead of a cap.

I move ahead to walk next to Clyde, and we make our way into the town. He seems to be looking for something.

“What are you looking for?”

“Camping shop,” he replies, still turning his head this way and that.

“Over there,” Billy says, pointing back the way we came. “You walked past it.”

We all chuckle as Clyde comes to a sudden stop and turns around, causing us to almost walk into him.

He makes a beeline for the shop that Billy pointed at, and we wait outside while leaves his backpack with us and heads inside.

He comes out about ten minutes later with a large tote full of stuff.

“Got everything,” he says, looking pleased with himself.

“Can we get going now?” Jesse asks, sounding impatient and bored.

“Yeah, now we’ve got what we need,” he says, picking up his backpack and putting it back on.

I roll my eyes at his tone, but he ignores it. We all start walking. About half an hour later, we reach the bottom of the trail leading up one of the smaller mountains.

---