Page 10 of Who Let The Wolves Out?

She stands, brushing her hands on her skirt. “You’re insufferable.”

“And yet... you’re still here.”

She doesn’t argue that.

We head back toward camp, shoulder to shoulder. Close. Easy.

Something’s shifting between us. Slowly. Quietly.

But it’s real.

We walk in silence for a few steps, the trees around us glowing with late afternoon light. Her fingers graze mine once—just barely—but enough to spark something low in my gut.

She doesn’t pull away.

I stop walking.

So does she.

“Alice,” I say, voice quieter than it’s been all day. “Can I tell you something?”

She blinks up at me, lips parted, breath a little unsteady. “Okay.”

“I like messes.”

She frowns slightly. “What?”

“Not like ‘glitter in your hair’ messes. I mean... people messes. Feeling things. Saying the wrong stuff. Working through it. You’re tryin’ so hard to hold it all in.”

She bites her lip. Nervous. Her cheeks are still flushed from earlier, but her eyes... her eyes are looking at my mouth.

I step closer.

“I think,” I say, brushing a mud-speck off her jaw with my thumb, “you might be the prettiest mess I’ve ever seen.”

Her breath catches.

I lean in.

Just inches now.

Close enough to smell the lavender from her shampoo. Close enough that I could kiss her if I just…

A sharp, distant sound cuts through the air.

A sob.

High-pitched.

A kid.

We both freeze.

Then she’s moving—fast. “That came from the lake,” she says.

I’m already running.

CHAPTER 5

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