Page 4 of Lost to the Woods

“Oh my God, it’s so deep!” Shegiggles.

“Can you stop fangirling?” I whisper conspiratorially to my supposed best friend, hissing through my teeth, like he wouldn’t be able to hear.

But why is she acting this way? Just to mess with me? All it does is light the fire that I thought was already extinguished.

“You don’t need to be so possessive of me, Bun-bun.”

My mouth opens, then closes. God, I hate him. I hate that he can make me forget how to use words. Or breathe.

“Can we please focus?” Devin whines. “We are literally sitting in the perfect Appalachian horror movie setup and you two are already being horny and weird.”

“Weird?” Ghost echoes. “I haven’t evenstartedbeing weird yet.”

“Don’t encourage him, Dev,” I quickly say before any more words are spoken.

Nate, bless his nerdy little heart, is already unrolling maps on the coffee table, glasses sliding down his nose. “I marked a couple of old trails that are supposedly tied to some missing persons reports from the 70s. Super sketchy stuff, lots of rumors about hauntings and weird lights—”

“And conveniently remote enough to stage some good ol’ paranormal shit,” Kendra adds.

Dev raises a brow. “Oh, we’re admitting that now?”

Kendra shrugs. “It’s 2025. Everyone fakes half of their content. As long as it’s scary, sexy, and slightly believable, it’s monetizable.”

“Three words that also describe Bunny,” Ghost murmurs, not even bothering to look away from me.

Damn it, he’s still hurt.

“That was rude and uncalled for.” I give him the look—half glare, half blushing mess. But I guess I kinda deserve this colder, crueler, smug bastard version of him.

“First off, we need to research all the local lore,” Kendra announces like she just did something.

“Oh, okay, Sam Winchester,” I bite out, my voice sharper than I planned.

Why am I mad at her?

Dev gives Ghost a look, then turns his stare back to me, his eyes full of concern. “You good, Bunny?”

I normally don’t act like this—cute and bubbly are my branding. But everything is awkward now. The truth is, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing around Ghost anymore. I want to be cool, casual, unaffected. I want to pretend like our messy history didn’t happen. Yet, he keeps poking at the past, reminding me that he put himself out there, and I crushed him without any excuse after leading him on for weeks.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m just tired after the flight.”

“So, interviews with the locals first,” Nate says, once again diverting attention from the ‘Bunny and Ghost’telenovela. “We should start right away. That way, tomorrow we can have all day just in the woods.”

“We aren’t actually gonna camp in the woods overnight, though?” I ask, shivering at the very thought.

Ghost laughs darkly. “Of course we will.”

“Man, don’t scare her,” Dev interjects with a chuckle.

But Ghost scoots closer—so close his knee in his ripped black jeans brushes against mine—and murmurs, “I sign up to chase my little bunny through the woods.”

“Not gonna happen, buddy,” I retort.

He freezes for a second. “Buddy, huh? Ouch.”

Dev claps his hands from excitement just in time to stop me from apologizing—for what? “Okay, so tomorrow we hike up, set up a campsite, and make some movie magic—scared faces, shaky cam, the whole found footage deal.”

I sip my drink. “Just so we’re clear, if any actual supernatural crap starts happening, I’m out of there. Y’all can die for content.”

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