Page 39 of A Little Campfire Blues

“Then I hope like hell he finds him quickly.”

“Me too.”

Warm, I turned off the shower and pushed the curtain aside to see him waiting with my towel held open for me. As soon as I stepped out onto the mat, he wrapped it around me and started drying me off, grabbing a second for my hair and rubbing to keep me from losing any of the warmth the water had given back to me.

“Ready to get dressed, Sparkle Butt?” he asked.

“I think so,” I said, sighing as he held me and rested his chin on the top of my head. “Everything is gonna be okay, I promise.”

With his arms around me, we went back to the main part of my room, where I slid into the one pair of footed pajamas I’d brought with me.

“Maybe we should turn the air conditioner down a little, at least until the others get back and have a chance to get warm too,” he said, heading for the thermostat when the door slammed open and a dripping, muddy Roman burst in.

“Oh, thank the gods!” he declared, rushing over to me. “Are you okay? Did you get caught in the storm? I couldn’t find you guys and wandered all the way over to the next cabin before I realized I’d gone too far.”

“Where’s Axis?” Mack snapped, cutting through his explanation. “Didn’t he find you?”

“No, I wasit, so I was looking for you guys.”

“Axis got me out of the woods, then ran back looking for you,” I blurted. “We were hiding in a log, and you passed us.”

“Son of a,” Roman growled, whirling, about to plunge back into the storm again when Mack grabbed his arms.

“No, no one else is going back out into the woods,” Mack declared. “Ezzy, do you know if he had his cell phone on him?”

“Yeah, I could feel it in his back pocket when we were making out.”

“Good, call it, and let’s hope he’s got the ringtone up high enough to hear it.”

It dawned on me then that I didn’t have his number, but Roman did, and he rushed into his room for his phone.

“Come on, come on, come on, pick up,” Roman growled, dripping water all over the floor while he paced. “Axis!”

Silence followed for several seconds, until Roman snarled and barked into the device. “Shut up and listen to me; I’m fine! I’m back at the cabin; now you need to turn the fuck around and get back here!”

More silence.

“Yes, yes, I said I was fine, didn’t I? Clean the water out of your ears and listen to me. I’m soaked but perfectly fuckin’ okay, which I won’t be if I have to go out there and drag your ass back. So come the fuck on!”

I watched him scrub a hand over his face, looking equal parts frustrated and relieved.

“We’ll watch for him; you go change and get warm,” Mack said as he moved around the room, turning more lights on in the house so Axis would have an easier time finding his way back.

“Yeah, I guess I’d better,” Roman muttered, casting a glance at the door before he trudged to his bathroom.

I stood with my nose pressed to the window, staring out into the night, waiting to see a flashlight beam through the tree line and heavy rain. It was next to impossible to make out anything through the heavy beads of rain running down the window.

“He’ll be alright,” Mack said, draping an arm over my shoulder as he joined me at the window.

“If I hadn’t been so afraid, he might have been able to catch up to Roman. He couldn’t have been too far away when the first lightning crash startled us.”

“None of that now,” Mack said. “No one is at fault. The storm caught us off guard, and he did what he felt was best to make certain you would both be safe.”

“I just wish he’d let us keep him safe for once since no one else ever has!” I cried, then slapped my hands over my mouth, too afraid of blurting out the secret Axis had shared with me.

He squeezed me a little tighter and kept on holding me until finally, we saw light followed by heavy footsteps thudding up the stairs. Axis was thoroughly drenched when he came in; shirt, jeans, every stitch of clothing plastered to his skin.

“Are you okay now?” he asked me the moment our eyes met.

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