Page 26 of Strictly Curious
Fucking Ava.
I dropped my hand from her face and she mouthed the words ‘I’m so sorry.’ Letting out a frustrated breath, I shrugged her arm off and stood. Tyler had to have known what she was about to say. He wasn’t stupid.
“Finish getting your boots on, and let’s get going,” I said as I headed to the small cooler Dad had left for us. I grabbed two bottles of water and walked to the entrance to the campsite.
Tyler scrambled next to me. I quickly handed him one bottle of water and turned away again. I couldn’t handle it if he had a problem with what Ava had been about to reveal.
“Garrett?” he asked quietly when I refused to look at him.
“We should really get going,” I said again as Ava and Lucy joined us. I started up the road to where the trailheads were.
Tyler
Lucyhadherarmlinked through Ava’s as they led us up the trail. Her blonde hair was pulled into two French braided pigtails, and Ava’s matched hers. I wondered if that was something they enjoyed about being with each other. They had met in beauty school after all. They were never in short supply to have someone do their hair for them.
Lucy, objectively, was very pretty. Her little shorts sat right below the curve of her ass and she was curvy in all the right places. Maybe it was wrong to think of our cousin’s girlfriend this way but it was also startling to realize that Lucy did nothing for me. Sure, she was a little older, but not by much.
Then there was Ava. She wasn’t my cousin by blood, and it still felt a little creepy to think of her as attractive, but she was. Ava had round perky breasts that she typically liked to flaunt in shirts that sat too low in the front. She was thin and fit and her smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks was a stunning compliment to her blue eyes. Not to mention her beautiful curly red hair. She complained about it often, but it suited her fiery personality.
It was hard to focus on them, however, when all I could think about was what Ava had let slip this morning. What had she been about to say? Sure, Garrett had cut her off, but there was no way she hadn’t been hinting at Garrett wanting to be with me. How long had that been a thing, and how long had she known about it?
The man in question trailed behind me with his eyes firmly trained on the ground. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Did it bother me he’d thought of me that way? With the way the last week had been going, I realized it didn’t. Maybe it should have, but it made me crave him more. It made me want to indulge his fantasies. And mine.
My thoughts drifted to Garrett. His chocolate brown eyes and dark curly hair gave him a rugged look. His choice in fitness wear meant his arm muscles were always on display. Oddly, that’s the thought that got me turned on. The sight of his abs when he was shirtless made my mouth water, and I swallowed as the realization hit me.
I stopped as I let Lucy and Ava keep walking. They didn’t need to listen to me try to pry answers from my stepbrother. Of course, that depended on if he would talk to me. It wasn’t always a guarantee when he got moody.
“Garrett?” I asked as he came up beside me. I hadn’t tried to talk to him again since we’d started our hike and that was a whole thirty minutes ago. His head popped up to look at me. My heart raced, and I found it hard to swallow when I thought about the question I needed to ask him.
“What is it?”
He didn’t turn away this time, holding my gaze as we continued down the trail. I swallowed and attempted to form the words I wanted to say. Ava and Lucy were far enough ahead of us at this point they wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation.
I gnawed my bottom lip for a moment, took a deep breath, and stopped walking. Garrett stopped with me, and moved closer which meant I had to look up to meet his eyes.
“What was Ava trying to say?” I asked, ripping the band-aid off.
Garrett tried to look away again, but I wasn’t about to let him shut down or put his walls up. I needed answers. And I wanted him to know that it was okay that he’d had those thoughts about me. That was something I couldn’t do, however, until he told me my assumptions were correct.
Framing his face with both of my hands, I pulled his eyes back to mine. He looked unsure of himself for the first time ever. I knew I needed to let him know it was okay to tell me, but I understood how he would be reluctant.
“Ty…” he sighed and pulled himself from my grasp, my arms dropping to my sides. Garrett ignored me and started back up the trail. I stared after him as my mind and heart were in conflict. Should I leave him be or chase after him, demanding he answer me?
Clenching and unclenching my hands a few times, I took a few deep breaths to help me gather my thoughts. He got a good way up the trail before I snapped out of it and ran after him. I didn’t get very far before my foot caught on a tree root and I hit the ground with a hard thud.
The ‘shit’ that made its way out of my mouth echoed off the surrounding trees. I looked around and made the startling realization that I was alone on the trail. My heart pounded as no one came running to check on me. I went to go stand, but my ankle throbbed with pain the second I tried to stand on it.
I sat down on the trail and took a deep breath trying to think of what to do. “Garrett! Ava!” I called out hoping they’d hear me. When after a minute no one came looking I panicked. How long would it take for them to notice I wasn’t following?
I realized my phone was still in my pocket and hoped I had a signal out here. My hand dug into my pocket and I fished it out. My battery was low since it wasn’t like we had a place to charge it out here, but it wouldn’t have helped, anyway. No signal.
My ankle throbbed as I looked around at the trees and debated on what to do next. It was so quiet out here and perhaps it was a little dramatic, but could I die out here waiting for someone to find me? This was a decent sized trail, so perhaps people hiked out this far.
The sound of a twig snapping made me turn my head in the noise’s direction. Not a moment later Garrett came around the corner and I exhaled loudly. It had only been about five minutes, but it felt way longer.
“What are you doing on the ground?” he asked.
I motioned to my ankle, and he immediately looked alarmed.
