Page 4 of Only One Tent
Danny plopped down in a chair and faceplanted into the table. He was incredibly hard to resist. “Yes, Lee is coming, but I need friends there too. It’ll be so much fun. And I’m responsible for organizing everything. Ineedyour support.” He made need sound like it had four syllables.
“I don’t have any camping stuff.” Outdoors wasn’t my thing. A comfy couch with extra cushions was. I had a plant once. After it died, I gave up. And it was a cactus. Thanks, Mom, and yourdon’t worry, you can’t kill this one, Sky.
“You don’t need anything. So many people are coming, someone will share with you. This is a company-sponsored trip. Youhave tocome.” I really didn’t think Drew would fire me if I didn’t go.
And I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t the camping type. “I only go outside to get to my car, Danny-boy.”
“It’s going to be fun. Seriously, I promise someone will bunk with you. We rented out every tent space and some of the RV spots in the place.”
“You helped organize this?” I had my suspicions. Why was this so important to him?
“Yes. Duh…When Drew asked me, I couldn’t say no. Could I? No. And I need this to be a success. You know. So he’ll ask me to do more things.” Danny looked up at me with those puppy eyes that he had perfected over the years. And he’d had a lot of practice with being a Little and all. He knew I wouldn’t say no to that.
“Fuck. Fine. Whatever. When and where?”
“We’re meeting here. In the parking lot. We’re all loading up on two busses to drive out together.”
“What? Can’t I just meet you at the campground?”
“No. Duh. This is about community. PRIDE, Sky. We all go together.”
What had I signed up for? And was it too late to back out? “Whatever, fine. When?” Why the hell was I giving in to this?
“Uh… tomorrow morning. We’ll be gone for like six days. I’ll tell Drew you’re in.”
Fuck my life.
Chapter four
Getting Ready to Camp
I packed my gear in my truck and headed over to pick up Warner before heading over to Drew’s office for this trip. Warner and I went way back, and he recently landed a job at Drew’s firm, so we had been invited on a camping trip for Pride. I was excitedabout it, but mostly because I hoped Skyler would also be going. Glutton for punishment? Obviously. I didn’t know much about him, to be honest, but he was sexy as hell when he got riled up. Even if Sklyer didn’t go, it would be great. I loved camping. And this one included a spring-fed river we could paddle board on.
I parked in Warner’s driveway and honked my horn. “Let’s go. Let’s go.”
Warner ran out with a duffle and his tent. And his new boyfriend. I would have been happier if it was just Warner, but Cody was a sweet twink and was also very outdoorsy. He was actually a good match for Warner, so I couldn’t hate them being together. “Hey Crow, you know Cody.” Not a question. We’d met.
“Yes. Good to see you. Ready for the trip?”
“Oh yeah. This is going to be epic. I grew up in the country part of Florida, you know? I’m not a city boy like you two.” He winked boldly at Warner. “And I love-love the water. Do we have room for blow-ups?”
“Yeah. We have inflatablepaddleboards.” Warner quickly clarified, which was good. But then he looked at me as if I organized all this.
“I’m sure there’s room. I have one too.”
Cody clapped. Actually clapped. “I’ll go get them.”
“I have snacks and drinks. I’ll grab the cooler.” Warner dashed back into the house.
A few minutes later, we were loaded up and headed over to Drew’s office, where we’d transfer everything to the bus.
“So y’all have your own tent? I brought the bigger one for all of us, in case.”
“Too small, Crow.” Warner laughed. “If you know what I mean. I brought one.”
“No worries.” I didn’t actually want to share if they were going to be fucking all weekend, anyway.
We pulled into the parking lot alongside two big buses and quickly transferred our equipment. I wasn’t looking forward to a long drive packed in with a bunch of strangers, but I was willing to do it. I couldn’t wait to get there, set up camp, and then head to the water.
