Page 51 of Eye of the Hurricane
“You don’t have bad angles,” I tell her. She waves me off with a flick of her wrist.
“Everyone was looking for you. When they couldn’t find you at the lake, I said I thought I might know where you were.”
“We can go back, I’m aboutdone anyway.”
I stand and brush off my pants before grabbing my canvas. I pack up the brushes, paints, easel, and my water cup. It all squeezes into the little bag I brought down with me.
“Can you carry this?” I ask Katherine, holding the bag out to her. She narrows her eyes in confusion but takes the bag. I lean down, scooping her off the ground and she lets out a squeal.
“Put me down!” She laughs, attempting to wiggle herself loose. “What are you doing?”
“You’re not walking that whole way in heels, you’re going to hurt yourself.” She lets out a defeated huff and stops wiggling.
“I got down here just fine,” she argues. I don’t even entertain it with a response. The idea of her getting hurt, especially on my watch, is nauseating. I don’t give the reason behind that feeling much thought. The implications of it all leaves a sinking feeling in my chest that I’m choosing to ignore.
As soon as we’re back to the campsite, all eyes are on us. Probably because after however long spent looking for me, I showed back up with a gorgeous blonde slung over my shoulder.
Ignoring everyone, I lower Kat to her feet. She slides her palms down her sides, straightening her dress out.
“Audi, do you have an extra pair of sandals?” I ask. She turns her attention to me then to Katherine.
“Yeah, do you need a pair?” she asks. Kat shakes her head and opens her mouth to say she doesn’t, but I stop her before she can refuse.
“Katherine insists on wearing high heels out here. She’s going to fall and break an ankle.”
“I’ll grab a pair, hang on,” Audra calls out, climbing into her and Roman’s tent. A few seconds later, she comes backwith a black pair of flip flops in hand. She holds them out to Katherine.
“Are you sure this is alright?” Katherine asks.
“Yes, definitely. Honestly, keep them. They were probably like two dollars,” Audra assures her.
Katherine pops her heel up to unbuckle the strap. Instinctively, I hold my hand out for her to use to stable herself. Small, manicured fingers wrap around my forearm. Once again, all eyes are on us.
I thought for sure Luna and Ravyn would save us from having the spotlight on us. Instead they’re back to acting like normal, as if nothing happened. Everyone else is acting like nothing happened too, which has me wondering if we’re the only ones who knew about what those two got up to last night.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” I ask, cutting the silence.
“Drinking!” Luna yells from inside of her tent.
“Day drinking and the lake,” Sebastian confirms, holding his beer up.
“Kat, you wanna drink?” I ask her.
“I don’t drink beer,” she states, scrunching up her nose.
“She only drinks rich girl cocktails,” Luna calls out, poking her head out of the tent.
“Good thing I brought the stuff for martinis,” I tell Kat, giving her arm a nudge. It earns me one of her brighter-than-the-sun smiles.
“You always bring martini ingredients with you to camp?” she asks, arching a single brow at me.
“Nope.” I pop the ‘P’.
Sunset castsan orange hue on everything as far as the eye can see. Gold glitters along the small ripples in the lake water. At some point in the day, we unintentionally split the group into the men and woman.
The women are sipping their drinks while sitting in ankle deep water. The guys and I are currently taking a break from a vigorous game of volleyball. I’m struggling to suck in enough air to calm my breathing. I drink about half of my water before dumping the rest over my head and shaking the excess out of my hair.
“Jesus, remind me not to party with athletes…” I huff. Sebastian plays defense in the NHL and both my brother and Beck used to surf competitively.
