Mark her forever as yours.
I’m positive this is the greatest moment of my life, having my girl limp against me, her labored breaths blowing my body hair around. Our stickiness drips from our still-joined bodies, and I will never want for more than this. This total perfection of knowing I made Lainey happy.
But when she lifts her head and smiles at me, I realize every second with her will be better than the last. What have I done to deserve this?
What must I do to keep it?
A knife twists in my chest. “Promise. Promise you will come back to me.”
She lays a kiss on my chin. “I promise, Carver.”
“If you don’t—”
Her finger across my lips stops me from telling her I will come after her, imprison her again if she fails to return. “When we were making love, I trusted you not to use your size against me. To take away my will. And you didn’t. You were so amazing.” Pride fills me, my heart turning over at her gentle praise. “Now you need to trust me, too. It’s not just me wanting freedom. Unless I go back to camp, they’re going to come looking. I can’t let them find you and hurt you because of me.” Her lips twitch. “Or try to hurt you, anyway. You could probably take on an army.”
My voice betrays my misery when I speak. “How long will you remain away from me?”
“Tomorrow is Friday. We’re going hiking around the lake.” She strokes my face. “Saturday is visitor’s day. Parents and friends come to visit the campers. Counselors get to visit with their boyfriends and girlfriends. Everyone has someone coming.”
My spine snaps straight, a throb beginning in the center of my forehead. “Who is your visitor?”
“No one.” Sadness crosses her expression. “I won’t have one. But the girls will be mopey when their visitors leave again and I need to be there to comfort them. I’ll come back to you Saturday night.”
Denial stabs me. “No. Too long.”
She sighs. “I like having a job, Carver. Making my own money.” Her gaze begs me to understand. “Normal things. I never thought I’d have a normal life.”
“Is that what you want? A normal life?”
For a few beats, she remains quiet. “I can make an exception for my big, wonderful giant in the woods. As long as I’m free to come and go as I please.”
Agreeing with a nod is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But as we walk back to the cabin hand in hand to collect her clothes, I replay her words over and over in my head. Normal things. A normal life. I can make an exception.
Do I want Lainey to regard me as an exception, though?
If not, what can I do to change it? Chapter Six
Lainey
I can feel him watching me from the woods.
All day.
From the moment I leave my cabin, his gaze brands my skin. While I’m in the mess hall having breakfast at one of the indoor picnic tables, his frustration over not being able to see me is palpable. He would like to rip the walls down with his bare hands, I’m sure—and I have no doubt he could accomplish it—but I force myself not to rush. Not to eat faster than I normally would if I hadn’t been claimed by Carver last night, body and soul.
Do I already want to return to his cabin and bask in the warmth of his green eyes? Yes. So badly. But I refuse to let those bad habits form. If we’re going to have a real relationship, he needs to understand I’m the fucking Beyoncé of my own life. I want him to be my Jay-Z, but only if he allows me my freedom.
Even if right now I feel like a prisoner anyway. And I kind of love it.
Staring out over the lake into the forest, I wonder where he lurks. How he manages to stay hidden at all when he’s so huge. There’s an incessant throb between my legs reminding me exactly how huge he is everywhere. I’m not sure where I found the bravery to take him inside me last night, but once the pain retreated, I felt almost…wild. My body demanded to be satisfied and at the same time, my mind ordered me to please Carver. The combination of those two needs was a powerful punch. One that made me feel alive, sexual. Like a woman.
And the game we played…
I didn’t get my first cell phone until I ran away at sixteen. Between then and now, I worked several odd jobs while trying to lay low—and one of my co-workers along the way recommended Tumblr. It didn’t take long for me to experiment with sex-related search terms. Being free for the first time in my life, I realized everyone my age knew a lot about sex and I was curious. It was one random three-second GIF that inspired me to touch myself for the first time. And I went back to it again. Again. The short clip depicted an older man in a suit taking a much younger girl from behind. The rushed, frenzied nature of it alone excited me, but it was the way the man looked over his shoulder—as if worried about getting caught—that made me rub that spot between my legs and cry out into my pillow.
The fantasy grew from there. Who were they hiding from? How did they know each other? Some of my speculation seemed wrong…but Carver didn’t seem to think it was bad last night. No, it excited him, too.
“Lainey.” One of my campers interrupts my feverish thoughts. The members of my cabin are down by the lake’s edge, finishing their lunch and watching me curiously. “Earth to Lainey.”
I cross my arms over my hard nipples. “Yeah?”
A couple of them stand up. “Can we go for a swim now?”
“Sure,” I say, smiling. “I’ll come with you.”
They let up a cheer, probably because this is the first time we’ll go swimming together in the lake. When I told Carver I wanted to return to camp so the girls could lean on me for emotional support after visitor’s day tomorrow, I wasn’t lying. In just a short time, I’ve really started to like these kids. Most of them are from families with money and I grew up envious of privileged girls, assuming they were mean or out of touch. Turns out, they’re all insecure and goofy and needing of support. Giving it to them makes me feel good, which is just another reason I can’t give up my job to go on a permanent vacation in the woods with Carver.
I stand up and strip off my camp T-shirt, leaving myself in jean shorts and a bikini top. My skin prickles with the awareness of being watched. Stalked. Is he touching himself right now as I undress, rubbing his cock in that fast, violent way I know he does? Taking a deep breath, I unbutton my shorts and let them fall to the earth. Behind me, the trees rustle and a groan floats on the wind, surrounding me and making me shiver.
“Come on, Lainey!”
“Yeah. We’re going to play chicken.”
Having only swum a handful of times at a public pool back in Texas, I have no idea what chicken is, but I’m excited to find out. All the girls are in the lake now, splashing around and being dorks in general. So with one last glance toward the trees, I kick off my moccasins and head for the lake—
“Hey there, Lainey.”
I stop in my tracks at the sound of Manny’s voice. Tension thickens the air as I turn around and find him admiring my body with a kind of entitled appreciation. The air isn’t the only thing that’s thickening, either. There’s a noticeable bulge rising in his shorts, and acid fills my mouth in response. “Uh, hey Manny.”
He comes closer. “I was so worried about you last night.”
Holding up a hand, I take a giant step backwards. This guy has no idea how close he is to death right now. Part of me wants him to find out, but I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me. Especially in front of the girls. One wrong move on Manny’s part, however, and I have no doubt Carver will exit those trees like a demon on the warpath. “Like I told everyone last night, Carver is a friend of mine.” I let my hand drop. “He was just playing around.”
“Really?” He tightens his ponytail. “It seemed a lot like kidnapping.”
“Well, it wasn’t,” I snap, remembering the scene when I arrived back at camp last night in ripped shorts, Carver watching miserably from the trees as I walked away. The cops had shown up and were in the process of forming a search party when I strolled into the quad with my bravado on full blast, feigning shock that everyone was making such a big deal out of what happened. After all, it was just my friend Carver having some fun at my expense. When they asked how I knew him and questioned why my shorts were ripped, I claimed to have met the man they refer to as The Butcher while on a recent morning hike—and assured them all he’s actually very nice. The ripped shorts were just a casualty of tripping in the forest. That’s all.
This morning, it was clear only the campers bought it. I’ve managed to avoid any more questions from the other counselors, though, until now.
“I’m sorry everyone was worried about me, but there was no need. As you can see, I’m fine.”
“Oh, trust me.” He rakes me with a look. “I can see how fine you are.”
There’s another rustling in the trees, a low rumbling sound moving across the shoreline like rippling thunder. “I’d like you to leave me alone, please,” I say in a rush. If Carver kills this man, there will be no peaceful existence for him ever again. The police would hunt him down—and something tells me he wouldn’t be taken alive. No, I have to defuse this situation myself. And fast. “I’m going swimming with the girls. Shouldn’t you be with your cabin?”