The fire popped as I held Ellie in my arms while Josh, Ari, and Heather told us how they came to the conclusion that Alison and Grant were swingers.
With a shake of my head, I grunted. “If I had turned around and saw that, I’d probably had killed the bastard. Fucker talking to Ellie like that.”
The vibration of Ellie’s chuckle moved through my body. “I still can’t believe it. I mean, what sick kind of person would want to sleep with pregnant women?”
“Hey!” Ari and Heather said at the same time.
“I take offense to that. I may be pregnant, but I’m still sexy as hell,” Ari said with a wink.
Jeff raised his beer up and said, “I agree with that one hundred and ten percent.”
“I swear, it took everything I had not to punch that guy’s lights out,” Josh stated.
With a tip of my baseball cap, I replied, “You’re a better man than me, Josh Hayes, ‘cause I’d have ripped his throat out.”
Ellie glanced up at me and shook her head. “You’re a lover, not a fighter.”
“Not when it comes to you, Ells.”
Her smile lit up her face. “I love you,” she said as she reached up for a kiss.
I twisted my cap around and gently kissed her lips. “I love you more, sweetheart.”
“Well, as much as I would love to sit around this fire and talk, this is the last night I have with my wife before we head back home. I’m getting me some sex.”
Ari laughed as she slapped Jeff on the chest. “You still stink! There is no way I’m letting you near me.”
Jeff cupped Ari’s face within his hands. “Baby, no amount of stink can keep you away.”
Scrunching her nose, Ari said, “There is … trust me, baby. There is.”
“Gunner?”
The sound of Ellie’s voice filled my dream.
“Gunner! Wake up!”
I wrapped my arms around her tighter. “Mmm, baby you feel so good.”
“That’s the pillow you’re holding, now wake up!”
My eyes opened and I sat up. “What’s wrong?”
Ellie went to talk, but a loud crash outside our tent had both of us jumping.
“That! There’s something outside the tent. You need to go see what it is.”
With a half-hearted chuckle, I shook my head. “Hell no. I’m not getting skunked like Jeff did.”
She tilted her head and gave me a look my mother or Grams would give me. “Really, Gunner?”
Another crash, this one louder.
“Get dressed and see what it is! Please!” Ellie pleaded.
I let out a frustrated groan. “Fine. But if I get skunked, I’m grabbing your ass and rubbing all over you.”
Her teeth sunk into her lip. “I like the sound of that.”
My dick jumped. “Damn, Ellie. Now I’m turned on.”
“You started it!”
After pulling on jeans, my boots, and a shirt, I slowly unzipped the tent. Ellie was right on my tail. At least if I got sprayed, she was going down with me.
I was slowly inching out when I heard the small ice chest start to open. I pushed Ellie back into the tent when I saw the shadow of a person. I jumped out and went to grab them, but I kicked whatever it was that had fallen, causing them to spin around and shine their flashlight in my eyes. The next thing I felt was something sharp hitting my jaw.
Dropping to the ground, I swore I saw stars.
“Gunner!” Ellie screamed as she rushed over to me.
“Damn it! Gunner, I’m so sorry, but you scared me!”
I tried to focus my eyes on the person now leaning over me.
“Ari, what are you thinking sneaking over here like that?”
“I was thirsty and we didn’t have any bottles of water.”
I rubbed my jaw and said, “Jesus, why were you making all that noise?”
She shined the flashlight in my eyes, causing me to look away.
“The light, Ari!”
“Shit, sorry!” she said as she shined it out the other way.
“I wasn’t making any noise. I literally just walked up a second ago.”
My jaw was throbbing as I slowly sat up with Ellie’s help. “Then who was making all that nose?”
A noise came from our right. The three of us all turned to face it.
“Ari, can you shine your light over at the picnic table?” I asked.
When she did, we all gasped at once.
“Don’t anyone move,” I whispered.
Ari’s hand must have started shaking because the light was moving all over the place.
“This camping trip is cursed, I tell you,” Ari whispered.
Ellie grabbed onto my arm and tried to whisper, but her voice shook with fear. “Is … is that a mountain … mountain li … um …”
I stood slowly and pushed both girls behind me.
“Lion. Yes, it’s a mountain lion. Slowly get into the tent, both of you.”
“Gunner, no! You can’t stay out here alone,” Ellie pleaded.
I could hear Ari getting into the tent.
“Ells, baby, I can’t take my eyes off of her; I need you to get into the tent slowly. Please.”
“O-okay. I love you.”
My heart was pounding so loudly I could hardly hear her speak. “I love you too.”
Moving slowly, Ellie finally got into the tent.
I lifted my hands above my head and shouted, “Go on! Get the hell out of here!”
“Well hell dude, I’m only trying to see what is taking Ari so long.”
My head jerked to the right as I watched Jeff come walking up, a flashlight shining directly on me.
“Jeff, stop!”
He instantly stopped. “What’s wrong?”
I lifted the flashlight more to show him the mountain lion.
“Holy fuck!” he shouted as he jumped back. “There’s a mountain lion on the table.”
“No shit. I’m trying to get her to leave, but she’s just sitting there. Staring at me.”
“How do you know it’s a she?”
I rolled my eyes and let out a small sigh. “I don’t, Jeff. I’m just saying she.”
“What makes you say she though?”
I groaned. “I don’t know for fuck’s sake.”
“Lift your hands over your head and yell at her … or him.”
I choose to ignore Jeff as I attempted to intimidate the big cat again. “Go on! Get out of here! Ha!”
From the left side, I heard someone walking up. “What in the name of everything good in this world are you doing yelling out here, Gunner? Can we get one night of decent sleep?”
It was then the mountain lion decided she’d had enough.
“Josh, dude you better stop walking, there’s a mountain lion making her way over to you.”
The flashlight was still shining on the cat as she made her way over to Josh. I was stunned that he didn’t seem the least bit scared. He started jumping up and down on the one leg that wasn’t hurt, making some weird noise as he lifted his hands over his head. Josh made a quick jerking motion forward, causing the cat to stop. When he did it again, she turned around and quickly started to trot off. Jeff and I both looked at each other with stunned looks. We walked up to Josh, flashlights shining directly on him.
“Seriously, can you lower your lights, guys?”
I dropped mine some and came to a stop in front of him. “How in the hell did you spook her?” Jeff asked.
Josh laughed as he hit us both on the side of the arm. “No fear, gentlemen. I have no fear.”
Turning, he started to walk back over to his campsite.
“Yeah right, Hayes. It’s called luck!” Jeff called out.
Josh lifted his hand and waved off Jeff as he called out, “Josh the Magnificent, one. Mountain lion, zero.”
Jeff let out a chuckle and said, “Great. I wonder how many years we’re gonna hear about this?”