dash

After an awkward flight and an even more awkward drive in the rental, we manage to make it to the cabin without any fatalities.

As we sit in the small driveway, I’m reaching for the handle on my door when I feel her hand on my arm, stopping me.

“Dash, wait,” she says low, pulling my eyes to hers. She’s nervous, her eyes softer than normal as she anxiously chews on her bottom lip. “I know I’ve been awful today,” she offers, surprising me. “Usually, I just say shit to get under your skin because I like to aggravate you,” she admits. “I mean, I’m not going to lie and tell you alcohol didn’t have everything to do with… that… but I don’t actually hate you. I just… you’re just so fuckin’ annoying, ya know?”

“Are you going somewhere with this?” I stare back at her, unamused. “This is seriously the worst apology I’ve ever heard.”

“Right there!” she points out, whispering harshly. “I’m trying to tell you something and you just… Nevermind,” she shakes her head. “Earlier, at the hotel, when I mentioned my family?”

“Yeah?”

“I wasn’t kidding,” she continues, her eyes holding mine. “My mom honestly wouldn’t care, but Mason?” she trails off, releasing a sigh. “Dash, he would flip the hell out if he knew.”

“Yeah,” I nod, glancing down at my hands. “Yeah, I know.”

“Seriously. He’s insane over me and regardless of this huge mistake we made, you’re his best friend, Dash. The two of you rely on each other so much, but if he were to ever find out…” she shakes her head, surprising me again when her eyes start to tear up. “He needs to keep you as a friend and him finding out about us would make that impossible,” she says bluntly. “There’s no reason for him to suffer for our drunken stupidity.”

“Agreed,” I say, swallowing hard as I look toward the cabin in front of us before moving my eyes back to hers. “I’m not going to say anything, Evie. I’ll take it to the grave.”

“Are you sure you can do that?” she asks. “You… I mean, we both tell Mason everything.”

I think about her words for a second, knowing she’s right. I let my mind wander to another time, another place, thinking carefully before I break the silence in the small car and begin to speak.

“When Mase and me were in the sixth grade, there was this girl named Reagan we went to school with,” I start, leaning back into the seat. “He had a massive crush on her. I’m not sure I’d ever seen him hung up on a girl like that before her.”

“I remember,” she says quietly before narrowing her eyes at me. “Oh, my God! You didn’t sleep with…?”

“Just listen,” I cut her off, narrowing my eyes. “One day after about six months of pining over her, I told him to just ask her out. He was scared shitless, said he didn’t think she liked him, but I thought he was insane. She’d been staring at him all year, ya know?” Evie nods, listening quietly for once. “He asked me to talk to her, see if she liked him… stupid sixth grade bullshit,” I smirk. “So, I did and she tells me it wasn’t Mason’s attention she was trying to get all year, it was mine.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Evie says. “She was his girlfriend that whole summer.”

“Because I lied. I told her I had a girlfriend and I was moving once school was out, so she should just date him. I talked him up and she went for it.”

“So, that’s why you didn’t come around for all those months?” she asks, her surprise obvious as I nod. “Wow, I thought my birthday wish had just come true that year,” she whispers in quiet amazement, making me laugh. “What did Mason say when you told him?”

“I never did and I never, ever will,” I shake my head, meeting her eyes. “Mason is the closest thing I’ve got to family, Evie. I know how much he loves you and I know what him knowing would do to our friendship,” I admit. “I don’t think either of us have any intention of a repeat,” I offer, chuckling at her expression. “So, telling him would serve no purpose. I’ll lock it in the vault with Reagan and you can lock it away with whatever your ex did to make you freak the hell out on me last night.”

My words pull a gentle nod from her as she glances toward the brightly lit cabin looming in front of us. I can tell she’s nervous, but it seems like there’s more to it than our secret.

I consider asking her, but toss the idea almost as quickly as it comes. Things are already complicated enough as it is. The last thing either of us need is to be more involved.

“It’s gonna be fine, Evie,” I promise low, her eyes coming back to mine softer. “Come on. Let’s go in.”

evie

The first few days at the cabin have me on edge, every odd look I get from Mason sending me into an internal panic of my own creation. Avoiding Dash and my brother proves to be easier than I thought it might be, though. They’d spent most of the weekend on the slopes while I enjoyed the quiet of the tiny cabin in the woods we’d spent so many winters at before.

Days of waking up late, reading in my pajamas in front of the fireplace was exactly what I needed after the tumultuous start to my break.

I’d be lying if I said hiding away was a surefire fix to everything in my life. At night when we all regrouped for supper, my seat being directly across from Dash, things were painfully awkward. The problem with free time to think was almost always free time to think. Eventually, my thoughts were bound to return to that night. It was only natural, but at the same time, I didn’t want the feelings that came with it.

I didn’t want any feelings toward it.

I wanted them all to completely disappear.

They refused to, though. Mixed in with my distaste for all things Dash was the complications of remembering the night we spent together. I hated everything about him and that night was no exception.

I hated that I couldn’t shake the way he tasted when he kissed me.

I hated the constant thought of his weight on me as he rocked between my thighs.

I hated the way my breasts grew heavy now as I thought about him dipping his head low, tasting my flesh.

I hated the constant reminder of what my name sounded like as it slipped from his lips while he filled me from behind.

I’d done everything I could to push that night from my mind, but the harder I tried, the more relentless the thoughts had become. Every time he looked at me, every time he said my name, my body reacted.

I couldn’t remember the last time my cheeks weren’t heated around him, the last time the space between my thighs didn’t ache with a need only he could fill.

It was really starting to piss me off.

My only break was during the day while he was gone with Mason. That had been enough, but with the workshop starting today and a storm coming, there was nowhere left for us to hide.

Dash and I were locked inside the cabin together for the day.

I ignore him as much as possible, feigning a headache to account for my unusual silence, but even that isn’t helping. Halfway through the day, as I sit beside the safety of the bay window, I hear a loud crack and look up to find him chopping fire wood just outside.

Despite the cold weather outside, he’s in a fitted t-shirt, his inked muscles bulging as he swings the axe over his head, slamming it down with force repeatedly. His shirt moves up slightly with every swing, revealing the delicious cut above his pelvis and I swallow hard, my mouth going dry as he twists slightly to wipe the sweat from his bronzed brow.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” I whine under my breath, squeezing my thighs together to ease the ache. “You son of a bi-”

“What’s the matter?” Mason’s voice fills the room, making me jump.

“Mason!” I shriek, gripping my chest as a nervous chuckle slips from my lips. “Jesus, you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing here? I thought you were gone at classes all day?”

“Just came up to grab a couple things and head back down,” he explains, looking down at me suspiciously. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, uh… nothing,” I shake my head, giving him a small smile. “Just my book…” I lie, holding up the paperback before I watch him nod in understanding.

“Ahh,” he smirks. “I thought you were cussing Dash.”

“Why would I be cussing Dash?”

“Because he’s out there making all that noise and you said this morning you had a bad headache,” he shrugs.

“Oh,” I relax, laughing nervously. “Yeah. Screw him, too.”

He leaves with a chuckle, but this was just one excellent example of how my entire weekend had been. Every time I thought I’d get a reprieve, Dash would come along and do something to ruin me, send my body into a frenzy and it was getting ridiculous.

I wanted nothing more than to go back to the simplicity that came with hating Dash Hunter.

I’m a good person. Surely my undiluted hatred was a reasonable request.

By the time I’m able to retreat to my room for the night, I’m certain I’m on the verge of insanity.

Insanity while you’re locked in a cabin in the woods isn’t a flag raiser, right?