Molly:

It’s been weeks since I first met Tucker. Weeks since I bailed Moss out of jail. Weeks since I first crested that mountain, and yet everything feels like I’m still stuck in that same place I started.

With Tucker, that’s actually a good thing. Every day we spend together feels like the first time all over again. The sex is still amazing. I see the way his face lights up when he sees me, even if we’ve only been apart for a few hours. He’s been giving me my space to work, hang out with my friends, workout, and enjoy some time alone. I make sure he has his space to hunt, fish, and spend time with his crew without me in their business. It’s a happy balance. Still, he spends most nights with me on my bus.

It’s almost like we are a normal couple who goes off to work in the morning and reconvenes in the evening. Almost.

Being stuck in the same place with his crew has been miserable, though. Every time I go up there for the day, I feel like I’m making absolutely zero headway with the Vagrants. Every day I show up looking to get a little peek into their life on the mountain, their motivation, their survival skills, and every day I feel like I watch them eat candy and get drunk around a fire.

Moss is nowhere to be found when I show up, and every time I try to get a little time with him to find out about how he started this crew and what his plans are for the future, I’m assured that he’s out “meditating.” I’m beginning to feel like he’s some kind of cult leader, even though I don’t think the other men look to him for more than direction. I don’t think, but I don’t think I’m ever going to find out.

Luna makes sure she basically sits on Tucker’s face whenever the two of us together. I get that she’s trying to establish her role as alpha-female or whatever, and I don’t feel jealous at all, because I know where he’s been sleeping the last month, but nobody likes to see a girl throwing themselves at their man, especially a girl who looks like she does. She’s like a forest pixie meets playboy model. I try and convince myself that I would look that way too if I had nothing better to do all day than run around the woods in a bikini, but I also think that pasta is an appropriate food for every meal of the day, and maybe some snacks, too.

I force myself up that mountain every day, Tucker by my side, and while he goes off with some of his brothers to do whatever they need to get done for the day, I hang around, looking to glean some tidbits of information. I just need something, anything I can craft this story around to make it more compelling than the convict camp I’m beginning to see it for.

The only person who has been truly willing to open up to me has been Mitch, the old man who takes care of the rations and seems to serve as a father figure for these wild men. Even with him, I don’t know how far he’s actually willing to go. He just seems like a kind person, but I’m sure he has his secrets, too.

“Are you getting up today?” Tucker asks, nudging my shoulder softly. He kisses the back of my neck and brushes his fingers through my hair. I’ve been laying here, staring at the wall, for three hours now. I’m frustrated. I’m anxious about my career. I have a looming deadline and I don’t know how I’m going to pull this story out of my ass, no matter how many times I tell my agent that I’m good. It’s all lies at this point, and it’s starting to wear on me.

I let out an incoherent moan and pull the covers up over my face.

“Molly, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I think I need a day off,” I tell him. “I feel like I’m spinning my wheels here. I know I promised that I wouldn’t get you involved in this, but I’m having a really hard time getting anyone to give me what I need to write this story.”

Tucker:

I can tell she’s getting fed up with the runaround she’s been getting up at camp. I warned her getting into it that the Vagrants weren’t really ones to talk about things. We’re all a bunch of recluses hiding out from our lives down below. Everyone’s full of secrets.

I know she is used to getting what she wants from people, I know she’s good at her job, but she’s dealing with a totally different beast when it comes to Moss and my brothers.

“I wish I could help you more, Molly,” I say, trying to console her. “I’m as much of an outsider as you are, though. The only reason why they keep me around is that I’m one of the best hunters and fishermen out of all of us. Plus, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but I’m fairly good-looking.”

She rolls over and punches me in the shoulder softly. I love spending these mornings with her. She looks so cute with her hair all wild, her eyes soft and her voice raspy. There hasn’t been a night I haven’t spent with her in the last month. It wasn’t even something we talked about, it was just something that kind of happened.

As much as I love spending time with her, as much as there’s nowhere I’d rather be, every day I become more and more overwhelmed with guilt that I’m living off of her. Freeloading. I know for a fact that that’s not the kind of guy I am.

“Will you hand me my phone?” she asks. “I need to text Cheryl back. She wanted to go to lunch today, but I really should probably do some work.”

“You just said you needed a day off,” I remind her. “Why don’t you go spend some time amongst some human beings that don’t shit in a hole in the ground?”

I love the way she laughs at my jokes, like she thinks I’m the most hilarious man in the entire world. “I don’t really think about other people’s pooping habits, but if this story gets any harder to write, I might have to include that in it.”

She sits up in the bed, the curve of her perfect breasts lit up in the morning sunshine beaming through the floral curtains on the bus. It’s damn near impossible to keep my hands off her beautiful body. I cup them in my hands, planting a kiss on her collarbone and her playful giggle hits me right in the dick.

“Hey, girl,” she says into the phone. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve been really busy. You still want to do lunch today?”

I roll her nipples in between my fingers and she shoots me an evil glare. “Maybe I will bring him, if you don’t care. That’ll be fun. Ok! We’ll see you at noon.”

She hangs up the phone and I roll her on her back, climbing on top of her playfully.

“So you’re going to introduce me to your friends now?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.

“I’m going to introduce you to my fist if you don’t stop messing with me,” she teases. She reaches her head up to try and kiss me, but I pin her back down. “What makes you think I was talking about you, anyway?”

“I know you’re doing this on purpose. You want me to spank that ass of yours, Molly?”

She bites her lip and nods up at me with a sultry grin.

“Well that’s gonna have to wait. It’s ten-thirty. We better get showered. I don’t want to be late to meet Cheryl,” I say.

“Boo,” she whines. “She can wait.”

“Come on,” I say, helping her out of bed, staring her naked body up and down. I have to get up too, or we’ll definitely need to call Cheryl and ask for a rain check.

“You don’t think the guys are going to worry if you don’t show today?”

I hadn’t really given it much thought. Ever since she started writing her story, they’ve kind of frozen me out even more than before. It doesn’t really bother me because it just gives me more time to spend with her, but part of me thinks I probably need to get up there alone for at least a day or two to smooth things out.

“Maybe, but this is important to me. I want to meet your friends. I want to see what your life is like when I’m not around. I want to be a part of your world. My guys will be fine. You’ll just have to bring them an extra bag of M&Ms or something tomorrow.”

“At this rate, I swear they’re gonna be diabetic by the time I’m done with them,” she laughs, shaking her head, tossing on a sundress and gathering up her caddy of shower supplies.

“You started it,” I say, shrugging.

“I might as well be a walking piñata.”

I lift up the back of her dress and plant a firm smack on her ass. She squeals. “I was just checking to make sure candy doesn’t come out when I hit you.”

“Fuck you, you fucking tease,” she says, pouting. “I’ll be in the shower.”