Ben was reading a book. He had rolled up his pant legs as far as they would roll over his chunky calves, exposing his snow-white limbs to the fresh air. His wide, pink feet pressed into the grass at the edge of the tree’s shade.
Jo sat cross-legged under the same tree. Her fingers played with the foxtails sprouting in front of her. She tried hard not to look at Galen lying a couple yards away, but her eyes were drawn to him like a magnet to steel. They started their trip at his bare feet and traveled up his long legs, covered in black denim. They stopped at his waist, where his T-shirt had been pulled out of his jeans, revealing a patch of beige skin, right above the pewter buckle of his black leather belt. She glanced at Ben—still immersed in his book—and her eyes finished sliding over Galen’s abdomen, his broad chest, and his muscular shoulders, up to the stunning face that she despised. His hair fell back on the grass, sunlight surfing in the black waves. His hands were folded under his head and his eyes were closed. A long blade of grass twitched in his mouth. He was physically perfect. And he was ‘movie star’ handsome, like Dove had said. Humph! Probably thinks he’s God’s gift. More like a curse. She crinkled her nose at him.
Laughter from the pool drew her attention.
Mike whipped his head, tossing his blonde bangs to one side, spraying an arc of water drops into the air. His bare chest appeared soft and hard at the same time. His abdominal muscles were coated with shiny water. She imagined what it would be like to be held close to that body.
He lifted Red from the water, his hands around her slender waist, his arms flexing as he launched her back into the pool. Jo was alarmed when he looked straight at her.
“Jo, come on in!” His aqua-tinted eyes sparkled. He beckoned her with a wave of his hand.
Her heart rate quickened. “I…I can’t.” She shook her head and smiled regretfully.
“Come on,” he implored. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
Jo’s heart melted at his words. She opened her mouth to speak, but Drew jumped on Mike’s back, stealing his attention. She smiled at the fun, replaying Mike’s words, picturing the way he had looked at her, over and over.
“That’s too bad.”
Her smile fell. Her eyes moved to Galen. He was leaning back on his elbows, twirling the piece of grass with his tongue, gazing at the pool.
Jo scrunched her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you hot in all that black?”
He turned his head to look at her. His midnight-colored bangs dangled down his forehead. “I don’t get hot,” he stated.
“Bad thyroid?” Ben inquired, without looking up from his book.
Galen stared at Ben, the grass hanging motionless from his mouth.
Jo smiled affectionately at Ben. He kept on with his reading, oblivious to just becoming her hero.
She took a deep, satisfied breath and lay back under the aspen tree. The grass was slick and cool on her skin. She folded her hands together under her head, between her soft hair and the hard earth, crossed her ankles and looked up at the white boughs. Heart-shaped leaves quaked in the breeze. The sky appeared and disappeared, a kaleidoscope of green and blue. The laughter of her friends, the splashing of the water, the rippling river, seemed to get farther and farther away. Wafts of warm air lulled her mind and she drifted off to sleep.
Water encases her, like a coffin. She claws at it, but there’s no end to it. Her lungs burn. Salt chokes her throat. Air! Air! In her head, she screams for breath. A hand grabs her, lifts her into sunlight. Above her head is a blurry face inside something dark.
“Let’s go!”
Jo sat straight up, sucking in a breath. It took her a few seconds to focus. Her friends were struggling to stay in one place against the current in the river pool. Galen was standing by the edge of the water with his hiking boots back on.
Ben closed his book and looked at Jo. He shrugged his shoulders and Jo shrugged back.
“Let’s go!” Galen yelled again and made a sweeping motion with his arm to wave them in.
Mike treaded water and flipped his wet hair from his face “What’s the matter?”
Galen nodded his head at the sun. “It’s time to go.”
“Not this again!” Red scowled at Galen from behind Mike’s back, where she clung to him, her arms wrapped around his neck.
“We have to go,” Galen said forcefully.
April and Drew obediently headed out of the water. Lary and Dove were already out, sitting on the log that she and Jo had shared earlier. Lary’s gold cross dangled from a chain down the tanned skin of his back.
“Galen, what’s the problem?” Mike questioned him.
“We’re running out of time.”
“Time for what?” Mike moved slowly to the bank. Red came with him, glaring at Galen all the way.
Galen’s fists sat on his hips. His voice was icy. “To live.”
The group gawked at him. Ben studied him, his mustache twitching. He and Jo stood up together. Jo brushed the dirt off the back of her shorts and picked pieces of grass from her hair. Weary of the all the arguing and Galen’s warnings of doom, she was going to confront him once and for all. She took a breath—
Red walked toward him, stopping close in front of him, dripping in the grass. She folded her arms under her breasts and tilted her head up. Jo rolled her eyes, knowing Red was fully aware that she had pushed her bosom up and that the plumped-up flesh looked even more enticing this way. Jo had to give Galen credit, his eyes never left Red’s face.
“Galen, honey, have you noticed any wild animals since we got here?” Red asked him.
He stared blankly at her. Ben rubbed his chin.
“What d’ya mean, Red?” Mike asked.
Red glanced back at Mike. “He’s afraid we’re going to be hunted by something. But there’s no prey here—squirrels, rabbits—have you seen anything?”
“What are you saying, Red?” Dove asked.
“No prey…no predator.”
“I never noticed,” April said, wringing out her hair. “But now that you mention it, you’re right. I haven’t seen one little animal.”
“That is odd,” Ben acknowledged, still rubbing his chin. “Like the missing birds.”
“And missing for the same reason,” Galen stated coldly.
Drew lumbered over to his backpack. “Well, let’s not break the fast.”
Lary swung his cross around in front of him and shook the water from his russet-colored hair. He grinned at Mike, his eyes imploring surrender.
Mike sighed. He puffed air through his lips, shook his head, and headed to his backpack.
“Well, I can’t believe this.” Red turned in a circle, scowling at all of them. “You’re letting this guy scare you with this nonsense?”
“There’s more than one kind of prey, Red,” Galen told her.
Red’s eyelids fluttered at him. “Are you trying to scare me?”
He gazed hard at her. “No. I’m trying to save you.”
Red’s eyes traveled slowly over Galen’s body with a look that made Jo blush. “Well, I’d like to see that.” Her voice was soft with sensuality.
Mike looked at the ground and scratched behind his ear. Galen stared back at Red, unfazed.
Dove went to Red and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, Red, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides, we’re cooking steak and baked potatoes tonight. It’ll be good to get back a little early.”
“Ugh.” Red made a face and jerked her shoulder from Dove. She threw Galen a look of death.
“Steak and baked potato?” Drew’s face lit up. “Why are we still standing here? Let’s make like the Red sea and split.”
“Indeed,” Ben said. He rolled his pant legs back down and packed his book.
The guys went up-river to change and the girls went to their area. Jo sat on a boulder to put her socks and hiking boots back on.
“Bracelet.” April stopped beside her with her hand out.
Jo dug in her pocket for the bracelet April had asked he
r to hold. It was a skinny, silver band with a nickel-sized glass bead in the middle. Inside the glass was a miniature pink flower.
“It’s very pretty,” Jo commented.
“My grandma bought it in London. I don’t know why I wore it hiking.” She slipped it over her wrist.
“People, let’s go!” Galen paced, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at sky.
Jo watched his nervous behavior through suspicious eyes.
“Forget about it, Jo-Jo.” Red sauntered by, back in her clothes. Tendrils of wet hair slithered down the back of her white tank top like copper-colored snakes. “You don’t have a chance with him.”
Jo drew a quick breath—
“Don’t.” Dove grabbed her arm. “It’s not worth it, Jo.” Dove’s blue-eyed gaze was gentle. “One conflict a day is enough, right?”
Jo huffed.
Chapter 15