Oz is into me and I’m into him. He cares and so do I and we shared this. This. I never knew I could be so intimate with someone and still be a virgin. He never pushed for more than I was willing to give and for that I kiss his chest before resting my head back on him. His fingers play with my hair again and the gentle massage causes me to drift near sleep, but as the wind rocks the trailer, my eyes flutter open.

Oz kisses the top of my head. “Go to sleep. I’ll stay up and chase your monsters away.”

I slowly inhale and contemplate his words. Even with Oz surrounding me, I can still sense the dark and the woods pressing in on me from outside. “I know it’s silly. Logically, there’s nothing to be scared of, but...”

“Trust me to protect you.”

Trust him. “It’s only until dawn. Then I’m not as scared of the woods.”

“I got you,” he says. “I promise, I got you.”

I cuddle into him, close my eyes and trust.

Oz

MY PHONE BUZZES and I stretch. The scent of sand at the beach fills my senses as I inhale: Emily. I open my eyes and what we did this morning collides into me with the impact of a Mack truck.

Shit. I hooked up with Eli’s daughter.

Fuck. I poured out my soul to her.

Damn, I’m falling in love.

Emily’s pressed tight into my body with her back to me. My arm is slung over her, my fingers splayed over her flat stomach. A man of my word, I kept her monsters away and Emily slept deep. When daylight hit the window, I drifted off...cradling her in my arms...and I don’t do that. I’ve never slept with a girl.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply again. She smells so damn good and feels like heaven. There’s a shifting inside me. Emotions everywhere. Emily’s going to leave. She’s going to return home to Florida and leave me.

Emily sucks in air then peeks at me from over her shoulder. Big dark eyes. The type a guy can easily get lost in and I did. I got lost and now I’m screwed.

“Hi.” Emily’s eyes flicker between the bed and me. She’s awkward. Unsure. Possibly regretting what we did.

“Hey,” I respond.

“What time is it?”

I reach over Emily and grab my cell off the windowsill. With a swipe of my finger, it springs to life. “Four.”

The late-afternoon sunlight streams in from the cracks of the shade in my room and highlights the dust hanging in the air. We’ve slept the day away. Emily discreetly yanks at the blanket, covering one of my new favorite parts of her body I love to worship.

There’s one text from Olivia:

I want to see you and my granddaughter. Come back now. You can’t keep running from this. Life and death happen regardless of what you want.

A ripple of anger through my system. I didn’t run and I don’t care for reminders of the death sentence I can’t control.

Me: She’s waking up now. We’ll be there soon.

“Olivia wants to see you. I told her I’ll bring you back.”

“Okay.”

“Want to take a shower?”

Emily fingers the hem of the blanket that’s now tucked close to her neck. “I can wait.”

I caress her face. Fuck me. Just fuck me. I can’t do it. I can’t treat her as a hook-up, but where the hell do we go from here? I knew this. I knew the aftermath, but I couldn’t resist her last night. Kissing her, holding her, it was like being called home.

A squeak of hinges and my eyes snap to the living room through the cracked door of my bedroom. Adrenaline pushes into my veins as I grab for my knife on the floor.

“Oz?” Mom calls out. “Emily?”

“Shit.” I’m in motion, tossing another blanket over Emily as concerns for her modesty fly into my head. I roll to spring off the bed, but I’m not fast enough. Right as I plant a foot on the floor I glance up and meet the horrified expression of my mother.

“Tell me you didn’t have sex with some girl with Emily down the hall,” she whispers furiously as if Emily couldn’t hear. “Tell me I raised you with some decency. Eli will gut you open if he finds out about this.”

I sit up, aware of my movements so that I keep Emily’s face blocked. There’s no way out of this, but I can buy Emily a few minutes to compose herself. “Shut the door, Mom.”

Fire rages out of her eyes. “Oz—”

“Shut the door and I’ll be out in a second.”

Mom’s nostrils flare and, with pissed-off zeal, she slams the door to my room and the entire trailer vibrates. Great. Fucking great.

Emily eases up behind me while pinching the blankets to her body. Her mouth trembles and my heart is ripping into multiple pieces.

“I am so sorry,” she says.

I weigh my words carefully. “Mom’s not mad because a girl stayed overnight. She’s mad because she thinks I did it with you around. So if you feel bad about me being caught, don’t, but odds are she’s not going to be too happy when she finds out that you’re the one in my bed.”

Considering there’s only one way out of this trailer and Mom’s bent on talking to me, she’s going to discover that I was in here with Emily very soon.

Emily won’t look at me. “What’s going on between us?”

We should have thought of that before we made out. “I don’t know.”

She stares at the blanket as if maybe concentrating hard enough could help her disappear. “You care about me, right? I didn’t imagine that, because I know I told you that I care about you.”