“Still looked pissed when he took off,” he said, making her bite back a groan.
“At me or Matt?” she asked, really hoping that it wasn’t her since she wasn’t ready for this to end yet.
“Matt.”
“Did he go with Reed?” she asked, reaching down to shove the hem of the large tee shirt that Jackson had lent her down past her knees in an attempt to ward off the chill making its way into the tent only to give up with a sigh and crawl inside her sleeping bag.
“He already called it a night and went to bed,” Jackson said as she took in the empty spot to her right.
“He did?”
“We’re sleeping in his old tent,” Jackson said, making her frown.
“I thought it was too small.”
“It is, but we decided that it was preferable to getting bitch slapped all night,” he said, which explained why she woke up sprawled across the tent alone this morning.
“I move around a lot in my sleep,” she said, shrugging as she curled up on her side and got comfortable.
“I remember,” Jackson said, chuckling.
“You do?” she asked, surprised that he remembered something like that.
“It’s hard to forget waking up to find your little sister shoving her knee into the middle of your back before she shoves you off the bed and follows that up by shoving all the books that she’d hid under her pillow off the bed and onto your head,” Jackson said, making her frown.
“We never had to share a bed,” she said because her grandparents had put a second twin bed in his room for all those nights when she got scared and needed to sleep with her big brother.
“You don’t remember anything before the accident?” he asked, making her stomach turn because she didn’t remember anything before the accident.
But she remembered the accident.
Every. Single. Heartbreaking. Second.
“No,” she said softly.
“God, you always hated sleeping alone. I think if you’d screamed your head off mom would have been able to handle it, but you would just lay there, crying quietly with the saddest little expression on your face. It would break mom every time. She’d scoop you up and carry you into my room so that she could curl up with you in my bed. As soon as I had my arms wrapped around you, you’d fall asleep.”
“I don’t remember that,” she said with a sad smile.
“After we went to live with Grandma and Grandpa, you used to sneak into my room every night with a stack of books and that old teddy bear that you used to carry everywhere. You’d climb into my bed, shove that old teddy bear between us, crack open a book and read until you passed out next to me. By the time you started getting violent, Grandpa asked Mr. Bradford to build a second bed so that you wouldn’t end up killing me in your sleep,” Jackson said, making her smile.
“You were a violent little thing,” he said, chuckling.
“Still am,” Joey said proudly.
“That’s what I heard,” he said, making her wince since she had a pretty good idea what he’d heard.
“It was an accident,” she said because there really was nothing else that she could say, was there?
“Which part? The part where Dr. Miller fabricated his work or the part where he screwed you over and tried taking credit for yours?” he asked, making her sigh.
“I meant the part where he had a heart attack,” she mumbled, still wondering what had compelled her to say yes.
“You didn’t give him a heart attack, Joey. He had a panic attack because he’d realized that he’d fucked up. It had nothing to do with you,” he explained, making her frown.
“Wait, how do you know?” Joey asked, immediately feeling like an idiot because there really wasn’t much that Jackson couldn’t find out.
“I also know that Anderson is planning on bringing you back in two months with a substantial raise, a new contract, and a heartfelt apology so that you can re-design their Forensics Program in time for Fall Semester,” he said, and just like that, she felt herself relax.
“Oh, thank god,” she said, closing her eyes and sighing with relief because it was almost over.
In two more months, she would have her well-thought-out, organized life back and she would-
“Hopefully by then, Reed will be able to find a new teacher,” Jackson said, making her realize something important.
It was almost over.
Chapter 38
“I’m sorry,” Joey said as soon as he opened the tent door.
“I see,” he said, placing the bag that he’d gone into town for in the corner as he took in the small woman sitting in the middle of the tent, wearing a large tee shirt that better not belong to Matt, hugging a flashlight against her chest, and looking so damn miserable that it had him inwardly promising to make this up to her.
“Really sorry,” Joey assured him as he closed the tent door behind him.
“And what are you sorry about?” Reed couldn’t help but wonder as he sat down next to her and pulled the bag closer.
“For making your brother cry,” she said, nodding solemnly only to frown when they heard Matt yell, “I didn’t cry!”
“They’re on the other side of the campfire,” Reed said as he focused his attention on the bag.
“Oh,” she murmured absently as she shifted closer to see what he was doing and gasped when he handed her a small bottle of Dr. Pepper and followed that up with a bag of food from McDonald’s that he hoped was still warm.
“Bless you, sir,” she said with a sniffle, hugging the bag as she quickly moved between his legs and sat back against him with another, “Bless you.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her and pressed a kiss against the side of her neck as he savored the way that she felt in his arms.
“Starving,” she said even as she held up her Big Mac so that he could take a bite.
“Jackson didn’t manage to catch anything?” he teased.
“I caught plenty!” his best friend said in outrage from his tent, making Reed chuckle.
“He really did,” Joey admitted with a nod as she took a bite of her burger. “And then he made the mistake of cutting them open in front of me.”
“Bit squeamish, are we?”
“Very,” she admitted, moving her attention to her fries. “What about Matt and Jackson?”
“Dropped their food off to them when they informed me that I drew the short straw again,” he said with a forlorn sigh.
“Wait! I volunteer as tribute!” Matt yelled, which was immediately followed by the sounds of rustling and-
“Ow! You mean bastard!”
“What else do you have in that bag?” Joey asked, holding up a fry for him as she glanced into the bag and went still.
“Is that a Kindle?” she asked on a reverent whisper as she reached into the bag with trembling hands and picked up the reason that he’d abandoned her earlier.
“I couldn’t find anyone that could fix the one the little bastard broke-”
“It was an accident!”
“-so, I bought you a new one. I managed to get it charged on the way back. I even managed to sign into your account and download all your books,” he explained as he ignored the little bastard that was lucky to be alive.
“I love it. Thank you,” she said in an awed whisper as she handed her unfinished burger back to him, swiped across the screen and quickly became absorbed in a book on The Dark Ages.
Realizing that he’d lost her for the night, he finished off her burger, secured the bag filled with junk food in his backpack while Joey crawled back onto her sleeping bag and curled up with her new Kindle. Once he was done, he pulled off his shirt, tossed it aside, laid down, and closed his eyes, resigning himself to another night of not being able to touch her. He wasn’t sure how he was going to survive, but he didn’t have much of a choice, he thought only to groan when he felt Joey climb onto his lap.
“We can’t,” he whispered, biting back another groan as he reached up and cupped her face as he leaned up so that he could meet her halfway for that kiss that he’d been dying to give her for the past two days.