My smile is wide and I let my head rest against the bus behind me. “So, you’ll come?”
“I told you once, Juliet, I won’t deny you again.” He pushes closer, whispering, “You want me there, I’m there.”
“Looks like you’re going camping then. You can share my tent.”
His gaze rapidly rakes over my face and he grabs my hands, pulling me back around the bus. “Then we better go get me packed.”
I nod, locking our fingers tighter as he walks us backward.
“For the record…” Noah pauses, and then he says something I had no idea I needed to hear until the words are wrapping around me. “I would have kissed you in front of everyone if I knew for sure you’d be okay with it, and that is the only reason I pulled you aside.”
My heartbeat hammers in my chest, and I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
Noah wants me and he isn’t afraid to show it.
He doesn’t care who knows it… so long as I do.
I do, Noah.
Noah reads me like an open book and winks as he releases me, grabbing his backpack from where he dropped it. He then jogs over to snag his football bag from the pile set out along the side of the bus.
Mason walks up, a little uneasy. “I take it you’re riding with Noah, then?”
“Yeah.”
While his jaw is set firm, he nods, spins and calls his name.
When Noah turns our way, Mason salutes him.
“Crash on the way up the hill with my sister and I’ll have to fuck you up.”
I roll my eyes, but Noah only grins.
“I crash with your sister, and I’ll let you.”
I chuckle, and Mason scoffs beside me.
We face each other.
“I could take him.” He glares, but his grin slips. “See you at the house?”
“Yep.”
He jogs over to Brady’s truck, where Chase stands, arms folded over his chest, his hip pressed against the cab.
His eyes brush past mine and he kicks off, climbing into the bed.
Off they go, Noah and me not far behind.
Chapter 24
Noah
* * *
We arrived at Mount San Jacinto a couple hours ago, and the second our feet hit the dirt, we started setting up for the weekend.
I helped Brady unload the barbecue and ice chests from the back of his truck while Mason and Chase got to work on the tents. Cameron and Ari grabbed the rakes they brought and started clearing out the brush, piling it up at the edge of the campsite. The girls popped up a couple tables, and just as Brady and I got the propane tanks hooked up and headed to help with the rest of the tents, Ari intercepted me.
“Noah will start on the food.” She looks to me with a proud grin, tugging me toward the bins stacked near the road.
“The things inside this bad boy are all you’ve got to work with, Chef Riley.” She lifts the top one, pushing it into my arms. “Think you can make some magic?”
My hands lock around it, but she doesn’t let go. “I haven’t seen what’s in it yet…”
“The magic is in the man, not his tools.”
“I hardcore disagree.” Cam skips by, snagging the smaller container to the side.
Ari laughs, looking to me as she steps back, and together, we walk the bins down into the campsite. We drop them at the edge of the tables, pushing the one we don’t need yet beneath it, and she leaves me to dig through them, while she shuffles left to turn on the grill.
Cameron slips over, tying down plastic tablecloths, and then pauses to watch while I do what I can with the seasoning available.
“Okay, Noah.” She grins at the foil pan, setting some napkins beside me before she walks away.
It’s not too much later when I’m pulling the first few of the chicken legs from the flame, right as several sets of headlights reach the camp from the road above. And just like that, it’s a party.
Beers are passed around, more tents are popped up, and by the time everyone has arrived and eaten, there’s still a tin full of meat for people to come back to later.
The sun went down an hour ago and the fire’s burning high.
I sit back, watching the others chat and laugh for several minutes, realizing this is the first time in a long-ass time I’ve stepped away from life.
Damn if I didn’t need it, and I don’t believe for a second Ari didn’t know it.
She knew and I didn’t.
When she told me she was going camping this weekend, I tried not to think about it, when, in reality, it was all I could think about.
Her leaving.
Him being there…