“Shitty service,” I said without having to look at my call log. That was the one thing I hated about venturing out of town. While I was perfectly fit to hike the trails in even the roughest conditions, it wouldn’t be easy to call for help if I was lost or had an emergency. And I would have definitely deemed seeing Ridge as an emergency. A warning would have been nice.
I focused on Ridge again. He was still standing in the same spot, his jaw set hard like he was grinding his teeth. Is he upset to see me? Perhaps he was angry that he was surrounded by everyone who had bullied him when he’d moved to Telluride.
With one sweep of my eyes, I could tell that Ridge’s days of being the victim were over. He’d grown in every visible way. His face had lost its boyish softness and was cut like the mountains, with sharp peaks and valleys defining his bold cheekbones, and rugged jaw. He had cliffs for eyebrows and sweet chocolate pools for his eyes. And his quiet nature no longer screamed shy new boy but of a lethal weapon ready to strike at any moment. Time had made him colder, darker, and more on edge than ever before.
As if seeing Ridge again wasn’t bad enough, Raven’s gaze made my stomach churn. She stared at him, completely oblivious to the rest of us as she practically drooled at his every movement. I’d always suspected that she had a crush on Ridge, but I’d never imagined it would go anywhere. Trip would never have allowed it. But now…
My gaze flicked to Trip, who sat beside her, studying me. If anyone knew more than Josie, Trip would. He’d probably made a small fortune in high school, watching after me. Trip had slowly made his feelings for me known, despite my deflection of his advances, and for whatever reason, he’d hated Harold Cross’s son with his every waking breath.
If Trip is busy watching me, then who will watch Raven? I swallowed at the mental image of Ridge and Raven hiking through the emerging wildflowers, snuggling, and giggling the entire way. My heart started to beat faster, and my mind raced with thoughts that didn’t belong in my head. Though it was an awful fantasy, I couldn’t seem to let go of it.
The last thing I should be thinking about was Raven and Ridge together. But Raven was really pretty, with her long bleached-blond hair that nearly reached her waist, her always-ready smile that could light up a dark room, and her deep-blue eyes that had the potential to hypnotize a wild coyote. And the mental image of them together made my stomach roll.
If tonight was any indication, the next three days were bound to be torture, as I watched Raven eye fuck Ridge while he gave me the silent treatment. I wouldn’t survive.
Luckily, tonight would be a short night. With our plans to wake up early to start hiking in the morning, we knew not to get stupid.
Not long after I arrived, my peers started to excuse themselves from the fire to make their way to their tents. Eventually, the last of our group trailed off, leaving Josie and me with Ridge.
Josie stood next, without my having to give her a hint. “I’m heading to bed. See you soon?”
Her look was pointed and held a tinge of warning that I should heed. I nodded and watched her walk off before raising my gaze to Ridge. He’d already been looking at me, waiting. And I hated that something so small could give me so much hope.
“So, that’s it, huh? Not even a hello?”
He sat there, stoic, for another minute before blowing out a breath and looking at the sky. “How are you, Camila?”
His question, while it was a start, only angered me. “I’m great, Ridge.” I could practically feel the sarcasm dripping off my tone. “How about you?”
His laugh floated on a single breath that twisted into my chest. “I’m doing well.”
Despite the tension between us, I believed his words. I felt his calmness. He was so perfectly paired with nature. Maybe he’d finally found his home after all. Even in my anger, I could be happy for him, if that was the case. But I didn’t know what to say, so I allowed another minute or two to pass as our eyes shared a conversation our hearts had yet to catch up with.
“Have you hiked around here before?”
My chest pounded, not from his question but because he’d asked a question at all and such a casual one. His voice was deep and rich, but the velvety softness that I remembered from our past remained. He could still lull me into a calm just by a simple sentence.
“No.” I swallowed, hoping to steady my nerves. “I hear it’s beautiful.”
“That, it is.” He twisted the stick he’d been holding into the dirt. “Especially in the spring. Just wait until you see the stars from up there. There’s nothing like it.”
My heart beat fast at the mental picture he provoked. In all the years we’d met on the hilltop, never once had we met up at night. I’d always dreamed of looking up at the stars with Ridge. And while I was younger than he was, it didn’t stop me from wanting our first kiss to be among them.
He stood, ending our conversation, and I couldn’t help but notice just how different his body looked. Even through the flickering flame of the campfire, he was obviously no longer a boy. He was tall, thick with muscle, and had features that made my insides ache. Ridge Cross was becoming a man.
“It’s dark. Can I walk you?”
The tent I was staying in with Josie was only a few sites away, but I didn’t care. Ridge had offered, and I would steal every precious moment with him. So I got up, dusted my leggings off, and met him at the dirt walkway. There, I could really see how much Ridge had filled out since I’d last seen him. Who would have known a year and a half would turn such a baby face into a rugged cowboy?
I led the way down the path slowly, and he matched my pace. “So, this is where you call home now, huh?”
He shrugged. “Nowhere has ever felt like home to me. You know that, Camila.” He glanced at me. “But I suppose this is the closest I’ve come to feeling settled.”
I shouldn’t ask questions I wouldn’t like the answers to, but I was a glutton for punishment. “I guess I can see why.” Even in the dark, I could make out the shapes of the mountains and the contrast of each peak as they lay staggered in the distance. “Everything feels bigger than life here. Have you been back to the farm at all?”
“Nah, I think Harold and I needed a little break.”
Something about his statement infuriated me to no end. My pulse throbbed in my throat. “Did you need a break from me too?”
Ridge stopped in his tracks and bowed his head. “Camila…”
I stopped walking too and turned to face him. “No.” I stepped closer to him so that I was right under his nose, inescapable. “I asked you a question, and I deserve an answer.”
He gave me a blistering stare. “You want to do this now? Fine, Camila. Let’s do this now. Let’s get it out of the way.”
“Do what now? I just asked you a question.”
His jaw ticked. “Get all of your punches out of the way. Tell me how mean I was to leave the farm, leave Telluride… leave you. Make it all about you, and send me groveling on my knees. Go ahead.”
My jaw dropped. “It was a shitty thing you did, leaving like that. After everything we—I thought I meant more to you than that.”
He let out a cruel laugh. “Always so dramatic.”
His words were bite marks on my soul, and I feared the next attack more than I’d feared anything else in my life. Little by little, the small amount of history Ridge and I shared felt like it was crumbling into ash and floating in the wind. Soon, it would be as if it didn’t exist at all.