I kiss the top of his head. “Because you need to get ready for camp. Work out and get that pudgy ass in shape.”
He chuckles. Probably because there’s not an ounce of fat on this man.
His drowsy eyes squint open. “I can think of a better way to work out.”
“Mm. Wonder what that might include,” I say as I wiggle against his thigh, hoping that we’ll get to the main event sometime this decade. Because as hot as things have been between us on this trip, I’m dying to go all the way with him.
He palms my boob, but just as he pulls me on top of him, someone bangs on the bedroom door.
“We got some baby mama drama out here, B-Rod,” Olly yells.
Ben and I freeze before he springs into action and leaps out of bed to yank on a pair of jeans. I quickly grab shorts and a t-shirt. When I stumble into the living room, I find Lily with one pissed-off Amelia.
Lily has thrown up, and Amelia is screaming and holding the toddler away from her body.
Ben takes a teary-eyed Lily from her and heads to the kitchenette. I grab some paper towels and wipe her face while he coos soothing words to his daughter.
“She said she’d be gone for, like, ten minutes,” Amelia screeches.
“Who?” Olly asks as he tries to wipe the puke from Amelia’s t-shirt, only for her to smack the washcloth out of his hands.
“Janelle. Who else? She said she needed to talk to her ex and that she’d be right back. But it’s been over an hour. Her kid seemed hungry, so I gave her some of my smoothie, but she yakked it back into my face five minutes later.”
Green drink drips from her blond hair and across her white shirt.
“Wait,” Ben says. “So she went to make a phone call?”
“No, jackass.” Amelia snorts. “She went outside to meet up with her ex.”
Ben’s jaw tightens. “Ernest? He’s here?”
“I don’t know his name. But yeah. They were gonna talk down by the pool.”
“Stay here.” Ben hands the baby to me and takes off out of the cabin.
My eyes widen, and I turn to Olly and Johnny, who just woke up. “Can you guys go with him and watch his back?” Make sure he doesn’t get arrested. If Ernest is the violent man Janelle has described to Ben, things could get out of hand quickly.
“On it.” Olly races out the door. Johnny jogs after him in his boxers.
Which leaves me and Amelia, who’s still bitching about the vomit.
“It’s just baby puke. It’ll wash out.”
She points her finger at me. “This is your fault, you know. If you hadn’t been fucking Ben all night, Janelle wouldn’t have been upset this morning.”
I pull the dirty shirt off Lily and clean her with a damp washcloth as I think about what to say.
Guilt worms through me when I consider that Janelle might have heard us earlier this morning. The walls are thin. After all, we heard Olly and Amelia going at it in the shower.
Damn. While I don’t like Janelle or what she did to Ben, I didn’t want to hurt her.
But then I consider the larger situation. “I wasn’t trying to be insensitive, Amelia, but Janelle came on this trip knowing full well that Ben and I are together. Is she surprised that I slept with my boyfriend?”
The vehemence in my voice catches me off guard. While Ben and I started out pretending so he could set some boundaries with Janelle and only became official, like, two seconds ago, there’s a conviction in me that feels more intense than it should at this stage.
She rolls her eyes at me. Ignoring her, I take the baby to Janelle’s room. It’s surprisingly empty. Just rumpled blankets on the bed, the pack ’n’ play, and a giant diaper bag.
I dig through it to find a change of clothes. After I get Lily cleaned up, I pick her up and hug her close. She jams her thumb in her mouth and drops her head to my shoulder.
“It’ll be okay, lovie.” I pat her back and rock her side to side for a few minutes before I return to the living room as the guys stomp back in.
They’re all sweaty, and judging by their expressions, they don’t have good news.
“We didn’t find her.” Ben punches at the screen of his phone. “And she’s not picking up.” He paces back and forth across the cabin. “What if Ernest abducted her? She came to me in the first place because she was worried about him becoming violent.”
The guys and I make eye contact.
“Ben,” I say gently, “why would she call him if she was worried for her safety?”
Amelia laughs rudely. “Because you and Ben fucked all night and devastated that poor girl. No wonder she went crying back to her ex.”
I want to point out we haven’t gone all the way yet. Instead, I open my mouth to reiterate, again, she chose to come on this trip, when I catch a glimpse of Ben’s face.
“Amelia, you don’t know shit, so I’ll ask you to keep your nose out of my business.”
Bug-eyed, she turns to Olly. “Are you going to let Ben talk to me this way?”
He shrugs. “It’s a complicated situation, Amelia. You walked in on the tail end. He’s right to feel frustrated.”
“Whatever, dick.” She storms out, and he curses and chases after her.
“Yeah! Fun times, people!” Johnny yells, still in his boxers.
“Shut up, Johnny,” Ben and I say at the same time.
“I don’t know why y’all are so worked up about this,” Johnny says as he scratches his balls and strolls into the kitchenette to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Janelle’s probably playing you and her ex. That’s what my mom did. How’s that for a role model, huh? What’s to become of today’s youth?” He shakes his head.
I don’t know him well enough to gauge whether he’s telling the truth or being sarcastic about his home life, but he might have a point about Janelle.
“I think she might have taken her stuff.” I wince, hating that I had to say it. “I found the baby bag and pack ’n’ play when I changed Lily, but I didn’t notice any other belongings.”
“Fuck.” Ben runs to her room. A few minutes later, he returns with a stoic expression on his face. “She had that suitcase. Some toiletries. It’s all gone.”
I look at the teary-eyed child in my arms.
“Well, not everything.”
29
BEN
When I reach the end of the room, I turn around and head the other way. Back and forth until I’ve practically worn a path through the old carpet of the cabin. I snap the rubber bands on my wrist so hard, they welt the skin beneath. The only other thing that seems to help is pacing. It’s better than sitting here, feeling helpless.
Johnny is right. Janelle might be jerking me around right now. She could be sitting somewhere with her ex or some friend, laughing her ass off. But what if she’s in trouble? What if she needs someone to care enough to pick up the damn phone and call for help?
“Are you still on hold?” Olly asks from the couch where my friends are camped out.
I nod as the tinny voice on the other end of the phone line returns.
“We can send a cruiser over this afternoon,” the dispatcher says, sending a hot flood of relief through me. “I’ll connect you to an officer. One moment, please.”