Page 44 of The Write Track
“Come on.” He was firm. “You need to decompress. And I need to check out the shower situation because if I don’t have decent water pressure, I’m going to melt down like a woman who can’t find a shoe store.” He shot Bree a wide grin to let her know he was joking. “It’s going to be fine,” he assured me. “I’ve got this. So do you. We’ll make Preston Martin Charles III regret ever meeting us.”
“Oh, we’re definitely going to do that,” Bree agreed. “I’m looking forward to it.”
I forced myself to exhale. “I hope you guys are right. He seems really determined right now. More determined than I’ve ever seen him.”
“He’s met his match,” Bree said. “Trust me. I can be mean when I want to be.”
“She’s not lying,” Brody said. “We’re all with you in this, Bella. Just don’t get worked up. If something happens, we’ll all figure it out together.”
That sounded easier said than done.
11
ELEVEN
Camping wasn’t going to be as bad as I’d envisioned. I realized that right away when we walked into our cabin. Sure, the digs weren’t luxurious by any stretch of the imagination. But they weren’t Motel 6–level, either.
“See? It’s nice,” I said to Bella as she sat on the rustic piece being used as a couch. They’d fashioned the legs and arms from what looked like tree branches, and the cushions were separate. The thing was old and kind of lumpy looking. It would be fine for sitting. Sleeping, however, was out of the question.
Bella kept a firm grip on the handle of her suitcase. “I think this is a really bad idea,” she admitted.
“Why?” Rather than argue with her, I was going to pick apart all of her reservations. I rolled my suitcase to what they were calling a dresser—no closet to be found—and started unpacking.
The cabin was basically two rooms. The bedroom area, where the bed and dresser were, took up one half of the space. The small kitchenette and living room area took up the other half. The bathroom was the size of a postage stamp and included a toilet and sink that were so close to one another you could sit on the toilet to brush your teeth and barely have to lean. Theshower was only big enough for one person, not that I had any intention of trying to get another person in there. That would be ridiculous.
“Preston knows,” she insisted. “He put us in the same cabin because he thought I would balk about sharing space with you.”
“And you didn’t, so now he’s questioning every assumption he had,” I pointed out. “That’s a good thing for us.”
“I guess.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead and held it there. “What if he does sneak around to look in through the windows?”
“There are curtains,” I reminded her. “It’s not a big deal. We’ll close them at night. I’m going to want to do that anyway so I don’t titillate the other authors when they get here. I don’t want to give away tickets to the gun show for free.” I flexed my biceps and kissed each one for emphasis as Bella glared at me.
“That was unbelievable,” she said finally, bursting into a fit of laughter. “I cannot believe you just did that with a straight face.”
It was stress fueling her, which meant I wanted to ease her anxiety. That’s why I flopped onto the couch next to her and took her hand. “Listen, he knows exactly how to get to you. He was doing it before you even realized it.”
“Today? I’m pretty sure he was out to get me from the start today.”
“Not that.” I solemnly shook my head. “From the moment he met you in college. He saw something in you he wanted and immediately started molding you so you would fit into his life. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
She released her grip on her suitcase and leaned back, her head resting against the cushion as she gazed over at me. “You think he targeted me in college? Why would he do that? I was just a little boho chick there on a partial scholarship. I was nothing special.”
“Of course you were, Bella.” How could she not see that? “You have an inner light. You might have lost the ability to see it—and I blame him for that—but you have it. I happen to like it a great deal. It’s like hanging out with the sun as a buddy.”
“I am not a sunshine girl.” She was adamant.
“You are to me.”
“But—”
“He chose you because he wanted to take advantage of the fact that he grew up in a different world than you did,” I insisted. “You expressed awe at the stories he was telling. That gave him the advantage.”
“You’re saying I was naïve.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Believing people, having faith, those are amazing traits. Unfortunately, they’re the sort of traits people take advantage of. That’s not fair to you—not even a little—but he’s still trying to press that advantage.”
“I’m not going to let him do that.”
