Page 165 of Hide And Seek

“Speaking of horror movies… I just realized something.” Wren’s gaze snapped back to us. “Do you know what this technically makes us?”

Tamsin frowned. “What?”

“Final girls.”

Jesse groaned. “Oh my god...”

“What’s a final girl?” Tamsin asked.

“It’s the girl who survives until the end in every slasher movie. Usually smart, wholesome, sweet, and—”

“Andalwaysa virgin for some reason,” Jasmine cut in, raising a brow. “So I guess that actually rules us out as final girls. Unless… do you think being an anal virgin counts?”

The words slipped out so casually that for half a second nobody reacted. Then Jasmine clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, guys,” she muttered through her fingers. “I know now’s not the time for jokes. I shouldn’t—”

But Wren was already laughing, just enough to break the tension. “It’s fine, Jas,” she said. “This isexactlywhat we need. A bit of laughter before we all completely lose our minds.”

A few more shaky laughs rippled through the group after that, uneven and edged with exhaustion, but real enough to loosen something in my chest. And for the first time in days, sitting there while the sun climbed slowly over Camp Blackpine, I actually felt like I could breathe.

A paramedic appeared beside us. “Alissa Madsen?”

I nodded, squinting up at him. “That’s me.”

“Rhys Usher is asking for you before we transport him,” he said, gesturing toward the second ambulance. “Won't take long.”

Jasmine nudged me with her elbow again. “Go get your man,” she whispered, lips twitching.

I rose to my feet and followed the paramedic across the lawn. When we reached the back of the ambulance, he stepped aside and gestured for me to go ahead.

I climbed in.

Rhys was sitting on the bench along the right side of the narrow space, shirtless with a thick bandage wrapped around his upper left arm. He looked pale and tired, but when he saw me, his expression shifted into something warmer.

I sat down beside him. “What did they say about your arm?”

“I’ll need surgery, but it doesn’t look like any important nerves were damaged,” he replied. “So it should be fine afterwards.”

The tension in my shoulders released all at once. “That’s good.”

“I’ll have a pretty nasty scar,” he added, looking down at the bandage. “But you know what they say. Chicks dig scars.”

“Hoping to attract all the girls, huh?”

“There’s one in particular I’ve got in mind,” he said, lips twitching. “Speaking of which… are you going to come and visit me in the hospital?”

I tilted my head slightly to one side. “I’ll think about it,” I said. “I mean, scarsarepretty sexy.”

Rhys laughed at that, head shaking slightly. “You’ll think about it, huh?”

“I’ll come,” I said, voice softer now. “And… there’s something else I want to do too.”

He cocked a brow. “Yeah? What’s that?”

I didn’t reply. I just leaned in and kissed him.

He responded immediately, his good hand coming up to cup my jaw, pulling me closer with a quiet intensity that made my chest ache in the best possible way.

When his fingers slid into my hair, I forgot about the ambulance, the paramedics, and the police tape still cordoning off half the campgrounds. All of it dissolved into the warm press of Rhys’s mouth against mine and the steadying weight of his hand.