Page 51 of Hide And Seek

“You don’t have to turn around, by the way,” she said. “I’ve got zero body hang-ups, so I don’t care. And I’d rather not talk to your back.”

I let out a small laugh. “Fair enough.”

She stripped off the rest of her clothes and stepped into the shower. She wet her hair first, tipping her head slightly so it fell in a heavy curtain over her left shoulder.

That was when I noticed her neck.

A cluster of angry red scratches ran along the right side of it. Some of them were shallow, while others were deeper, like they’d broken the skin. A couple were faintly scabbed over.

A horrible intrusive image suddenly flashed through my mind: Jasmine, furious, snapping like she said she always did. Hands grabbing, shoving. Delia clawing at her, trying to get away before stumbling backward and hitting the wire that triggered the harpoon.

I blinked hard, like I could physically force the thought out of my head.

What the hell was wrong with me?

There was no proof that anyone was there when Delia died, or that anyone had pushed her into triggering that trap. And Jasmine… she was my friend. How could I have such horrible thoughts about her?

Guilt twisted sharply in my stomach. This whole situation was messing with my head, making me jumpy and paranoid, but still, that didn’t give me the right to start imagining things like that about her.

I dragged my gaze away, but it was too late. Jasmine had already noticed me staring.

“What’s up?” she asked, one hand lifting to her cheek. “Is there something on my face?”

“No, um… not your face,” I said. “I didn’t notice before, but… your neck. What happened there? Is it some kind of allergy or something?”

Her hand moved down, fingers brushing the marks. “Oh, that,” she said. “No, it’s just a bug bite. Or, like, a bunch of them. Something got me this morning, and it was itchy as hell all day.” She made a face. “I went a bit overboard scratching it.”

Her explanation made perfect sense, which only made me feel worse for where my mind had gone.

“Oh, right,” I said, guilt still churning in my guts. “Must’ve hurt.”

She let out a short, sheepish laugh. “Yeah, it actually bled a little. But the itchiness is gone now, thank god.”

When she was done with her shower, we stepped back out into the night, and the door to the men’s side swung open just as we passed it again.

Rhys stepped out, dragging a shirt down over his head, his hair still wet and pushed back from his face. For a second, mybrain snagged on the sight of him like it wasn’t supposed to; broad shoulders, the lingering line of muscle before the fabric settled into place, droplets of water sliding down to...

I cut the thought off hard.Not now.

“Hey,” he said, glancing between us as he adjusted the hem of his shirt.

“Hey,” Jasmine replied.

I managed a quick nod, keeping my expression neutral. A few seconds later, Jensen pushed out of the same door with a towel slung over his shoulder.

We all fell into step on the path, gravel crunching underfoot as we made our way back toward the cabins. We’d barely made it halfway when someone came hurrying toward us from the opposite direction.

“Maren?” Jasmine said, slowing.

The tall brunette looked slightly out of breath. “Have you guys seen Sloane?” she asked. “I thought she went back to our cabin, but she’s not there.”

“I haven’t seen her since the fire,” I said.

Jasmine nodded. “Same.”

Jensen let out a short huff. “She’s probably still with Reid. Last I saw, he was practically bending her over that log.”

Maren made a face. “Yeah, I figured she went somewhere with him, but I just checked his cabin. Only Chris is there. He assumed Reid was in mine with Sloane.”