Unknown (The Secret Life of Cassie Martin #1)(44)

“No. We’re still rounding people up. We’ll do another headcount in thirty minutes. We sent people down to the lake to make sure no one went there for the evening.” That’s Ms. Carlton.

Has she been there the entire time?

“Good. I’ll go do a sweep of the girls’ cabins,” Kelly says.

Crunching sounds reach our ears, so we move quickly to make it appear like we’re just walking up.

“You should be back in your cabins,” Kelly says to the boys. I don’t think she can see me behind them.

Parker steps up and speaks for us. “We didn’t know what was going on, so we hid behind the gardeners shed. We decided to come back up here once we thought it was safe.”

“I’ll walk you back to your cabins. There’s no reason to stay up here. We’ll have one of the counselors escort the others back once they’re done with their rounds.” Kelly tries to throw as much authority into her voice as possible. Even though she isn’t much taller than me, the guys tower over her. After that conversation we overheard, I don’t think any of us know if we can trust her or anyone.

“We would feel more comfortable down here together. We also need to have Cassie’s head checked out.” Parker reaches back and gently pulls me forward.

“Oh, Cassie! How badly are you hurt? We need to take you down to the clinic.” Kelly reaches for my hand, but Jay blocks her.

“It’s nothing. I just need to wash it off. The guys were playing superheroes again, and I bumped my head,” I explain because I don’t want to be separated from them right now. We need to talk about what we just heard.

“Boys have a tendency to do that.” She smirks at them. “If you don’t want to be checked out, I should still walk you back to your cabin.”

“I would like to stay with my team if possible. This is the second time this has happened. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep. I’ll feel better if they’re around.” Now, I want to kick myself. I’ve never played the damsel in distress card, and I hope the guys know I’m just saying this so I can stay with them.

Mr. Smyth walks up to us and joins the conversation. “That’s not possible. Boys and girls are not permitted to stay together.”

Instant irritation rushes through me. Something about this man makes me uncomfortable. I glare at him. “It’s possible, and it will happen. If you send me back to my cabin, I’ll sneak out to find them. I’m tired of being lied to. We’ll stay together.”

“You do not run this camp, Cassandra.” Mr. Smyth tries to pull the adult card on me. “Follow Kelly back to your cabin. We will discuss this more tomorrow because I have other things to deal with right now.”

I shake with anger. “I never said I ran the camp, and if what you’re doing is running it, then we’re all in deep shit because that’s twice someone has fired a gun when we’ve been around. You can continue to lie to me about it being teens in the area, but I will call your bullshit.”

Parker holds me tight. He probably worries I’ll go for Mr. Smyth’s throat if he doesn’t hold me back.

“Cassie! You will not talk to one of us that way.” This time, Ms. Carlton tries to push me toward the cabins.

“Why won’t I? I have every right to protect and defend myself. If you want to ship me back home, so be it, but either way, tonight I’m staying with them.” It’s good Parker’s restraining me because I probably would go after her.

“Whore!” Ms. Carlton gets out of her mouth, but just barely because Jay starts yelling at her.

“I will never hear you talk about her like that. I don’t give a fuck who you are.” Jay’s voice gets louder. “You have no right to talk since you were all over the four of us the other day. Rubbing your tits on Parker as you looked over his shoulder.”

This time, it’s me calming Jay down. I lay my hand on his arm. “Come on, Jay. We need to get to our room.”

I glance at Mr. Smyth and Kelly to see if they’ll stop us, but Mr. Smyth just moves his head to the right toward the building. I take this as a sign of acceptance we can go together, grab Jay’s and Parker’s hands, and move.

Once we’re back in the room, silence bears down on us, the atmosphere thick with our thoughts. Misery plasters the guys’ faces. I hope they’re okay with me deciding we’re going to stay together. It’s what we agreed to, but they may not want to break camp rules. Then, I got Jay involved.

“Look, guys, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I don’t have anything to lose here, but I know this is important to you.” I stare at my shuffling feet.

“Hey.” Lucca tilts my chin up. “We decided we’re going to stay together. You just made it happen. I wish I could be as bold as you are.”

I give him a quick hug then walk over to Jay. “Thank you for sticking up for me. I really don’t care what she thinks as long as you guys know who I am. We’re the ones that matter.”

Jay hugs me back, briefly tilting his forehead against mine. “There’s something about her I don’t like. She gives me the creeps and not many people do that.”

“I thought you might hit her,” I admit to him.

“I wouldn’t hit anyone, especially a female, unless they truly deserved it. I’m not stupid enough to believe a woman wouldn’t hit me out of malice. If I can stop it from happening, I will.” I appreciate his earnest answer.