Chapter Text
There are some advantages to being siblings with the owner of a summer camp, and there are some drawbacks. Jade never has to figure out her summer plans, always hitting the road to Camp Nockmaar as soon as her college finals are completed. It’s the greatest feeling to turn in the last test, term paper, or presentation and already have her packed duffle tossed into the back of her Jeep.
Her sister and brother-in-law Boorman have put some dedicated blood, sweat, and tears into restoring the camp. Taking on the challenge while raising Jade through the later years of her middle and high school education after their mother passed. Jade was lucky enough to be able to enjoy her summers here since her Freshman year of High School. As soon as Jade was considered old enough, she volunteered until Scorpia put her officially on the payroll as a Senior Counselor a few years ago.
Some might consider a drawback the extremely early hours, the expanded expectations and responsibilities, and the lack of being able to get anything past the owners. While today is the welcoming day for staff and counselors, Jade has already worked for a few days with Scorpia and Kase, the groundskeeper.
Jade’s been up since before the sun, having already prepped for the staff arrivals, dragged the canoes out from winter storage for Kase to patch and clean up, accepted the food delivery since Elora (the cook) was running behind, put the perishable goods away, and went about unlocking all the sheds and camper cabins.
It’s barely past her normal breakfast time, and Jade is exhausted. Each time Scorpia passes her by, she drops another sticky note onto Jade’s once very organized checklist. Boorman’s had to run the two-hour drive back into town for parts for the broken down UTV. They won’t survive the summer without it, so that took priority. Now, Jade is picking up the tasks that Boorman would have covered.
Camp Nockmaar sits on one of the most beautiful lakes, Lake Acre, hidden within miles and miles of luscious forest. Aside from the few speckled private properties, the only thing close by is the Penitentiary, over an hour's drive in the opposite direction of the city. It truly is a hidden gem, and Jade often has to remind herself of the beauty of the property during hard mornings like this.
She takes a break to slip into her assigned cabin and the small double-twin private bedroom. For the past two years, she’s roomed with Elora, which worked out for multiple reasons, as Elora always had to wake up super early to start breakfast prep and always came in late after cleanup. Although there were a few awkward instances of Elora having to learn to knock before entering when coming back on a few of those late nights last year.
This year Jade was tasked with sleep assignments for both the adults and campers and took some liberties with choosing her bunk mate. It was only fair of her to spare Elora from seeing some things. One of those things being Kit Thanthalos.
Jade has been watching the parking lot since the first staff arrival an hour ago. She’s crossed the front of the camp enough times over to start wearing a new walking path for the common routes. Lori arrived first and graciously took over sorting through the food delivery so Jade could get back on track. Hubert and Anne arrived next. Jade hasn’t seen them since they disappeared into the main hall to start prepping welcome packets and sorting the camp shirts for staff and campers. Elora arrives just as Jade sneaks an apple and a granola bar from the kitchen, and they welcome each other with deep hugs and a short conversation of their respective school years.
Jade’s worked through most of her list. There’s just one last time-sensitive task left to complete: setting up the staff welcome bonfire. It’s tradition on the first night for staff to shake off the cobwebs, reacquaint themselves with everyone, and get to know new counselors. Jade has shed her nice staff shirt for one of her tank tops and has retrieved her favorite well kept axe from the tool shed. Kase keeps it sharp and oiled for her through the year.
The stone pit only needs to be reshaped a little, and a few of the sitting stumps need replaced so Jade tasks herself with that first, leaving the firewood for last. With each downswing she releases a bout of nervous energy. Her eyes keep shifting towards the parking lot, but no one has arrived since Elora. She keeps looking for that Range Rover to pull in with the window down and music blasting so loud it’ll scare the fish away.
Kit Tanthalos, the constant barb in her chest that’s been attached since the middle of camp last year. Kit was a camper for one year with Jade. Despite the two year age gap, they’d formed a quick friendship, sworn to keep in touch over the school year and meet back up for the summer at camp again. A tragedy in Kit’s family had struck an instant sever between them until Kit had reappeared last summer as a Junior Counselor.
They’d spend the first couple of weeks reigniting that friendship that had bloomed so fast in childhood, then that connection sparked into something else when Kit had kissed her behind the kitchens late one night while sneaking some of Elora’s muffins. That had immediately snowballed into hooking up at every available opportunity.
It’s been burning in Jade’s mind all year as they’ve kept touch through texting and FaceTiming. Kit goes to college two states over and it’s made meeting up in person impossible until summer camp. Jade has found herself completely enamored with Kit, and lately she suspects the feelings might be mutual. During their last conversation, when Kit confirmed that she’d be joining the staff this year officially as a Junior Counselor, Kit had insisted they would talk.
Normally that statement ‘we should talk’ is followed by a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ conversation but Kit had wiggled her eyebrows in that charming seductive way and promised it was a good talk. Jade is hoping that Kit is wanting to give them a real chance at a relationship since Jade is so close to graduating and can relocate to be closer to Kit.
The wood splinters apart under her axe and she spares another glance towards the parking lot. When Scorpia suddenly appears in the corner of her vision Jade has to keep herself from swinging the axe up in surprise.
“What the hell!” She drops the axe into the chopping stump and then wipes away some sweat from her forehead.
“I called your name twice,” Scorpia has a new stack of sticky notes in hand but doesn’t pass them over as she looks Jade over with thinned eyes and a developing frown, “Should I be concerned you're so distracted while handling an axe?”
“What?” Jade blinks and shakes some of her sweaty curls out of her eyes. She’ll have to tie her hair back from where it’s worked loose, “I’m not distracted.”
“I can hear your sighs from the other side of the lake,” Scorpia rolls her eyes and finally spots where Jade has stashed her notebook. She stashes the new stack of sticky notes inside and then turns back with a ring of keys dangling from one hand.
“I’m all for you getting to have your hallmark romantic comedy but please, for the mercy of mine and everyone else’s eyes, please do not fuck anywhere I could possible see, hear, or walk in. I do not want to see Tanthalos’ pale white ass. Ever.”
Jade’s cheeks flare with heat and in an effort to cover up the sudden flush she wipes at her face again.
“Seriously sis, the amount of times I saw Elora walking around with that shocked doe-eyed look last year,” Scorpia is teasing now, but Jade is still mortified to be having a conversation about sex.
“We will be discreet,” Jade busies her hands, pulls the axe from the stump and sets up the next bit to split for firewood.
“Well, it helps that you conveniently assigned her to be your bunkmate. Smooth move, sis,” Scorpia winks, and then with a belly-deep laugh as Jade sputters, Scorpia turns to head back to the main lodge, “She better turn up soon. It’s bad form to be late on the first day.”
So, maybe Jade wasn’t as subtle or sneaky as she thought she was being. At least until the embarrassed heat leaves her face, she can blame the reddened cheeks on all the wood she’s chopping up for the bonfire. After a few more split logs, she reckons they’ve plenty enough to get through tonight's bonfire. She’s sweaty and sore but that’s one more thing she can check off today’s list.
Jade gathers her notebook and looks over the new pile of sticky notes. Some of these don’t necessarily have to be done today. She picks an easy one, one that will get her out of the sun for a little while and hopefully distract her from watching the parking lot every five seconds. She takes her axe back to the shed and then heads to her camper cabin to start decorating it.
***
Kit hasn’t been back to Camp Nockmaar in whatever 365 days minus six weeks is. And never, in all the school years she’s experienced in her short nineteen years of life, has Kit been more excited for the summer. Excited to return back to camp.
She should be over camp by now, Kit knows. Camp is for friendship-bracelet-making eight-year-olds, six-year-olds who insist they know how to swim but can barely manage to pass the swim test. Camp is for childhood when summer can truly be summer, not a time when your mother is insisting on an internship in investment banking or at a law firm.
And yet, shocking no one more than herself, Kit had managed to convince Sorsha to give her one last summer at Camp Nockmaar. After her stint last year as a counselor in training, she’d officially graduated to a Junior Counselor. Sure, the agreement had strings attached, like her sophomore courses selected entirely by Sorsha and a promise to find a “real” job next summer, but Kit had added a string of her own as well. Airk got to come too.
“Uhh, Kit?” Airk asks, gripping tight to the center console between them.
“Yeah?” Kit returns, taking the bend in the one-way road tight and close to what would be a shoulder if it wasn’t overgrown with weeds and bushes.
“Do you wanna maybe, I don’t know, drive less than double the speed limit?”
“I’m not driving double the…” Kit trails off. They pass by a speed limit sign that reads ‘25 MPH’. She looks down at her speedometer: 65 MPH. “Okay, well yeah I’m over double but that’s just because they marked the speed limit wrong. Twenty-five? Who are they kidding?”
“I dunno, maybe it’s that low because of these hairpin turns and the…KIT!” He yells and Kit slams on the brakes. The Range Rover comes to a fast stop. Less than a foot away from a deer that would absolutely have left more than just a dent to the paint of Kit’s high school graduation present.
“Deer, Kit,” Airk huffs. “The speed limit is what it is because of deer .”
“And here I thought they’d want it high in case we need to make a quick getaway after getting followed by an escaped convict.”
“The prison is like, five miles away. Deer are everywhere.”
“Sounds like they should compromise on the speed limit then,” Kit shrugs. She waits an extra beat for the deer to clear the road before pressing down on the gas again. Kit takes the next turn slower than the last, but not at twenty-five miles per hour, instead a more reasonable fifty.
They make it to Camp Nockmaar in record time. Safe and sound, not a dent or scratch on the car. And Airk is only a little bit seasick. While Airk goes immediately to the trunk to start unloading his bags (five to Kit’s two), Kit finds herself searching. Looking around.
“She’s probably off doing actually productive shit. Now help me with our bags.”
“What? Who?”
“Jade. Your fuck buddy.”
“She’s not my…”
“Ahh, the Tanthalos twins,” a voice interrupts their banter. “Last of the counselors to arrive. Can’t say I’m surprised. And arriving in style no less.” Scorpia gestures to the pristine luxury vehicle that looks more than a little out of place in the nearly-empty parking lot with only an early 00s Ford pick-up, a Jeep, and two Toyota Camrys in sight.
Kit pulls her phone out of her pocket, quickly tapping away until she locates the start date email she’d received from Jade’s sister two weeks ago. “Says here we’re supposed to be here by 10 AM. It’s 9:59.”
“Rule number one for counselors,” Scorpia says, “On time is late.”
“Good thing we were a minute early then,” she smirks in return. “What’s first on the docket for us to do today?”
“Well, we’ve got three days to get everyone up to speed and get this place in tip-top condition before the kids arrive. Today, counselors are in charge of cleaning and decorating their campers’ cabins.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Kit says, slinging the strap of her backpack over one shoulder. Just one, though, she needs to look cool. In case Jade is somewhere nearby. Kit is in college now. Just like Jade. “What are our cabin assignments?”
Scorpia drags the tip of her finger down the clipboard that is always within arm's reach of her. “Airk, you’re in Cabin Andowyne with Graydon, and Kit, you’re in Cabin Pacalcade with…Jade.”
Kit’s face immediately burns, and she is nothing but a pasty white woman, so she knows her cheeks are the brightest pink. Sure, she’d secretly been harboring hope that Jade would convince her sister to put them in a cabin together, but she hadn’t done much more than briefly, sometimes, only once a day for the past six months, hoping that that might be the case.
“Oh, cool, that works,” Kit shrugs, playing it off as totally chill. She’s pretty confident that Scorpia doesn’t suspect anything, but she’s glad that Scorpia can’t see Airk rolling his eyes at her from behind.
When Kit rounds to the back of the car, she shoves her brother before he can start making fun of her more. She shoves the car keys into his hands, realizing he’s going to need two trips to her one, grabs her duffle and casually, idly, definitely not skipping, heads off to Cabin Pacalcade where she spent the summer she was nine, and now the summer that she’s nineteen.
The path from the main camp to the girls’ cabins is well-trodden. Flip-flop-clad feet have dug deep a trench in the grass over fifty years, carving out a dirt path. Kit passes by the art cabin and the cabins meant for the youngest.
She practically beelines for Cabin Pacalcade, but once she reaches it, her feet root to the ground. Through the windows, she can spot movement. Someone is in there. Jade is in there. Kit knows the shape of her hair, how she pulls it back away from her face when she’s working with her hands.
Her hands.
Kit shakes the thought out of her head. She’s more than ready to see, touch, feel Jade’s hands again, but she can’t jump the gun on this. She takes a deep breath and pushes the cabin door open.
“Scor, I told you I…” Jade starts, stopping abruptly, when she turns around and sees that it’s not her sister who has entered the cabin, but Kit.
“Uh, hey,” Kit says, shooting finger guns at the older girl like a total weirdo.
“Hi,” Jade says, a grin spreading across her face. “Did you just shoot finger guns at me?”
“Yep,” Kit nods. “Let’s totally pretend I didn’t do that.”
“Oh no,” Jade shakes her head. “You are absolutely not going to live that down.” She takes a step closer, and Kit can’t help but lock on beautiful, honey-brown eyes that trace over her face.
“Hi,” Kit echoes.
Jade takes a final step to close the gap between them. “So, do I get a hug hello at least?”
Kit launches herself at the taller girl and feels strong arms wrap tight around her. Hugs. Jade is really, really good at hugs. She sinks into her embrace and stays there for several long beats. Longer than one would typically hug a friend. Even a friend with benefits.
Eventually, though, they both pull away. A hand approaches Kit’s jaw, holding her safe and steady. “Can I..?”
“Yes,” Kit nods enthusiastically. “I mean, yeah, I’d be like, super into that.”
Jade pillows her lips softly against Kit’s. Kit would happily live in a kiss if that were something she could actually do. Specifically, Jade’s kiss, of course. Kit pushes her luck and licks into Jade’s mouth. Jade takes her in with a moan that sends heat through Kit’s belly. They don’t pull apart until they’re both out of breath.
“So, yeah,” Kit says, scratching the back of her neck.
“Yeah.” Jade’s voice is hoarse, eyes unfocused. Kit feels a burst of pride at her kissing skills. “We should probably, uhh, get started on this cabin. Because I think if I kiss you again, I might not be able to stop.”
“I’d be very okay with that.”
“Scorpia could come bursting in here at any minute. We’ve got a cabin to set up.”
Kit bites her lip and thinks for a minute. “Okay,” she nods. “But only because your sister is moderately scary and technically my boss.”
“Technically, I’m also your boss,” Jade teases. “I’m our cabin’s senior counselor. You’re the junior counselor.”
“Oh?” Kit arches an eyebrow. “Thinking of taking advantage of your position of power, are you?”
“Maybe I am,” Jade smirks. “Come on.” She snaps the towel she’s been holding lightly against Kit’s ass. “Let’s get to organizing.”
They decide to divide and conquer, Kit taking the front half of the cabin while Jade takes on the back.
To say that Kit is giddy would be a greater understatement than if you said that Airk values his haircare routine. Nearly a year spent texting has been fine. It’s great. But not even FaceTime can do justice to the goddess that is Jade something Claymore. Kit still hasn’t gotten around to actually asking Jade what her middle name is.
For example, FaceTime does not have the ability to show off Jade Claymore’s arms in full, glorious, three-dimensional technicolor.
“Are you going to actually get some of this shit done, or are you just going to stand there ogling me?” Jade asks, hands falling to her hips. Her arms frame her body so perfectly. Bare and exposed in a loose Camp Nockmaar tank top that… “Kit!”
“Wha-” Kit shakes her head and feels her cheeks bloom red as heat rushes to her face. “I wasn’t…” she shakes her head again. A sweaty lock of hair falls into her eyes, and she uses moving it as an excuse to look away from Jade. She’s allowed to…what word was it that Jade used? Ogle. She’s allowed to ogle Jade. Right? Kit knows that she’s not supposed to make assumptions. They spent all of last summer hooking up, but that’s all it was. Sex. There’s no guarantee that that’s what Jade wants again this summer.
Sure, they’ve sent more flirty, bantery texts than Kit could count. And sure, there was that time Jade sent her a post-workout photo that was definitely not one Kit could look at in public, but…people don’t tend to stick around Kit. Not when there are other options, and Jade has other options. There are enough new, hot, queer girl counselors this summer for Jade to take her pick.
“Kit.”
Kit jumps, startled by the sudden closeness of Jade’s voice. Oh god, her voice. It’s even hotter when Kit can hear her accent without that slight alteration that comes from technology and hundreds of miles of distance.
When she turns, Jade’s face is right there. She could count each freckle if she wanted to. She does want to. Kit wants to know if there are still 59 freckles on her nose like there was last summer when Kit counted them as Jade napped beside her on the shore of the lake.
“I have an idea,” Jade says.
Kit gulps and nods, “Yeah? What’s your idea?”
“If we get our cabin in perfect condition by dinnertime,” she gestures to the six sets of bunk beds that surround them, “We can make use of that room.” She points to the smaller room off the entrance to the cabin, the room with two twin beds. Their room. “More specifically, if our cabin is ready to Scorpia’s liking, we dip out of the bonfire early, and I fuck you in there.”
Kit’s mouth goes dry as she immediately feels a wetness between her legs. She can’t trust her voice and just nods.
“Great,” Jade grins, knowing precisely what she’s done to Kit. She kisses Kit’s cheek, so close to Kit’s lips that they tingle with anticipation. And yet, that’s all Jade gives her. For now.
They finish setting up their campers’ cabin, keeping temptation at bay with a healthy distance and mouse traps between them. Not that they’ve seen a mouse yet, but the last thing they need is teen tweens screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night at the sound of scurrying feet across the wood-plank floors.
Satisfied by their decorations' cleanliness and overall jollyness, Kit and Jade head out from the cabin to find dinner - a grab-and-go style prepared by Elora and the rest of the kitchen staff.
***
The staff bonfire is something Jade looks forward to each year. Despite the hours of hard work chopping the wood needed and getting the pit repaired and reshaped, it is always something Jade is ready to sit down for. She looks forward to popping open a nice cold beer and listening to whatever insane ghost story Boorman has come up with for that year.
This year, though, Jade is looking for the first excuse she can think of to slip away early. She curses her preparedness for having chopped more than enough wood. Elora has also overstocked the cooler with plenty of beer. Jade could maybe use the excuse of getting ice, but that would not require two people to handle.
She gets lucky when Scorpia groans not five minutes later and then curses while reviewing her checklist. Boorman is gearing up for his next ghost story with Airk’s ribbing to make it more scary.
“What’s wrong, sis?” Jade leans over to look over the clipboard with her. A few things are not crossed off, easily lost in the shuffle of the other marks on the page. Jade sees a perfect opportunity, “I can knock that out real quick.”
She’ll need help with it, and when Scorpia looks up with narrowing eyes, Jade knows her little ruse is fully transparent.
Scorpia lets out a deep breath, and Jade can hear the warning in her voice, “Be quick about it.”
Jade nods and stands, dusting her hands off on her shorts, “Not a problem.”
Scorpia grabs her arm and tugs before Jade can skip herself over her log seat and tap Kit on the shoulder for ‘help,’ “And be discreet. I swear if I hear anything…”
Jade’s cheeks heat up. She taps against Scorpia’s hand, “Quick and quiet. My specialty.”
“I did not need to know that,” Scorpia groans but stands as well.
“Where are you going, sugar plum?” Boorman has his excited puppy dog eyes, hands waving in the air as he’s just starting up his next story.
“We missed a few tasks, and I don’t want to be behind tomorrow,” Scorpia waves to the others in the group to sit back down, “Enjoy your ghost stories. Jade and I can take care of this. We’ll put you all to hard work soon enough.”
Jade doesn’t miss a few of the relieved faces of getting to remain at the bonfire. She does feel Kit’s eyes on her as she circles around the back side of the benches. Scorpia takes off towards the office, and Jade kneels, tapping Kit on the shoulder.
Jade is struck with those wide wanderlust-filled eyes that have been captivating her since Kit finally arrived with her brother in tow. She’d only met Airk a few times, but he keeps looking at her with a smirk that she can only describe as trademark Tanthalos.
“I’ve got to move some stuff down at the delivery drop. It’s pretty heavy. Would you like to give me a hand?”
Kit’s the one smirking now, a soft nod as she eagerly stands from her seat and shoves her half-full beer into her brother's hands. He gives them a knowing look and a thumbs up as they head off. Kit responds by flicking him off over her shoulder. Once the firelight fades enough at their backside, Kit is sliding her hand into Jade’s.
The touch is always electric with Kit. It sparks desire and want to the very tips of Jade’s being. Kit has been watching her all day, eyes trailing over her like she’s already undressing Jade in her mind. That nervousness of wanting to have a certain conversation with Kit has been quickly drowned out by the pulsing want that has shot through her each time she’s caught Kit looking.
Now that she’s carved out an opportunity for them to ‘talk,’ she’s not going to waste it. The task she offered to help Scorpia with can wait till after. It’s just moving some supplies from the delivery drop-off over to the shed. With Kit’s help, it’ll only take a few minutes. Her initial plan was to take care of that first, but Kit’s fingers are ghosting over her forearm in a teasing pass that has her skin goosebumping. She knows how those fingers feel between her legs.
She’s too eager, too desperate, too fucking horny, and it has been such a long long year to be apart. The distance has sucked, Jade loathing every mile between them and the lack of opportunities they’ve had to see each other. Texting and phone calls have been great, a lifeline to survive the year with, but they’ve survived off of what now feels like crumbs. Kit’s hand is in hers, and she never wants to let it go.
She planned to sneak Kit back to their cabin, take her time for the rest of the night. She’ll happily suffer from exhaustion tomorrow. She’s too impatient to feel Kit coming around her fingers. She looks behind her to check that they’ve broken eyesight from the bonfire. No one is paying them any attention, caught up in whatever story Boorman is telling them.
Jade tugs at Kit, then pulls a bit softer when Kit trips after in their abrupt direction change. In a move far smoother than her desperation should allow, she spins Kit until her back thumps into the wooden slats of the bathhouse.
Her lips are on Kit’s instantly, and the moan Kit lets out echoes into the air around them. She presses her lips more solidly against Kit’s, swallowing her moans as her hands take frantic passes from Kit’s hips up to her breasts to squeeze eagerly and then back down to drag her nails over the exposed skin at the edge of her short shorts.
She can’t consume Kit quickly enough to sate her hunger, and her desire clouds her senses. Kit is just as eagerly pulling at her clothes. She thinks she hears the popping of thread from some part of her clothing somewhere, and Kit curses against her lips while trying to pull her drawstrings loose to slip her hand inside.
Jade gets Kit’s pants untied first, which isn’t surprising with Kit’s messy, loose knot. Kit’s head slams back into the wall when Jade’s fingers slip through the vast wetness soaking through her underwear. Jade licks her way down Kit’s jaw until she mouths at the long expanse of her stretched neck. Her teeth sink softly into the offered flesh while Kit’s hands claw into the skin under her lifted shirt.
“I’ve missed you,” Jade pants the admission into Kit’s pulse point, her fingers teasing over Kit’s underwear.
“I’ve missed you too,” Kit wraps her arms around Jade’s shoulders, pulling them impossibly close together. Jade can practically feel the thundering of Kit’s excitement in her own chest.
Jade places a soft kiss just under Kit’s jaw, then drags her teeth back down her throat before sinking them into a bite at the start of her collar. Kit’s nails dig little half-moons into Jade’s skin through her shirt. The pain spurs her on, her jaw chewing into the flesh trapped between her teeth.
“Fuck Jade,” Kit’s voice sounds so desperate and needy in Jade’s ear. It lights up memories of all their times together the previous summer; it sings of promises for this summer's potential, and, if all goes well with what Jade wants to talk to her about, then for their future together.
“Please fuck me,” Kit begs, her hips grinding down into Jade’s open palm seeking more friction than Jade’s teasing is allowing. She’s never not given in to what her girl wants. She caved so quickly the first time Kit asked for Jade to touch her. Now is no different.
She pulls back enough to wiggle her hand inside Kit’s ruined underwear. The moan she lets out when her fingers glide through Kit’s wetness is obscene. Kit is already so worked up that Jade is able to slip inside easily. She takes a moment to bask in getting to be inside Kit again. Finally. Warm walls flutter around her, then clench and try to suck her fingers deeper.
She knows how Kit likes it. She spent her time last summer taking notes and learning all she could about how Kit reacted to her touches. She remembers just when to curl her fingers when dragging them out, just how fast Kit likes to be driven into, the pressure against her clit that makes her knees wobble just so.
Wetness floods into her palm, and Kit comes apart after a few minutes. Jade is quick to cover Kit’s lips with her own, kissing her pleasure from Kit’s lips and muffling the sounds Kit absolutely can’t hold inside as Jade expertly works her over the edge.
She keeps pumping until Kit turns to putty in her arms and Jade has to pinch her weight into Kit’s hips to hold her up against the wall. Kit hisses when Jade draws her fingers out, and she pulls back enough to see Kit’s dopey post-orgasm smile. Jade finds it incredibly charming.
She starts to bring her fingers to her lips to lick Kit’s come off when she hears something on the other side of the bathhouse. It sounds like voices talking, a low timber, and then there's a shout before the night falls silent again. Jade has no idea what that could have been, but it's possible someone is hurt. Or it could be someone lurking around that Scorpia has warned her and Boorman to keep an eye out for.
Jade can’t let the noise go without investigation. Kit tries untying Jade’s pants again, and she stops her with a soft touch.
“I need to go see what that was,” She steps back and hovers her hands at Kit’s waist just in case she hasn’t gotten her footing back.
Kit pouts, and it's the most adorable thing Jade has seen, “But I want to touch you.”
“How about we check that out, get this task done, and head back to our cabin? Then you can touch me till dawn if you want,” Jade makes the suggestion with her best teasing smirk.
Kit takes the bait, ties her own pants closed, and leads the way around the bathhouse, “Hurry up then. I’ve made a list of all the things I want to do to you this summer. We can get a head start tonight.”
Jade feels the jolt of arousal low in her belly but laughs at Kit’s exaggerated eyebrow wiggle. Her girl is going to be the death of her.
***
Kit steps under the shadow of the trees that mark the edge of the ephemeral Wildwood forest. The canopy of leaves blocks the previously endless-seeming sky above her. The starlight that had just mirrored the constellations peppered across her lover’s skin is gone. Kit’s senses heighten. Every whisper of the wind through early summer branches crackles. The plastic of her flip-flop smacking her dirt-crusted heel sounds like a bullet through the still air. Even the crickets have ceased their cacophonic symphony.
“Jade,” Kit whispers, reaching forward to brush her fingers over the back of Jade’s hand, still warm and sweaty. She loops their fingers together and finds Jade’s still wet with Kit’s slick. “It’s probably just one of the other counselors. Airk was getting awfully close to Elora at the bonfire. She gives off floozy vibes. I bet they’re out here somewhere up against a tree like a couple of horndogs.”
“You mean like we were just minutes ago?” Jade asks, turning over her shoulder to waggle her eyebrows at Kit. Despite her teasing, Jade still keeps her voice low. “It’s probably nothing, but Scorpia said there’s this investment firm that’s been lurking around the lake, trying to buy up all the land and expand the penitentiary.”
“Big money in incarceration.”
“Gotta love capitalism.”
Jade gives Kit’s hand a quick squeeze and continues walking forward, sidestepping what looks like a nest of some sort. It’s hard to see with only the scattered glow of the moon shining through the foliage above them. They press forward hand in hand until they reach an opening in the woods, and the stars return to them.
“See, nothing. Let’s go back to our cabin. We can move that shit in the morning. Scorpia will never know,” Kit insists as her heart races. She starts to tug Jade toward the main campground when they both stop abruptly.
It’s the smell that hits Kit first. A cloying metallic smell assaults her almost immediately, so desperately at odds with the sweetness of the lakeside air and the soft mossiness of the trees.
Jade lets out a shaky gasp that has Kit pulling herself forward, taking in the scene in front of them. Saliva drains down the back of Kit’s throat as bile roils in her stomach, threatening to force its way up her esophagus.
Kit’s gaze travels down the wooden pole that sticks up perfectly straight, completely perpendicular to the ground. The weather-hardened, light, bright wood is speckled with dark paint. No. Not paint.
The dark smears look almost like fingerprints. Handprints, further down. Down to what should be a green metal rake. It should be mottled brown with dirt. But it’s red. There’s so much red.
Red from the blood that is still bubbling out of the chest that is brutally impaled upon. Blood that dribbles north into soft white hair turned pink.
Lying on the ground in front of them is the staked, still-twitching body of the groundskeeper. Kase.