Sunkissed by Kasie West (popular e readers .txt) 📕

on the back side of buildings, cut through trees, well off the trail, and away from people. He kept hold of my hand the entire time as we tripped over roots and stepped in hidden puddles, laughing and shushing each other as we went.

The rain, which had continued sporadically throughout the day, canceling all outdoor activities, had finally cleared. And now the camp smelled like damp dirt and tangy pine. When Lauren and I entered the lodge to meet up with the hiking group, D was standing on the bench that surrounded the tree, holding a clipboard.

“Fredrick Sampson,” she called out.

A man in his midthirties raised his hand. “Here.”

“She’s taking roll?” Lauren whispered.

“Guess so.”

Maricela stood by a folding table full of snacks.

“Laney Swan,” D continued.

A woman with a big sun hat waved. “Yeah.”

D put a mark on the clipboard; then her eyes were on me. “This excursion is already full, sorry.”

“We’re on the list,” I said. “Avery and Lauren Young.”

D shook her head as she ran her pen along the page. “I don’t—”

“They’re on there,” Maricela said.

“Oh yes, here you are, at the very bottom.”

Maricela rolled her eyes and nodded me over.

“I don’t think she likes me very much,” I whispered.

Maricela waved her hand through the air like it was nothing. “Nah. That’s just her.”

“If you say so,” I said. “By the way, this is my sister, Lauren. Lauren, this is Maricela.”

“Hi,” Lauren said. “Are these snacks for the hikers?”

“Yes, help yourself.”

Lauren eyed the snacks warily. “Free snacks must mean it’s a long hike. Is it long?”

“It’s not hard,” Maricela assured her.

“That’s not what I asked. Is it over a mile?”

“A mile?” Maricela said. “A mile would hardly get us out of camp!”

“So two miles, then,” Lauren said with a smile. “I can do two miles.”

“Are you negotiating?” Maricela asked.

“I am,” Lauren said. “What would it take to get a ride to the halfway point in one of those air-conditioned shuttles I saw in the parking lot?”

“It would take a road. There is no road to the rock slides.”

Lauren looked at me like this would change my mind. Like no road meant no civilization. “The camp has its own water slide and we only have to go about a hundred yards for it,” Lauren said, as if she needed to remind me.

“I promise it will be worth it,” Maricela said. “They are amazing.”

“I’m holding you to that.” Lauren grabbed several granola bars and a couple packs of trail mix off the table and put them in the backpack I was carrying.

“Okay!” D said. “Everyone gather ’round. I just need to go over a few rules.”

Maricela was right. Regardless of the fact that my feet hurt and sweat was beading along my upper lip and gathering at my temples, it was worth it. Between spindly pine trees and tall grass and wildflowers was a wide stream of flowing water. And in that stream was a natural phenomenon that I had never seen before—large sheets of rock smooth enough to slide on. And that’s exactly what people were doing—sliding over the slick surface of the flat rocks to a pool ten feet below. Beyond the pool was another slide and another drop.

“This is amazing,” Lauren whispered, her camera scanning the scene in front of us.

“Remember what we talked about!” D called out to the group that was already moving toward the slides. “Look for people below before you slide, and no diving!”

I squinted my eyes upstream toward the first slide. “Wait, is that…?”

“Kai!” Lauren called.

He turned at his name and a big smile took over his face. “Hey!”

D shaded her eyes with one hand, her other hand flying to her hip. “What is he doing here?”

“It’s my day off!” he called, as if he’d really heard D’s question. Maybe he could read lips from fifty feet away.

“Wait for me!” Lauren called, throwing off her tank and sliding out of her cutoffs. She wore an adorable high-waisted two-piece.

D sputtered a bit, as if she was going to object, but Lauren was gone before she uttered a word.

I picked up her phone, which she had tossed onto her pile of clothes, and tucked it in the front pocket of my backpack.

Maricela, who had been walking at the back of the group with some slower hikers, stopped at my side, out of breath.

D whirled on Maricela. “Did you know they were going to be here?”

They? My eyes followed the flowing stream down the smooth rocks, and I saw a couple other employees I knew and several I didn’t.

“Who?” Maricela asked.

“Kai, Clay, Ian, Lucy, Mario.” She pointed at each as she said their names.

“No, but if it’s their day off, they can go wherever they want.”

D shook her head. “Janelle said—”

“D, there are a ton of people here. You know Janelle just means that we can’t hang out with guests alone.”

D’s eyes slid to mine and my heart seemed to stop in my chest. She had seen me the day before behind that pegboard. Brooks thought she hadn’t but it was obvious now she had. Was she going to call me out?

“You’re right,” she said. “That is the official rule.”

“So see, we’re all good,” Maricela said. “Go have fun.”

“I’ll go make sure the guests are enjoying themselves,” D said, and left us standing by the pile of backpacks and clothes that the hikers had abandoned near us.

“That’s not what I suggested,” Maricela said under her breath, “but almost the same thing.”

I tried not to laugh too loud.

“I thought it was Brooks’s day off too,” Maricela said, proving that even though she’d played innocent with D, she may have known some of the other employees would be up here. She moved to her tiptoes and scanned the heads in the water. “I wonder why he didn’t come.”

“Pretty sure he hates most of the guests,” I said.

“Who hates the guests?”

I tried to contain the smile that wanted to take over my face as I looked to the right and saw Brooks walking up from where