Page 22 of The Cabin-A Reverse Harem Romance
We followed Elise behind the check-in counter, and into a small store. There were just three rows of shelves, and one wall of refrigerators. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety to choose from, but we could make do with what was there. At least we wouldn’t starve.
Elise grabbed a basket, doing her best to act as if all of this was normal, as if the store was open for business and we were just doing a little shopping. I followed behind her, eyeing the shelves. Macaroni and cheese. graham crackers, and other S’mores making supplies.
Elise tossed in a couple boxes of Frosted Flakes as I searched for something that might be considered real food. No fruits or veggies, though there was a spot for them near the counter. No meat. Nothing that could go bad, not even in the fridges. I finally settled on a few cans of soup and carried them around with me. Chase managed to find some Spam and held it up to me.
“Fuck, no. I’m not that desperate for protein,” I said.
He put it back on the shelf with a laugh. “I’m sure we can survive a day or two without some meat.”
“Barely,” Trevor muttered as he walked past me.
He’d been in a pissy mood since this morning, and I had a good idea why. Not that he’d told me about his feelings for Elise, but it was fairly obvious something had happened between the two of them at some point in the near past. Something neither one was willing to acknowledge, but something that had impacted them both pretty deeply.
They avoided each other like the plague, and when they did speak to each other, it seemed like it was always through gritted teeth. It caused a rift, and a tension in our group that I was sure the others could feel as well. I’d wanted to ask him about it but couldn’t figure out how. We weren’t the type to talk about our feelings and shit. Besides, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Some things were better left unsaid. Especially since I’d crushed on Elise from the moment I’d laid eyes on her a few years back, so I had no moral high ground to berate him about breaking the one and only rule that bound us all – Elle was off-limits.
I’d had my fair share of fantasies and thoughts about Elle – as I was sure all the other guys had too – but, she was a no-no. She was basically family, and I knew better than to fuck with family. Because Aaron was our brother, and he wouldn’t have approved, there was no getting around it. Even though he was gone, I never wanted to anything I wouldn’t do if he was alive and with us today.
I turned the corner and Elise was standing right there, alone in the aisle. She wasn’t looking at anything at all. She was just standing there, staring at the shelf in front of her. Her honey blonde hair fell around her delicate face softly, her bangs swept to the side. As if becoming aware of my presence, her eyes flickered over to me, and she forced a smile that didn’t come anywhere near to reaching her eyes.
“Sorry, didn’t see you over there,” she said.
Her voice was gentle and quiet. It trembled a bit, and that was when I noticed that her hands were shaking, and with my insides aching, I stepped closer to her.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
Her blue eyes were as deep as the sea, and more beautiful than any ocean I’d ever laid eyes on. Her smile grew wider, and for a second, it even felt real.
“Just lost in thought,” she said.
She picked up a can of green beans from the shelf and looked at the label as if they were the most interesting green beans in the world.
“What about?” I asked, sidling up beside her.
She shrugged. “Everything. I mean, nothing really.”
“What is it? Everything or nothing?” I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Can’t have it both ways.”
“Why can’t it be both at the same time?” she said.
Her voice held a hint of teasing, but I knew she was serious. She couldn’t fool me. Beneath her words, I could hear the tinge of sadness, almost despair, that colored them.
“Sorry about Brad,” I said. “If it’s any consolation, I’m sure he’s usually a decent man –”
“Nah, he’s not,” she said matter-of-factly. “It just took me too long to see it.”
“Well you did, thankfully, before it was too late.”
Elise bit her lip and stared down at her hands. Her smile had faded, and she just looked – lost. She was no longer there, with me. Mentally, she’d checked out of the here and now, and was deep in her own head. I feared that it was something I’d said that caused her to slip away from reality.
