Page 72 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
The only thing I needed to be happier was an air conditioner to battle the late-afternoon heat in the outpost.
It was a good thing that neither Beau nor Boone minded if I was dressed in as little as possible. My wardrobe these days consisted of thin tank tops, cutoff denim shorts and black rubber flip-flops.
Even though I would have preferred a Sunday afternoon spent naked with Beau, the outpost was so stuffy this afternoon that we’d forced ourselves outside for a walk in the meadow before he had to leave for the week.
“The weekends go too fast,” I said. “It feels like you just got here.”
He reached out to grab my hand, threading his fingers with mine. “Yeah. And next weekend I’m not going to get here until Saturday morning.”
“Oh.” My shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
After spending an entire week apart and without any contact, I lived for Friday nights when Beau would arrive. I never even attempted writing on Fridays because I couldn’t sit still. Instead, I cleaned and listened for the sound of his approaching truck, running to the door at the slightest noise.
When he did show up, I usually attacked him the second his foot stepped out of his truck. This last Friday, we hadn’t even bothered going inside before ripping each other’s clothes off. Instead, he’d fucked me right up against the side of his truck.
Delaying my Beau time was not a welcome surprise. Who knew how many nights together we had left? Yesterday, he had driven me up on the ridge to check the news. The case against the Federovs was progressing more quickly than I had imagined and the papers had speculated they’d be sentenced before winter.
If we only had a couple months left, selfishly, I wanted all of his Friday nights.
“What’s happening Friday?” I asked.
“I got a call from a friend from college. She’s coming through town and wanted to have dinner to catch up.”
“She?” I was completely jealous and didn’t even try and sound cool. Beau and I hadn’t really discussed exclusivity, and until now, I didn’t think we needed to. Who was I going to meet in hiding? But it hadn’t occurred to me that he might be dating other women because he just didn’t seem the type to play the field.
He squeezed my hand and grinned. “Relax. She’s just an old friend. Her best friend was my girlfriend so we spent a lot of time together in college.”
I pouted. “Okay.”
“Call me a barbarian but I like you looking all jealous.”
“There’s no use lying or pretending that I’m not. I hate that this woman gets one of my nights.”
“Imagine how I feel. I’m jealous of my own damn dog because he gets to see you every day.”
I smiled. “Does that mean you’re smitten with me, Goliath?”
He shrugged. “You’re just okay.”
“Yeah. You’re just okay too.”
He looked down at me with a wide, white smile that made my heart jump. Smitten wasn’t the right word to describe how I felt about Beau but the real word terrified me too much to even consider.
Beau’s smile vanished and his head whipped back to the trees.
“What?” I followed his eyes but didn’t see anything.
He held a finger up to his lips. He listened again, then turned, tugging me along at his side. “Come on.” He kept his strides short so I didn’t have to jog but I hustled anyway. The clench of his jaw and tight shoulders couldn’t mean good things.
The sound of an approaching vehicle filled the air as we got close to the tree line. That Beau had heard it earlier was remarkable.
Standing in front of me, Beau was my shield as we waited for the vehicle to arrive. My hands rested on his lower back, clinging to his T-shirt, and though I was scared, I reminded myself that Beau was here and the only visitors that had ever come to the outpost had nothing to do with my situation. This could easily be Michael coming to tell Beau about another forest fire.
When a black truck emerged from the trees and pulled into the clearing, Beau’s entire frame relaxed. I peeked around him and saw Silas. My eyes darted to the passenger seat, hoping to see Felicity too but Silas was alone.
Silas parked and got out, then came right to us, shaking Beau’s hand. “Hey, man. Hi, Sabrina.”
“Hi. Is everything okay with Felicity?” I didn’t care how many mafia goons were after me, if my friend was in trouble, I was going back to Prescott.
