Free Last Resort by Jeff Shelby Page A

we are leaving.”
    “Damn right, you better be leaving!” Hackerman said. “I'm gonna have you kicked out of this place, anyhow. All you've done is cause trouble.” He started looking around. “Delilah? Where are you? I want these people gone.”
    “I don't think she can help you right now, Wayne,” Rhonda said, raising an eyebrow.
    I turned and followed her gaze. Delilah was passed out on the picnic table, her head resting on the table top, her mouth wide open. She was snoring loudly.
    Hackerman didn't seem particularly surprised to see her that way. He pointed at Jake again. “When she wakes up, you are outta here!”
    “I'm gonna snap that finger off if you point it at me again,” Jake growled. “Snap. It. Off.”
    Hackerman wisely dropped the finger.
    “We are leaving,” I said to Jake, enunciating each word. He didn't make a move, just stood there with his arms tight at his sides, his fists clenched. “Right now, if you ever want me to speak to you again.”
    Jake stared at me for a long moment, then finally grunted, turned and walked out of the pavilion toward the road.
    “So hot,” Rhonda murmured again.
    I turned to her. Part of me wanted to snap her fingers off—or her boobs—but I chose a different tactic, instead. “He really is, isn't he?”
    She blushed. Maybe she'd thought I couldn't hear her. Or maybe she just didn't think I would acknowledge her comment.
    I plastered a bright smile on my face. “You wouldn't believe the kind of sex we have when he's angry,” I told her. Her eyes widened and I added with a giggle, “Can't wait to get back to the cabin!”
    I turned away before she could respond, hoping her jealous little mind would fixate on that image for the rest of the night.

TWELVE
     
     
    The sun streaming in the window warmed my face and I squinted as I tried to open my eyes. Jake and I were both cocooned underneath the sheets. He was flat on his back, his eyes shut tight, his arm tucked behind me. I snuggled in closer to him.
    We'd walked back to the cabin after the karaoke night, Jake stone-faced and pissed off. I'd grabbed his hand and asked him to tell me everything that had happened. He told me, his voice measured and even, and I flashed back to the clerk at the store. He said Hackerman had grabbed him first and that he'd had no choice but to fight with him. I believed him. He may have had a hair-trigger temper, but he wasn't a fighter. He'd walked away from plenty of confrontations before. But he was about as mad as I'd ever seen him. He'd downed a beer as soon as we'd gotten back to the cabin, draining the bottle in two long swallows. After, it had taken nearly fifteen minutes for my feminine wiles to kick in and for me to lure him into the bedroom for some much-needed distraction.
    If Rhonda had gone back to the black monstrosity and listened closely, she might've heard us.
    I hoped she had.
    Jake stirred next to me and threw his other arm over my chest. He opened one eye. “Hey.”
    I smiled at him. “It wakes.”
    He grunted.
    “I need coffee,” I whispered.
    He grunted again.
    “I'm assuming you don't want any yet?” I said.
    He closed his eye.
    If there was one massive difference between Jake and me, it was that I was an early riser and liked to get out of bed and start the day. He did not.
    I kissed his shoulder and slid out from under the covers. I pulled on a pair of shorts and the T-shirt Jake had worn the night before. The scent of his deodorant and aftershave clung to it and I breathed it in, the familiar smells enveloping me. I padded the short distance to the kitchen, the smell of brewing coffee scenting the air. I was glad I'd had enough forethought the night before to set the timer on the pot before we'd retired to the bedroom for camper-rattling sex.
    Priorities.
    I pulled a yellow ceramic mug from the cabinet, yanked the pot from the warmer and filled the mug. I grabbed the creamer from the fridge and added that to the coffee, silently thanking Delilah