First Degree Burns Read online

  “She likes me more than you think since she sits with me through every baseball game I watch.” Nicole smiled proudly, like Dane made some great sacrifice for her. She took Dane’s hand and gave it a little squeeze.

  Dane only smiled and shrugged. The family looked at her oddly, but Raymond smiled. Dane figured that was a good thing. She made sure to stay out of the way as dinner was prepared. It was not as complicated as she thought it might be. Honestly, beyond knowing how to set up the equipment, camping didn’t seem that complex. She’d like to do this again, with her nephews and Nicole. It didn’t matter how crappy this trip was.

  “Don’t gorge yourself this time.” Nicole wagged her finger at Dane with a grin, as she handed Dane a chili dog.

  That got a chuckle out of Dane, who ate several chili dogs. “They’re so good,” she moaned, patting her stomach. She licked her fingers, making sure to get any stray chili off her hands.

  Raymond grinned. “I know how to make chili dogs.”

  Junior and Spider kept pace with Dane while everyone else appeared quite disgusted with how many franks they put away. Nicole ended up putting an end to the unspoken contest after Dane ate four dogs. That probably was Dane’s limit, but she didn’t know because she never stopped at four. Of course, it usually didn’t end well once she made the decision to stop.

  “God, do you have a cast iron stomach?” Beth asked Dane.

  “Nah, I just like what I like,” Dane answered with a grin.

  “That was possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.” Lillian shook her head.

  “It was rather gross, love,” Nicole said with a slight frown.

  Dane shrugged, knowing Nicole was probably thinking back to the last time she had a bunch of chili dogs. She had done her best to suffer in silence that time, but Nicole had developed a sixth sense when it came to Dane’s wellbeing. Suffering alone wasn’t allowed if it could be helped.

  “So, who has a ghost story to share?” Nicole inquired as the darkness settled in. Dane couldn’t believe they actually did that.

  ***

  Nicole sighed as she and Danny settled into a two-person sleeping bag. They lay on top of an air mattress, even though Danny claimed that didn’t count as real camping. Of course, Nicole had laughed at that.

  “Trust me, it’s still real camping, because we have a tent,” Nicole said.

  Her lover laughed and gave her a lopsided smile. “Oh, is that what makes it camping?”

  “Well, part of it. You’ve seen other parts of it.”

  “I can’t believe you guys actually tell ghost stories and make s’mores, which are fucking delicious in case you didn’t know,” Danny said with a chuckle.

  “I’m not sure which I find more incredible, the fact that you ate that many s’mores or the fact that you actually scared them with that story. Did you actually ever stay in a haunted house?” Nicole inquired, even though she suspected she knew the answer.

  Danny smiled. “I knew someone that did.”

  “Of course,” she laughed.

  As her laughter faded, they both made themselves comfortable. Nicole tucked herself against Danny, who put her arms around Nicole. Nicole sighed contently, caressing her lover’s hip.

  “I can’t believe you’ve never had a real s’more before,” Nicole said. It was a little sad to her, like so many things Danny never got a chance to do. Danny had been so cheated.

  “I’m glad I had ‘em now. I hope Luke and Thomas haven’t had them before. I want to see their faces when you make them their first one.”

  Nicole beamed. Even though her family had been unfriendly, Danny wanted to do this again! That was great because Nicole rather enjoyed camping, at least for a couple of days. It was relaxing and peaceful.

  “We can come camping one weekend when they’re free if their father allows it,” Nicole said. She’d have to start planning right away, and they’d have to be very nice to Adam to butter him up.

  “I think it’ll be fun, especially telling them ghost stories.”

  “We probably wouldn’t be able to sleep alone like this.”

  Danny smiled. “I don’t think I’d mind. Although, I like this, too.” Her hand crept toward the hem of Nicole’s shirt.

  “You stop that!” Nicole giggled, gently slapping at Danny’s wandering hand. “My dad is less than fifteen feet away from us. Do you really want to make that impression? You want my dad to hear you making me scream and beg? You want him to never be able to look me in the eye again and make him want to kill you?”

  There was a light laugh. “No, I don’t want that. I’ll behave. After all, I’m starting to see what you mean by your father liking me. I’m really glad he’s warmed to me. He’s a nice guy.”

  “Yeah, I know. My dad’s great. He sees you’re a good person, too, and he knows you take good care of me. He sees I’ve been happier with you than any other person I have ever dated. I think, after this trip, he’ll probably be even better with you.”

  “As long as I don’t screw up,” Danny mumbled.

  “Unless you dump me on the trip or purposely injure me, I don’t think you’ll have much to worry about. Oh, and definitely don’t give him the impression we’re having sex in the tent.”

  That got an arched eyebrow from Danny. “What?”

  “I brought a college boyfriend up here one time. He was joking around, making sounds like we were having sex, and my dad almost killed him the next morning. We couldn’t share a tent for the rest of the trip. In fact, we couldn’t even sit next to each other on the ride home. Junior and Spider took him into the woods for a few minutes, and he came back white as a sheet. At first, I was a bit upset, but we broke up a couple of months after the trip, anyway. Actually, I told you about him already.”

  Danny blinked a few times and her forehead wrinkled. “You told me about him? I don’t remember this story then.”

  “No, not this one, but it’s the same guy who thought he could shove his fingers places I didn’t want them.” She frowned.

  Danny frowned and she was quiet for a while. Her hand drifted from Nicole’s hip to just behind, calmly stroking the area with her fingertips. In the past, Nicole would’ve tensed, even with Danny. She had slowly managed to taper the reaction after Danny pointed out the unconscious panic. She trusted Danny and knew there was no way Danny would ever disrespect or violate her in the manner her former boyfriend had.

  “I feel like I’d hate all of your former lovers and not because they were lovers or because they had you first. Have you ever dated someone who treated you with the love and respect that you deserve? Did anyone you date notice they had an angel in their lap?” Danny asked quietly.

  “My first boyfriend, Grant. He was a sweetheart. I’d had a crush on him since junior high, but we didn’t go out until we were fifteen. I brought him on one of these camping trips. He was great. He did all of the crazy things we did. I think he’s the only person I’ve ever brought here that Junior and Spider didn’t want to beat up almost immediately, which I think was because he knew a lot about cars and stuff.”

  “They’re into cars?”

  “They’re mechanics. They own their own garage. Uncle Richard’s a tow truck driver, and they grew up around all sorts of cars. They’re gear-heads and Grant was a gear-head. It got him an almost instant in with them.”

  “So, what happened with Grant?”

  “The same thing that happened to me, oddly enough. He found himself attracted to a boy and it really confused him. I told him that he needed to figure it out and he agreed, so we broke up. Not too long after that, I found myself attracted to a girl.”

  Danny nodded. “So, whatever happened to this only nice guy you ever knew?”

  Nicole frowned slightly, and she quickly got rid of the expression when she realized what she was doing. Whenever she thought of Grant, she felt a bit of a hole in her. It wasn’t as acute now as it had been in the past, but it was still there. Sometimes, on dark days, she wondered what would’ve be
come of them if they had remained together. She never spoke the words aloud, but it echoed in her mind occasionally.

  “He hurt you?” Danny’s voice was quiet, gentle.

  “No, he didn’t hurt me. I was the one who urged him to figure out what was going on with him. I wanted him to be happy.”

  “Is he?”

  “I used to email him every now and then, but we’ve fallen out of touch, busy with life and everything. From what I remember, he seemed okay. He’s married now with two small children. According to him, he had all of the gay sex he could stand in college.” She laughed.

  Danny laughed, too. “I do not feel his pain. I’m hoping for a lifetime of gay sex.” She held Nicole a little tighter.

  “I’ll try to oblige, but you’ll have to understand, there’ll be days when I will have a headache or two.”

  A smile remained on Danny’s lovely copper face. “I’ll take that as long as you’re lying next to me or letting me bring you aspirin.”

  Nicole smiled and offered a kiss to Danny’s shoulder, the closest body part to her. “Of course.”

  “So, how many boyfriends have you brought up here for camping anyway?”

  “Just those two. I have also brought two girlfriends. One liked camping a bit too much and came up here with guns, thinking we were going to go hunting, too. The other hated everything about this and even complained it was too dirty.”

  Grey eyes blinked in disbelief. “Too dirty? Didn’t she realize there’s dirt in the woods?”

  “I don’t know what she thought it was going to be like. I think she wanted to meet more of my family, thinking they were wealthy beyond belief because of my parents. Of course, she was wrong, which made her so grouchy and uppity. Junior and Spider were unkind to her.”

  Danny snickered. “Sounds like I could like these guys if only they weren’t unkind toward me.”

  “I think you’ll grow on them, but they’re probably going to harass you, now that I think about it. They harass everyone I bring up here. Hell, they even harassed Grant. But, I’m pretty sure you’ll grow on them.”

  “Like a fungus?” Danny joked.

  Nicole laughed. “Yes, like a fungus. Isn’t that how you’ve grown on me?”

  “Think I’ve grown on you more like a barnacle.” Danny hooked her leg around both of Nicole’s.

  “Yes, well, once upon a time, you weren’t so attached to me.”

  Danny smiled. “Things evolve and change. You’ve changed me. I know I can depend on you, and I know it’s all right to let you take care of me. And don’t let that go to your head.”

  An innocent smile lit up Nicole’s face. “I would never do that, Big Dog!”

  “I’m so sure.”

  “I’m glad you’re open to that. I’m glad you’re here.”

  “There’s no place else that I’d rather be, Angel.”

  Nicole smiled and leaned up to press a soft kiss to Danny’s lips. They sighed and settled for sleep. Though, Nicole’s mind wasn’t ready to turn off yet. She went back to thinking about Grant, but not in any way that she could recall having done before.

  Did Grant’s wife make him feel as special and loved as Danny made her feel? She hoped that was the case. He was the only person she’d ever described as a sweetheart before she was with Danny. Danny’s words echoed in her mind, he hurt you. Maybe he had in a way, and she had spent her entire life dating people that wouldn’t remind her of him. It doesn’t matter. I would do it all over again if it brought me to this moment.

  For once, instead of looking back at her love life with regret, she smiled at it. Everything that happened to her with her lovers had brought her to this point. Danny was it for her. She loved Danny more with each day that passed, and she enjoyed the fact that they were growing together, learning together. So, she was going to enjoy this trip, no matter what her cousins did.

  “And then we’ll do this again, just us and maybe the boys,” Nicole whispered, giving Danny another soft kiss. Danny purred and her grip on Nicole tightened.

  Chapter Seven

  THE FOREST NEVER REALLY went to sleep, Dane noted, but when the sun came up, the place came to life. She groaned from the noise, mostly birds. They seemed to get up before the crack of dawn. She heard Nicole chuckling next to her, as she tried to burrow deeper into the sleeping bag with the hope of going back to sleep.

  “You might want to get up and wash for breakfast, baby.” Nicole’s kiss to her forehead was small incentive.

  Dane snorted and tried her best to block out the noise. She really had no problem with getting up early, especially since they went to bed early, but she wanted to lie there for a few minutes. After all, this trip was supposed to be a mini vacation and, as she understood vacations, that meant sleeping in. Nicole must’ve had a different view, or at least changed her view from their last trip, because she playfully smacked Dane on the butt.

  “Come on, get up. You’ll want to see us making pancakes for breakfast, if only to tell them they’re doing it wrong,” Nicole joked.

  Dane chuckled and rubbed her eyes. As she sat up, she ran her hand through her hair and focused on Nicole, whose back was facing her. Nicole was already dressed, but the sight was still quite glorious. She had on a fairly tight, black, sleeveless shirt and little shorts that cradled her ass. Dane’s hands itched to touch, but she knew that’d be a bad idea with Raymond probably right outside.

  Thankfully, Nicole crawled out of the tent and removed the temptation. Of course, before she did that, the little minx turned and winked at her, showing she knew exactly what she was doing. Dane groaned and laughed. I love that woman.

  “I’d better get up. See how they make these flapjacks and stuff,” she muttered.

  She also wanted to know about showering, or bathing, in this case. She supposed she’d have Nicole show her. As much as her girlfriend enjoyed the outdoors, she knew Nicole wouldn’t stay somewhere for days on end if they couldn’t manage to remain relatively clean.

  There was a time when Dane wouldn’t have cared about that. When she met Nicole, she had reeked enough to choke a fly, she was sure of that. Somehow, she had gotten used to smelling horrible and having an itchy scalp, and the grime on her skin had barely registered to her. But, that wasn’t the case anymore. She had skipped a shower one day and was certain of two things. One, Nicole could somehow detect she hadn’t showered the moment they woke up. And two, she hated how oily her skin felt being covered in yesterday’s dirt. The moment actually made her smile, as she thought about how Nicole had restored her pride and self-respect. No one had ever touched her enough to do that before.

  “My angel.” Dane sighed, as her heart thumped lighter than usual before going after her lover for camp bath tips.

  Once Nicole showed her the basics of hygiene while on a camping trip, Dane went to put on some clothes. She felt somewhat refreshed, but she figured she’d have to get used to camp bathing. While she had spent a part of her life being homeless, and definitely not being able to bathe every day, she had also spent much of that time too high or drunk to care.

  “You okay?” Nicole inquired.

  Dane nodded. “Fine. Just missing the shower and respecting the people who lived before there was one.” Nicole chortled at that.

  “Aw, you hear that? The city girl misses the shower,” Spider said from a seat by their small grill.

  “She’s not the only one.” Beth scoffed as a smile worked its way onto her face. “I’d kill for some shampoo with that shower. In fact, I’d club one of you to death right now for some shampoo.” Her cousins chuckled.

  Dane was starting to get a feel for the cousins’ humor and thought it was nice. She really wished she could share in it, but she knew Junior and Spider wouldn’t allow that. She wasn’t too sure where Beth stood, yet, but she got the suspicion Beth might try to get to know her before judging her. She didn’t even want to think about Lillian.

  “We’re only here for a couple of days, so stop whining already, Beth. Go take
some pictures or something.” Richard shooed her away with both hands.

  Dane couldn’t tell if he was being playful or if he was serious. Beth seemed to droop a bit, shoulders slumping, and her smile disappeared, so maybe he was serious. She was beginning to think he was probably the strict uncle, which would leave Raymond as the fun uncle. That idea would take some getting used to.

  “Uncle Richard, leave Beth alone. She’s the only one of us that knows how to survive if we lose everything in a freak accident,” Nicole said, giving her cousin a wink. Beth tittered while Richard snorted.

  Dane glanced at the pair, wondering what that was about. Nicole waved her off, which was a way to say she’d explain later. Dane shrugged and scanned for who had the pancake batter, if only to see if there was a difference in outside pancakes. Thankfully, Raymond was doing the mixing, so she drifted over.

  “You do a lot of cooking?” Dane asked, glancing at the pancake batter. It didn’t look any different than something she or Nicole might make at home.

  “Not nearly as much as you to hear Nikki tell it,” Raymond replied with a small half smile. “I’m one of those guys who handles ‘guy’ cooking. I man the BBQ grill at home, and I do the cooking when we go camping.”

  “We’ve never grilled,” Dane realized. I think we might want to try that this summer. We can have her family over and the boys. Everyone’ll like that, especially in that huge backyard.

  “Why do I get the feeling that, if you do, Nicole would be the one at the grill?” He smiled, almost as if he were teasing her. She supposed Nicole had told him about her being a self-proclaimed housewife. She truly believed she was, and there was nothing wrong with that, but she’d like to run the grill if they were to ever have a cookout. She could probably grill well with practice.

  Smirking a little, Dane ran her hand through her hair. “Think she’d chase me away if I tried to take over?”

  Raymond chuckled. “Probably, but it never hurts to try.”