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Ollie jogged out in front of us and turned so that he was facing us as he walked backward, completely ignoring the red truck trying to back up. He held up a tanned hand and started ticking off his fingers. “Drinking, socializing, snowboarding, and soccer—remember that sport, Cam? Soccer?”
The easy grin slipped off Cam’s face. “Yeah, I remember it, asshole.”
Ollie just laughed and turned, heading toward where the silver truck was parked. I glanced up at Cam, curious. He stared straight ahead, jaw set and eyes like chips of ice. Without looking down at me, he shoved his hands into his jeans and said, “See you around, Avery.”
With that, he joined Ollie over at his truck, and I’d swear the temperature dropped to match the sudden coolness in Cam’s attitude. Didn’t take a genius or an overly intuitive person to figure out that Ollie had touched on a sore spot and Cam hadn’t been in the mood to elaborate.
Shivering, I hurried to my car and jumped in. Not a second too soon as a big, fat raindrop splatted against the windshield. As I backed out, I glanced over, my eyes finding them. Both guys were standing by the bed of the truck, Ollie smiling and Cam with the same distant, rigid set to his expression as he spoke. Whatever he was telling his friend, he wasn’t happy about it.
Chapter 6
I had no idea how I let Cam talk me into him driving and not taking two cars during class, but Saturday night—the night of our assignment—just before dusk, I found myself climbing into the massive silver truck. My stomach had been in knots since Friday night, when Jacob started hounding me about the party he and Brittany were going to. It had been good-natured and I wanted to go, but couldn’t bring myself to really do it. Besides, I had no idea where the house was, it had been late when he’d started texting, and it had been storming again.
And now I was as nervous as a mouse in a room full of hungry cats. As lame as this was, I’d never been in a car with a guy before. Man, even admitting that to myself sounded incredibly pathetic. Like take that little secret to my grave level of pathetic.
Cam shoved the keys into the ignition as he glanced over at me. The baseball cap was on again, twisted backward. Behind the thick lashes, his eyes glimmered a bright azure. “Ready steady?”
Tugging my light-weight cardigan around me, I nodded. When I saw him in astronomy yesterday morning, he was back in the normal mood—joking, flirting, and offering cookies. I hoped that meant whatever had gone down between him and Ollie had been worked out. “Are you sure we can’t just do this around here?”
“This place will be perfect. I will never lead you wrong, sweetheart.”
“Okay,” I murmured, clasping my hands together tightly. I turned to the side window, watching as we blew past the campus and crossed the bridge into Maryland.
Fifteen minutes later, Cam turned onto the road leading to the visitor’s center in Antietam National Battlefield. The history nerd in me started doing cartwheels, but I was way too nervous about being out here at night with Cam. Not that he seemed like the type to try anything, but if I knew anything, there was no ‘type’ when it came to that sort of thing. My nerves felt stretched thin and frayed at the edges.
“Are you sure we’re allowed to be out here at night?” I asked, glancing around.
“Nope.” He pulled into a parking spot. There were only a handful of cars.
I stared at him. “What?”
He laughed as he killed the engine. “I’m kidding. All we have to do is tell one of the Rangers that we’re from the University. They’ll be cool about it.”
I hoped so. The idea of being chased off the battlefield by a park ranger wasn’t on my list of things to accomplish before I died.
However, after taking one quick look at Cam, it looked like something he’d be down for.
“You ready?”
Grabbing my bag off the floor, I opened the truck door. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
Cam grabbed a flashlight out of the glove box as he chuckled. “Don’t sound too excited.”
I sent him a quick grin. “I’m not.”
“Don’t lie.” He walked around the hood and joined me, pointing over to where a cement tower with a red top rose into the sky. “That’s where we want to go to.”
“The tower on Bloody Lane?”
He shot me a quick look. “You’ve been here before.”
“No.”
“Then how did you know that’s Bloody Lane?”
I smiled slightly as I picked up a strand of my hair, twisting it between my fingers. “I’m a history major, so places like this appeal to me. Read up on it before. Bloodiest day of the whole war took place on that little stretch of dirt road.”
“Yeah, that’s what they say. Hold on a sec.” He turned to where a Ranger was cutting cross the field. “Be right back.”
