Meet me in the Emerald Forest

Chapter 20 Clementine

"Are you in trouble, Clem?" Caleb asked me the second we were driving away from the packgrounds.

"What? No." My head snapped to him in surprise.

"I'm not going to lie to you, that place looks very suspicious. It looks like a cult." Caleb said.

"It's not a cult," I chuckled, mostly because I had the same thought not so long ago, "But, there is something going on."

"Like?" Caleb prompted.

"You know me, Caleb, I can handle myself. You just have to trust me." I shrugged. Caleb glanced over at me as he drove down the bumpy stone road.

"I do trust you, you're my partner, dummy." Caleb laughed and I joined in.

"You have some time off, don't you?" I asked and Caleb was back to looking suspicious.

"Obviously."

"Take it and stay around for a bit." I said, trying to sound casual.

"Let me guess....just trust you?" Caleb cocked an eyebrow and I winked at him, "I don't know, Clem, leaving the team down two men?"

"Don't flatter yourself, if they can make it without me, surviving without you will be nothing." I teased and Caleb nudged me with his elbow.

"Bitch." He said while pretending to cough.

When we reached my house, I left Caleb in the car to call Aiden, our commander, and see if he could take a week or two off to stay here. I figured I mindswell head inside a while and calm down whatever storm Danny had cooked up in my absence.

"Clem?" Danny shouted, throwing himself off one of the island stools in the kitchen, "Where the hell have you been? I know you weren't at Quantico." He accused me.

"Geez, calm down, Danny. I was just with Lukas." I scoffed.

"Why did you lie to me then?" Danny asked, sounding pissed.

"Because you've been acting like an overprotective father of a teenage girl for the last month and it's killing me." I snapped at him.

It wasn't a lie, but I had grown used to it and learned how to deal with it. It made a good excuse now, though.

"You're acting like a teenage girl right now, Clementine." Danny snapped and I felt taken aback by his response.

"Seriously, Daniel?" I glared at him.

"You're just strutting around with this boy you met a few weeks ago. I might not have been around during your teenage years, but I was around when you inevitably ended things with Bennett and saw how that went down." He yanked off the bandaid to a very old wound.

"Way to hit below the belt." I scoffed, feeling blown away by his attitude, "What are you trying to say, that I'm just whoring myself out?"

It was Daniel's turn to look flabbergasted.

"That's not what I said...."

"Then what the hell does Bennett have to do with any of this? I was 18 years old then. I'm freaking 25 now and you're seriously trying to compare my friendship with Lukas to my high school sweetheart?" I shouted.

"Everything okay in here?" I didn't even hear Caleb come in.

Danny looked between Caleb and myself with a horrified look on his face.

"I'm packing a bag and staying somewhere else for a while. Don't you dare call my team and try to hunt me down." I practically snarled at him, beginning to sound a bit like Bastian and Lukas.