One Temptation

The Hike (Chapter 47)

Madison's POV:

The first thing I felt was the warmth of the sun on my face, peeking through the tent's opening.

The second thing I realized was that I had somehow managed to sleep longer than usual. Way longer.

I shot up, blinking groggily, the others were already awake. Their laughter echoed through the campsite.

Rubbing my eyes, I checked the time on my watch—it was already way past my usual wake-up time. Shit.

I wasn't the last one awake, though. Thank God.

Because on every trip, the last one awake always had a very special surprise waiting for them: an ice-cold bucket of water, lovingly dumped right over their head as a rude wake-up call.

I had fallen victim to it before, and it was not something I ever wanted to experience again.

I peeked out of the tent flap and saw the others hanging around, getting breakfast ready. But then my eyes zeroed in on the last unfortunate soul still fast asleep in his tent—Cole.

Oh, poor guy. He had no idea what was coming.

I climbed out of the tent, stretching as I made my way over to the group.

Everyone else was already up and about. Getting ready for the day, my eyes landed on West first, who looked way too attractive for early in the morning.

And it was the fact that his hair was messy, and he was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. Nothing special, but it made my heart flutter.

I made my way to the rest of them, talking about what was going to happen, and West came over to me, casually throwing an arm around my shoulder.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he said sarcastically, "Thought we'd have to dump water on you instead."

I rolled my eyes, trying to suppress a grin. "Nah, I wasn't gonna let that happen." I nodded toward Cole's tent. "But looks like someone else is in for a very good morning."

Lia clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh my God, we should do it now! Before he wakes up on his own!"

West shot me a look, raising an eyebrow daring me to take the lead. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity.

"Alright, let's do it," I said, trying to suppress my glee.

Cole was almost always the one to fall victim, because the guy loved his sleep.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and was about to walk towards his tent, when West stopped me.

He took the bottle out of my hand, "This isn't enough. We need more." he said, as he pulled a whole jug of water from the cooler. "Go big or go home,"

I looked at him with confusion, "Where the the fuck did you get that?"

"There's a creek down that side, filled it up with cold, and fresh water this morning."

I grinned, taking it from him. "You're ridiculous."

He smiled, and let me walk in front of me, everyone following behind.

We all snuck over to Cole's tent, trying our best to keep quiet. I could barely contain my laughter, alongside the others.

Jake crouched down by the tent and slowly unzipped the flap, revealing Cole still peacefully asleep.

He stepped back to let me do the honours.

I glanced back at the group one last time, and with a quick nod, I tipped the jug over, dousing Cole with ice-cold water.