TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

13

Chapter Thirteen

Charlotte

I stepped into Cade's cabin and glanced around to see that it was a smaller version of the one I'd been sharing with Amy, Talia and Nicki. A piercing pain seemed to rip through my guts at the thought of Nicki's name, and I tried to push it aside as best I could. I knew she was just a bitch who'd tried to ruin my night out of sheer jealousy, and Cade had made it pretty clear that no one had-or ever would-take her side on that issue.

I was still mad at myself for running out the way I had. I should've stayed behind and defended myself, but I was grateful that Cade had been there to stick up for me when I felt I couldn't. It made me feel warm inside, knowing that I had people on my side no matter what. Just the mere idea of that already made me feel stronger.

"So what's the surprise?" I asked. "Let me guess....you've got some sort of secret dungeon in here?"

"Not quite," he said, leaning down and rummaging around the cupboard in the small kitchenette. He pulled out a big pink and white plastic bag and held it up. "Marshmallows."

I raised my eyebrows. "For what?"

Cade rose to his full height and walked back over to me. "Do you remember our school camp back in the sixth grade?"

I smiled at the memory. "Yep."

Sixth grade camp was one of my few good memories from school. It was before I'd become a major social pariah, and it'd been fun as hell. Our grade had taken a bus to a camping ground in Bald Eagle state forest, and we'd walked short hiking trails, set up tents and completed various fun activities. One of the best things we did was on the second night there-our teachers had let us sit around the campfire and toast marshmallows while telling ghost stories. I distinctly remembered that Cade had sat near me during my story, and he'd hung on every word I said. Seeing as he was one of the cool kids, it had made me feel pretty good at the time.

"There's a little fire pit out the back. Let's get a fire going and toast some of these bad boys," he said, pointing to the marshmallows again. "And we can even tell creepy stories. It'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah. But will we be able to start a fire when it's this cold?" I asked.

"Well, cavemen managed to do it back in the day, so I'm sure we'll manage," he replied with a wink.

I followed him out the back door of the cabin and spotted the fire pit. It was just beyond the small enclosed backyard area, and Cade walked over to a box that sat near a window. "Firewood," he explained, loading some small logs and sticks into his arms. "Sorry, I forgot....can you go back inside and grab the lighter fluid and lighter from the kitchen? Fourth cupboard from the stove."

"Okay, be right back."

Fifteen minutes later, we had a roaring fire going, and we sat down on a massive log that had been placed near the fire pit.

"One marshmallow kebab coming up," Cade said a moment later, removing a stick from the fire. It had five marshmallows pushed onto it, and it smelled divine.

He handed it to me, and I smiled and accepted it, raising it to my mouth. "Mmm..." I said in between mouthfuls of melted sugary goodness. "This is so good."

I didn't feel guilty for eating it. Once upon a time, if someone had called me 'chubby', then I would've deprived myself of any treat foods for two weeks and exercised like mad in an attempt to lose weight. I wasn't going to do that now. Nicki's words may have stung, but I wasn't going to let those words control my life, and I'd realized a long time ago that I was naturally curvy, so no amount of starving myself and being miserable was going to make me rail-thin anyway. And why would I want to be, anyway? My body worked just fine, whether it was voluptuous or skinny, so I didn't see why it was even an issue.