18. River

RIVER

I woke early, Clarry still in my arms, my morning glory nudging against his ass. I gave a groan, my hard-on wanting more of that ass than a gentle grinding. But I could see that Clarry was sound asleep, a happy little smile on his angelic face. How could I possibly disturb him from such a deep, dreamy state?

I figured my hard-on could wait.

Ever so gingerly I lifted my arm off him and rolled away, pulling myself to my feet and stretching my body awake.

The forest was a still, pale blue in the last moments of dawn. The sun would be up any minute. The campfire had reduced itself to coal and ash hours ago, so I decided to head back into the woods to find some more kindling and firewood.

I pulled on my boots and delicately wrapped the section of blanket that I'd been sleeping on over Clarry, so he was all snug and safe.

In his sleep he gave a little purr and mutter, cozying himself into a ball under the blanket without waking.

I looked up into the woods and decided to head to some of the higher ground a little farther upriver .

I found a track and followed it, but no more than five minutes into the forest I heard the first—

BOOM!

My blood froze.

My feet stopped dead in their tracks.

And instantly everything inside me unraveled.