Chapter 6. Truth Or Dare

Sage’s POV

Joe looks at me, mouth in a straight line, “truth,” he answers. He seems unamused but somehow…it makes him all the more attractive.

Kehlani takes a moment to think about her question. Meanwhile, Ryker’s finger tips brush against my arm.

It feels like mini explosions are shooting out of his finger tips. Or is that my skin?

“When was the last time you went on a trip with us and actually had fun?” Kehlani asks with an adorable smile. Her teeth are so white, it’s like light beams behind her teeth.

What am I even thinking?

A small, quick smirk tugs at his lips but he covers it quickly, “I’ll like this trip.”

Thiago taps my thigh, giving me more of those weird fireworks. He has the blunt in his hand, offering it to me.

I grab it and watch as he scoots his water in between us just in case.

“Truth or dare?” Joe’s voice hits my ears as I take a hit.

I’m so blessed to hear it. What?

“Dare,” Lynn proudly states. She almost seems like she’s begging for a really good dare.

Bold, Lynn. She’s so badass.

I watch in awe as a smile creeps on Joe’s lips, “kiss me,” he pats his leg to invite her on his lap.

My eyes refuse to tear away from them as she sits on him, straddling his lap and faces him.

An unfamiliar wetness is felt between my legs. It feels uncomfortable, embarrassing even. But I don’t want it to stop.

After watching everyone else, I notice that they take two hits so after I puff on the blunt one more time, I pass it to Ryker.

Karter whistles as Lynn and Joe kiss. I can see small glimpses of their tongues massaging each other. A dull ache is accompanying the wetness now.

Joe’s alluring eyes meet my gawking gaze. In a panic, I look away to try not to intrude on their makeout session.

My body urges me to look back but I don’t want to be weird.

“Down boy,” Lynn playfully smiles, making Joe growl. The rumble in his chest does something to me, I don’t even know how to explain it. My thighs instinctually tremble as I sit criss cross and lean against Ryker.

Why am I so hot? I fan my face with my hand.

“Hmm,” Lynn hums once she returns to her spot, “Jericho, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he mumbles, blowing smoke out from behind his thick, heart shaped lips.

“What is an instant turn on for you?”

I take a sip of the water Thiago let me share with him since my mouth is dryer than the Sahara Desert.

The blunt comes back around to me but Ryker takes it from me, “no more, pet.”

My nose scrunches, “why not?”

He chuckles, “your eyes are blood shot and you’ve got pretty bad cotton mouth. Although, that glazed over look in your eyes is sexy as hell,” he whispers at the end.

My core throbs as I watch him look at my lap then back up to my face.

What is wrong with me?

Ryker takes his two hits and passes it on.

Thiago asks Jayce and Jayce also picks truth.

Ryker is so close that I can smell his laced breaths hit my shoulder. Wait, are my eyes really that red? I move my eyes around, not particularly looking at anything. Instead, I’m trying to see if my eyes hurt.

“What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?” Thiago asks Jayce.

I hold my breath, expecting him to answer with some wild admission of guilt.

“Vodka,” he laughs.

A few others laugh along with him, they probably know exactly what he’s talking about.

“Tell Sage the story!” Kehlani hollers as she holds her stomach as it cramps from her laughing so hard.

Jayce shakes his head with a embarrassed chuckle, “you sure you want to know?”

My eyes widen, not if you like…killed somebody or something, “I don’t know, do I?”

“Trust me babes, you want to know,” Kehlani answers with a light tone.

The fire pops, like it’s warning Jayce to keep his mouth shut. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.

“Whelp,” Jayce clears his throat after passing the blunt, “to put a long story short, we were at the beach and Karter pulled out like ten bottles of vodka,”

“Damn right I did,” Karter laughs, happily taking the blame.

Jayce playfully narrows his eyes at him before continuing, “he poured me my first drink, then my second, and my third. They didn’t stop until Lynn asked why I was singing Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson on top of her Jeep. Apparently I knew every word and danced accordingly as well.”

I giggle, imagining this tall, lanky, blond haired man on top of Lynn’s Jeep and signing his little heart out.

Jayce laughs along with me when he realizes I can’t stop.

“How many hits did she take?” Corbin asks in his delicious voice.

“Three, I think,” Ryker responds.

Excuse me sir, why were you counting my hits? No fair, I haven’t been counting yours.

Lynn laughs, “she looks goofed,” she takes a hit and blows rings out.

Not going to lie, my body feels a little like jelly, but not like I can’t control it. I feel good. Really freaking good.

My brain feels like it’s floating.

“Come on silly goose, lets get you to your tent,” Kehlani pulls me off Ryker.

“Goodnight!” I laugh and wave at everyone to which they match my energy, especially Karter. I wasn’t able to catch the eyes of Corbin or Joe but hopefully they said it back. I’ll be sad if they didn’t say it back.

Once Kehlani gets me to my tent, she lays down next to me with my tent flap open so fresh air flows in with the slight breeze and the stars twinkle like they’re winking at me.

Naughty stars.

I try to hold my laughter but it bubbles out anyways. My ribs begin to burn from the harsh inhale and exhale my lungs can’t stop preforming.

“Alright,” Kehlani tries to calm us while laughing herself, “it’s time to sleep.”

I take a deep breath and try my best to swallow my laughter and she does the same. We let out a peep here and there but eventually, my eyelids become heavy they even have that feeling after a day of swimming in chlorine water.

Kehlani took me to my first pool, I thought it was a lot of fun but the water made my hair feel weird and my eyes felt like they were on fire.

I feel Kehlani’s small fingers rake through my hair, lulling me to close my eyes. Her lips press against my forehead and she whispers, “I love you,” before kissing my forehead again.

“I love you too,” I murmur as I become completely engrossed in her touch.

Even though Kehlani isn’t blood, she’s my family. I would honestly pick going on a trip like this with her over going on a trip like this with my blood family.

Birds tweeting and one bird with a specifically loud caw causes my eyes to open to the blinding morning light.

I guess we forgot to close the tent flap before falling asleep last night.

After being careful to not wake Kehlani by zipping the flap up, I turn and pull dig through a bag with my clothes. I recall promising Corbin to go for a walk with him. I sigh and pull out light-wash jean shorts that have a patched hole on the left hip with only white strings covering my skin, a white padded sports bra and panties to match, and a plain green crop top.

“Where you going?” Kehlani yawns, stretching her arms over her head of kinky curls.

After pulling my shorts over my butt, I turn towards her, “Corbin and I are going for a walk this morning. Want to come?”

She scoffs, shaking her head, “I’d simply rather die than get up and walk around.”

I giggle and crouch next to her, “I guess I’ll just bring you back my favorite flower then,” I promise and kiss her cheek before unzipping the tent flap.

I hope nobody finds it weird that Kehlani and I are affectionate towards each other. I mean, we never kiss kiss, but he give each other friendly love…I think…I’ve never really had any friends since I grew up so secluded in the mountains.

 It’s seven in the morning, I say to myself as I check my phone. There’s no signal, but at least I can check the time and play a few games that doesn’t require Wi-Fi.

Corbin is already dressed outside of his tent, doing some push-ups in a grey muscle shirt with a hood and red basketball shorts.

I assume everyone is still fast asleep since I don’t hear anyone, maybe a faint snore here and there.

“Good morning,” Corbin pants out as he continues to workout, “I thought I’d have to wake you up.”

I shake my head. Although I love sleep, I prefer to wake up early, sometimes even early enough to see the sunrise.

“You’re wearing that to hike?”

I look down at my clothes, I’m wearing sneakers that are fit for this terrain, “would it be bad to say yes?”

He chuckles, “it just doesn’t look comfortable, that’s all.”

As I approach him, he stands from his push-up position, if I were taller, we’d be chest to chest. I’m pretty average for a woman. Five foot four and a half, because the half counts.

“Go grab some waters and we can get going,” Corbin instructs me.

I feel his eyes on me as I turn to retrieve the drinks. These shorts aren’t that short. Are they?

My fingers run along the back of my legs, feeling the hem of my shorts on my upper thigh. They aren’t showing any cheeks so I don’t understand why he’s staring.

Four water bottles later, I turn and walk back to Corbin who is backing granola bars, jerky, and two small white looking stick things. I’ve seen cigarettes before, cigarettes are longer and thinner. Whatever he put into the jawstring bag was chunky and kind of short.

“Thank you,” he says as he takes the water from me and stuffs them into the jawstring bag, “you ready?”

I nod, letting him lead the way.