"Stop, you son of a bitch, leave me alone!" Tess screeches, trying to escape Bennett's grasp, who is trying to throw her into the lake.

"Oh oh, I'm telling mom that you called her a bitch," Ben taunts.

"I didn't because I am one hundred percent sure you are adopted!" she argues back and claws at his arms around her torso. To no avail though because the next second, Bennett throws her out into the water. 

Eli and I laugh at their sibling antics as he swims his rounds, my arms around his neck, floating over his back on the water.

"Maybe I should do the same with you since you are only using me to get around the lake without putting in any effort," Eli muses between strokes.

His long, toned arms gliding through the water with powerful strokes. His skin glistening from the water and the sun. His hair looking jet black in its wet state. 

"You wouldn't be that mean to me," I feign a shocked voice. 

"I like making it up to you though," he counters and I can hear the smirk in his voice.

I blush a deep red at his insinuation and thank the heavens that he cannot see my face right now. It's been a few days since he 'made it up to me' but my body still reacts whenever I think about it. Let's just say the water is not the only thing making me wet right now. 

"You're awfully quiet all of a sudden." His voice pulls me from my very innocent thoughts. 

He's turned around in my arms, facing me now, his hands holding onto my waist. I clear my throat.

"Uh, I was just thinking," I say.

"I could see that," he notes, his beautiful green eyes roaming my face. "You wanna tell me what you were thinking about?"

"Nope," I grin at him.

"Hmm, I see," he pulls me closer, my body molding into his. "You should get into the shade soon, I think you're getting a little sunburnt."

I'm not sure if he is serious or teasing me about blushing, but I just nod. My eyes search his and when our gazes meet, I swear the world stops for a second. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy but I could look into his eyes for hours and not get bored. 

"I love your eyes," I blurt without thinking.

He smiles. "Do you?"

"Yes," I breathe, still staring.

"Good thing I only have eyes for you then," he jokes and breaks the spell I was under.

"You're a dork," I laugh and splash water at him - which turns out to be a mistake because he definitely beats me in splashing water. Damnit.

When we emerge from the lake, Bennett's eyes land on my thighs and stay there. I think it to be weird for a second but I then remember the bruises that Eli's hands have left there. Tess has been non-stop teasing me since she discovered them the morning after I stayed in Eli's room.

"What happened to your legs? Are you alright?" Bennett asks me, concern evident in his tone.

"Uh yeah, I'm good. I'm a total klutz and ran into the kitchen counter when I went to get some water at night," I lie. 

"Really? That doesn't look like it comes from running into something. It almost looks like ha-" Tess starts but my death glare quickly cuts her off before she can say 'hands'.

"Just turn on the light next time," Ben advises with a grin and I nod.

"Will do."

"Benny had a nice idea for this weekend's activity," Tess announces.

"Sounds fake, I've never heard Ben having a nice idea," Eli jests and Bennett punches his ribs in retort.

"What is the idea?" I ask.

"I was thinking we could go camping. There are some beautiful woods on a hilly landscape a few miles from here. We thought of bringing Isabelle and Simon, too," he explains.

"Ohh that sounds fun!" I agree. "What do you think?" I turn to Eli.

He doesn't look too convinced. "I was thinking of finally finishing the job on that vintage car this weekend."

"Come on, man. We'll work on it all day tomorrow and Friday and then finish it early on Monday, it'll be fine," Bennett argues. 

"I don't know," he grumbles just as his phone starts ringing. He bends down and pulls it out from his jeans' pockets. "I have to take that, I'll be right back," Eli answers the call and walks into the trees separating the house from the lake. 

"See," I tell Tess. "And you wanted me to ask him to go on a double date with you and Simon. I knew he wouldn't like it."

"He's a loser," Tess complains.

"He's not," Ben defends him before I can. "He just needs to be forced to his luck, sometimes. Can you ask him again, Romy? I'm sure he won't say 'no' to you."

I laugh. "Apparently, you don't know him well. He tells me 'no' all the time."

"Just... use some womanly persuasion," he suggests.

"Yeah, just drop to your knees and op-" before Tess can finish that sentence, Ben whacks her with a towel.

"Too far, Tess. Shut the hell up. No one needs that image in their mind," he scolds her. "Please try, Romy. I think he could really need some time away. From work and home and Tommy and Janet."

"Okay okay, I'll ask him," I cave in and turn to the trees. I see him walking back toward us and make my way over to him, meeting him halfway.

"Hey," I greet. He doesn't say anything. "Everything alright?"

"Yes."

"Okay. So, can you please join us for the camping trip?" I grab his hand and start massaging his forearm, easing the tension from his muscles.

"Romy, I'm not really in the mood for camping."

"Then what are you in the mood for?"

"Working."

"Why don't you give yourself a little break from working?" I suggest, easing my massage.

"I just had days off from work last week."

"Yeah, and you still went to the garage a few times." I step closer to him and sneak my arm around his torso, placing my hand on his lower back. My other hand frames the side of his face, my thumb smoothing over his dark brow. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Please, come with us. With me. I would be all alone in my tent while Bennett and Tess have someone to keep them company. And I need you there, to keep me safe from the bears and boars and all that," I plead with him.

"There are no bears or boars in those woods."

I huff and drop my hands. "You can be really infuriating, you know that?" 

"That's news to me," he says.

"Well, you heard it here first." I turn around to walk back to the others. Let him miss all the fun, I don't need him to have a great time. It'll suck to be the only solo person but I have my books to keep me company.

Eli's voice stops me after a few steps. 

"You really want to go camping?" his deep voice asks, low and grumbling, like he still isn't happy with the idea.

"Yes, and I would really like to go with you."

"Okay, fine. I'll go."

"Yaaay!" I squeal, run up to him and jump into his arms. I kiss him smack dab on the lips before hugging his neck and whispering into his ear. "Thank you."

I wriggle in his hold until he lets me go and run up to my best friend and her brother.

"He'll come with us," I announce with a smile and plop down onto my towel.

Bennett doesn't even look up from his laying position. "I knew he couldn't tell you 'no'."

"He did at first," I let him know.

"It took you a while. If you'd tried my technique, he would've said yes in seconds," Tess joins in.

"You are sick, you know that?" I ask her and she just sticks out her tongue at me. 

I dared to take a look over my shoulder at the backseat and regretted my decision immediately. Tess and Simon are violently making out in the back of Eli's truck. Not something I necessarily needed to see.

"They really missed each other," I tell Eli, who's driving.

Tess really wanted to join me and Eli for the ride, letting Bennett and Isabelle take the camping gear and duffle bags. I was confused why they didn't want to go with Ben but now I know why. 

Eli throws a quick glance in the rearview mirror and nods.

"Yeah, seems like it," he agrees.

He is holding my hand in his own, resting them both on his thigh. 

"Can I ask you something?"

He nods.

"What did you and Tommy fight about on the day we arrived?" I know my chances are slim that he will actually answer my question but it can't hurt to try, right?

Eli makes a disapproving noise in the back of his throat.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I was just curious."

"Of course you were," he smirks for a second. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that thinking about it makes me want to turn this car around and slap him stupid."

"No worries, you don't have to tell me," I reassure him.

"He was annoying the shit out of me with many different things for a while up to that point. But on that day he came by the garage after work. We were just sitting, talking and he went to get us drinks from the backroom fridge. Two regular beers for him and Bem and a non-alcoholic one for me, or so he said. After I drank about half the bottle, I started to feel a little off and checked the label on the bottle. That fucker gave me a regular beer and I damn near beat him up for that if Ben wasn't there to stop me." 

"He knew you didn't drink?" I inquire.

"Sure did," he grits out.

"Maybe it was an honest mistake," I offer, not quite believing myself.

"That wasn't a fucking mistake, I can assure you that."

"You're right. Knowing Tommy it probably wasn't honest or a mistake. That's really fucked up of him." I squeeze his hand as a way to show him some comfort. Trying to decide if I should ask him again why he doesn't drink, I look out the window at the beautiful scenery and pick at the skin around my fingernails.

"You're thinking about asking me again why I don't drink, aren't you?" Eli's soothing voice pulls me from my thoughts.

My mouth falls open when I look at him. "How did you know that?"

"You are just too easy to read sometimes. I'll tell you another time because it's a quite depressing story. And we are here to have a good time, right?"

"Right," I smile at him. 

"Is this an official camping site?" I wonder as we park at a small clearing in the middle of the woods.

"No, there are no camping sites here but this clearing is where we have gone camping often, Ben and I. We know the woods quite well," Eli explains.

I jump out of the truck and round the vehicle to join Eli on the other side. I grab onto his biceps and we walk over to Ben's truck to help with the gear and bags. Isabelle has already started pitching a tent. She is a beautiful woman, with very short black hair, fair skin, and a slim body. On top of that, she is quite tall, her whole look reminding me of a French model. 

"She looks nice and really beautiful," I comment and Eli just shrugs his shoulders.

"You don't think so?" I ask him.

"I don't care about it," is all he says before kissing my head and walking over the Bennett.

Tess skips over to me then. Her hair all mussed up and her lips red and swollen.

"I see why you didn't want to ride with Bennett," I tease her, raising my eyebrows.

"Sorry for being so publicly affectionate but I really missed him, I couldn't help myself," she sheepishly says.

I smile at her, "It's all good."

"Isabelle looks like a damn model," Tess now grumbles.

"That's what I thought!"

"Yeah, I mean, it's not something one can overlook," she states the obvious.

"I told Eli that I think she's beautiful and he says he doesn't care about it."

"Such a good boy," Tess snickers and I make a face at her. "Come on, let's help the others." She grabs my hand and pulls me along. 

After all three tents are set up, the guys went to go searching for stones and wood to make a fire pit and Tess, Isa and I stayed back to prepare some food. I made the dough for some baguette to bake over the fire and Isabelle cooked some mac n' cheese over the camping cooker. Tess insisted on preparing the smores, which don't really need any preparation so she took the time to eat a lot of marshmallows. Typical Tess.

Isabelle is actually really nice and she's fun to be around. She really seems to like Bennett because she gushes about him quite a lot, to Tess's disliking, of course. She got the hint after a few times of Tess rolling her eyes or making a puking gesture and apologized with an understanding laugh.

When Isabelle goes to grab her phone from Ben's truck, Tess mouthes 'something is off about her' but I just shrug, not knowing what she means. "You'll see, I will find out what it is," she tells me before popping another marshmallow into her mouth. "Okay, Sherlock Holmes," I laugh. 

A couple hours later, we're all huddled around the fire, eating away. I sit in between Eli's legs, my back to his chest, both of us on the ground on a blanket. He has another blanket over his shoulders, keeping us warm.

"You liked the bread?" I ask him, craning my neck back to look up at him. "I made it."

"It' was great, baby."

That little term of endearment makes the butterflies go wild in my stomach. I grin proudly and focus my attention back on my smore. Eli didn't want any smores and Tess declared him a weirdo for that.

"Are you sure you don't want any?" I ask him again. 

"Yes."

"You can try a bit of mine," I say holding up my last piece to him. His green eyes flit from the sweet treat in my fingers to my face and back again. Just as I expect him to say no or to shake his head, he leans forward and, with his mouth, takes the small piece of cracker, chocolate and marshmallow from my fingers. I swallow thickly as his hand grabs my wrist to hold it in place. After he finishes the bite, he sucks and nibbles the remaining sticky marshmallow and molten chocolate from my forefinger and then my thumb. My breathing hitches in my throat when his lips release the skin of my thumb and I quickly pull my hand away.

I look around at the others, hoping no one has seen what Eli just did. It seems that luck is on my side because Ben and Isa are busy looking for something on the ground with a phone flashlight and Tess and Simon are back at it again, making out.

Eli kisses my neck and pulls me closer into his body, his arms and the blanket shielding me from the coolness of the night.

"Don't panic. No one saw us," he calms me.

"I know, but you need to behave yourself," I whisper-yell.

Eli chuckles. "I'll try my best," he says with the most insincere voice ever.