Wicked Places (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 4) (4 page)

“We’ll see everyone for breakfast,” Jack said, pushing Ivy toward their tent. “Do not come over there to wake us up. We’ll wake up on our own.”

“Have fun,” Alex called to their retreating backs, laughing when he heard Ivy squeal as Jack caught up with her. “What do you make of that?”

“He’s happy,” Lauren said. “That makes me happy for him because I wasn’t sure he would ever be happy again after what happened with his partner.”

“I’m happy for him, too,” Melissa said. “I wish he would let us get to know Ivy better, but I’m sure that will happen when he relaxes a little bit. He’s like a pit bull where she’s concerned.”

“I think he’s in love,” Donnie said, shaking his head when he heard Ivy’s laughter roll in their direction from the darkness.

“He barely knows her,” Maria scoffed.

“I don’t think that matters,” Scott said. “He can’t take his eyes off of her, and she seems equally taken with him.”

“That’s just lust,” Maria argued.

“I think it’s more than that,” Scott said. “We’ll know more tomorrow. They were both a little tense tonight.”

“I’ve got twenty bucks that says Jack marries her before six months pass – or at least proposes,” Donnie said.

“I’ll take that bet,” Alex said. “I think it’s going to be three months.”

“I’ll take that bet, too,” Maria said. “I think you’re both crazy, though. Ivy Morgan is just a fad. Jack will spend three months sleeping with her and then move on.”

“Oh, that shows how much women know,” Donnie scoffed. “Jack Harker is already off the market. He’s a goner … and after seeing that woman naked, I can totally see why.”

“You’re a pig,” Lauren muttered.

“And proud of it.”

The six friends chatted long into the night, no one worried about going to bed early. In the nearby tent, Jack and Ivy did what came naturally: gazed at the stars … and then fought so they could make up.

“
W
here did
you learn to cook like that, Ivy,” Donnie asked the next morning, scraping his plastic fork against his plate to make sure he ate every morsel available. “That was the best omelet I’ve ever had.”

“That was pretty impressive,” Maria said. “Now I have to hate you because you can cook, too. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Lose an argument,” Jack supplied, tickling Ivy’s ribs when she shot him a dark look.

“I learned to cook around a fire from my mother,” Ivy explained. “We used to go camping a lot when I was a kid.”

“Did you come here?” Lauren asked.

“A few times.”

“Until the dogman scared you away,” Jack teased, instantly wishing he could yank the words back into his mouth when he saw the look on Ivy’s face. Her anger wasn’t feigned this time.

“What’s the dogman?” Alex asked.

“Nothing,” Jack answered swiftly. “It’s a private joke. We were … playing a game yesterday.”

“I saw what game you were playing,” Donnie said. “It looked fun. Tell us the joke.”

“We all saw what game they were playing and there’s no reason to talk about it again,” Melissa countered. “In fact, let’s talk about what we’re going to do today.”

“I don’t want to do anything but relax,” Maria volunteered. “No offense to everyone else, but this is the first day of vacation and I’m determined to get a tan. All I want to do is hang out here with a book and a beer.”

“That sounds good to me,” Melissa said.

“Me, too,” Lauren chimed in.

“Well, I want to look around,” Scott said. “We came here last year and I remember it having a lot of good hiking paths. Does anyone else want to go on a hike?”

“That sounds good to me,” Alex said. “Do you want to come with us, Ivy? You’re the only one who knows this area really well. Maybe you can show us something we missed.”

“I would love to,” Ivy said. “Just let me put some different shoes on.”

“You can stay with us if you want, Ivy,” Maria offered. “We won’t bite … and we would love to grill you about Jack and what he’s been up to over the past few months.”

“She’s coming with us,” Jack said, pushing himself to his feet. “I don’t trust you guys not to peck her to death while I’m gone.”

“Ivy looks like she can handle herself,” Lauren pointed out. “If she can handle you, she can handle anything.”

Jack shrugged. “Maybe I want to spend the morning handling her in the woods. Did you ever consider that?”

“Right on,” Donnie said.

“Men are pigs,” Lauren muttered.

“
A
RE
you doing okay
?” Jack asked twenty minutes later, watching as Ivy climbed over a fallen log.

“I’m fine, Jack,” Ivy said. “You don’t have to worry about me. I like your friends.”

“To be fair, they’re not all my friends,” Jack clarified. “I lived with Donnie, Scott, and Alex in college, but the women are more recent additions.”

“Like me.”

“No one is like you, honey,” Jack said following her around a large pine tree as she scanned the ground. “That’s why I like you … although … what are you doing?”

“Looking for bear tracks,” Ivy replied, not missing a beat. “Do you see that mark there?” She pointed to the tree trunk where a section of bark was missing.

Jack nodded.

“A bear did that.”

Jack glanced around, suddenly nervous. “Are you messing with me because of that whole dogman thing? If you are, I deserve it and I’m sorry. It kind of slipped out.”

“I’m not happy with that because your friends already think I’m a bohemian freak, but that’s really a bear mark,” Ivy said. “Max taught me when we were in middle school. He was obsessed with being a bear tracker for like two years.”

Jack snorted, although he was still nervous. “A bear won’t eat me, right?”

“A bear will not eat you,” Ivy confirmed. “There aren’t a lot of bears in this area. The ones that are around will be scared by noise, so they won’t go too close to camp as long as people don’t leave food scattered around where they can get at it.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Jack offered, squaring his shoulders. “I just wanted to know if any were around in case I needed to protect you.”

“Duly noted,” Ivy said, patting his chest. “Don’t worry. If a bear comes around I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“You’re a pain in the butt,” Jack muttered, grabbing her around the waist and twirling her off the ground. “I’m glad you’re here, though.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too,” Ivy said, laughing when Jack kissed the tip of her nose and placed her back on the ground.

“If you don’t like those women, I understand,” Jack said, keeping his voice low. “I’m not sure how fond I am of any of them. I like the guys, though, and I don’t want to alienate them.”

“Jack, I know what those women see when they look at me,” Ivy said. “It’s okay. It’s not like we’re going to be best friends, but everyone is getting along. You don’t have to worry about them grilling me either. I’m fine with it. They’re curious because of you, not me.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Ivy,” Jack countered. “They might be curious because you’re dating me, but I can guarantee they’ve never met anyone like you – and it’s not just because you’re one of a kind. They’re dying to get to know more about you.”

“We’re
all
dying to get to know more about Ivy,” Alex said, appearing from the other side of the tree. “You know your voices carry in the woods, right?”

Ivy’s cheeks burned as Alex’s pointed gaze bounced between Jack and her. “I … .”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex said, waving off whatever lame apology Ivy was about to utter. “I understand that you might be a little uncomfortable regarding what happened last night. We don’t want you feeling like an outsider, though.”

“She’s not an outsider,” Jack said, reaching for Ivy’s hand. “She’s with me … and she’s going to stay with me for a really long time.”

“You are just too cute for words,” Alex said, mock clutching the spot over his heart. “I haven’t seen you this worked up over a woman since sophomore year of college. Do you remember Sydney Armstrong?”

Jack frowned as Ivy tried to rein in her laughter.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Jack said.

“I want to talk about it,” Ivy said, shifting excitedly from one foot to the other. “I’m dying to hear about Jack’s old girlfriend.”

“She wasn’t Jack’s girlfriend,” Alex supplied. “He just wanted her to be his girlfriend.”

“Well, now I definitely want to know,” Ivy said, grinning.

“We don’t talk about your ex-boyfriends,” Jack argued. “Why do we have to talk about my … old crush?”

“You met the only ex-boyfriend of note I have,” Ivy reminded him. “He started a cult so he could sleep with women and steal their money while his protégé stalked and tried to kill me. Did you forget that?”

“I could never forget that,” Jack said, his heart rolling at the memory. He’d been convinced he was going to lose Ivy that night – even though he wasn’t certain he wanted her in the way she deserved at the time – and every step through the dark woods by her house was one filled with fear and dread. “My story pales in comparison to your story.”

“Your ex-boyfriend started a cult?” Alex asked, impressed.

“It’s not as cool as it sounds,” Ivy said. “Besides, he’s in prison now for scamming people out of money. His cult is … no more.”

“And I had to eat mushrooms that tasted like feet because of that guy,” Jack added.

“How does that work?” Alex was intrigued by the story.

“Well, we were spying on the cult and we got caught,” Jack said. “Ivy lied and said we were hunting for mushrooms … something called morels that are only out in the spring … and then she actually made me hunt for mushrooms.”

“Those mushrooms are a delicacy,” Ivy sniffed.

“They tasted like dirty underwear, honey.”

Alex chuckled. “You guys are a trip,” he said. “I like how comfortable you are together. I don’t remember the last time I saw Jack this relaxed. Well, I do, but … .” Alex trailed off, thinking better of bringing up Jack’s ordeal.

“Ivy knows what happened to me,” Jack said, rubbing the back of her neck. “We’ve talked all about it. She knows I was shot and how it happened.”

“You’re a brave woman for taking him on,” Alex said, going for jocularity instead of somber reflection. “I already like that he’s done nothing but smile since he introduced you to us.”

“I like that she was naked when we first saw her,” Donnie said, moving in from the left with Scott at his heels. “These woods are thick. I’m afraid we’re going to get lost and die of starvation.”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “The lake is a quarter of a mile that way,” she said, pointing to her right. “If you walk to it you can follow the shoreline back to camp. It’s not a very big lake.”

Donnie was sheepish. “It’s not fair that you know things like that,” he said. “The only thing Lauren knows how to do is pick nail polish.”

The men laughed while Ivy tamped down her irritation.

“I’m sure she knows more than that,” Ivy said.

“It was a joke,” Donnie said, moving in the direction of the lake. “Let’s go this way. I don’t want to run the risk of Ivy deciding she hates me and purposely ditching me in the woods.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Ivy offered. “If I was going to kill you I would tie a hotdog around your neck and let the bears get you.”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh as a worried look flitted across Donnie’s face. “And that’s why I try to stay on her good side,” he said, hurrying to catch up with Ivy as she trudged toward the lake.

“She is terrifying,” Donnie said, falling into step behind the couple. “That makes her really hot. You know that, right?”

“Everything she does makes her really hot,” Jack said.

“Including fighting?” Scott teased. “You seemed to like it when she argued with you last night.”

“I’m not going to lie, the fighting turns me on,” Jack admitted, earning a sidelong look from Ivy. “I like her heart and giving spirit the best, though.”

“Oh, so sweet,” Donnie cooed, earning snickers from his friends. “You guys should be in a romance novel.”

“I can live with that,” Jack said, glancing down and smiling when Ivy slipped her hand into his.

“I have no idea how this happened, but you’re somehow a romantic at heart,” Alex mused, watching with interest as Ivy easily stepped around an indentation in the ground that he would’ve missed if it wasn’t for her. “So she’s hot, she’s smart, she cooks, and she knows her way around the woods. Seriously, she’s like the perfect woman.”

“I agree,” Jack said. “She’s mine, though. Don’t get any ideas.”

“You don’t have a sister, do you, Ivy?” Donnie asked. “They should clone you.”

“I have a brother,” Ivy replied. “I don’t think he’s your type. He thinks he got all the looks in our family, though, so if you’re really desperate … .”

“I’m never going to be that desperate,” Donnie said. “Still … do you think he’d wear a dress? Just in case, I mean.”

This time everyone broke into enthusiastic guffaws, including Jack and Ivy. Ivy was so caught up in everyone’s laughter – and the merriment of the afternoon – she almost ignored the niggling warning at the back of her mind.

She released Jack’s hand and took a step away from him, focusing on the area to her left. Alex, Donnie, and Scott didn’t immediately notice when she broke off from the group, but Jack followed her.

“What is it?” he murmured, keeping his voice low.

“I don’t know,” Ivy admitted. “I … something is over here. I’m almost sure of it.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder at his friends. They seemed oblivious to Ivy and Jack’s conversation. “How important do you think it is to go and look over there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, let’s check it out,” Jack said.

Ivy shifted her eyes to Jack’s, momentarily worried. “You should go with your friends,” she suggested. “I can catch up in a few minutes. It’s probably nothing. In fact, it’s probably my imagination.”

“Or perhaps it’s something and we both should go together,” Jack countered. “I’m not letting you go alone. We’ve been through too much – seen too many strange things – to risk anything of the sort. We’re going together.”

“What are you going to tell your friends?”

Jack’s smile was impish. “You’re probably not going to like this, but it’s the one thing that I know will work,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before turning to the others. “Um, guys, do you mind walking back alone? Ivy and I want to take a nature walk just the two of us.”

“Are you guys animals or something?” Donnie challenged.

“We just like to play them when we’re in the woods,” Jack replied, his tone easy and disarming. “The lake is right over there. You can follow it back to camp. We shouldn’t be too long.”

“I wouldn’t brag about that,” Scott teased. “We’ll be fine. You two have fun.”

“We definitely will.”