The Wingman by A. Poland

Chapter Seven

For the rest of the evening, Nathan was a jittery mess. He couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen later that night, that he was going to be alone in a tent with Lorcan.

That he was going to try to have sex with Lorcan.

In a tent.

It was the tent part that terrified him the most.

Not because there were two other people but because they were so exposed. If Nathan were to be honest with himself—if they did get up to anything, a petty part of him wanted the two of them to hear, to annoy Jordie and make sure Miles knew Lorcan was off-limits.

If Nathan were to be mauled to death by a bear, he’d rather be fully clothed and without an erection.

So, Nathan was quiet as he huddled by the fire, knees drawn up to his chest and the blanket from earlier still draped around his shoulders. The other three were making pleasant conversation, Jordie talking about her criminal justice degree (which just made so much sense) while Miles occasionally chipped in, commenting proudly about how cool it would be to have a detective as a sister.

Nathan also found out that Miles and Jordie came from a big family. Whether all six kids were adopted or not was unclear. But for someone who’d grown up without any siblings, six sounded excessive. Especially when Nathan came to the realization—when six separate names were mentioned—that all of Miles’s siblings were sisters.

Nathan couldn’t help but imagine six Jordies. It was way too much cunning and confidence for any one family.

After dinner (a weird mess of spices and lentils made by Miles that Nathan was really too hungry to question the contents of), Jordie made a show of yawning and announced she was turning in for the night. As she retired to her tent, she shot Nathan a look in tandem with a swift thumbs-up.

Nathan chose to interpret it as a mix of “don’t mess this up” and “good luck.”

With Jordie now gone, Nathan grew even more nervous. Sure, he and Jordie had gotten off to a rocky start, but Nathan appreciated how nice it was to be around someone who knew what was going on.

Who knew about Nathan’s feelings for Lorcan. And that was no small secret to be burdened with.

“I might turn in too,” Miles managed through a yawn, stretching so hard the bottom of his shirt rose up to reveal a strip of skin and a happy trail.

Nathan stared, but that was only because Lorcan was staring.

“Yeah, yep, same here,” Lorcan stammered out, shaking his head as he stood up.

“Night, guys,” Miles murmured sleepily before retreating to his own tent, leaving Lorcan and Nathan by the dying embers of the fire. Seeing no point in sticking around by himself, Nathan rose as well and ambled after Lorcan.

Lorcan paused to send a longing glance toward Miles’s tent before sighing deeply and climbing into his own.

Nathan’s movements were a lot less graceful, but after the disaster that today had been, he considered it a success when he got into the tent without any injuries.

“Hey, what’s with the grumpy frown?” Nathan asked, a touch concerned. A frowning Lorcan, in Nathan’s books, was never a good thing.

“I should be asking you that,” Lorcan bit back, refusing to look at Nathan fully, elbows resting on his knees as he slouched. Which made that ball of anxiety in the pit of Nathan’s stomach tighten further. “You were quiet all day, and you didn’t say anything all night. I thought you were supposed to be helping me?”

Nathan gaped at his friend, and all that nervousness morphed into irritation as he shuffled farther into the tent on his knees.

“Well, excuse me for not being the happiest camper in the world. You know how much I hate this shit,” Nathan replied. “You abandoned me for the whole day. And from where I was standing, it looked like you were making great progress with Mister Music Man all by yourself.”

The longer he spoke, the more upset Nathan sounded. He was tired, sore, and cold. And Lorcan was sad. Being upset was kind of the default emotion for all of those factors.

When Lorcan noticed, the tension in his shoulders lessened as he exhaled with a dramatic sigh. Lorcan finally turned to face Nathan, offering him a half smile.

“I’m sorry if it felt like I abandoned you.”

“You did. No feeling involved. Just facts.”

Lorcan exhaled again, fondly rolling his eyes. “Okay, okay. Sorry I abandoned you.”

“That’s better,” Nathan muttered, but he bit back a smile as he settled back, crossing his legs. “I promise I’ll be better tomorrow.” He had to assure Lorcan. Anything to make him feel better about the day ahead, even if it looked like it was going well for him and Miles so far.

“Thanks, Nate,” Lorcan replied sincerely because he did everything sincerely; he was just that kind of guy.

It was silent for a moment between them. Nathan decided now was as good a time as any. Lorcan was looking at him, that handsome half smile on his face, and there was a mood in the tent. A sexy mood? Maybe Nathan was being hopeful, but he was going out on a limb anyway.

Nathan shrugged off the blanket and started pulling off his shirt from the bottom.

“What’re you doing?” Lorcan laughed.

“Body heat,” Nathan replied as suavely as he could. Should he make his voice lower? Wasn’t that sexy? “I’m cold, you’re hot. Thought clothes were supposed to get in the way of that?”

“Yeah,” Lorcan said slowly, eyes narrowing on Nathan slightly. “But it’s not exactly subzero degrees. You’re going to get cold later if you decide to sleep shirtless.”

“Not if you keep me warm,” Nathan countered, moving closer to Lorcan on his hands and knees. Hands and knees always looked good in porn, so Nathan decided to try his luck.

“You kick in your sleep; I’ll be keeping my distance,” Lorcan replied with a chuckle, shaking his head and turning away to rummage in his bag—completely uninterested in Nathan’s prowling.

Nathan knew he wasn’t exactly bad-looking. Sure, he might not be some Adonis, but he wasn’t hideous. Cute, if he were to be kind to himself.

So he tried not to feel offended, taking a breath and trying to come up with a way to recover. He gently placed his hand on Lorcan’s cloth-covered knee and tilted his head to the side when Lorcan turned back to regard him.

“You can’t keep your distance,” Nathan murmured. “I’ll be scared.”

Lorcan’s eyes grew wide, and for a moment, Nathan thought he’d done it. He’d cracked the code to seduction. He’d broken the barrier of platonic friendship to sexy times.

He was in.

But then Lorcan laughed.

Nathan stopped smiling, and he sat back on his heels, patiently waiting for Lorcan to calm down from his near-uncontrollable bout of the giggles.

“You’re so funny, Nate. Damn.” Lorcan let out a few low barks of laughter, shaking his head. “Never change, please?”

From his bag, Lorcan had taken out his phone and a pair of headphones, and he was now scrolling through his collection of podcasts.

“I’ll try not to,” Nathan replied, voice quiet.

Nathan pulled his shirt back on after feeling a chill, trying not to dwell on what a disaster that had been, and lay down beside Lorcan as he offered over one of the earbuds. They listened to one of Lorcan’s favorite podcasts in companionable silence until Lorcan decided to call it a night.

It wasn’t long after he rolled over to face the wall of the tent that Lorcan started snoring. Lorcan wasn’t a loud snorer; Nathan knew that. If anything, they were just deep breaths with the occasional adorable snort. Lorcan’s snoring had never bothered Nathan before.

But tonight? It grated on his nerves.

How on earth could Lorcan sleep so peacefully knowing there was nothing but a thin sheet of plastic between them and potential danger?

Nathan had his sleeping bag zipped up to his chin, afraid to move in case he made a noise and announced his location to any flesh-hungry beasts outside.

Hours must have passed, spent in that rigid and cramped position, when Nathan finally started to doze off.

Then something rustled softly outside. Nathan sat up sharply.

“Lorcan,” he hissed, eyes locked on the zipped-up entrance to the tent, frozen in fear. “Lorcan, did you hear that?

Lorcan grunted.

“Lorcan, seriously—I think something’s outside.”

A snore.

“Lorcan!” Nathan said again, urgent and low in case the thing outside could hear him. Nathan whacked Lorcan solidly on the back—or it might have been his ass; Nathan was too freaked out to distinguish between the two.

Lorcan didn’t take any notice, and the rustling continued.

For someone who’d watched far too many horror movies in his time, Nathan did the opposite of what anyone should do in that kind of situation. He shuffled out of the sleeping bag and started to unzip the tent to investigate.

What was he doing?

Whatever it was, he was already doing it; the zip was already halfway down, no going back. He was the character who would die first; he’d made his peace with that. Peeking his head out and squinting into the forest, Nathan was momentarily thrown off by how dark it was.

If he looked up, the only thing cutting through was the stars.

Reaching out behind him, Nathan scrambled for his phone to turn on the flashlight to shed some light on the situation. If he was about to die, he at least wanted to see what was going to kill him.

But he still couldn’t see anything, just the dying embers of the fire and the logs that they’d sat on during dinner.

Another rustle, and Nathan bit back a yelp, darting the light around to where the noise had come from.

Standing there was Miles, barefoot and crouched over, peering at something just out of Nathan’s eyeline.

Noticing the light, Miles looked over to Nathan, and for a moment, Nathan almost expected him to charge with glowing red eyes.

He really needed to stop watching horror movies based in dense woodlands.

Instead of charging, Miles only beckoned Nathan to him, holding a finger to his lips in a silent plea for Nathan to stay quiet. Nathan’s heart raced in his chest; he wasn’t sure if he could quiet that down.

What the hell was Miles looking at? And why did he want Nathan out there?

Was this a trap?

Curiosity got the better of Nathan, and he slowly started to make his way out of the tent.

If it was a trap, he was walking straight into it.