Welcome to Dark Honey, where we share spicy short stories for adults. Escape inside a world of romance and fantasy while you close your eyes, relax, and listen to the next episode.

I was halfway through calling Corey every name I knew when I realized I had no idea where I was. The forest swallowed sound differently when there was no one behind you. My boots crushed dry pine needles, branches scraped at my sleeves. My long dark hair kept snagging on twigs,

and every time I yanked it free, I got angrier. "Unbelievable," I muttered. I had only meant to walk far enough so that I could no longer hear him. Corey with his smug grin. Corey with his lazy insults. Corey called me uptight because I hadn't laughed when he made fun of my shoes, my pale [00:01:00] skin,

and my city girl hesitation around everything with wings. Ash b-Ash had begged me to come. It'll be fun, Jess. Fresh air, stars, a reset." What she meant was her boyfriend Dylan would be there, and Dylan's friend Corey would be there, and apparently I was expected to be grateful for the symmetry.

By late afternoon, Ash and Dylan had disappeared into the trees with a bottle of wine and matching guilty smiles, leaving me beside the fire pit with Corey and his endless opinions. "You always this difficult?" He asked. "Only when I'm trapped in the woods with someone unbearable." His face had hardened. Then my temper, usually buried beneath politeness and lip gloss, had risen hot and sharp.

I'd walked away before I could say something worse. Now the light was thinning. I turned in a slow circle. Trees, rocks, ferns, more trees. No tent, no campfire, no [00:02:00] Ash calling my name. My phone was back in my bag, my water bottle too. Panic arrived quietly like a hand closing around my throat.

"Okay," I whispered. "This is fine." It was not fine. I walked until my anger burned out and left fear in its place. The forest deepened around me, green, black and endless. Every shadow looked like a path until I followed it and found only more wilderness.

My mouth went dry. My legs ached. The sun slid lower, turning the trunks copper gold. When I finally saw smoke, I almost cried. I pushed through the wall of brush and stumbled into a small clearing. A man sat beside a fire. He looked up slowly. He was all hard lines and wilderness, rugged in a way that made him seem carved out of the mountain itself.

Brown hair, a little too long, stubble across his jaw. Tan skin stretched over lean [00:03:00] muscle. His eyes moved over me once, sharp and unimpressed. "This isn't the trail," he said. I stared at him. "That's your greeting?" "That was my observation." I swallowed. "I'm lost." "Clearly." I hated him immediately. I was also so relieved to see another human being that my knees nearly folded. "My name is Jessica. I was camping with friends. I walked off to get away from... Never mind. But now I'm lost, and I can't figure out how to get back to our camp."

He stood, and the movement revealed how tall he was. Not bulky, but strong in the quiet way of rope and steel. "Where's your map?" "At camp." "Water?" "At camp." "Phone?" "At camp." His expression darkened. "You walked into unfamiliar woods with nothing?" I was angry. "That's not equipment." Heat rushed [00:04:00] into my face. "Are you always this charming?"

Only with people who wander into my campsite before dark." I crossed my arms, partly because I was cold, partly because I needed somewhere to put my shaking hands. "Look, can you help me?" He looked toward the trees, then back at me. "Where's your camp near?"

"A lake, I think. There were rocks and trees." His mouth flattened. "That narrows it down to the entire region." I glared. For a moment, I thought he would send me away. Then he sighed, long and irritated, and reached for a canteen.

"Drink." I took it. "Thank you." Small sips. The water tasted like salvation. "My name's Jake," he said. "Nice to meet you, Jake." "It isn't really." I almost laughed, which startled me. Fear had hollowed me out, but somehow he had placed annoyance neatly on top of it, giving me something solid to hold. He studied the sky.

[00:05:00] "Too late to go anywhere now. We'll leave at dawn. Nearest hiker's post is two days if you keep up." "Two days?" "Maybe three if you keep looking at me like that." I should have been offended. I was offended. I was also alive, and the fire was warm, and Jake handed me a blanket without making a performance of kindness.

That night, I slept poorly beneath unfamiliar stars. At dawn, Jake moved like he belonged to the morning. I moved like someone who had once considered hotel camping a hardship.

The first day was brutal. The trail climbed and twisted. My calves burned. Sweat gathered at the base of my neck. Jake walked ahead with effortless balance, his pack riding against his shoulders like it weighed nothing. "You're going too fast," I called. "You're going too slow." I'm a person, not a mountain goat.

A city person. I hated that I noticed the shape of his shoulders when he walked. I hated that [00:06:00] his voice, low and rough, settled under my skin even when he was insulting me. To distract myself, I asked questions. "Where are you from? How'd you get into hiking? What music do you like? What do you do for a living?"

I stopped on the trail. "Are you a serial killer?" He glanced back. For the first time, something close to amusement touched his mouth. "Would I say yes if I were a serial killer?" "Well, that's exactly what a serial killer would say."

He turned away, but I caught the smallest curve of a smile. By afternoon, the world had gone bright and soft around the edges. My skin felt too tight. My pale arms were flushed pink, my dark hair damp against my temples. Jake kept telling me to drink, but I was embarrassed by how often I needed to stop, so I pretended to sip more than I did.

The trail tilted. The trees blurred. "Jessica?" His voice sounded far away. I tried to answer, but the sky tipped [00:07:00] sideways. The last thing I saw was Jake's face above mine, no longer annoyed. His eyes were wide, his jaw tight with concern. Then everything went black.

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