Chapter 132 Chapter 132 The Last Camping Trip
Five drunk girls in the dark, in the middle of the damn desert, trying to find a place to pee.
Bad idea.
We’re stumbling over each other, laughing too hard to stay balanced. Tiana holds her phone out in front of us, the flashlight shaking with every step. The beam catches tumbleweeds, rocks, uneven ground—everything we’re not successfully avoiding. We trip, curse, laugh louder, cling to each other to stay upright.
It’s my twentieth birthday.
And I don’t want to celebrate.
Nick wanted to come camping one last time.
One last time.
That phrase echoes in my head like it’s carved there.
I have a week left with him.
One week.
Then it’s over.
The hospice nurse arranged everything. Quiet. Clinical. Final. Nick wants to go before he loses his mind, before he becomes something he doesn’t recognize.
I don’t know how to feel about that.
Or maybe I do, and it’s too big, too heavy, so my brain just… shuts it down.
I’ve been stuck inside my own head for days, floating somewhere between denial and reality.
The closer we get back to camp, the more the noise sharpens. Voices cut through the quiet desert air.
Male voices.
Raised.
Andreas.
Of course it’s him.
He’s going in on Nick.
It would’ve been fine if it was just our usual group, but no—Gemma and Tiana had to invite everyone. Alek, Mason, Grant, Ivan, my cousin… all of them.
Extra noise.
Extra opinions.
I can deal with them.
I just don’t want Nick to have to.
We round the back of Nick’s Suburban, the girls tight behind me. We all slow at the same time, the laughter dying as Andreas’ voice carries clearly across the campsite.
Matt is already telling him to shut up.
Alek jumps in, warning him he’s pushing it.
But Andreas doesn’t stop.
“Why are you dating Elle now?” he says, louder, harsher. “You’re going to break her. Jesus, Nick, what were you thinking?”
Silence.
Nick doesn’t answer.
That alone makes something inside me snap.
“You’re sick,” Andreas continues. “You’re going to die in a week. What the fuck?”
That’s it.
“Do you need a punch card?” I cut in, stepping forward. My voice is sharp, steady, dangerous. “Because I would love to give you one. I will knock you the fuck out, you little piece of shit.”
Every head turns.
I barely notice.
I catch Nick out of the corner of my eye. He’s staring down at his beer bottle.
A beer he shouldn’t even be drinking.
My gaze snaps back to Andreas as he takes another sip, like none of this matters.
I walk straight across the campsite.
No hesitation.
I drop onto Nick’s lap, my arms sliding around his shoulders, claiming him without a second thought.
Leaning in, I whisper in his ear, “Tell that small dick asshole to mind his business.”
Nick laughs softly against me, his hand moving up my back, slow, grounding circles.
A few of the guys chuckle.
“I can hear you,” Andreas says, leaning forward slightly. “I’m a small guy. My dick is proportionate. What’s with all the small dick jokes?” He smirks. “I know exactly how to use it. You want to find out?”
I don’t even think.
“I would rather sit on a cactus.”
Laughter erupts around the fire.
Even Andreas laughs this time.
I grab Nick’s beer out of his hand and finish it, handing the empty bottle back without looking at him.
That’s when I see it.
The pills.
The bottle sitting in his palm.
My stomach tightens instantly.
I want to tell him not to take them. I want to tell him he doesn’t need them, that mixing this shit with alcohol, with everything else happening inside him, the cancer, the alcohol, is a bad idea.
Too many things can go wrong.
But then—
One week.
He has one week left.
I don’t want to spend it fighting him over pills. Over Viagra.
Still, I grab the bottle in his hand, shaking my head slightly.
“Please don’t mom me,” he says, reading me immediately.
I feel the anger rise anyway—hot, fast—but I force it down.
He doesn’t need that.
He grins. “Babe, you’re holding back.”
“I fucking told you!” Vince suddenly jumps up, pointing between us. “Annoy her more—she won’t react.”
Then his tone shifts, serious as he looks at me. “Don’t put Nick on some pedestal no one else can reach just because he’s dying. He’s not perfect.”
That hits wrong.
Vince is fair game.
I scoff. “Go ahead then. Compare him. Compare Nick to yourself. Who’s better, Vince? You or him?”
Vince doesn’t hesitate. “Him.”
“What about Mason?”
“Nick.”
“And Matt? Alek…” My voice sharpens. “…Ivan?”
Vince exhales, dropping back into his seat. “Nick.”
Exactly.
Then, Grant cuts in. "I come pretty close though, right Elle?"
"Closer than the rest." I say.
Everyone turning to look at him.
I turn back just in time to see Nick drop two pills into his hand.
Two.
I don’t even think. I grab them and swallow them myself.
“Stop taking those like they’re Tic Tacs,” I snap. “You don’t need them.”
Nick just laughs.
“What am I going to do with you?”
Before I can answer, Stanislav cuts in from across the fire. “Move your SUV a mile away from the campsite, please.”
Nick laughs again. “It’s going to be a long night.”
And then—
He drops two more pills in his hand and in his mouth they go.
I don’t even have time to react.
He stands, hooks an arm around me, and flips me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing.
“Nick—” I start, but he’s already moving.
He walks toward the back of his truck, steady, deliberate. He pulls out the mattress and blanket, squeezing them in his hand, still holding me.
Then he turns.
And starts walking away from the campsite. Dragging our bedding with us.
Toward the lake.
I try to keep my tank top in place, my chest threatening to spill out with every step he takes. The night air hits my skin, cool and sharp, cutting through the haze just enough to make everything feel real again.
The noise of the campsite fades behind us.
Voices.
Laughter.
Firelight.
All of it getting smaller.
The last thing I see—
Ivan.
Standing still.
Watching us.
His face blank, cold, unreadable.
A cigarette burns between his fingers, smoke curling upward, disappearing into the dark sky as his eyes stay locked on us until we’re gone.