Billionaire Beast

“Get going?” I ask. “Tell me they don’t actually kick people out of here this early in the morning.”

“No,” he says, “nothing like that.”

“Then why the hell am I getting up so early?”

He smiles.

“It’s a surprise.”

I don’t so much stand as I roll and stumble to my feet. Dane pulls a peanut butter sandwich out of the cooler and hands it to me.

We eat and Dane sprays us both with some more bug spray.

“We should probably get going,” he says. “It’s going to be a bit of a hike to where we’re headed.”

“And where are we going?” I ask again.

I realize I’m pestering him, but he’s the one who set the alarm for the pre-break of dawn wakeup.

“Just trust me,” he says. “I promise it’ll be worth it.”

For now, I trust him, but this better be going somewhere. In case it’s not apparent, I’m really not a morning person.

He puts on a backpack and we walk down the dirt path a while until we come to a trail. As I squint to see what’s written on the sign, Dane covers my eyes with his hands.

“No peeking,” he says.

“You know that I’m probably not going to be able to hike very well if I can’t see, right?”

“It’s just until we get past the sign,” he says. “It’ll give away the surprise.”

I walk slowly and can only hope that there aren’t too many signs along our way. This is pretty ridiculous.

After what feels like 10 minutes of walking—probably closer to two—Dane removes his hands.

We hike on the main trail for a while before the sound of water gives Dane away.

It’s not quite sunrise, and he’s taking me to a waterfall.

I want to kiss him and praise him for his thoughtfulness, but he’s so adamant that it be a surprise, I don’t say anything about it.

“How are you feeling?” he asks, and my heart skips in my chest.

“I’m feeling great,” I tell him.

“You sure?” he asks. “You seemed pretty tired back at camp.”

I shrug.

“I woke up,” I tell him.

As the sun comes ever closer to peeking over the horizon, my pace naturally quickens. Not knowing exactly where we’re going, I grab Dane’s hand to give me direction.

Ahead, there’s a sign for Hemlock Falls, and I feel myself growing warm at the thought.

“Oh shit,” he says. “Don’t look.”

“Okay,” I say, covering my eyes.