Chapter 15
Villain
I walk through the trees again, but I’m more careful this time.
The last trip almost caught me slipping, but that shit ain’t happening again.
Every twenty steps or so, I take another cloth strip and tie it to a branch.
It’s my trail of breadcrumbs. The white fabric flutters lazily in the breeze like flags marking my path.
The forest sounds like it’s alive. Buzzing. Crawling. I recognize one of these big ass plants…ferns, I think they’re called. Them shits are waist-high, curling and bending. Vines snake from tree to tree looking like ropes ready to be climbed or swung on. Like Tarzan.
I try to remember the little flashes of color I see.
Flowers with bright ass petals that don’t even look real.
They look like they’ve been painted on. Insects buzz and hum around my ears, making me swat constantly.
Annoying as fuck. Lizards scurry across logs.
Some even cross the path I’m on before vanishing into a crack of bark or a bushy area.
The deeper I go, the weirder this shit feels. It’s like I’m going into another world. And I keep hearing something disturbing the brush. Probably more lizards, or maybe a bird or two. Whatever it is, it has me on edge. But I don’t slow down. I press on.
The sun is sinking slowly. The light beams look broken and jagged as they shine through the trees.
I follow them, almost like they’re arrows God Himself sent to show me the way.
The ocean has to be close to where I’m at.
I feel like I’ve been promising Ariana that it’s there, and me finding it is keeping my promise.
Which is stupid as fuck. I don’t know that lady.
But I don’t know…something about her has a hold on me. Maybe it’s a trauma bond. Shemari be sayin’ that shit so much, I had to look it up.
Shemari.
For the first time since we hit the ground, I’m seeing her face in my mind.
I’m thinking about her, and about what’s waiting for me elsewhere.
The wedding, for one. It’s supposed to be in three days, if I’m keeping the right count.
Shemari’s probably losing her damn mind.
JR’s too small to know what’s going on, but I’m sure he’s feeling the bad energy.
My sister. My aunt and uncle. My manager.
The entire music industry. Everybody’s gotta be spiraling right now.
I wonder what the headlines say. Press releases. Trending hashtags. All of it just feels like something that’s happening on another planet. I’m trying to imagine what it’s gonna feel like to land in the middle of that shit once we get rescued.
If we get rescued.
The thought pushes me forward. I’m moving now, refusing to listen to my tired muscles.
The ocean’s close, I swear I hear it. The rushing sound is loud and clear, like the earth itself is breathing, but when I turn my head to the left, it’s there.
I turn right, and it’s over there. It’s behind me.
In front of me. Every-fucking-where. My pulse kicks up as I wipe stinging sweat out my eyes.
Then I hear it again, but closer. The rustling. It ain’t the flick of a lizard’s tail. It’s way heavier. Bigger, too. My chest tightens as I scan the trees, but the shadows are bigger, too, now. They’re tricking me. I grip a branch, thinking I’ll break it in half to use it as a club.
Cuz one thing about me, I ain’t no bitch. If I had a real weapon, I’d stand my ground. But I’m unarmed out here, and the branch is too thick to break with my bare hands. I’ll bring my axe next time, but for now, I make the decision to escape. This ain’t my turf.
I start running. Branches claw at my arms, scrape at my skin, but I don’t stop. My breaths get ragged. The shirt scraps blur past me. I know where I’m going. I’m going home.
There it is. The clearing. Our spot.
I slow way down, catching my breath before I make my way over to Ariana. She’s sitting cross-legged on top of a blanket. The fading sunlight catches in her hair, which looks kinda different than when I left. I think she combed it.
My eyes drop to the plate and glasses in front of her. For a second, I can’t breathe, but not because I was running. It’s because it’s blowing me how I feel like I made it back home. Like I been at work all day and came back—to dinner. To her.
“What’s all this?” I ask, still catching my breath.
She looks up at me with a brand new smile, one I ain’t never seen before. It’s not big, it’s more like…soft. “I figured we could have a nice meal. As nice as it can be out here,” she says with a chuckle. “We can pretend things aren’t what they are. Just for a little while.”
I blow out a breath. I wanna tell her I found her an ocean, but I can’t. I failed again. “I’m closer than I was yesterday,” I say. “Tomorrow, I’ma find it. I swear.”
“It’s okay,” she says, patting the ground in front of her. “Come eat.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I grab the sanitizer from next to her and clean my hands. “What we got?”
“Well, the special for today is sea salt and caramel popcorn and Wagyu jerky.” She lifts a champagne bottle, angling it toward me like she’s giving me bottle service. “And, of course, this lovely lukewarm Krug Blanc de Blancs.”
I take the bottle from her and fill both glasses to the brim. We lift them and look at each other for a few seconds before she says, “To being rescued tomorrow.”
“To getting out this muhfucka tomorrow,” I agree, then we clink and drink.
And drink.
And eat.
The popcorn is good, but that jerky is fuckin’ flames. We look like two animals tearing into each strip like we’re tearing through the flesh of our freshly dead prey.
And then we drink some more.
Next thing I know, that bottle is empty, the plate is empty, I done started a fire, and she’s looking at me like she’s tipsy enough to forget she can’t stand me.
“I know we’re saving our water,” she says, “ but I have to brush and floss tonight.”
“Same.” I push out a burp. “But I ain’t the one who suggested that water saving shit. That was you.”
She shrugs, leaning back on her hands, staring up at the moon. “We might as well be up there,” she slurs. “On the moon.”
I grin as I reach into my back pocket. She’s speaking my language now, pontificating on some random ass bullshit. These are blunt conversations.
She doesn’t even make her judgment face when I pull out the emergency blunt I had tucked away just in case I got lost out there in the wilderness. I light up, breathe deep, and blow the smoke into the darkness while she watches.
“You want some, don’t you?”
Her eyes drop to the fire. She smiles again, that tiny soft one, and shakes her head.
“You said you wanted to pretend.” I take another pull, blowing the smoke at her this time. “Smoke this shit right here, yo ass’ll be on the moon for real.”
After a playful eyeroll, she holds out her hand.
It’s my turn to watch now. I lean back on my hands, staring as she gets on that rocket and heads to the moon. I ain’t gon’ lie, seeing her lips on my blunt makes my dick jump. She’s fine as hell, but she’s sexy, too. Them two things don’t always come in the same package.
“That’s enough for me,” she says, handing it back. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed.”
She frowns like she just heard herself say it, then she stands and goes to get her shit.
I watch her walk, partly because I’m interested to see how her leg is doing, but mostly because she’s sexy, and I’m horny, and it’s been over a month, and it ain’t shit else to do out here but fuck.
But I know it’s impossible, so all I can do is look and imagine.
Damn.
I just heard her gargle and spit.
Even that’s doing something to me.
I grab my train case out of my bag and pull out my toothpaste, brush, and floss. She left the water bottle—I guess it’s the official communal oral hygiene bottle—out for me, which I use to get myself right. I use some of my mouthwash, too, but not as much as I normally do.
After, I decide to leave the fire burning tonight. It’ll tire itself out eventually.
I climb into the house and settle in next to her. She’s already laying down, but her eyes are still open. For the most part.
“Our first night off the dirt,” I say as I pull my blanket over myself.
“Yeah. Thank you for building this for us.”
“It ain’t much,” I say, but inside, I feel ten feet tall right now.
Her eyes lock on mine, and for a long moment, neither of us blinks or looks away. Then her eyelashes dip low, and I laugh. “You faded.”
“Maybe.” She snuggles under her blanket. “Your fiancée's a lucky woman.”
Didn’t expect that to come out her mouth.
“Yeah, so is Lucas.”
“Luca,” she corrects.
“Stupid ass name.”
Her full lips curve into a smile. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
We lay close, but not quite touching. I think she’s sleep, but as for me, my heavy eyes take a little longer to close. As I drift away, I can’t stop the imagining. It ain’t sex, at least not most of the time. It’s more innocent than that. It’s just me seeing myself kissing those juicy ass lips.
Oh, well.
Come on sleep. Pull me under.
Maybe we’ll fuck in my dreams.