Although I know they will. They know well enough without me hovering over them.He scanned the darkness around Gabriella before he walked away. “Scream if you need me,” he said over his shoulder.
He barely heard her reply. “When hell freezes over.”
CHAPTER 10
GABRIELLA
The bug had been the final nail. The crack came quietly for her. Her eyes burned.
“How could you …” Her voice broke, sharp and humiliating. She swallowed hard, but the sound had already escaped. “I can’t believe this is happening.” For the first time since the beach, Gabriella let herself cry freely. The jungle seemed to lean in.
She pressed her palms into her eyes like she could physically shove the tears back. They came anyway, hot and relentless, slipping down her cheeks in angry silence. Emotions collapsed inwards all at once.
She wept, hard wet sobs that shook her, clutching her hands to her chest. Snot dribbled down her face, and she used her shirt to wipe it. She didn’t care anymore. She was dirty, covered in mud and sweat, and she would trade anything for a bath right now.
A twig snapped behind her, and she sniffled. Mateo had returned and was slowly crouching next to her, careful to keep his distance.
“I trusted you,” she whispered, the words ripping out of her. “I trusted you and you—” She shook her head, breath hitching. “I don’t even know how to be scared anymore. I’m just … empty.”
Mateo stilled. “Gabriella.” Her name, said with pain and remorse. “Come on, let’s go to the tent. I’ll take care of you in there. You need sleep and maybe something dry?”
She hiccupped. “I don’t need you caring for me! And what did you do with the bug?”
Because if he did, she would forgive him. She would fold like the origami she knew her heart to be and somehow believe whatever lie he would say that would be enough reason for her friends to die.
Mateo didn’t reach for her, which somehow made it worse.
“He’s back home, like you should be, Gabriella. I really am sorry … for everything.” he said finally, and the words sounded like they hurt him. “I know that doesn’t mean anything.”
She looked at him then, really looked—at the shadows under his eyes, the tension wound so tight in his body it seemed to vibrate. “If you’re sorry,” she demanded, voice shaking, “why am I still here? Let me go, dammit.”
His jaw clenched, body tensing as he made to reach for her then stopped, giving her the control of how they moved forward. “Because like I said, letting you go right now would get you killed.”
Silence again. He took a breath, measured. “And because I don’t know how to fix what I’ve already done other than beg on my knees.”
She couldn’t help the jab, her body curving inward on itself as if to protect it. “You would need to do more than beg on your knees Mateo. Or they’d better be bruised and bleeding for how long you waited on them because right now? This is all fucked up. I’m talking an eternity of knee worshipping or?—”
She looked at him and what she saw on his face stopped her breath. He leaned into her space, nearly touching her, his heat filling the void between them with a fire so hot she was afraid it would evaporate the moisture in the air. With dark eyes and even darker promises, his voice went low. “If it means an eternity of worshipping you, I’d drown on my knees for you Gabriella. Help ease the pain and hate you feel with the promise of so much more.”
She had a feeling he didn't mean the ocean and despite herself, her body responded to him with a fresh wave of arousal between her legs.Jesus fucking Christ. This man may end up being the death of me.
A distant roll of thunder cut through the night. Apprehension creased his forehead into thin lines. “We need to move into the shared tent.”
“Shared?” Her voice cracked. “There’s no way I am sharing a tent with you?—”
Rain followed fast—hard, sudden, drenching yet doing little to wash away the heat she felt. Gabriella gasped as it soaked through her clothes in seconds, her teeth clenched tight from the residual adrenaline and fatigue. She tried to stand, failed, legs folding beneath her. She was at her limit, and they both knew it.
Mateo was there instantly, instincts overriding restraint. He caught her before she hit the ground, steadying her with hands firm but careful, like she was something treasured.
“Your body is crashing,” he said, urgency threading his voice. “You need to lie down and rest. I’m taking over now.”
She barely registered the words. Everything felt far away. And yet the jungle only seemed to come more alive. Damn those insistent bugs.
She covered her ears and sobbed. Everything inside of her collapsing and dying all at once.
He hesitated for exactly one heartbeat before guiding her beneath the crude shelter he’d rigged earlier. It was barely more than a tarp and rope, but it cut the rain. In the center was a large camouflage hammock for sleeping.
“I’m going to undress you now and wrap you in a blanket. Okay?”