How pathetic. I think he just lost his man-card, and a slight grin wants to tug at my lips, but my face hurts too much. Still, there’s something deeply satisfying in seeing him on the ground, humiliated beyond words. He crossed a line and I can never trust him again, and as much as it hurts to admit, there’s no longer any hope for us.
Suddenly I’m nearlyknocked over when Zane’s new bride, Chelsea, grazes my shoulder as she marches past me. She stops and exhales a loud huff as she stands over Jake with a look in her eyes I can’t quite decipher. Pity? Could she actually feel sorry for him? I mull that over for a nanosecond when out of nowhere she kicks Jake in the ribs with a booted foot, and harder than you would think her tiny frame was capable of.
“You piece of shit!” she shouts before kicking him again, even harder this time. Jake groans as he curls up in pain. “You never hit a girl!” she yells, then goes to kick him again, this time in the face, but at the last minute, Zane grabs her by the waist and pulls her back.
“That’s enough, dear. I think he got the message.”
Chelsea still has a lot of fight left in her as she struggles to wriggle free, but her man’s grip is too much, so instead she spits on Jake’s face. “I should stomp your guts out, you hear me?”
Zane chuckles as he pulls his wife back another step. They got married two months ago. Everyone knew they would. They’re perfect for each other.
Zane turns to his sister. “I got a real hellcat on my hands. Can you take care of Maddie?”
The disgusted look Lizzy is giving Jake, like she wants to finish what Chelsea started, isn’t lost on me, and I wonder what she’s about to do, but then her gaze darts to her brother. “You know I will.” With that, her expression softens as she turns to me with a calming tone, “Come on, honey, let’s go up to the house and get you cleaned up, then me and Cody will take you home.”
Speechless at what just happened withChelsea, not to mention how nice Zane and his sister are being, I’m a little emotional and all I can do is nod.
As she puts her arm around my shoulders and escorts me toward the rustic farmhouse, I don’t bother looking back. Instead, with each step forward, I start to question everything. How could this happen? Of course I was aware of his flaws, at least some of them, but who doesn’t have their faults? I’m not perfect either, far from it, but I thought he cared about me the same way I cared about him. I thought our feelings were mutual, that he loved me back. How could I have been so wrong about him, like for four years I was completely blind to what he’s capable of?
Deep down, I know this will leave scars, the kind that never heal.
I hope I never see him again.
Everything hurts.
The thought that Jake thinks so little of me that he would try to force me to be his whore? That’s a new kind of pain that hurts worse than my face. But being blindsided by the revelation that he’s not at all the man I thought he was, the man I thought I loved, the man I would have done just about anything for… that hurts the most.
I feel a wall forming around my shattered heart. It’s made of bricks and cement and steel, an impenetrable shield that will never, ever let a man do something like this to me again. That’s the scar Jake left me with, not the bruises on my face. Those will heal. My heart? Not so much.
Zane asked if I was okay.
I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.
CHAPTER 2
Riggs
This isn’t going to end well.
Eighty-four days in the Amazon jungle, and because the universe hates me, our satellite phone stopped working on day thirteen. We have no idea why, but for the past seventy-one days I’ve been completely cut off from Veronica.
I can’t begin to imagine what she’s been going through, or maybe I just don’t want to imagine it. I’m sure it’s been pure hell for her.
For the past ten days, with each mile bringing us closer to the end of this epic journey, a sick feeling tortured my gut whenever I thought about what I would say. Sorry, but my phone broke, and I couldn’t be bothered to make a detour to look for some way to let you know I was okay, doesn’t seem to cut it. She’ll want more. Hell, she deserves more. But we couldn’t make a detour. This part of the world isn’t exactly safe. There were too many bad actors—drug lords and cartel soldiers we needed to avoid. One wrong turn and we could have run into any of them, so that left one option, to keep moving forward on the path that we were told was the safest route. For three months it’sbeen a grueling hike through a dense jungle with no electricity, and, unfortunately, no phones.
So here we are, at the end of another amazing adventure. With each step bringing us closer to the rendezvous point, I try to work out how this is going to play out. After not hearing from me for so long, I’m sure Veronica either assumes I died, or worse, I met someone else.
Knowing her, it wouldn’t surprise me if she skipped the first option and jumped right to her usual he-must-be-cheating-on-me conclusion. She’s accused me of being unfaithful before, a few times actually. Well, they weren’t really accusations if I’m being honest, more like deeply expressed concerns. She’s a bit gun-shy after walking in on her fiancé sprawled out butt-naked on top of her little sister, who also happened to be naked, so I guess I understand her paranoia. But I had nothing to do with that. It was long before we met, and I’ve never given her a reason not to trust me. Besides, she should know me well enough to know I wouldn’t just disappear without talking to her, not if I could help it. Maybe I’ll fly her down here. Or better yet, fly her to Paris and meet her there. Before I left, she said she wanted a vacation in France. I can’t think of a better time.
“I guess this is it,” Ash says, coming to a stop. There’s a melancholy in his tone that I totally get.
I slide the straps off my shoulders and set my pack on the ground, then plop my ass on it. Ash does the same. It’s not the first time our packs have doubled as furniture; besides, there’s nothing else to sit on in this meadow.
Our ride to the city won’t arrive until tomorrow, which means we’ll set up camp for the night out here in the open, away from all the trees, which means awayfrom the howler monkeys. Besides being loud as hell, the little thieving bastards steal everything.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I have mixed feelings about leaving the rainforest. It’ll be good to eat real food and finally talk to Veronica. At the same time, it was a hell of a trek, and I’m not sure how I feel about it ending. I know one thing for sure—I’m certainly not going to miss those damn monkeys.
Ear-piercing primates aside, Ash and I got a ton of great footage. Our sister, Elsie, is going to lose her mind when she sees it, especially when she finds out there’s enough for at least five episodes, maybe six.
