Page 23 of Last Destination

“Nikki …” I blew out a soft raspberry as I considered what to say. Stop being annoyingly loving?

“I’m sorry, Marl. I know, I’m being a leech.”

My gaze shot up past the rocky ground to meet his for the first time in an hour. Had he sensed my irritation? His handsome face held a haunted glow, the peace from sleep completely erased, and I immediately kicked myself for being so bitchy, even in my head.

My shoulders softened as I considered how I felt when he’d been swept under the water — how terrified I’d been to lose the memory of his smile. Of course, he was being “a leech.” If roles were reversed, I would have embraced the role of piranha, too.

Halting my footsteps, I squeezed his hand and pulled him into me, wrapping my arms around his lean frame with a loose grip to minimize the pain to my ribs. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Nik. Thank you for caring about me.”

His palm cupped my cheek before his long, elegant fingers traced the outline of my lips. “I couldn’t imagine not.”

He leaned in and pressed his mouth against mine. The kiss was so tender I melted under it, feeling every emotion he wasn’t saying in the soft, subtle movements. The dreams of doubt the night before dissolved with every gentle flick of his tongue, and I let him care for me, anxiety and pain temporarily forgotten.

A throat cleared behind us, and I tore myself away to see four faces: the kind but impatient smile of a woman desperate to get home, the approving nod of a stoic gang leader, the downcast embarrassment of a man I’d once called a friend, and honey-brown eyes full of such blatant lust I could practically smell his arousal.

“Sorry.” I quickly pulled away, my cheeks burning. We were trying to make it to sundown without being killed by blood-thirsty cartel men. Focus, Marley.

“Is this new?” Jamie’s question carried from behind us as we resumed our pace forward. I stiffened, waiting for the accusation of misconduct. “You two, I mean,” he continued, as if I hadn’t understood what he meant. “I’m just surprised, that's all. I never saw it.” His voice held the cautious curiosity of a man who used to know us well, not the finger-wagging I’d anticipated. Not that Jamie had a leg to stand on in that department.

“Yes,” I responded just as quickly as Nikki’s strong declaration of “No.” Heat spread across my arms and chest as the hand wrapped around mine squeezed tighter.

“I’ve always cared for her,” Nikki clarified. “Marley was a bit oblivious.”

I refused to turn around to see his face. By his tone, I already knew which expression it would be: one eyebrow raised in amusement and his lips turned upward to the left in a wry smirk. I loved the look. It lit my skin on fire far more than my blush. But it wasn’t the time, and this wasn’t the place.

Ambrose let out a chuckle so deep it vibrated through my bones from a few feet away. In all this time we’d been forced together, I’d never once heard him laugh. The rich, melodic sound held a husky quality, and whether that was natural or from disuse, I didn’t know. But the way it lightened my heart in my leadened ribcage, I wanted to hear it again. And again. And again.

“Oblivious is probably the best word to describe her,” Ambrose said, and immediately my floaty heart wanted to punch him in the face. “Brilliant and brave, but so oblivious she’s so damn cute.”

Well. That was a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.

The biting retort died on my tongue, though, when I stumbled directly into Tessa, who’d become an immovable boulder in front of me.

Madman carefully parted the ropes of vines hanging from the trees to reveal a pile of multicolored lumps. All heat left my body when I caught a glimpse.

Bodies, desecrated in the dirt, their graves just the place they’d conveniently fallen.

For the first time in a week, we were seeing people who weren’t our passengers.

And they were dead.

Amorbid fascination propelled me forward, past Tessa, as hot tears burned my cheeks. Six bodies lay in the small field, each contorted into awkward angles indicating they hadn’t gone peacefully. Despite multiple visible ethnicities, their skin tones all held the same cartoonish pinkish pallor, and the scent on the air was nutty and bitter, like an almond liqueur.

“Cyanide,” Madman muttered slowly, carefully turning one body — a tall, thin man — over to inspect the backside of his torso. “Likely eaten.”

“What in the world could they have eaten with cyanide in it?” Nikki’s incredulous tone carried as he released my hand to assist Madman.

“Lots of things. Almonds, yuca.” Madman waved his hands matter-of-factly, as if these were obvious possibilities. He pushed over the next body — the curvy form of a woman, beautiful even in death — with a booted foot. “It is a very effective poison.”

“They were hungry, then.” Ambrose’s tone matched Madman’s and I wanted to strangle him for being so emotionless. “They probably found something they thought they could eat and this happened.”

On the other side of me, Tessa sniffled, and I was relieved someone else felt the pain of these strangers. I extended my hand, and she accepted it, squeezing her pain into my palm as we witnessed what could have been our end.

I knew many poisonous plants, but could have just as easily chosen something in the jungle that would have killed everyone. The only reason we hadn’t been was sheer luck.

The body closest to me was a boy no older than sixteen, his arms wrapped around his stomach in a tight hold. He held the rigidity of rigor mortis, the body not yet bloated or ripe with the smell of decay. They hadn’t been dead long, half a day at most.

An electric blue band caught my eye beneath the boy’s elbow where his left hand clenched his belly.