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Chapter 9
Thursday
“Idon’t know why Ilet you talk me into ziplining. Humans are only supposed to fly in the confines of an airplane. I swear I'll kill you if anything happens to me.” I raised my fist at Bakari as he cleared a low-hanging branch for me to walk past him.
“Um...if anything happens, you’ll be dead.” He chuckled.
“I will come back from the dead long enough to kill your ass and then die again. You better not let anything happen to me. I am so serious Bakari.” We were nearing the top of a grassy hill, and a couple of times, I slipped without falling. To his credit, he never laughed at my clumsiness, although judging from the delight in his expression, he wanted to.
He quirked a thick brow. “I was on a horse yesterday that decided to gallop without my permission, and for a split second, I thought I was going to fucking die. You owe me.”
“Stop exaggerating.” I rolled my eyes. “You weren’t going to die. The man was right there.”
“You mean the handler that had to catch up with my crazy horse and grab the reigns while I tried to keep from falling? That handler? And get that stupid grin off your face...the same one you had yesterday while I fought for my life.”
“Fine. It was a little scary when Majestic took off like that. The terror lasted all of a minute, but what we’re doing is at least half a day.” We were now in line to get our safety harness and whatever other equipment we needed to go ziplining. One time on the zipline would be fine, but our excursion would take us on a system of courses from where we were at the top of Dunn’s Falls to the bottom. “If it didn’t take us over an hour to climb to the top of this hill, I would walk my exhausted scaredy cat self right back down.”
Bakari, who stood behind me, grasped my shoulders and squeezed. “Can you look around at the beauty and peace of nature? You’ve been complaining since we started. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds. Feel the slight coolness in the air and chill.”
I did as he instructed, and when I focused on the calming sounds of the falls and my skin prickled with the breeze, my anxiety faded. I leaned into him and opened my eyes at the magnificent sight of Dunn’s Falls. The streams ran to the edge of the large stones before dropping into the river many feet below. “There’s nothing better than Mother Nature.”
“At all. Makes you remember God.” Bakari smiled. His eyes surveyed the beautiful scene before us with admiration and awe. And he wanted to share this with me.
Still facing away from him, I asked, “Why didn’t you bring your woman to Jamaica, especially because you planned to be here a week? This should be shared with someone you love, not me.”
He blew out his breath, seemingly annoyed though he simply answered, “Amazing experiences like this are meant to be shared with others. What does loving someone have to do with me wanting to have this experience with you? I planned to come alone to zipline and would’ve been fine, but you’ve made being here much better.”
We moved up in the line, and I spoke quietly, “That still didn’t answer my question. Are you two fighting or something?”
Bakari replied, “No. She couldn’t get away from work, and I wanted to get away alone.”
“Yet you’ve not been alone since you’ve been here. You initiated you and me.” I turned to face him.
“I thought we said all this before. Whatisyour point?”
“Trying to make sense of all this.”
He shook his head. “You really have a hard time with going with the flow.”
“I think I’ve done a damn good job these past few days.”
Bakari quickly conceded. “Facts. I can’t deny you’ve done what I’ve asked with little resistance.” He tapped my temple. “In here, though, that mind is racing, curious about what all this means even though you told me you’re cool with just hooking up. I bet you have a million questions swimming around in your head.Is he serious about me? Is he playing me? Does he really have a girlfriend? Or is he married with kids? Why does he want to spend all this time with me? Is he a deranged psychopath waiting for the moment to kill me?” I giggled at the accuracy of my thoughts. “Why can’t it be simply what it is? I didn’t expect you or have any intentions of being with any woman. We’re two adults who met, vibed, needed each other, and are enjoying a vacation together.”
“Need implies something so much stronger than want or desire. We gel well. But we don’t know each other anymore once we leave this island? Make it make sense, Bakari.”
Bakari placed his hands on his waist. “Okay. When you’re hungry, all you can think about is eating, and once you do, you’re satiated. That need is no longer there. In fact, food doesn’t have the same appeal when you’re full compared to when you’re hungry. The time I’ve spent with you satisfies my need to be with a genuine woman. A woman, unlike the one I have at home.” Bakari raised his finger. “And I’m going to stop you right now before you start questioning me about why I’m with this woman. It’s more complicated than I even want to discuss. You and I make sense in Montego Bay and not back home.” He sighed and tapped my nose. “Besides, we’re up next. Time for talking is over.”
I reluctantly turned around, and my heart rate increased again as the staff secured me in the safety harness and helmet. I paid extra attention to the instructions. I looked back at Bakari as he finished getting secured. He wanted to follow closely behind me if I needed an extra push or help. “Is there any way we can be snapped in together?”
He grinned. “Nikki, you’ll be fine. I’ve done this a few times. You’ll love it.”
“Love may be pushing it. Tolerate is more like it.”
“If I tell you I actually enjoyed the horseback riding, especially when we went into the warm water, would you give this a sincere chance?”
I squinted my eyes and accused, “You’ll say anything to get me to like this.”
“No, I did like the horseback riding after my horse calmed the fuck down. Just didn’t want to admit it in case you had ideas about doing it again.”
