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“Didn’t want to freak you out.”
“Freak me out? You have a fucking grenade in your hand. I’d say you failed epically.”
“Oz?”
“Yeah?”
“Run.”
I pull my arm back and throw the grenade like I was throwing a football in the Super Bowl. I don’t wait around to see if my aim was true. I turn and run after Oz and Salem.
When the explosion rips through the jungle, I see Oz dive to the ground, taking Salem with him. I throw myself on top of her, earning a grunt from Oz. I ignore it until I’m sure nothing is going to land on us.
When it’s safe, I roll off them both and take a deep breath, only to winch when Salem leans over and smacks me in the stomach.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You know what? I don’t want to know. How? Why would you bring a grenade on a fucking plane? We should be dead. You know that, right?”
She grips her hair, but she continues to mutter under her breath. “I’m in love with a pair of crazy men. I’ll most likely end up killing them both if they don’t kill me first.”
I roll back toward her, gripping a handful of her hair and tugging hard, making her gasp. When she opens her mouth, I kiss her. There is nothing gentle about it. If she wants crazy, I’ll give her crazy.
“Eh, guys, I really think we should get moving.”
I pull myself free and look down at her swollen lips, and nod. When Oz is the voice of reason, I know things are fucked-up.
“Come on, little one. Let’s keep moving. I promise you can yell at us more later.”
“I’m not going to yell at you later,” she says, sighing as I help her up.
“Promise?”
“No, of course not. I’m going to throw it in your face for the next thirty or forty years, assuming we don’t die in this godforsaken place. Every time you complain that I’ve had the last beer or ordered too many books, I’m going to remind you of the time you took a live grenade on a fucking plane.”
I grin at her, which is a miracle in itself today of all days.
Oz gets to his feet and brushes himself off. “On the plus side, we’ve set the bar pretty low. I think leaving the toilet seat up or forgetting to take out the trash won’t matter so much.”
“Dream on.” Salem huffs before her face becomes solemn. “I want that, you know?”
“What? For us to leave the toilet seat up?” Oz jokes.
But she doesn’t laugh. She just shakes her head. “A home with the both of you. A place where we can fuck and fight and just be.”
I yank her to me and hold her tight. “We’ll do everything in our power to give that to you.”
“I know.” She nods, squeezing me back just as hard. She steps back and into Oz’s waiting arms. He doesn’t say anything, just kisses her temple before helping her onto his back again.
“Okay, let’s go.”
We move through the jungle but don’t talk, each of us listening to the sounds around us. When the heavens open, I curse, knowing this is going to slow us down. Still, we push on.
We don’t stop at the waterfall. We keep going. None of us even turn to look. Too raw to go there. The thick smell of smoke stings my nose as we make our way to the village.
“Looks like the rain put out the flames. I expected more damage, to be honest,” Salem admits quietly, the first words she’s spoken in hours.
“It’s been raining all morning and on and off for days,” I remind her, though even I have to admit I’m surprised.
“We still need to be careful. A lot of the structures are still smoldering, and it won’t take much for a blaze to break out again from a few embers.”
