Page 15 of Delirium

Space would have been the best course of action for all involved, but I never could have made myself take that step.

“Venomous,” Nash corrected automatically. He looked down at me, dark eyes like melted chocolate, warm and comforting. Was it possible to drown in chocolate? “Poisonous is when it’s toxic if you ingest it. Venomous is toxic when it bites you. And yes, she’s venomous. Green jararaca.”

I nodded, filing the information away for later. “Deadly?”

He shook his head. “Her bite would hurt like hell, but it likely wouldn’t kill you. Don’t worry, though. There’s lots of other things here that would love to do those honors.” He laughed.

I stared at him wide-eyed, unable to join two words to form a sentence. How did you reply to someone assuming your imminent death?

Nash stopped laughing when he saw my expression, brushing a stray lock of hair away from my face, so casually, as if he did so all the time. “I’m kidding, darling. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of dangerous things out here. They’re usually the prettiest, too. So long as you stay away from the pretty things, you’ll be fine.”

I smiled, but it felt weak on my face. “Is that how you’ve survived here for so long?”

He froze, his fingertips barely touching my skin, yet burning me alive. “Luck might be the better answer. I always did have trouble staying away from beautiful things. Especially the dangerous ones.”

“Oh,” I whispered. There was an undercurrent of something brewing between us, of words not spoken, and steps not taken. A thread weaving between us, a deeper understanding between two people who knew each other far better than they should for only just meeting.

A whisper.

A breath.

A heartbeat.

A stolen glance across the room, eyes meeting in a flash and knowing their innermost secrets in a single snapshot.

But Nash was right. The most beautiful things were the most dangerous.

Chapter

Six

CAMP

Environmental science was a weird field to specialize in, and not just in the way everyone thought. And I know what you’re thinking.Camp, you sacrificed a pipeline, that’s not environmental science. It’s eco-terrorism.Listen, to each their own, okay? You do you, and I’ll do me.

Let me try and put it in a way you’d be able to understand.

The concept of being reliant on other people is drilled into us from a young age. “It takes a village” to raise a child, and we don’t have to do everything alone—even though most of us try to be self-sufficient anyway. Humans were stubborn like that.

We’re supposed to work in teams as children at school, and then again as adults. Managers were no longer managers, but leaders. Team players. Participation trophies for everyone.

We’d built a society that rotates around the concept that everyone needs someone else. Marriage, a family, a work family, an extended family, twelve bridesmaids, and inviting your neighbors over for dinner.

But the earth, see, the earth does things differently. The strongest predators were those who weren’t reliant on someone else protecting them. They weren’t waiting for their food to be given to them on a silver plate. I’d never seen a lion sidling up to an elephant and asking them to watch their cub, so they can focus on getting their promotion. I’d never seen a hippo ask a crocodile for help.

Poison ivy didn’t need special soil to grow.

White oleander never cried for rain.

Being in debt to Scarlett rubbed me the wrong way, because now I was reliant on her. I owed her something. Not only had she saved my ass and got me on the damn boat in the first place, she championed for me to stayonsaid boat.

It wasn’t that I didn’tlikeScarlett. If anything, the opposite was true. She was a goddess made of flesh, everything good about our forsaken planet wrapped up into one bright smile, smooth limbs, and thick hair I wanted to tangle my hands in. All of which was beside the point. Yes, I wanted this girl. More than I’d wanted anyone for a long time.

It made me reliant on more than one count. I didn’t like the way the feeling settled in my belly, creeping out with long tendrils of want and desire through my bloodstream.

I wasn’t a reliant person. I simply had to prove it to both myself and her.

Which was how I found myself in front of Scarlett’s room. I heard her close her door—not that I was listening—a couple minutes ago, so I knew she was inside.

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