Page 40 of Surviving Love
I met Jack’s gaze. “You must have promised things to all these people to get them on your side. How can I be sure you really will take me to the final three? For all I know, you’ve told everyone that.”
“Actually, I haven’t promised anyone but Harold anything. And you. The others I’ve only said I’ll keep them safe as long as it works for me.”
I shifted the wood because it was cutting into my arms. “You both set me up last night. How am I supposed to believe you’re telling me the truth now?”
Jack studied me with a thoughtful expression. “I value two things above all else in this world: loyalty and hard work. I believe you embody both of those things.”
I was flattered at his heartfelt statement, and a surprisingly pleasant feeling washed through me. I wasn’t sure why I cared what Jack thought, but it seemed I did. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“I’m not being nice. You’ve proven both without even trying to.”
I grimaced. “I didn’t write your name down because I was being true to myself, not you.”
“I think it was both,” Jack said softly.
There was a crack of thunder above our heads, and Henry jumped. “Shit,” he squeaked, looking uneasily up at the sky. “That sounded really close.”
Squinting up at the black clouds, Jack frowned. “We don’t have much time before it starts. Harold, go back to camp and protect the fire. I’ll help Mason get more wood. We’re going to need a ton of it to keep the fire going.”
“Give me the wood you have, Mason. I’ll take it to camp.” Harold held out his arms.
I deposited the wood in his arms, and he gave a weak smile. “See you in a bit, guys.” He turned and moved toward the direction of our camp.
The cameraman, James, hesitated and glanced at us. “I’m supposed to stick with Mason, but my camera battery is about to die. I have spares back at camp.”
“Oh, uh…” I frowned. “We really have to get more wood.”
“Yeah, I get it.” James sighed. “Don’t talk strategy until I get back. Shep will kill me if I miss anything juicy. I’ll just be ten minutes.”
“Okay.” Jack nodded. “We’re going to cross the creek. There’s more easily accessible bamboo over on the other side. Come find us there when you’re ready.”
“You’ve got it,” James said, and he headed off at a trot toward camp.
Once we were alone, Jack strode off in the opposite direction, and I followed. When we reached the creek, Jack jumped into the shallow water and made his way to the other bank. I followed, splashing through the clear water and clambering up the side once I reached it.
We moved deeper into the trees and began grabbing any loose bamboo we could find. I had my machete with me, and I chopped and piled the wood as quickly as possible. When drops hit the back of my neck, I glanced up at the dark sky warily.
“It’s starting,” I grumbled. The wind had picked up as well, and the trees swayed wildly above my head. The temperature had dropped during the night, which made the wet conditions even more uncomfortable. Within minutes, it was pouring, and my shirt stuck to my torso.
“Damn.” Jack scowled as lightning flashed nearby. “I was really hoping we’d get back before it got bad.”
“No such luck.” I kept chopping wood, determined to finish our chore. Unfortunately, the storm was growing fast. “We should go, right?”
“Yeah.” Jack nodded but kept gathering wood.
“I mean, like, soon.” I straightened, trying to shield my face from the whipping rain with my hand.
“Let’s go.” He filled his arms with wood and took off.
I grabbed as much wood as I could carry and followed him down the slope toward the creek. The ground was muddy and extremely slippery, but I did my best not to fall on my ass.
I was breathing hard by the time we finally reached the creek. Jack stopped so suddenly, I almost ran into him. He was blocking my view, but as I stumbled around him, my mouth fell open in shock.
The creek we’d crossed only thirty minutes before had morphed into a debris-filled nightmare of raging brown water.
Chapter Nine
“What the hell,” I rasped, staring at the rolling muddy water. It had only been raining hard for around twenty minutes, yet in that time, the shallow, harmless creek had swollen to ten times its usual size.
