But instead of closing the gap, he just keeps looking up at the stars. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t look at me. Doesn’t do anything except keep staring upward.
I laugh, like maybe he’s doing a bit, but… nope. Nothing.
Okay then.
Maybe I imagined it. Maybe the kiss in the game was just a kiss in the game, and it would have been the same for him whether it was me, Honey, Camilla – or even Ozzy.
I flop back onto my back and glare at the sky too. What’s so special up there, that’s better than a kiss with me, eh? What question is he looking for the answer for?
I’ve got one of my own – an answer, that is. I now know for sure that I will never, ever, ever understand this man.
29
Waking up to the birds singing and the warm sunshine on my face makes me feel like I’m on an all-inclusive holiday somewhere. Except the only thing inclusive here is fear and stress – and you can always go back for seconds.
I roll over and look at Lockie on the floor next to me. My movement must wake him up.
‘Good morning,’ he says, all smiles.
‘Morning,’ I reply.
Falling asleep on the terrace was never part of the plan. Sleeping is all we did, though – I can’t seem to push out of my mind that he wouldn’t even kiss me. Not that I’m irresistible but, come on, it was the perfect moment.
‘Nice to get away for a night, wasn’t it?’ he jokes.
I laugh.
‘We probably shouldn’t have slept here, should we?’ I say. ‘The others will wonder where we are.’
He yawns, stretching his limbs, sending a ripple through his muscles.
‘It’ll be fine,’ he reassures me. ‘We’ll head back now. If anyone asks, we’ll just say we fell asleep trying to break into the old production building. We kind of did…’
‘Kind of being exactly the right term,’ I reply.
I try to stretch my back, but it feels nowhere near as satisfying as it looked when Lockie did it. My muscles don’t ripple, but my spine does click.
As we gather ourselves to head back to camp, I glance over at the box of sex toys we rifled through last night. My emotional support dildo peeks out of the top, its glitter catching the sun kind of like the ocean does.
‘I should probably leave that here,’ I say, nodding in its direction.
‘Probably for the best,’ Lockie says with a laugh.
‘Although, to be fair, it could come in useful for stunning fish or knocking down trees,’ I point out.
‘I don’t think I ever saw Bear Grylls with one,’ he jokes. ‘But we know where it is, if we need it.’
We head to the edge of the terrace and Lockie offers me his hand to climb back down. I go slowly, because I quite like not dying, and I’ve already survived so much. This would be a stupid way to go.
It’s sort of weird, climbing off a terrace together in the daylight, sneaking back to camp – it really is like we actually spent the night together… not that I’m dwelling on it (I am).
As we walk through the jungle, I’m rehearsing my story in my head, what we’ll say, how we’ll spin it. It’s believable enough, that we were trying to break into the building, right?
Thankfully it doesn’t matter. When we arrive back, Camilla is already up and she’s on the rampage.
‘He put faeces in my bed!’ Camilla screeches at us.
‘And good morning to you too,’ Lockie says with a smile, trying to ease the tension.
