He already had his shirt tied on his head and helped Gabe, who could not help but ask. “How come you’re so focused? You should have lost your shit by now, being the spoiled, rich guy you are.”
Damian grinned. “Really? Well, I might also happen to be an exceptional businessman, and that requires everything you see me showing. Right now, I have to adapt to this situation and make the most of it, so that’s what I’m doing, just as if I would be focusing on getting a deal right, or buying land, or supervising a construction site. No big deal.” He scratched his sprouting beard. “Jesus, I hope I can get rid of this somehow…”
“It suits you.” His face flaming up, so he started walking.
Damian laughed. “It might, but it’s unbearable, trust me. I have strong hair and it just gets worse.”
“Your body is going to be filled with it soon…”
“Don’t even mention it…” He scratched his belly, where the skin was showing above his waist, a light stubble on that smooth skin. “But it’s not as bad as the beard, so I’ll manage.”
“Why shave it off at all?”
Damian shot him a look. “I don’t get to decide these, I have some sort of image person and she said it had to go.” He shrugged. “Not that I care. Ok, let’s follow the shore as much as we can? Keep the ocean to our right.”
“Fine.”
Walking under that pouring sun, again, but that darkness was at the edge of the horizon, rising again.
A sudden anxiety in Gabe when they left the beach. “What if this island is huge?”
“Then we’re screwed… we’ll just turn around.” But leaving their camp and that familiar shore was also getting to him, turning a bit to look back. “Fuck. Just walk. Don’t think. We’ll find our way back.”
They climbed rocks, and soon had to go into the jungle, following painfully the shoreline, hacking at the vines with that piece of metal and cutting them with the knife. Another beach, soon, and a pile of junk washed up. Scouring through it, more plastic items.
Gabe brandished a faded pink razor. “Look! Happy?”
“Life saver! Stash it away.”
“There are more here…”
“Just gather everything… oh, an enamel mug… great… it will be good for boiling small stuff.”
Gabe sighed. “I miss coffee…”
“Me too. Funny, I haven’t even thought about it until now…” His mind on those coffees he’d drunk on the weekends, drenched in rum. He swallowed, that memory bringing up a wave of craving so strong, he felt it in his throat. “Khm… let’s walk. Time’s ticking.”
Going into the jungle again, and Gabe stopped, rooted to the ground. “Are those bananas?”
Damian followed his gaze. “Looks like it… they’re small and green, though.” He tore one off and peeled it open, tasting with his tongue. “Mhm… bland, a bit like flour… but they will do. Let’s harvest some.”
Going further, the shore curving a bit. “Good news? Maybe…”
Walking more in that heat, drinking sparsely, Gabe’s eyes on Damian’s back, his body hugged by that tight T-shirt, that faded pink a stark contrast on that tanned skin. Straying to his ass.Fuck…He looked away, to the trees and shrubs, trying to distract his thoughts, inevitably lingering to how Damian had felt against his back… wondering how his lips would taste… He bumped into him, looking up in surprise.
“Hey!” Just a flash of his blazing eyes, but he had turned back. “Look…” A wild pig… rummaging in the undergrowth. “Let’s kill it!” Whispered, those blue eyes focused on the animal.
“How?”
“No clue… Knife?” He held his palm out, and Gabe gave him the knife. “Now… you start chasing him and I’ll cut its way off and jump on him…”
“You sure?”
“He’s small…”
Gabe nodded, and they crept closer, Gabe behind the animal in a wide arc. He shot off with a yell and the pig leapt forward, rushing towards Damian, who had hidden behind a tree. The pig shot past, but not fast enough, Damian leaping onto him, burying it under his body. A struggle in the rotten leaves, a sharp squeal, and Gabe rushed there. Damian stood, his arm filled with blood, the animal dead on the ground, the knife poking out of its side.
“You killed him…”
