again. Her broken fingers throbbed.
“But we got out,” he countered.
“Still. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, whereas Stankovski is now very aware of my presence. Now he's gone and I have to start from scratch. What a waste of time,” she complained, slowly getting to her feet. He followed suit.
“It wasn't a waste. I learned some stuff, like Roksana and Damiano are sleeping together. And now we know that Stankovski has already got Damiano wrapped around his finger, if he's getting him to poach for low lifes like us,” Marc pointed out.
“Whatever. I just want to get out of this fucking jungle. This fucking country. I want ... room service, ” she breathed out.
“ Spoiled .”
“Shut up, De Sant.”
DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN
They eventually headed back to the river. Marc was positive they were headed towards Romerales, and that it was only a couple miles away. She prayed he was right. A couple miles in the jungle, barefoot, was too long. She didn't know how far she'd be able to go.
Turned out, they were only two miles from the small town. It still took them over an hour, what with Lily's feet. And even then, once they got there, they skirted the edges of the buildings, not wanting to be seen. Damiano would have to know they'd wash up in that town. It was the first stop along the river.
While Lily stole a pair of flip flops off a back porch, Marc found them a car. A tiny truck, Lily couldn't even tell what the make and model was, though it didn't matter. As long as she didn't have to walk anymore. She slid into the passenger side gratefully, closing her eyes as they raced off down a road.
There were several small towns to the east, and they picked their way along for a while, stealing food and clothing. They both looked like shit, covered in mud, leaves and branches in their hair. They got a lot of stares, which wasn't a good thing.
Having Marc in the driver's seat, though, that was almost worst.
What to do, what to do. What would Kingsley do? I don't know anymore.
“Turn left,” she barked, when they were almost ten miles out from Romerales.
They had driven predominantly in silence. Marc looked tense, a permanent scowl on his face. Lily stole a couple looks at him, but kept it to a minimum.
Now that the adrenaline was wearing off and the situation wasn't do-or-die, she was finding his presence … surreal . She couldn't quite believe he was next to her. Sure, she'd kinda sorta hoped to find him again, but bumping into him at a fancy party had not been on the menu. Getting kidnapped with him and restrained and tortured, not anything she had planned. She wasn't sure what to do with him now.
Get rid of him, you have a job to do.
Kick his ass, make him feel the way you felt when he left you.
God, the way he kissed you in that room – how did you ever forget what kissing him was like? Like a vacuum, stealing every breath from every cell.
Stupid bastard. Kick his ass.
They ditched the car along the side of the road. Marc was hesitant to leave it behind, unsure that they could find another. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle, with only one road to follow. Lily pointed out that he could just keep driving, then thanked him for the ride.
Marc followed her when she walked away.
A couple days before the party, Lily had gotten a hotel room in Salento. A place to store a minimal amount of gear and her nice clothing, but her real headquarters had been left in tact. The camp site that Kingsley'd had set up for her, deep in the jungle, was still standing. She'd left the tent up and everything, and after a mile of hiking through dense jungle, she was glad to see that the site was still empty.
“My god. This is where you've been staying?” Marc asked, turning in a circle as they passed by the burned out and empty fire pit.
“Since I've been in Colombia, yes,” was all she said as she pushed her way into the tent. She immediately kicked off her dirty flip flops
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