Worth Dying For (4 page)

Amber’s firm, lean physique would please most, but Bane usually favoured a more voluptuous woman. And yes, her fiery mane of curls was her crowning glory, and the perfect foil for her peaches and cream complexion, but that alone would not have held his fascination for long. Bane knew absolutely nothing about her, save for what he’d learnt in the last few hours, and he had met many women who were far more beautiful than she—so why had this one begun to occupy his every waking thought?

The couple continued on their way as the sun reached its zenith, cataloguing and photographing anything that caught Amber’s eye. David didn’t contribute much to their expedition and seemed to tire of it easily. Eventually, he stopped pretending to work and concentrated on seducing Amber.

Finally, she snapped. “Jesus, David. Stop mauling me.”

He snatched his hand away as if she’d burned it. His knuckles had brushed the outside of her breast yet again when he helped Amber to her feet after she stooped to examine something. Bane marvelled that she’d kept her patience as long as she had.

David dragged a hand through his hair. “Give me a fucking break! I’m getting a little sick of the terrified virgin routine.”

Amber squeezed her eyelids tight and pressed her palms to her ears, like she wanted to drown out the sight and sound of the man with her. When David reached for her again, mumbling the beginnings of an apology, she turned on him.

“When will you get it into your thick skull that we are here to work and nothing more?”

“Yeah, that’s what you’re saying but why else would you bring me along when I made it so clear I was into you?” She flinched at the accusation and her reaction showed David his words had hit home. Bane watched him plough on recklessly. “There’s nobody here to judge you now. Why not drop the act and stop pretending you’re some frigid widow?”

Amber laughed, surprising both Bane and the man pinned to the spot by her icy green stare. “Frigid?”

David smiled back at her, too stupid to understand the reason for her laughter. The idiot actually thought he’d amused her. Bane grinned and crossed his arms in anticipation. Didn’t the man know women at all? This would be good.

“Frigid?” she repeated, this time without humour, as she took a step closer to David.

Realisation dawned on his face as he finally understood what he had done and he put his palms up as if to placate her. She slapped them away, glaring at him until she spoke again in a quiet voice quivering with restraint.

“You’re a colleague and a friend, nothing more. That’s all I want.”

“Oh really?” he snorted, as if dismissing her words, but a slight tremble at the edge of his smile betrayed him.

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that I really don’t want you?” Amber seemed unrepentant. “If it was ever meant to happen between us, you wouldn’t have to try so hard.”

David’s handsome face contorted in spite. “Hey lady, I can only work with the tools I’m given. Is it my fault you’re a cold bitch?”

Amber slapped him hard, the sound of it reverberating through the trees and seeming to hang there for a moment as a vivid palm print formed on David’s cheek. At first, he didn’t react, but then the hand hanging at his side curled into a fist. Bane leapt forwards into a crouch, his lip curling back in a soundless snarl. David would never get a hand to her.

Bane’s sudden movement and barely restrained rage alerted the birds in the neighbouring trees that something was amiss. They took off in a cacophony of screeching, dislodging leaves and scattering feathers as they fled. The couple below turned towards the disruption and Bane held his ground until satisfied that the danger to Amber had passed.

“What in the hell was that?” David asked, the argument forgotten.

“I don’t know.” Amber staggered backwards as if preparing to flee. “You see, I told you there’s something on this island.”

David edged towards her. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Do you think it’s following us?” she whispered, reaching out and grabbing hold of his T-shirt.

“Could be.”

Bane relaxed and crawled back into the shadows, his anger replaced by simple annoyance that the idiot boy had confirmed her worst fears and made her more afraid. He sensed an air of triumph emanating from David and caught on to his game immediately. He would use her fear as a way of controlling her. Until that very moment, Bane thought he’d been watching unrequited love or lust playing out in front of him. But the expression on David’s face chased that idea away. He looked now to be nothing more than a needy child, using whatever he could to get his own way. The only thing he had invested in winning her seemed to be his ego.

Bane kept watch as they moved back towards their camp, his attention fixed on Amber.
 
Maybe David would not have hit her but Bane wouldn’t have waited to find out. Had he really been about to throw away everything he had worked for, and the one small thing he had claimed from eternity, for the sake of a woman who looked like someone he loved once?

He had to get them off his island.

* * * *

The rain started a mile from base, sending Amber and David running to shelter under a densely vegetated part of the forest to wait it out. The smell of the surrounding woodland grew almost overwhelming as the moss and mulch under their feet got wetter and the dark, oppressive canopy of green above Amber’s head seemed to close in on her. The rain fell so hard it shook the leaves above them and drowned out every other sound, and she felt the near constant need to turn around and check they were still alone.

Amber opened her jacket, flapping the collar to let out some of the heat and moisture building up inside it. Summer rain always made her irritable and the sweat she could feel trickling down her back inside the sauna-inducing fabric didn’t help.

When another shiver crawled down her spine and she turned for the umpteenth time to check the dark forest behind her, Amber couldn’t stay there another second. Given the choice of sitting in the woods where her fear resided versus sitting in the tent and fending off David, David won—hands down. She sighed and got to her feet.

 
“This rain looks to be in for the day, we’d better head back.”

His eyes lit up, just as she’d feared they would. Spending the rest of her Saturday trapped in a tent with a man who had proven to be nothing more than a hormonal teenager wasn’t her idea of fun, and she toyed with the idea of suggesting that they carry on working. But the icy downpour had soaked him to the skin and she couldn’t ignore how uncomfortable he seemed as another hard shiver racked his body.

“We’d better make a run for it.” He grabbed her hand, dragging her out into the deluge before she had a chance to protest. Cold needles of rain stung her face as she blindly followed David’s lead and ran in the general direction of the beach.

They made it back to camp fifteen minutes later, both of them breathless and shivering. David’s cold hands fumbled with the zipper on the tent and she pushed him out of the way to tear it open and fall inside with a grateful gasp. The dark, dank interior seemed only a little less claustrophobic than the forest they’d just run from, but at least they were out of the rain.

David stripped out of his wet clothing without embarrassment, rubbing himself dry with a towel before throwing on dry sweats. Amber’s jeans were the only casualty so she shrugged out of them and into a fresh pair with her back turned to David, hoping the epic cold shower he’d just had would make him behave, at least for a while.

But when he was still behaving half an hour later, Amber began to worry. David had curled up on his bunk, complaining that he couldn’t get warm and shivering violently. Amber perched on the edge of his cot, unsure if he would take it the wrong way but certain she could handle it if he did. He struggled to sit up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, relaxing against her with a grateful sigh.

“This is nice,” he said, resting his head against hers. David tucked her head into the crook of his neck, smoothing her hair away from her face as he hummed a tune and began to rock her gently as if to comfort her. Amber forgot she had meant to take care of him and sank into his embrace, aware that she craved the physical contact far more than the person giving it. Burrowing into his chest, she fought the agonising ache which started in her gut whenever she allowed herself to be held for any length of time, building until it finally became unbearable. Amber scrambled to her feet, trying to stop the tears that were sure to follow such a weak moment. Maybe her friends were right and she did need therapy. The quiet desperation that threatened to cripple her if she didn’t keep it squashed down inside her hadn’t lessened at all in the last year.

“You okay?” David asked, his brows knitting together as he looked up at her from his bunk. He gave her a crooked smile. “You look as if you are about to cry. Or scream. I’m not sure which.”

The tears came then despite her best efforts and her lip trembled as she bit down on it to suppress a sob. He pulled her down into his arms again, allowing her to cry against his chest, trying his best to soothe her with meaningless words until the bitter sobs calmed to quiet sniffles.

“Why don’t you ever talk about it?” he said, pressing his lips into her hair. She turned to stare into his eyes, trying to figure out what he could mean. Then his words hit home.

Amber jumped to her feet. “You
know
?” Stunned by his silent nod, she moved to the other side of the tent, dropping to her knees. “Who told you?”

David avoided her gaze. “I don’t remember.”

“Bullshit,” she snapped, her anger making the colour to drain from his face.”Who was it?”

“Everybody,” he said in a rush. “Everybody knows. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything, at least not amongst the faculty.”

“Oh my God.”

She didn’t know what else to say as she absorbed what he had told her. How long had people been talking about her? They’d been discussing her private life in hushed tones and whispers all this time and all the while she thought she’d been fooling them? Only one person knew the details of what she’d been through. She would kill Richard Snell when she got hold of him, and she didn’t give a good goddamn whether he’d meant well or not.

“Calm down. It’s old news as far as I am concerned. Anyway, I thought you had a grip on things?” David’s conciliatory tone had disappeared. “Look, I’m sorry okay? I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Amber could handle his anger—she could anything but pity. “It’s none of your business.”

The question appeared in his eyes long moments before he got up the courage to ask it. She steeled herself, trying to take her mind to a neutral place where she could handle giving her practiced reply.

“Why did he do it?” David didn’t look her in the eyes as he waited for her to speak.

“Maybe I drove him to it.” When she vocalised her worst fear in a pained whisper, the honesty of her answer surprised her. David winced. “I mean, that’s what everybody is thinking, isn’t it?”

“He could’ve just left if he didn’t want to be with you any longer Amber. He didn’t have to kill…himself—” His voice drifted off as his brain caught up with his mouth.

She scrambled to her feet, needing to get away, unable to deal with the conversation or the damage it could cause her. Running from the tent, she headed into the forest, her earlier fear forgotten as she stumbled through the undergrowth with her brain screaming accusations at her. The reason Tom had thrown his young life away and scarred hers forever was a mystery to everyone. An enigma in both life and death, he hadn’t bothered to leave a note or say goodbye. Amber guessed he felt she didn’t need to know why.

“Amber!”

Ignoring David’s shout, she ploughed her way up the hill, feet slipping on the soft mulch below. Amber’s heart began to pound from the exertion, and the sure, certain knowledge she was running towards whatever it was in the dark forest which caused her such fear. Her stomach lurched as the now familiar jolt of terror twisted to life but she welcomed it with open arms and a ragged cry of relief. Even the cold dread surging through her chest seemed safe compared to the despair thoughts of Tom could unleash. Amber simply couldn’t go there. Not again.

David’s voice became distant and weak as the sound of her racing heart throbbed loud in her ears, until that too disappeared behind another much louder noise. The ground beneath her feet began to shift like sand, each step she took pushing her further down the hill rather than up it. Confused, she turned towards the beach. Had David felt it too? His reaction left her in no doubt. His gaze seemed fixed on the hillside above her. David eyes widened and he pointed upwards as he shouted something to Amber that she couldn’t hear above the growing roar. David gestured for her to move his way, even as he began staggering away from her. He fell to the sand as he stumbled, his feet pushing against the beach as he tried desperately to put more distance between himself and whatever it was he’d seen.

Amber followed David’s stare, turning in time only to swallow a scream. The hillside and everything on it slid towards her in the surreal stop-motion of a macabre dream sequence.

She stared at a tree gliding towards her, not trusting that her eyes were showing her something real…until a small boulder whistled past her shoulders. Amber flinched and tried to move only to find her feet rooted to the spot by the mounds of earth growing around her ankles.