Chapter 18

 

 

Ryan didn’t have long before he needed to be back in the ballroom, coordinating the search party with Elle. But ten minutes was all he needed to see if, by some miracle, Esperanza had set up home in his room and was still waiting for him. Yeah, he didn’t think it was a possibility, but he hoped she’d at least left her phone number behind.

“Hey, wait up,” he called to Dimitri and Megan, who shared the cabana next to his. “I need a ride to my room.”

Megan shifted onto Dimitri’s lap to make space beside them in the back of the golf cart. It would probably have been faster to run the path to his cabana, but he didn’t have the energy. Truth be told, he probably should have stayed an extra night in the hospital. But there was no way he could lie there while his team were looking for Belinda and Beast—and while Esperanza was possibly waiting for him.

Dimitri told the driver to go fast, and they shot off along the perfectly groomed path, complete with eco-friendly woodchip surface and solar lights along the edges.

“You should be in hospital,” Megan said. “Your skin is grey and you look like a breeze could blow you over.”

“Thanks,” Ryan said, before saying to a grinning Dimitri, “You got everything you need for the search?”

“Yeah, you and Harvard did a good job of pulling equipment out of thin air. We’re covered.”

“Kevlar?” Ryan had called in a favour to get some vests for the team, but he wasn’t sure if they’d arrived.

“Yeah. Not too thrilled to wear a bulletproof vest in this heat, though.”

“Better than dying a painful death with a bullet in your back,” Megan told him.

“My wife,” Dimitri said drolly, “always bringing the sunshine.”

The golf cart screeched to a halt outside their cabins, and Dimitri asked the driver to wait. “Ten minutes?” he said to Ryan.

“More than enough time.” Ryan jogged up the two steps to the porch around his tiny cabin.

A surge of hope went through him when he spotted the Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the handle. Maybe she had waited. Maybe. He used his key card to unlock his door and swung it wide—only to be greeted by darkness and silence. He knew before he even stepped inside that the room was empty and she was gone. Of course, she was gone. What woman hung around for days, in the room of a guy she barely knew, waiting for him to come back?

Ryan flicked the light on and strode inside, scanning every surface, looking for a note. His heartbeat sped up when he spotted one on the nightstand. It was written on resort stationery, and he fell on it like a hungry lion with prey.

Dear Ryan,

I am so sorry. I want you to know that I would never have done this if I wasn’t desperate. I will pay you back one day. I promise. Thank you for a wonderful time. It meant the world to me. Love, Essie.

Ryan read the note several times as his blood chilled. His head shot up to see the closet door ajar. He covered the distance in a few short steps and looked inside. The safe was open. And empty. His fist clenched on the note, crumpling it tight. She’d robbed him. Cleaned him out.

His passport, cash, backup phone, gun, ammunition, iPad—all gone.

His head started to swim as black dots appeared in front of his eyes, and he realised he’d stopped breathing. With great effort, he sank onto the edge of his bed and focused on breathing in and out, on calming the hell down, when all he wanted to do was put a fist through the wall.

She’d left him. Stolen from him.

He wasn’t even sure which part made him angriest. This was seriously screwed up. The woman had cleaned him out and he was more upset over her running. He shook his head and went to check the rest of his room. His duffel bag was gone, along with a couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts. A quick look in his bathroom told him she’d helped herself to his toiletries and a couple of hotel towels.

There was a knock at the door, and Dimitri poked his head in. “You ready?”

“Nowhere near.” Ryan had to fight the shame of revealing he’d been conned. “Remember the girl I brought back from the reception?”

Dimitri nodded. “Cute. Lots of hair. She was a waitress, right?”

“Yeah, well, she’s also a thief.” Ryan ran a hand over the top of his head. Damn, Lake and Callum were going to hand him his backside over this. “She cleaned me out.”

Dimitri’s eyes turned hard. “What do you mean?”

Ryan gestured around the room. “Look around. She even took my passport and backup gun.”

Dimitri checked the room. When he’d finished scanning the bathroom, he turned to Ryan. “This doesn’t add up.”

“Which part? The part where she ripped me off, or the part where she screwed me first?”

“The part where she only took supplies for travel. Look.” Dimitri pointed into the bathroom. “One of each of the towels is gone. The travel-sized shampoos and soaps are gone.” He walked over to the closet. “Her clothes are here, in a pile with your laundry. But there are empty hangers, saying she took some of your clothes, but not all. If she was going to sell them, why not take all of them? You’ve got sneakers in here worth hundreds of bucks.”

Ryan stilled as Dimitri’s words pushed through his anger and humiliation. He looked around the room again. It was neat. She’d even made the bed and unpacked his bag onto hangers. This wasn’t a hurried ransacking. She’d cared enough to tidy after herself.

“She left a note.” Ryan handed it to Dimitri.

He read it and his lips thinned. “Your girl’s in trouble.” He passed the note back to Ryan. “Running, by the looks of things.”

“She isn’t my girl.”

“Whatever. She’s definitely the woman with your passport. That’s going to be a shit-ton of stress to replace.” Dimitri looked around the room, no doubt seeing what Ryan saw—evidence of a conscientious thief. “You reporting this, or hunting her down?”

“Oh, I’m hunting her ass down.” And when Ryan got hold of it, he was going to spank it so freaking hard, she wouldn’t be able to sit for a week.

What the hell? He meant he was going to lock her ass up in jail.

Yeah, that was what he meant.

“I’ll help once we get back.”

“Thanks.” Ryan looked back at the note.

I will pay you back one day.

No kidding she would. If it was the last thing he did. Esperanza, Essie, would definitely pay him back.

 

 

Much to Beast’s surprise, Belinda’s idea of using the mosquito net to catch fish actually worked. While he dealt with their catch—which meant removing the heads, because Belinda insisted she couldn’t cook or eat anything that was looking at her—Belinda built a fire. It was small, but big enough for their needs. She stabbed several Y-shaped sticks into the ground on two sides of the fire, then rested more sticks in the Y shape to make a grill. She then wrapped some small twigs in a wipe from her bag of many tricks and set fire to it with the matches he’d taken from their guard.

“The antibacterial wipe is mainly alcohol,” she explained. “Makes a good fire starter.”

He watched in amused bewilderment as she got the fire going. Her brain was a bottomless pit filled with random bits of information.

“You get that from the Bear guy?”

Her cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink that made him want to strip the sheet she was wrapped in from her body and make her scream all over again.

“No, I learned that by accident when I put some wipes too close to a candle and set my trailer on fire. It was on the set of a movie I did in Morocco. The fire put us behind schedule and made everyone mad at me.” Big blue eyes blinked up at him. “I’m not allowed candles in my trailers now. It’s written into my contracts.”

Beast smothered a laugh. She looked so downhearted at the prospect of a life on set without candles.

“It’s ready.” She pointed at the fire. “Make me dinner.”

With a shake of his head, he placed the five fish on the stick grill.

“I wonder what they are? I don’t recognise any of them. My fish normally comes grilled and covered in sauce. Do you know what they are?”

“I’m not exactly a wildlife guy, Hollywood. They’re fish. That’s as far as I get with this.”

“The most important part is that they’re less likely to poison us than the unidentifiable fruit the monkeys keep throwing at you.”

As though prodded by her comment, their monkey stalkers lobbed another piece of fruit at them. This one hit his shoulder. Beast looked up into the canopy. He couldn’t see them, but he could swear the noise they were making was laughter.

“Bet monkey tastes nice too,” he said.

“Don’t feel bad. I’m pretty sure they aren’t targeting you. You’re just bigger and easier to hit.”

“Thanks, I’m relieved.” He watched the flames grow taller under the fish. He could smell it now, and his mouth watered. “You think the grill should be higher?” The flames were licking up and around the fish, and he worried they’d burn.

“I don’t know.” Belinda’s brow puckered as she studied the fire. “It looks fine to me. The main thing is that they’re cooking.” She slicked back her still-damp hair, and Beast’s cock began to stir within the tight confines of his underpants. Part of him wanted to say to hell with cooking and spend more time with her instead. The sensible part of him knew they had to eat.

He picked up a stick and poked at the fire because, well, that was what men did, right? It seemed important that he poke at the fire. As though he was doing something other than hanging out in his underwear in the middle of the jungle with a Hollywood actress he’d just made scream with passion.

As they watched, oil from the fish dripped down into the flames and fed the fire, making it spark and leap. The smell was wonderful. Belinda must have thought so too because her stomach rumbled loudly.

“Sorry,” she said, her cheeks flushing again.

Another piece of fruit flew out of the trees and headed for Beast. This time he saw it coming and stepped to the side. Those monkeys’ days were numbered.

“No!” Belinda screeched and lunged past him.

It was too late. The fruit hit the grill. The sticks, which were partly burned through, snapped. And the fish fell into the flames.

“Get it.” She lunged for the fire, but Beast pulled her back.

“It’s too late.” He held her out of reach of the flames and they watched their only meal in two days go up in smoke.

“I’m beginning to really hate those monkeys,” Belinda said.

“We can catch more fish.” Although it was getting dark, and the chances of catching dinner before the light disappeared were slim.

Another piece of fruit landed on the ground beside them, and there was a loud rumble from above. As though a switch had been flicked, the rain started. It didn’t come on gently, a few drops here and there hitting leaves around them. No, this rain fell in a torrent, as though someone had tipped a bucket over their heads. They were instantly drenched. The ground around them became a series of mud puddles, and the noise was deafening. It was no pitter-patter. This was the roar of a waterfall crashing down on the forest. Branches bowed under the weight. Plants flattened close to the earth and streams of water poured off leaves like faucets had been turned on everywhere.

“We need shelter,” Belinda shouted over the noise. “We should have made shelter first. Instead of trying for dinner.”

The water had doused the fire instantly, but the fish was unsalvageable. It lay in charcoal-black pieces amongst the hissing embers.

“The tree.” Beast pointed to the V shape formed by the massive buttress roots of the kapok tree. “Get in there. We can use palms to make a roof. Keep some of this water off us.”

She shook her head, water pouring down her face. The sheet wrapped around her was slick and transparent from the rain. “We can’t be on the ground. It isn’t safe. Most of the animals and insects are on the ground.”

“Hollywood, we don’t have a choice. This will have to do for now. Once the rain stops, we’ll find something better.” He rushed through the ankle-deep mud to a large palm and chopped off some of the leaves.

Belinda had obviously decided not to argue, as she was quickly gathering up their things and heading towards the tree. “The ground’s turning to mud,” she shouted. “We need to go higher or we’ll get flooded out.” She pointed up at the wide branches overhead. Two branches met close to the trunk, making what looked like a large platform.

Beast considered the option. They could climb up one of the massive roots and swing onto the branches. The space was wide enough to support them both for the night; although he didn’t think sleep would be an option. The leaves spanning out above the branches would serve as shelter. It was better than being in the mud, but it was going to be a long, long night.

“Okay. You climb up first and I’ll hand everything up to you.”

She didn’t hesitate. She hiked up her sheet, tied it in a knot at her hip and began to climb. Beast hovered underneath her, in case she slipped. She didn’t, making it to the joined section of branches easily. Holding on tight, she leaned over and reached for their things. Beast tossed the bundle, wrapped in the other half of the sheet, to her, following it with their clothes, shoes and her tiny bag of wonders.

Against all reason, the rain actually got heavier. It was hard to breathe through the sheets of water pouring over him, and the ground was running with streams.

“Come on,” Belinda called to him.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He swung himself up onto the angled root, grabbed for a liana to help pull himself up and swatted at yet another insect trying to eat him. This one was a big black ant, about an inch long and unafraid. He squished it and hauled himself up the last few feet to the branches.

Then he stopped dead. The spot on his leg where the ant had bitten began to tingle and burn. He looked at Belinda, who was eyeing him with worry, clearly aware something was wrong.

“What? What is it?” she said.

The rain wasn’t as heavy here, in the shelter of the tree, but it still ran over her face as though she was standing under a shower. Beast felt a surge of pain rush up his leg and looked down at the spot where the ant had bitten him. His calf muscle had large red splotches on it now, and when he touched the area, it was solid. Even a brush against the red skin was agony.

“I was bitten by an ant,” he said as he broke out in a sweat.

She paled. “What did it look like?”

“Long, black, about this size.” As he held up his fingers, he became lightheaded. A sudden rush of white-hot pain blasted through his body, making him double over in agony.

“Oh, this isn’t good, this really isn’t good.”

He vaguely registered Belinda’s voice as he struggled through the pain. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Blinding, all-consuming agony. His muscles spasmed and tingled. He felt nauseated and lightheaded. When the wave passed, he was left panting and clinging to the tree.

“John?” Belinda said gently. “Honey, I think you’ve been bitten by a bullet ant.”

He worked to focus on her face as another wave of pain overwhelmed him. He rode it out as he gasped for air. When it passed, Belinda was holding him tight to keep him on the branch.

“I have to tie you to the tree. Otherwise you’ll fall. Can you sit back against the trunk? You have to help me. We need to get you settled fast.” Her face softened. “I’m so sorry, John. This is going to be bad.”

Beast wasn’t sure he could move at all, but he clenched his jaw and inched into position, just as the pain overwhelmed him again. He had to close his eyes as the world tilted. He thought maybe the trees were leaning towards him, and it was hot, so damn hot. His skin was on fire. When he’d ridden through the pain, he found Belinda had tied several nearby lianas around his waist to hold him against the tree.

“What?” he managed to get out. He wanted to know what the ant was. He wanted to know if the bite was deadly. He wanted to know who would watch over her if he was gone.

Another wave of pain hit him, and he couldn’t say anything else. All he could do was moan through it and make it to the other side. When he opened his eyes, Belinda was right there.

She brushed his hair back from his forehead. “This won’t kill you, honey. I know it feels like it, but I promise you it won’t. I think you were bitten by a bullet ant. It has the most painful insect bite on the planet.” She bit her lip as he felt another wave begin to build. “It can take up to twenty-four hours for the poison to work its way out of your system.”

Beast let out a howl of curse words as his body spasmed again. He was shaking hard now, and the constant throbbing in his leg made him feel like it was going to explode.

“There’s nothing we can do but get through it. Oh, John, I’m so sorry.” She pressed his forehead to her breast and held him tight as spikes of pain pulled him under.

He didn’t care what she told him. He knew he was going to die. The venom was going to rip him apart. He couldn’t open his eyes anymore, as when he did, he hallucinated. The jungle was moving, closing in on him, pressing against him until it squeezed him flat and he couldn’t breathe. He was grateful for the bindings, because staying upright on his own was not an option. With another grunt, he doubled over as far as the ropes would allow, as, one after another, the muscles throughout his body began to cramp.

When it passed, his head fell back against the tree and his eyes remained shut. All awareness of his surroundings was gone. All that remained was endurance, getting through each wave of pain as it built and crashed within him. There was nothing else. Nothing at all.