Chapter 8

 

Beast listened to Belinda’s breathing as she slept at his side. After she’d untied him, and he’d told her they were leaving at first light, the drugs in her system and the stress of the situation had knocked her out. She lay there, pressed against his side on the stinking mattress, trusting him to watch over her. And damn if her trust didn’t do something for him. Something that Belinda probably never intended. It cracked open the wall around his heart and let the woman seep inside. Just a little. But still…

He’d spent the hours she’d been asleep planning their escape, while he listened to their captors drink themselves unconscious. After Belinda had filled him in on what she’d seen around the camp, he knew their only chance of getting out of there was by boat. He’d been out cold for the trip into the camp, but there was no other way the kidnappers could have transported them. A large part of him wanted to get his hands on a gun and rid the world of these men. The more sensible, restrained part of him knew he couldn’t do anything that would put Belinda in even more danger. That meant sneaking out. Into the fucking jungle.

He mentally groaned. What the hell did he know about the jungle? He knew how to survive on the street. He’d spent more than a year living rough as a kid, rather than taking the risk with another foster home. He’d had several. Some good. Some bad. But the last one had been hell. After that, living on the street had been a breeze.

But this wasn’t the street. It wasn’t even Atlantic City. And he was also the only chance that Belinda had of getting out of there alive. Or, at least, untouched. His stomach contracted as he thought of the things their guard had told her. The look on her face once the cabin door had closed behind the man was something he would never forget. He’d wanted her to believe they’d really been kidnapped, but he hadn’t wanted reality to hit her like that. He hadn’t wanted her to be terrified, shocked and broken.

He kept his eyes on the tiny window and watched as the sky began to lighten. It was time to go. Gently, he cupped Belinda’s cheek and looked down at her. She took his breath away. So beautiful. So full of life. So fucking innocent. She’d lived her life in a privileged bubble, being adored by family and friends, never wanting for anything. Never hurting. Never even conceiving that their situation was real and something terrible was happening to them. He’d resented that about her, but now, after last night, he found the resentment had gone, and a deep desire to preserve her bubble was driving him now. So, she didn’t have the experience of life that he did? Maybe that was a good thing.

“Hollywood,” he said gently. “You gotta wake up. It’s time to go.”

She stirred and snuggled deeper into him. “Five more minutes,” she muttered, her eyes still closed.

Beast couldn’t help the smile that broke free. She was cute. Like a kitten in a den full of pit bulls. “Belinda. We need to go.”

Her eyes fluttered open and the bluest of blues hit him like lasers. “Joh—Beast?” She blinked and looked around. He knew the moment she woke fully and realised where she was—her body lost its fluid softness and became stiff with tension.

She sat up straight. “It’s time to go?”

“Yeah, it’s time.”

“Good.” She nodded to herself. “That’s really good.” She scrambled away from him, embarrassed that she’d been wedged against him. Beast fought the urge to pull her back. It didn’t feel right to have distance between them. And what the hell did that mean?

“I’m, uh, sorry for, you know, clinging to you earlier.” Her cheeks were red as she scrambled to her feet. “And for falling asleep. I was…I was…upset. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for not believing you.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I got it so wrong.”

She backed away from him with each word, until she was against the wall. Beast was on his feet and striding towards her before he could second-guess his actions. He held her chin and angled her face up at him, to make her look him in the eye. Her eyes were wide with vulnerability, and he almost missed the Belinda who’d thought their kidnapping would be a fun experience.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Nothing. We’re in this together. Right?”

She seemed to be searching his eyes for the truth. He hoped she saw it. They had to rely on each other or they weren’t going to get out of this alive.

“Right?” he said again.

“Right.” She let out a breath.

“Good.” He nodded and stepped away from her, again aware at how much effort that action took. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to wrap himself around her. He wanted her in every single way a man could want a woman. It was a primal need. It had nothing to do with who they were, but lots to do with the situation they were in. He was a protector. That’s how he was wired. And she needed protection. It was nothing more. Nothing. She wasn’t his type. They didn’t walk in the same world. Logic told him that the draw between them was based on circumstances. And he could handle that. He had to.

He put as much distance between them as the cabin would allow and ran a hand through his hair. He needed to get a grip. The drugs they’d pumped into him had obviously screwed with his ability to function. He looked at Belinda, whose shoulders had straightened, and she seemed to be giving herself a silent pep talk. Good. That was good. They needed to focus.

He cleared his throat, wishing they hadn’t already finished the water they’d been given. “I’ve been listening. They partied until they fell asleep. With any luck, they’re out cold. It’s lighter outside, but not full light.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s five. This is the best time to leave. You ready?” Like she had a choice.

Her chin went up. “Absolutely.”

He nodded, unreasonably proud of her resolve. “I need you to call for the guard. Tell him you need to use the restroom again. Get him to step inside. I’ll be ready for him.”

He watched her swallow hard and knew her mind was going over what happened the last time she dealt with their guard.

“Belinda?” Beast hated the anxiety he saw on her face. “You up for this?”

“Yes.” She sounded far more certain than she looked. “Yes. I can do this. I was born to do this.”

He strode to stand behind the door. “You get him in. I’ll deal with the rest.”

She nodded and reached for the door. There was no sign of the nerves or fear from earlier. She was acting, pretending that everything was fine. Pretending she hadn’t been scared out of her mind not two hours earlier. Beast knew she was doing exactly what he’d asked her to do, but still, it rankled. He felt a cold chill run down his spine at the sight of her donning her mask. And then she looked up at him, and he saw it. The trace of fear, the hesitant vulnerability that said she more than remembered her earlier experience. At the sight, Beast felt like dirt. His hand shot out, curling around the satin-soft skin of her wrist. Wide eyes looked up at him.

“I won’t let him touch you or say anything to you.”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly. “I know,” she whispered.

Two words that shot straight to his soul. A tether between them.

Belinda reached out and knocked the door. “Hola,” she called. “I need el baño.”

There was a scraping noise and the door swung open. Beast couldn’t see who was there, but the relief Belinda tried to mask made him think it wasn’t the same guard as earlier.

“El baño?” the guard snapped.

“Si.”

“Vamos.”

Belinda took a step towards the open door and then stopped. She flashed a smile at the man. “Shoes.” She pointed to her feet.

Before the guy could object, she turned and ran over to where her ridiculous shoes sat beside the mattress. With a grunt, the guy followed her inside. He wasn’t the same guard. But that didn’t mean he was a good guy. Beast didn’t hesitate. He swung the door shut and slammed his fist into the man’s jaw. One punch. That was all it took to make him crumple to the floor.

“Glass jaw. Lucky,” Beast said. “Get the ropes.”

He searched the guy’s pockets and took what might be useful: a book of matches and a cheap mobile phone with a dead battery. They wouldn’t be able to use it to call for help, but maybe there would be information on it that would help track these bastards down later.

Belinda handed him the same rope that had been used to bind him. “Before you tie him, I need his jeans and his shoes.”

He stilled. “What?”

“I can’t run in my shoes. Plus, I don’t want my toes to be naked, waving around like a tasty treat for anything that wants to take a bite. Trust me, I don’t want to put my feet into his shoes. I mean, can you imagine how much sweat has pooled in them?” She shuddered. “But I want to live more than I care about his sweat. I can always bathe in antibacterial wash once we get out of this place. Right?”

And she was back. The mouthy, fluffy-headed woman that drove him nuts. Who was the real Belinda? The woman who curled into his arms and needed him, or the woman who chattered like a chimpanzee? He honestly didn’t know, and that was what disturbed him the most. Would be ever know if the woman Belinda presented to him was real? Was everything just an act?

He pulled the guy’s sneakers off, while Belinda unfastened his jeans.

“Why do we need the jeans?” Beast asked as he tossed the shoes beside her.

“If I don’t cover up, I’m going to get eaten alive.” She grinned at him. “That’s a relief. He’s wearing underpants. If he’d gone commando, I was planning on taking my chances with the bugs. Because wearing jeans his dick had touched— Ew!”

Seriously? “You’re worried about mosquito bites? There are guys who want to rape you and you’re worried about mosquito bites?”

“It isn’t only mosquito bites. There’s the bot fly, too. It lays its eggs under your skin. You break out in pustules that erupt with maggots. You want to deal with that, be my guest. I’d rather be covered.”

With a grumble, Beast stripped the jeans off the guy and handed them to her. He tied the guard’s feet while Belinda shimmied into the jeans. They didn’t quite fasten over her hips, so she reached into that tiny bag of hers, produced an elastic hair tie and used it to loop the button and the hole together to keep the jeans in place. A second later, she was sitting on the floor, tugging on the shoes.

“This guy has tiny feet,” Belinda said as she struggled to wedge her foot into the shoe. “Made it. They’ll have to do. I’ve worn worse to a premiere, only this time there’s no stylist armed with Botox injections to numb my feet so I can walk.”

Botox? For her feet? Belinda definitely lived in an entirely different world to the one Beast lived in. He ripped off a strip of the guy’s T-shirt and used it to gag him. Then he slung the rifle over his shoulder and slipped the machete into his belt. He was good to go. He turned to Belinda, to find her busy stripping the stained sheet off the bed. She spotted him watching her and pointed at the torn mosquito net.

“Can you get that down? It’s a mess, but it’s better than nothing.”

He didn’t even bother to ask what she was doing now; it would only waste time. He grabbed the net, scrunched it into a ball and thrust it at her. She put it under her arm with the sheet and the two empty plastic bottles that they could, hopefully, refill with water.

“Ready now? You sure you don’t need to fix your hair before we run for our lives?” He sounded irritated, because he felt irritated. She was wasting time.

Her hand flew to her head, and she patted at her hair. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

Beast pinched the bridge of his nose and reminded himself that after this little adventure, he never had to see Belinda Collins ever again. It didn’t help.

“There’s nothing wrong with your hair. It’s paparazzi perfect. I’m sure our kidnappers will appreciate how great your hair looks as they chase us through the forest.”

Her eyes went wide. “They’re going to chase us? I thought we were sneaking out. I thought they wouldn’t follow.”

Yeah, he was sure that in Belinda’s world, the kidnappers found that their captives had escaped, looked at each other and went, “Oh well, at least we tried.” He glared at her. “I’ll ask again, are you ready?”

“Ready.” She strode towards the door. “No, wait, I lied. I forgot my shoes.” She ran back for the stupid, sexy sandals.

“Leave them,” Beast said. “They’re useless.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “These are weapons. Didn’t you see Single White Female? Jennifer Jason Leigh killed a man by whacking a stiletto heel through his eyeball.”

For a second, Beast was lost for words. Then he remembered they had to run. He grabbed her wrist, removed the shoes and tossed them into the corner, before dragging her out of the hut.

“I hated those shoes anyway,” she muttered. “They’re no good for walking or dancing. But I thought I’d get my money’s worth if I could use them to kill somebody.”

Beast pretended he couldn’t hear her. It was for the best. For both of them.

He stuck to the shadows against the building walls, keeping an arm in front of Belinda to ensure she kept behind him and out of sight.

“We’re clear,” he whispered, and signalled for her to follow him across the clearing.

He figured they would expect them to take the shortest route of escape possible and run into the jungle behind their hut. So, he headed for the opposite side of camp, the one farthest away from their hut and the track leading out of the clearing. He wasn’t sure if going in the direction he chose would take them further into the jungle, or closer to civilisation, but it was the best he could come up with. In hours, they would kill him and rape Belinda. It was too risky to sit around waiting to be rescued. The faster they got out of camp and put as much distance as possible between them and their kidnappers, the better.

The camp was eerily quiet. The only sound of life was the occasional snore from one of the cabins. There was no security, an indication that the kidnappers thought they were invulnerable. Belinda curled a hand into the back of his shirt, and he felt her touch zing through his body. He wanted her close. He wanted to keep her safe. But she didn’t have to touch. It was distracting. He glanced over his shoulder at her with a frown. She smiled and shrugged, but didn’t let go.

He reached behind him, grabbed Belinda and thrust her in front of him. If there was going to be shooting, they could aim at him. She gave him a quizzical look but kept on running. As they reached the thick wall of greenery, Beast looked back. Nothing. No movement. No sound. Nothing. A feeling of elation rushed through him, but they weren’t out of the woods yet—literally.

They ran as quickly and as quietly as they could. Every sense Beast possessed was working overtime. He hated that his back was facing the camp. He half expected a shot to ring out and their escape to end with a bullet in his spine.

“If someone shoots me,” he said, “keep running. Don’t stop for me.”

She looked back at him in shock. “Don’t be an idiot. If someone shoots you, I’m staying beside you to keep you alive. We’re in this together. Remember?”

Beast wasn’t sure what use she would be if he were shot, but he kept that to himself.

Once they were hidden by the dense plant life, Beast reached for Belinda’s arm. “I’ll go in front now, clear the way. We’re going fast. Keep up.”

She moved behind him, staying close. “How long do you think we have before they wake up?”

“Depends how drunk they were.”

The rainforest closed in around them, and Beast fought the feeling of disorientation it caused. This was nothing like the city. Everywhere he looked, there was dense foliage in every shade of green imaginable. There was so much of it that it was hard to find a place for the eyes to rest, to focus. Tall tree trunks stretched up high into the dense canopy, where their branches spread. Above them, the blue sky was replaced by green. Every now and then, the canopy broke and early morning sunlight streamed through to the forest floor. They were boxed in on all sides, green all around them, green above and green underfoot. It was claustrophobic.

And everywhere he looked, there was chaos. Long vines wrapped around branchless trunks, plants crept up the vines, hitching a ride up to the canopy and the sun above it. The ground was littered with leaves and dense with spindly young trees, bamboo and palms. It was impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction, and anywhere he did focus seemed to be alive with insects and birds. As far as he could see, the Amazon forest was literally covered with ants. Then there were the flying insects that buzzed around the trees. And the mosquitoes who’d made a beeline for them as soon as they were out of the hut. Everything moved. The ground. The trees. The plants. Everywhere he looked, something looked back at him.

They clambered over a fallen tree, which was covered in moss and vines, before moving deeper into the mass of green and further away from their captors.

“I don’t think we need to worry about them hearing us,” Belinda said. “I never realised the rainforest was this noisy.”

Beast didn’t reply, just held the leaves of a large palm out of her way to let her pass.

“There must be about a billion cicadas in this part of the forest alone.”

He didn’t answer because she didn’t seem to need one.

“And the birds. Have you ever heard so many different calls? I haven’t. I’m sure that’s monkeys I can hear.” She paused. “Yep, there are definitely monkeys overhead. Did you know that scientists don’t know how many species of monkeys there are in the Amazon? They’re still discovering new ones.” There was a loud screeching sound, and Belinda’s hand curled into the back of his shirt. “Oh, did you hear that? It’s a howler monkey. They’re the loudest monkeys in the world. The baddies will never hear us over that.”

Baddies? And seriously? Where did she get this crap? “Let me guess, you learned all this from Daniel Radcliffe’s movie.”

She let go of his shirt, and he almost regretted the loss of her touch. “Wow, you really have a low opinion of me, don’t you? What do you think I do all day? Hang out at the spa, get facials and watch gossip TV?”

That was exactly what he thought, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Guess there’s no need to get to know me, then, huh? Seeing as you’ve already made your mind up about who I am. I’m the frivolous airhead who doesn’t do anything of use with her life. I can’t possibly know anything of value. Poor, poor you, you’re stuck with me in the middle of the jungle. I’m such a weight around your neck. Oh, how ever will you cope?”

“I didn’t say that.” It was a lame argument. He sure as hell had been thinking it. And to be fair, she hadn’t exactly done anything to prove him wrong.

“Well, let me know when you want to say something of value, John. It would be nice to hear from the man instead of the chip on your shoulder.”

They were running for their lives. He didn’t have time for this shit. “Don’t call me John.”

“No, of course not. You’re Beast. Big. Bad. Beast. The scary, tattooed wonder of the MMA world.”

He spun to face her, and she walked right into his chest. He grasped her shoulders.

“Woman, you need to shut the hell up before you get us both in trouble.”

She waved a hand around to indicate their surroundings. “They can’t hear us. I can barely hear you over the damn monkeys.”

“Well, I have no problem hearing the crap you’re spouting, and you’re driving me nuts.”

“Oh, get over it. I talk when I’m nervous. Guess what, I’m not perfect. And neither are you…”

She paused and her eyes gleamed, and he knew she was going to do it. He willed her not to. His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed and he willed her not to taunt him. But he could almost feel the emotion bursting from her. She was wired, looking for an outlet, looking for a confrontation to release the pressure inside her that fear and anxiety had caused. And she chose to pick a fight with him. Beast understood. He did. It was one of the reasons he still climbed into a ring.

But this wasn’t the time.

Because the need to let off steam was riding him hard too.

“Don’t do it.” His voice had dropped an octave, and he willed her to heed the warning in it.

Her eyes sparked. Her cheeks flushed. She took a breath and with a tilt of her chin that challenged him she said, “No, you aren’t perfect either, are you, John?”

She folded her arms, cocked her hip and smirked at him with those pouty lips of hers, daring him to do something about it, pushing him over the edge on which the two of them were so precariously balanced. He felt himself fall as he reached for her. And then he did what he’d been wanting to do since he’d first set eyes on her. He shut her up the only way he knew how, by slamming his mouth over hers.

It was electric.

Static charges shot through his body, making his skin sizzle with need.

Because of her.

Because of how she tasted, and felt, and moved against him.

She moaned as her lips opened. He clasped her head. His tongue surged into her mouth. There was a second when the world around them seemed to stop, when silence engulfed them as the rainforest disappeared. There was only the two of them, sharing the desperate need to release everything within them. To let the other person take it all. To find some relief.