Primal Threat - Earl Emerson [47]
“Well,” said Zak, sighing. “If I wanted somebody to say something like that, I’d probably say it to them first. So…I guess I’ll have to follow my own advice. I love you and I’ve missed you and it’s been pure torture not seeing you every day.” He sat beside her and picked up her hand. “I really do love you.”
The sunset was beginning to damp down like a fire with a blanket thrown over it, and the colors from the horizon reflected in his brown eyes.
He kissed her. Or maybe she kissed him. She wasn’t really sure who made the first move or if there was a first move. They kissed until she was dizzy from the combination of kissing and the altitude and the encroaching darkness. “So we’re on again?” she asked. “We’re a couple? Please say we are.”
“What about your family?”
“You know my family is important to me, but I can’t let them dictate who I’m seeing.”
Zak would probably never get along with Kasey, but there was a slim chance that if he hung around long enough her father would come to accept him. After all, they were both men with strong ideals, men who’d thought through a clear and distinct vision of the world, even if those visions clashed. They’d both started off dirt poor and worked their way into something else. Nadine knew she could make this relationship work the second time.
“What the hell are you doing with my girl?” Scooter shouted.
Scooter was on the edge of the mountain with his hands on his hips. It was dark enough that Zak recognized him from his voice, a little high-pitched and narrow, even more so when he was peeved or attempting to be threatening. They’d been on the bluff awhile, had lost track of time, both aware from nearby voices that the cyclists had returned to their own camp. The sky had blued out and then gone charcoal black; stars were beginning to wink through the inky night.
Zak stared through the gloom at the pudgy young man in cargo-pocket shorts and voluminous white T-shirt. Scooter chugged from a brown bottle and tossed it casually onto the rocks a hundred feet below, where it exploded with a faint tinkling melody.
“Why don’t you go back and litter your own camp,” Zak said.
“Fuck you, fire boy.”
“Scooter, what are you doing?” said Nadine.
“What are you doing? We were getting worried about you. And then I find you making out with this asshole.”
“We weren’t making out,” Nadine said. “We were talking.”
“He’s got his dirty hands all over you. Get out of there, for God’s sake. Or I’ll tell your father what you’ve been doing.”
“That’s rich. How about I tell him all the things you made me do.”
“You better not, bitch.”
“Don’t threaten her,” Zak said.
“Quiet, Zak,” Nadine whispered. “Stay out of this. You’ll only make it worse. Come on. Help me off these rocks.”
Zak walked her along the narrow ledge and held her hand tightly as she made the last small leap to the main part of the mountain. He could tell by the way she gripped him that she was a lot more anxious about the height than she had let on.
“You driving home tonight?” Zak asked Nadine.
“That was the plan,” said Scooter. “But because of you they’ll be driving in the dark. If they get lost out here, it’s going to be your fault.”
“We’re not going to get lost,” said Nadine.
“I’ll have Stephens draw a map,” said Zak.
“And we’ve got cell phones. We can always call back and ask for directions.”
“None of our cells are working,” Scooter said.
Nadine clutched Zak’s hand as they walked up the narrow pathway to their camp, where they got directions from Stephens. On the way out, they passed the shadowy figures of Muldaur, Giancarlo, and Morse, the latter illuminated by a small camp light. A spray of stars was beginning to emerge overhead in far greater numbers than Zak ever saw in the city.
The three of them traipsed down