Page 31 of Uncharted Desires
She stopped and listened. He was right, the voices were coming from somewhere on the mountain.
“We need to find a place to hide.”
Kat nodded, and they crept back into the safety of the rainforest.
After resting, finding some food, and hiding out in the bush, the sun was setting in the sky as they searched for a more permanent hiding spot. West noticed an opening in the rocks that seemed promising.
“Here.” He motioned to Kat.
West stepped inside, flicking on the lighter.
“What if there’s a jaguar or something in there?” she asked.
“Well, tell my . . . I guess tell Lina I love her.”
She scrunched up her nose in confusion. “Who’s Lina? A new girlfriend?”
He laughed at her apparent jealousy. “No, she was our housekeeper, the closest thing I had to a mom.”
“Oh, sorry.”
He waved her off. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
She didn’t reply, although he knew it was killing her to keep her thoughts to herself. She was so eager to get him to be open, but there were some things he wasn’t ready to talk about, especially as he was walking into a dark cave on an island hiding from the men shooting at them. He’d rather not go there before death. He reached the back of the cave, which wasn’t too deep, and turned around to walk back to her.
“It’s empty.”
“That’s good.” She walked in and plopped herself down against the cave wall. Her shoulders slumped and her legs stretched out before her. She looked pale, tired, and defeated. There was nothing he could really do, except . . . “How about I go find some water? I think I saw a stream not too far away.”
She nodded, and it surprised West she didn’t want to go with him.
“I’ll be right back.”
“I saw some fallen coconuts back there.” She had dark smudges under her eyes, and West was worried at her look of fatigue. They had been running almost the whole day. She was devoid of all color in her face, and something seemed off.
Outside the cave, West searched his pockets for his pocketknife to open the coconuts and realized she must have it. Turning back around for the cave, he stepped back in and stopped dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on her.
“Jesus, Kat, what happened?”
He knelt in front of her, trying to remain calm despite the panic coursing through him. Her arm was coated with a thick layer of drying blood, and he could still see it oozing from the wound. He gently took hold of the fabric she had been trying to tie around her arm, and she flinched in pain as he pushed it down on her injury.
“Did you get shot?” he asked, his voice shaking slightly.
She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, her face absent of all emotion. “It just grazed my arm,” she replied.
“You’re still bleeding.” He couldn’t believe how calm she was about this. Her arm was practically gushing blood, and she was trying to bandage it up herself with nothing but what remained of her pants.
“Here.” She handed him a torn piece of cloth. “Tie this one above the wound to slow the blood.”
“Like a tourniquet?”
She nodded, and her eyes fluttered shut. He worried the blood loss was getting to her. What if she passed out and he couldn’t wake her? He needed to keep her up.
“Kat. Kat! Wake up!” He pulled her into his arms. At the sound of his gruff voice, she opened her eyes, trying to focus on him. “What’s your full name?” he asked, trying to keep her awake.
“Katrina Nicole Brooks.”
The words rolled off her lips like a mantra and he smiled despite himself at the realization that he hadn’t heard her full name in a long time, and just how beautiful it was. “Do you remember when we first met?”