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“If anyone’s going to kill you, it’s gonna be me,” he said, turning back to the jungle before leaping off the boat as Wolf guided it to the shoreline. “Come on, let’s get this the fuck over with so we can go home.”
I turned back to everyone else. “For a moment, I actually thought he cared.”
“Sinner! Get your ass moving. If any natives come after me, I’m feeding you to them!”
“Yeah, I can feel the love,” Hunter grinned. “Don’t get dead.”
I laughed at that. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”
I turned and jumped off the boat, hearing Hunter call after me. “I know exactly who I’m talking to. That’s why I said it!”
I sloshed through the water, chasing after Knight as he stomped ashore. This really was a stupid idea, but if it helped even a little, I would go down in history as a Reed Security legend. And I’d keep my balls for a few more days.
“My grandmother moves faster than you,” Knight taunted over his shoulder.
“I didn’t know you had a grandmother. I thought you were just spawned from Satan one day.” A witty statement given what I was dealing with at home.
When he didn’t respond, I thought I might have actually hurt his feelings. “Knight, I was just joking.”
He still didn’t respond.
“I don’t actually think you were spawned from Satan. You know, you’re not actually a bad guy.”
He still didn’t say anything. He kept marching forward, ignoring me as he stomped through the tangled roots and weeds.
“In fact,” I continued. “Some would say you’re the best of us.”
Man, was I going to have to get down on my knees and praise the guy? This was getting ridiculous. “You know, I admire the way you left for Kate. Not many of us would give up our world to keep the woman we love safe. It was a ballsy move.”
Still not a single goddamn reaction.
“Although, I think you might have overdone it a little with the depressing look on your face when you returned,” I chuckled. “Might have been laying it on a little thick.”
He spun around and glared at me. “Are you going to talk the whole fucking time? Because I thought we were here to do a job.”
“I…I was just trying to connect with you.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That was how you thought you could connect with me?”
“I was trying to show my admiration for you.”
He sneered. “You don’t admire me. Fuck, you barely like me.”
“Okay, well, that’s true, but I’m supposed to lie to save your delicate ego.”
“You are not,” he snapped.
“You’re right. That was a lie too. Frankly, the whole idea of sucking up to you makes me nauseous. I was just trying not to piss you off. I don’t like the idea of being left in the Amazon.”
“If I was going to kill you, I would have just dumped you in the river and left you for the crocodiles.”
That made me chuckle. “There are no crocodiles in the Amazon.”
When he didn’t return the laughter, I stopped. “Seriously?”
“There are worse things that can kill you,” he said in a deadly voice. “Like poisonous snakes. Are we going to find that weed or talk about our feelings?”
I rolled my eyes as he walked away. “Right. I forgot that I was talking with the human robot.”