Page 13

They were going around in circles. Literally.

It had been two weeks since they’d arrived at Florestacasa, and they were no closer to having discovered the Cidade da Lua.

Or whatever this mesa de pedra Miri had talked about was.

First, critters had ransacked their food supplies, leaving them with little prepackaged food to take on day hikes.

Then, some of the mapping equipment had mysteriously broken.

After that, the red string they’d been using to mark their way like breadcrumbs had seemingly vanished, resulting in significant detours. Fortunately, they’d made it back to Florestacasa that night using GPS.

So, naturally, a day later, the GPS went missing, necessitating a whole new system for tracking their whereabouts.

The following day, a pit viper blocked their path.

And then the rain came.

Round and round they went, each day encountering a new obstacle. All thanks to Rafa.

Well, maybe not the viper. Or the rain.

But everything else was one hundred percent Rafa. His father would be so proud. With each sabotage, Miri grew weary, inching closer and closer to her tipping point (assuming she had one). So why didn’t it feel good? Why did Rafa feel like a sack of shit when he went to bed each night?

“Maybe an animal keeps taking the string,” Anissa chimed in after their fiftieth wrong turn one particularly taxing afternoon.

“Or maybe it’s os protetores,” Rafa followed up with a casual shrug, clutching the bundle of strings deep in his pants pocket. He’d have to remember to dispose of them later.

His comment earned him a perturbed eye roll from Miri before she pressed onward. Perturbed or not, however, her simple acknowledgment of his existence sent a flutter through his stomach.

Because Rafa was going around in circles, too. Figuratively speaking.

He did somersaults trying to avoid her. He tried to stay away. He really did. But his mind and body had other ideas. He gravitated toward her. Sought out her proximity. Watched her. Photographed her. It was his job, after all. For the article, of course. And he had to make sure he stayed on top of the mission. He needed to keep an eye on her, to make sure she hadn’t made some important discovery.

But he knew it was bullshit. The night they’d mutually agreed to end things had done nothing to dissuade his affection. If anything, her ridiculous chatter only further cemented that Miri was special. And that any guy lucky enough to get to spend the rest of his life with her would never grow bored.

It just wouldn’t be him.

He’d traveled the world. Witnessed some of Earth’s most magnificent wonders. Yet none of it was as fascinating—or beautiful—as Dr. Miriam Jacobs.

Miri’s reason for pulling away was unclear. He hadn’t expected that, to be honest. He had thought he’d show up at her room, she’d think he was there to finish what they’d started on the boat, and he would crush her when he informed her instead that they needed to back off. The fact that she almost beat him was a punch deep in his gut.

She’d rejected him.

And yet there had been uncertainty in her voice. In both their voices. Almost hesitant, waiting to see if the other would take it back.

Though neither of them did. But that little glimmer of doubt. That speck of uncertainty. It gave Rafa hope that maybe she was still thinking about him, too.

False hope, seeing as it wasn’t like there was anything he could—or rather, would—do about it. But he liked imagining that she saw something in him like he’d seen in her.

For the fifteenth day in a row, they set out into the rainforest, taking a different path than they’d taken the prior days. Not that it mattered. Most days they somehow still ended up in the same place: always at the rim of a ravine at least half a football field wide and thirty feet deep, bounded by a steep wall of vegetation, leaving them with no place to go but back from whence they came. By the look of things, this morning wouldn’t be any different.

“Haven’t we seen this tree before?” Jerry, one of the equipment techs, called out, wincing as he lugged a giant bag on his back on the trail bordering the ravine.

From the outside, it seemed a silly question. After all, how could a person tell one tree from another in the Amazon, full of millions of trees? But this particular tree—a walking palm with a hearty network of stilt-like roots towering almost seven feet high—stood out among the crowd.

And they had one hundred percent walked by it at least a half dozen times in the last couple of days. Rafa could identify it by the row of bromeliads growing along one of its branches, which he had noticed days ago.

“You say that about every tree,” Felix said, coming up beside Rafa and rolling his eyes as if to say, Can you believe this guy?

Rafa snickered. He, Felix, and Logan had formed a bit of a friendship over the last couple of weeks. It was too bad they didn’t live near each other in the States. And that Rafa was lying to them.

“Well, how about you try carrying this bag sometime, and then see how you feel about circling the same trees day in and day out?” Jerry said, stopping and letting the bag fall to his feet.

“How about you try not complaining every day?” Felix said, spinning around.

Miri may not have had a tipping point, but it sure seemed the rest of the team did.

“Hey, hey,” she said, pushing through the crowd already gathered around Felix and Jerry like they were ready to spar. “We’re not going to do that. I’m not going to have people fighting on my watch.”

A group of monkeys started howling at the disturbance.

“Great,” Miri said, throwing up her hands. “Now look what you started.”

“Yeah, you’d better watch it,” Rafa said. “You don’t want Dr. Jacobs going Ninja Warrior on you.”

Miri rolled her eyes, but not without first flashing him the sexiest smile, and then she turned to head back on the trail—right before tripping on a root sticking out of the ground and losing her balance. She stumbled sideways a few steps, straight toward the path’s boundary at the rim of the ravine.

“No, no, no, no, no!” she called out as she fell over the lip.

“Miri!” Rafa yelled as he reached for her, but it was too late.

Rafa leaned over the edge, witnessing Miri flailing her arms through the air as she dropped. She grabbed on to one of the vines hanging from the trees, her momentum swinging her to the other side of the ravine and straight toward the steep wall of vegetation. Anything could have been on the other side of that greenery. A sheet of rock. A tangle of trees. Another drop-off. It was virtually impossible to tell from this vantage point.

Helpless, Rafa watched from above as Miri braced herself for impact.

Whoosh!

One moment she was there, and the next she was gone, swallowed by the greenery.

The group froze, all except Rafa, who took a tentative step forward, his arms straight out to his sides to keep the others from falling into the ravine.

“Miriam!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, his heart pounding so hard he could barely breathe. “Miriam! Answer me!”

Hearing nothing, Rafa rushed into the ravine, sliding down the dirt, when a riotous sound resonated through the forest. He paused. Was that…laughter?

“Miriam!” he called out again. “Are you okay?”

“Yes!” she called back, instantly settling his heart. “Come quick! I think I found something!”

Rafa looked over the vast expanse of the ravine—it would take a while to trek through the thick understory—then he climbed back out, took hold of a vine, slung his camera around to his back, then said to the team, “Meet you over there,” before throwing himself over the edge and swinging toward the thick curtain of leaves and vines. His body stiffened as he reached the barrier, clenching his eyes tight and praying with all his might.

Swoosh.

Leaves and twigs scraped across his skin as he broke through the vegetation. Once through, he opened his eyes to a giant, flat stone slab in the shape of a round table.

His body swung over the stone and he let go of the vine, landing on the table with finesse and precision just like he and Miri had practiced.

Once his feet were firmly planted, he took in his surroundings, looking up at the wall of stone protecting the slab from the elements and visibility. Water seeped from the wall, with bromeliads and orchids growing in the cracks.

He hopped off the stone, then turned back to it, running his hand along the top. The surface was partially covered in moss, but in the places where it was bare, an almost luminescent rock glistened, shimmering in the light peaking through the thick tree canopy above.

“Whoa,” Rafa said, gazing at the space and looking up toward the sky.

“?‘Whoa’ is right,” Miri said, sidling up beside him.

He glanced down at her, but she was already staring at him. Beaming. Adorably proud of herself. She took his hand in hers, wrapping her other hand around his arm, then she looked at the stone slab, admiring her find.

Now Rafa was the one staring, unable to stop smiling. The heat of her body pressed against his, creating a fiery inferno between them. But it was her smile, from her contentment, that filled every inch of him with warmth.

He missed her touch. Missed being near her. Sure, they were together, hiking with the others through the rainforest day in and day out, and he watched her from behind his camera lens, but it was the first time in more than two weeks they’d been alone since that night in her cabin before Anissa interrupted. The first time he could take in her lily of the valley scent, even underneath the sweat and ever-present twigs in her hair.

She hugged his arm, then glanced up at him again.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” she responded, her eyes sweet and her mouth curled into an almost impossibly cute smile.

“Hi,” he repeated involuntarily.

How did she do it? How did she manage to turn Rafa, a man who was, by all accounts, known for being good with words, into a bumbling doofus?

“What do you think?” she asked.

What do I think? He was thinking about how much time they had before the others made it through the ravine. Wondered whether any would take the shortcut on the vines. They likely only had minutes. Maybe seconds. It took everything for Rafa not to spin her into his arms and kiss her. What harm could a little kiss cause, after all?

“Beautiful,” he said.

“I know! And I fucking found it!” Miri said, releasing his arm and bringing him back to reality. The exact place where harm awaited.

Miri screamed with excitement, her scream quickly becoming laughter. She turned around, inspecting the stone. It was more of a boulder with a flat top. Even with the moss, dirt, and grime caking its surface, it really was quite beautiful. Even if it wasn’t what Rafa had been referring to.

“What is this place?” Rafa asked as he circled around the stone, examining each angle. With slow, steady movements, he brought his camera to his eye, snapping photos of the stone and its surroundings.

“I…I think it might be the mesa de pedra,” she said. “This is it. This is the first landmark on the way to the Moon City.”

He scanned the stone. Whatever gemstone it was made of was magnificent, but in the end, it was only a rock. A large rock, yes, but just a rock. The placement of it was what was most spectacular, though, tucked back in this hidden botanical trove.

“And what exactly is that?” he asked. “The mesa de pedra.”

“It literally means ‘stone table,’ but many think this is the spot where the people of the Moon City would come and trade with other people in the Amazon. It was the farthest location from the city that they would regularly travel, and the closest they would allow others to come to the Moon City,” she explained.

“But isn’t that Portuguese? Mesa de pedra?”

“Well, yes. The people who lived in the Cidade da Lua likely spoke some other language. Perhaps some form of a Tupian or Arawak language. Their word for this place would have likely been lost over the centuries, though. So the landmarks are known by more common Portuguese terms.”

“What do you mean, landmarks ?” Rafa lowered his camera and shot a confused glance at Miri.

Her eyes widened a bit, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Oh, I mean, there are probably other markers on the way toward the Moon City, don’t you think?” she said. But she was holding something back.

She quickly looked away, clearly trying to avoid eye contact. What wasn’t she telling him?

He couldn’t let her off that easy. Rafa was taking a step forward and opened his mouth to ask follow-up questions, when the wall of vines rustled behind them, stealing their attention. Dammit.

“Whoa! What is that thing?” Felix asked as he emerged from the other side of the vegetation.

“It’s the mesa de pedra,” Miri responded confidently, as if she’d somehow gotten confirmation in the last thirty seconds. “I found it.”

Now wasn’t the time to point out that her “find” was a complete accident. But it was her clumsiness that led them here. Too bad for all the previous explorers and their coordination. Who knew all you had to do was trip, swing on a vine, blast through a sheet of foliage, and voilà!

The rest of the group pushed through the vines, filling the small space and inspecting the stone table and its surroundings.

“What’s the mesa de pedra?” Logan followed up.

Miri filled in the team, repeating the facts she’d recited to Rafa but elaborating further on the details. Explaining how the people of the Moon City brought their goods and wares to this spot. How it was likely selected for its distance, the stone table possibly containing similar mineral properties as the stone found in the city itself.

“How can you be sure?” Jerry, the skeptic, asked.

“Well, I…uh…” Miri struggled, looking around for a sign. Something—anything—that could confirm this was the place.

“I mean,” she continued, “what else could it be?”

“Um, maybe just a rock?” Jerry said.

Truthfully, there was nothing spectacular about this place. It was, after all, a giant boulder in the middle of the Amazon. Probably one of hundreds like it. Nothing remarkable that would differentiate it from any other slab of stone.

Didn’t mean Rafa didn’t want to punch Jerry for pointing out the obvious.

“Fuck!” Miri called out, seemingly unexpectedly. The team stopped scouring the area to watch her, all waiting for her next move. “Dammit!” she then followed up, kicking a stone at her foot. “It’s just another rock.”

Rafa glanced over at Jerry, who was bolstering himself up a bit as if proud that Miri agreed with him. Smartass prick.

Anissa walked up beside Miri, placing her hand on her shoulder. “Hey, we don’t know anything yet. We only just got here.”

“And so what if this isn’t the spot?” Rafa chimed in, hoping to make her feel better. “It’s still pretty cool, and you’re the one who found it. None of the rest of us can say that.”

Miri shot a glance toward Rafa and smiled. He could almost feel her hand squeezing his arm, needing his encouragement.

“No, you’re right,” she said, turning back to Anissa. “We can’t rule anything out yet.” Miri spun around to the rest of the group. “Maybe this is just a rock. Or maybe it’s something more. We’ll come back tomorrow and do some excavating. See if there are any clues. And then ,” she exaggerated, glancing at Jerry, “we’ll determine whether this is just some old rock.”

The crew sat around the firepit that night, passing around a bottle of who knew what, laughing and joking around for the first time in over a week. There was still a bit of tension in the air, everyone uncertain about what would happen when they returned to the site the next day. For all they knew, their excavation would confirm it was nothing but another wild goose chase. Yet another detour in a series of mishaps.

But as the liquor flowed, everyone loosened up. Talking. Drinking. Horsing around. Rafa sat back and observed, for the most part. He always found the dynamics and camaraderie of crew members on jobs to be fascinating. People who might not have any connection or even like each other in the outside world became the best of friends. He’d made a lot of pals on these types of gigs.

Rarely did they last beyond that.

Rafa snapped a few pics of the group, always having liked including candid shots of crew being regular people with his stories. The fire provided nice lighting for the photos. Highlights of oranges and reds on the otherwise shadowy figures. Miri looked especially beautiful across the fire from him chatting with Anissa, her delicate features emphasized by the soft glow.

The fire crackled with a sizzle-pop , and Miri turned her attention to the blaze—and beyond it, at Rafa. She smiled, then said something to Anissa before standing and walking toward him.

“Mind if I sit?” she said, towering over him, his back against a downed log.

“By all means,” he said, brushing the dirt beside him with his hand, as if it could possibly clean the space.

She lowered to his level, sitting close enough that their shoulders touched even though there was plenty of room on the other side of her. They sat in silence, watching Felix and Rahim, another team member, get into a faux wrestling match after a friendly debate over the proper way to say Neanderthal . Their tussle commanded everyone’s attention as they rolled around on the ground, laughing and ruffling each other’s hair.

“Thanks,” Miri said as Rafa snapped a picture of Logan giving Felix a noogie.

“For what?” Rafa asked, setting his camera down at his side.

“For making me feel better earlier.” She twisted her hands in her lap.

“Hey,” he said, nudging her in the side, “no matter what, it was a pretty cool find.”

“I know, right?” she said excitedly, turning slightly toward him. “And did you happen to catch my landing?”

“Sorry, I missed it. How did it go?”

“It was rad.”

Rad? Rafa snickered and covered his mouth.

“What?” she said with a smile, tugging his arm away from his face.

“Nothing. Just trying to picture your landing.” He couldn’t help but reciprocate the smile.

“Well, it was perfect .”

“You must have had a good teacher,” he said with a wink. She ducked her head, trying to conceal her smile.

“He was all right,” she said, nudging his shoulder and sending a tingle through his body.

A flutter he quickly pushed away. If you care about her, you need to convince her to leave… His father’s voice repeated in his head. He needed to get up. Sit somewhere else. Somewhere far enough away that he couldn’t engage in pleasant, carefree conversations or feel her heat.

“Ahhhh!” Jerry screamed from across the way. “Get it off me!”

Felix and Logan pinned Jerry down while Rahim plucked the largest spider Rafa had ever seen from his back and tossed it away from the campfire circle.

Miri tsked. “It’s just a goliath birdeater,” she said almost under her breath.

“Um…a what?” Rafa asked, vigorously rubbing his chest.

“It’s a tarantula. Practically harmless,” she said.

Nothing about something called a goliath birdeater sounded harmless .

“Well, I’ve got the creeps just thinking about it,” he said, craning his neck to check his back.

“I’m pretty sure you would feel it if you had a foot-long spider on your back.”

He shuddered. “You say it like it’s nothing.”

Miri looked over at him and snickered. “Well, he’s over there acting like he was about to get his head bitten off by it. At worst, it would be like the sting of a wasp.”

“Which, in my opinion, also sounds awful.”

Miri smacked her lips again in disagreement. “I swear, it’s like Jerry doesn’t want to be here, you know? Always complaining. Getting in his unsolicited comments.”

He could hear the annoyance in her voice.

“You can’t blame him for being tired and frustrated. It’s a hard job,” Rafa said. “Ninety percent of the population wouldn’t last a couple of days out here, and we’ve been here for over two weeks.”

“Ugh,” Miri said, tossing her head back and resting it against the log, looking up at the sky. “Don’t remind me.”

“Of what? Of how long we’ve been out here?”

Miri tipped her head back and twisted her shoulders to face Rafa. “I just don’t know how much longer this crew has it in them if we don’t find something more definitive soon, you know?”

“Something like what? Like another landmark?”

She froze and her eyes widened.

“Come on, Pringles. What do you know?”

“I…I…”

Yes. She was going to tell him.

Right then, Felix plopped beside Rafa, out of breath. Damn.

“Did you catch a shot of that big-ass spider?” Felix asked.

Before Rafa could answer, Jerry came over, pointing his finger. “If you did, you can’t put that in the magazine,” Jerry said.

“Don’t worry. I got your good side,” Rafa said. He could feel Miri’s smile. A bit of vindication for Jerry’s whining.

Jerry opened his mouth to protest, but Felix butted in. “Have you been getting many decent shots? I mean, not that we’ve really done anything yet,” Felix asked.

Rafa noticed Miri’s shoulders deflate out of the corner of his eye.

“A few,” Rafa said.

“Can we see?” Felix asked.

Rafa handed the camera to Felix. “You can hit the arrow there and scroll through. Though, like you said, we’ve only just begun.”

A more-than-buzzed Logan started belting out the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun,” while swaying back and forth in Rahim’s arms. What a bunch of goofballs. But at least they were lovable goofballs. Rafa smiled as he watched them, feeling sorry that their time together would likely be short lived.

“You’ve sure got a lot of pictures of Dr. Jacobs in here,” Felix said, snapping Rafa out of his thoughts.

Shit. He did have a lot of pictures of her. No, not a lot. A shitload.

Rafa tossed a glance at Miri, who was already looking at him. Great. Did the guys not realize that she was sitting right there ?

“Um, well, she is the lead. Of course she’s in a lot of the photos,” Rafa said, pulling on the back of his neck and trying to play it off.

And desperately avoiding eye contact with Miri.

“I don’t know. This one doesn’t really look like an I’m taking pictures of her because she’s the lead sort of pic,” Felix said, turning the camera around so Rafa—and everyone else, Miri included—could see the photo he was referring to on the little view screen.

A photo of Miri up close. Smiling bashfully at the camera. Or rather, smiling bashfully at Rafa.

“Ooooh,” a now-drunk Logan whistled. “Do you have the hots for Dr. Jacobs?” he asked about as quietly as any liquored-up buffoon could.

In other words, loud enough to get all of Florestacasa’s—and all of the Amazon’s—attention.

Other team members who’d been completely engrossed in their own conversations suddenly turned their heads, their ears wide open. Fuck. He didn’t need everyone getting into his and Miri’s business, even if there wasn’t any business to be gotten into anymore.

“Give me that,” Rafa said, reaching over and trying to take back the camera. But Felix spun around, shielding himself so he could continue scrolling.

“Man, Dr. Jacobs looks good in some of these,” Felix murmured under his breath, unlike Logan, as he twisted away from Rafa’s clawing hands.

Rafa stifled a frustrated growl.

“Dr. Jacobs looks good all the time,” Rafa said, finally managing to finagle the camera back. And then he immediately froze and shut his eyes.

He pulled his lips into a tight line as he held his eyes closed. Why? Why did he say that out loud?

“Oooooh!” Logan said, shaking Rafa’s shoulders. “Someone’s got a crush on Dr. Jacobs!”

More drunken, teasing ooh s and aah s followed. Rafa was afraid to turn and look at Miri.

Please. Please let this end.

“Maybe this is why we’ve been going in circles,” Jerry chimed in.

What was that supposed to mean?

“What are you talking about?” Felix asked.

“Oh, come on. Like it isn’t already obvious they’re all googly-eyed for each other,” Jerry said, rolling his eyes. “I thought we’d be out here, oh, I don’t know, making big archaeological discoveries. I didn’t realize I’d actually signed up for sleepaway camp, instead.”

The snaps and crackles from the bonfire and the chirps and howls of the forest were no match for the deafening silence among the group. Rafa’s back was to Miri, but all eyes were seemingly on him. Slowly, he turned around, finding Miri standing in the same spot they’d been sitting in, having a delightful conversation only minutes earlier.

The orange flames shining upon her did little to hide the redness in her cheeks. She stared straight at him, her eyes wide, before glancing among the crowd. A few people looked away, unwilling to meet either of their gazes. Others watched with curiosity behind their smirks. Rafa had been on a lot of jobs and had witnessed lots of drama—but none where he was one of the main culprits.

“Miri…I—” Rafa said, reaching out his arm like he could touch her even though she was a solid ten feet away by that point. But the words got stuck in his throat.

I’m sorry?

I didn’t mean it?

I hate to inform you, but behind those googly eyes are my attempts to subvert you on this expedition until you give up?

Time slowed to a near standstill until someone snickered, snapping Miri and Rafa back to reality. With that, Miri spun around and ran into the darkness toward the cabins. Rafa set his camera down and started after her as Felix and Logan cheered, covering their mouths like they had just witnessed the biggest Hail Mary in all of sports. Perfect. He’d never hear the end of this.

“You’re an asshole,” Rafa said to Jerry before running toward Miri.

“Miri, wait!” he called out as she reached the bottom stair on the way to the raised walkway.

With a swift movement, she spun around and placed her hand on his chest like a school crossing guard. He glanced down at her hand. What the — ?

“Don’t,” she said.

“Don’t?” He furrowed his brow.

“I need you to back off, Rafa.”

“Back off?” Rafa asked, cocking back his head. “What do you think I’ve been doing these last two weeks?”

“Who do we think we’re kidding here? You heard Jerry.”

“And that’s somehow my fault?”

“I can’t do this right now,” she said, rubbing her temple. “Go back, Rafa. And please don’t follow me.”

With that, she raced up the stairs, leaving Rafa standing in the darkness by himself. Fuck this shit. He debated following her anyway. But when he glanced back at the group, he saw them all watching him. Watching them . The last thing he needed was to give them a show. So instead, he headed back to the fire circle and plopped down next to Rahim before snagging the bottle and taking a swig of whatever the guys had been drinking.

“Sorry about that,” Felix said, casting Rafa an apologetic look. “We shouldn’t have behaved that way.”

“It’s fine,” Rafa said. Well, not really, but by the looks on their faces, the guys certainly seemed remorseful.

“Is Dr. Jacobs pissed?” Felix asked. “Because she looked pissed.”

“Nah,” Rafa said, waving his hand. As if it wasn’t already obvious. “I’m sure she knows it was all in good fun.”

“So has this been going on since the boat?” Logan asked.

“What do you mean, the boat?” Rafa said, taking his camera, which he’d set on a tree-stump-turned-seat, quickly turning it off and regretting ever handing it over in the first place.

“In the boat. You two were kissing, right?”

Rafa shushed him and put out his hands as if tamping down the discussion. “Keep your voices down.”

“So then you did kiss Dr. Jacobs?” Logan asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Rafa growled. God, why couldn’t they leave it be?

“So, then you didn’t kiss Dr. Jacobs?” Rahim said, scratching his head. “Wait, I’m confused.”

Rafa rolled his eyes and laughed. These guys. He couldn’t tell if they were lovable fools or just drunken jokesters. But they stood waiting with bated breath, wanting to know the answer.

“I didn’t say that, either,” Rafa said.

“Ohhhh,” the guys cooed, throwing their arms around his shoulders and giving him a playful shake. He couldn’t help but smile at their genuine interest in his romantic affairs.

“How was it?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, is she a good kisser?” Felix followed up.

“Uh-uh. That I’m keeping to myself,” Rafa responded. He’d never been much of a kisser and teller.

“All right, all right. That’s respectable,” Rahim said.

“Yeah, Dr. Jacobs seems cool. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but when she went after those guys on the boat? That was…” Felix said, unable to find the right word.

But Rafa knew the perfect word for Miri.

“Badass,” Rafa said, almost as if to himself.

“Yeah, badass,” Logan said, nodding his head like everything made perfect sense. “So, what? Are you two a thing now?”

Rafa shook his head. “It’s not like that. We were caught up in the moment.”

“Danger boning,” Rahim said.

Wait? That was a real thing and not just something Miri had made up?

Rafa, Felix, and Logan turned their heads to Rahim in unison. “Danger what?” Felix asked.

“Danger boning. When you’re in trouble and emotions are high, so you get caught up in the moment and then, BAM! ” he said, smacking his hands together, causing all three of them to jump. “You fuck. That’s danger boning.”

The guys laughed, but Rafa managed to clarify, “I’m familiar with the concept, but, no, that’s not quite what happened. Besides, I think it’s time to move off this subject. I don’t think Dr. Jacobs would appreciate knowing that her crew was gossiping drunkenly about her.”

“If we’re drunk, then you’d better catch up,” Rahim said, handing over the bottle.

If it got them off this topic, then fine. Rafa took the bottle again, this time taking a much larger swig.

They continued passing the bottle around, talking about who knew what. Rafa didn’t care. His mind kept wandering to Miri’s directive, growing more annoyed with each sip. Honestly, he was a little pissed at her for saying that he was the one who needed to back off, when she’d been was the one holding on to his arm today. And sitting beside him at the campfire.

He’d been trying his damnedest to sabotage this mission. He was honoring the agreement they’d made in her cabin two weeks ago.

If only she’d get with the program and give up already. That way, he could forget she ever existed. This assignment nothing but a blip on his radar.

Another sip.

Yes, that’s all he needed. To put this experience behind him.

“You have to admit, though. It was pretty wild when she went after those guys,” Logan said, staring off into the fire.

Seriously? Were they still talking about this?

Rafa glanced at his watch, but the face was a little blurry and he couldn’t make out the numbers.

“How bad was it?” Jerry said, worming his way into their conversation. There was something off in his voice. What was it? “Like, are we really in danger out here?”

Huh. Miri was wrong. It wasn’t that Jerry didn’t want to be there. Jerry was scared to be there.

Rafa opened his mouth to speak, but Logan beat him to it. “I mean, those guys looked serious. They weren’t messing around.”

“Well, I didn’t come out here just so I could get murdered by a couple of loose cannons,” another guy said. What was his name? Brian?

Another swig.

“I don’t know, that Vautour guy sounds like who we really need to worry about,” Rahim said.

Rafa stared into the fire, half listening as the group carried on, debating various theories about what Vautour and his henchmen were doing while they were out exploring. Who knew what Vautour was planning? Sure, they had eight on their crew, including Rafa. But they didn’t have weapons. And looking around the group confirmed that they didn’t have muscle, either.

Rafa brought the bottle to his mouth to take another drink, when Brian, or whatever his name was, spoke. “Maybe we need to back off this expedition.” Rafa paused with the bottle at his lips.

Back off. Pfft. Miri needed to back off. She was the one leading them all into danger. And for what? It wasn’t like this would be her only opportunity to lead an expedition. But it would certainly be her last if she got herself—or anyone else on this expedition—killed. What about the rest of the crew? Rafa would be doing her a favor by shutting this all down.

“I don’t think we need to worry about Vautour,” Rafa said, cutting through the discussion like a knife. “What we really need to worry about is os protetores da lua.”