by Anna del Mar
Matthias trudged on like a hippo on a hippo trail. “Your mother said that, one day, she left an assortment of paint cans by your door. Three days later, your room was purple with green and blue unicorns on the walls, proving that your true heart wasn’t black at all.”
My face was so hot it was probably on fire. I swear, I was going to give Mom a piece of my mind for sharing that ridiculous story. I was going to give Matthias a piece of my mind too, for…what? Reaching out to my parents? Being nice? Taking an interest in me?
Most people would be happy if something like that happened to them. Most women would be thrilled to have the attention of someone as seriously hot as Matthias. He was smart, capable, and sharp. But I wasn’t most people. I was jaded—no pun intended—and the world was full of scum. The Romos were the only people in the world I’d been able to come to terms with. And Hannah, of course, although in a different way. I’d never really had the will to add to that short list. My emotional real estate was rather limited. Did I have any room in my shriveled up heart to fit anyone else?
“So you don’t trust men in general,” he said. “I get that, given your background. But you trust Joseph Romo, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said, tentatively. “He’s a jewel.”
“He served as a marine,” Matthias said. “You served as a marine.”
“I followed him into the Corps, what’s wrong with that?”
“Absolutely nothing wrong,” he said. “You also chose to be his daughter.”
“Yeah, so?”
“There’s the proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“You don’t have bad genes.” His perfectly formed lips turned up at the ends. “You’re able to make good choices for yourself. You did, when you chose Joseph Romo as your dad.”
Was he right?
I tried to wrap my head around everything he was saying. “Why would you even want to get together with someone like me?”
“You need reasons? Okay, I’ll give you reasons. You’re brave, gutsy, brainy, and gorgeous.” He lifted one finger after the other. “You care, I saw you with the kids at the orphanage. You can run like a cheetah, shoot like a sniper, and you’ve got the heart of a lioness. You don’t take shit from anybody. You stood up to a grizzly sow in Montana, for Christ’s sake. By the way, I looked that up. If all of that wasn’t enough, you kicked Kumbuyo in the nuts. You’re like my definition of the perfect woman, custom tailored for me. I’ll admit, you’re a little on the surly side of sweet, but I’m hooked on you, so what the hell.”
“But—”
“Give it up, babe.” His eyes sparkled. “Let’s get this thing going.”
“This is nuts.” I groaned in frustration. “You may have gotten the lowdown from my mother, but I don’t know squat about you.”
“The name’s Hawking, but you know that. My father’s a veterinarian in Helena, my mother’s a social worker. Four brothers. They raise dogs in Montana. The rest we can figure out along the way. Any questions?”
The father’s profession might explain Matthias’s love for wildlife and conservation. Maybe the mother’s occupation offered a hint of why he’d consider hanging out with someone like me. God help me. Why was I thinking like this?
Because I’d never, ever, met a guy quite as bold, straightforward, and determined as Matthias Hawking.
Much to my relief, his radio came alive. He listened, gave some commands, and lifted his hand in the air when his two original rangers came into view.
“Anything?” I said.
“Nothing.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Doctor Valdez?”
“Negative for cyanide,” the doctor shouted back.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “That’s good news, right?”
“Excellent news,” he said. “The entire ecosystem suffers when a waterhole is poisoned.”
And there I saw it again, how much he cared, not just for his people and the elephants, but for the land, for all the creatures small and large. And now he was kind of, sort of saying that he cared about me too?
Internal meltdown. I needed to get the hell out of here.
The team began to pack up their samples and equipment. Matthias put his hand over his brow to cut down the glare and observed the approaching vehicle. He scrambled down the Land Rover, offered me a hand, and helped me off the hood as if I were some dainty princess.
“We’re gonna have to finish this conversation later,” he said before he stepped onto the road and signaled for the truck to stop.
Later? He had grit, I gave him that. But this conversation had been earth shattering enough for me as it was. I was terrified about everything he’d said, about the way he was looking at me right now, about the way I felt about him. He was right. I teetered at the very edge of my stampede mode.
The newly arrived open-sided 4WD came to a stop next to Matthias. “Papers please?” he said to the driver, who quickly produced the permits. “You do realize that you’re in a restricted area?”
“Matthias, darling, it’s me.” The woman sitting behind the driver took off her wide-rim hat and gave Matthias a smile that iced my spine. “Surprise!”
“Mei.” Matthias’s back straightened. His gaze shifted briefly to my face, before he returned his attention to the woman. “What are you doing out here and why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“I came to show off the reserve to my guests,” she said. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
Matthias cleared his throat. “You know this area is not authorized for tourists.”
“We must have missed our turn.” The woman batted her long lashes. “Meet Tao Sun Lei, CEO of China Railroad Construction.” She shifted to Chinese and introduced Matthias to the man and his companions. “It is Mister Lei’s first time to Africa.”
“Me, down,” the man said, pointing to himself and then to the waterhole.
“I’m sorry, sir, but stepping out of the vehicle is forbidden to all visitors.”
“Me, like them,” the man said with a touch of bluster, pointing to me and the research team packing the truck.
“I’m afraid Mister Lei’s English is not the best.” Mei flashed an apologetic smile.
“That’s fine, my Chinese sucks.” Matthias spoke slowly, deliberately. “These individuals have special permission to step out of their vehicle for the purpose of scientific research. Mei, perhaps you’d like to guide Mr. Lei to the eastern border, where he can see the herds of Cape buffalo and wildebeest crossing the river from the safety of his vehicle.”
“Cape buffalo?” The man’s sour face lit up. “Good to eat?”
“I guess,” Matthias said reluctantly.
“Wildebeest?” the man said. “Good to eat?”
“In a pinch.”
“Giraffe?” the man said. “Good to eat?”
“For God’s sake,” Matthias muttered under his breath. “Mei, tell your visitor that we don’t eat our national treasure. And do me a favor. Get him and his friends out of here.”
“Sure, Matt-eese.” The way she said his name rankled me, sweet and overly familiar. Then Mei’s eyes fell on me. “Oh, hi, Mission Protect. Have you seen the elephants yet?”
Mei said something else in Chinese and the men in the back of the truck lifted up their cameras and aimed them at me. They began to click as if I were some rare wildlife species who’d stepped out of my kopje for the exclusive purpose of gracing their photographic collection.
Matthias must have sensed my outrage or else the steam blowing from my top gave me away. “I think it’s time for you to get out of here.”
“Sure,” Mei said sweetly. “We’re staying at the Canyon Side Lodge. See you tonight?”
Matthias glanced at me then returned his gaze to Mei. “Maybe.”
Her smile widened. “Dinner?”
“We’ll see.”
I gnawed on my lips. My not so tepid blood had gone from hot to boil. And to think a moment ago he’d been calling me “b
abe” and I’d remotely considered that maybe he’d be a good candidate for…what?
I sure knew how to pick them.
“Run along, Mei,” Matthias said. “You need to go.” He sent her and her friends on their way with a wave.
“What?” he said, when he turned and met my glare.
“Does Mei come out here often?”
“She likes to escort Chinese bigwigs on safari,” he said. “She also patronizes the reserve every once in a while.”
“She likes to patronize the reserve or you?”
He eyed me cautiously. “Jade…”
“Oh, please, don’t you Jade me.”
“I need you to go with me on this one.”
“Right.” I crossed my arms. “Why would I do that?”
“Because of everything I told you today?”
I lifted my hands in the air. “And then…this?”
“Jesus, Jade, give me a break here.”
“A break?” I scoffed. “Is that what Mei is? Is Claudette a break too? Who else? Am I another break in your break collection?”
He clenched so hard that his jaw flinched. “You need to trust me.”
“Ha!” I laughed.
“There’s a lot that we don’t know about each other.”
“No kidding.”
“Things are never exactly the way they look.”
“Amen to that, buddy.”
I stomped over to the truck and helped pack the last of the gear. He waited until the rest of the team went back for the last load then stalked over to where I stood next to the Land Rover.
“My life is not nice and tidy. So what?” he muttered, his tone clipped, his eyes copper dark. “I can’t lay it all out for you right now. No excuses. This is who I am. Hell, Jade, a saint I’ve never been.”
“Good for you.” I grabbed my backpack from the front seat and threw it on the backseat.
I was about to climb into the truck when his arm came around my waist—strong, muscular and paralyzing. He held me in place, body pressed hard against my back. The bulk of his erection rubbed against my ass. His hot breath blustered over the back of my neck.
“You don’t know what this thing with Mei is, but you’re using it as an excuse.” His proximity rattled my resolve. “You’re scared and you’re running. Don’t run Jade. Not from me.”
I was stung, because he was right, although this time around I was running for the right reasons. I took a deep breath, disentangled myself from his arms, and climbed to the very back of the Land Rover. “I don’t need an excuse to say no to you. Leave me alone.”
Matthias launched a scathing look in my direction but he didn’t say anything else, because the rest of the crew arrived with their stuff and began to climb into the truck. I didn’t feel an ounce of compassion for him. I sat with Sarah in the very back of the truck and didn’t spare him so much as another word.
“Something wrong?” Sarah asked as we sped back to the station.
“Not a thing.”
Mei and Matthias had something going on. She was hot for him and he catered to her whims in a way that erased anything sweet he’d ever said to me and confirmed he was one of those mistakes I’d been avoiding for the last year.
We drove straight back to the lodge. Matthias didn’t show up for dinner. I congratulated myself for recognizing the signs of disaster when I saw them. I locked my door that night and every night for the rest of the week.
17
Jade
Saturday night found me in my bungalow, cataloguing my newest pictures on my laptop. A nice breeze filtered through the screen doors along with the night’s melodies. Crickets trilled, frogs croaked, and hippos huffed and grunted out on the river, all sounds soothing to me. I felt smart about my decisions. Now if only I could feel good about them.
I’d been out to the reserve every day and had assembled a nice collection of photos and footage. I’d filed several new segments with Hannah and the ratings kept going up. The pictures of the poacher shack had the most impact. The director mentioned a new surge in the GoFundMe donations. Why then was I feeling blue?
It could be because I hadn’t ridden in Matthias’s Rover all week. Instead, I’d been assigned to Zeke, who’d kept a close eye on me as we went out with the different research teams. I’d seen Matthias twice in passing and all I got from him were uncomfortable glares and monosyllabic exchanges. It was mindboggling, but by all appearances, he was mad at me.
Which was weird and annoying, given the fact that he’d been skipping dinner and going over to the Canyon Side Lodge almost every night. I knew that last bit because I’d asked Zeke. The way I felt made no sense whatsoever. I’d turned Matthias down. And I’d locked the door every night, just in case. I’d called this one right all around. Why then was I feeling like the wretched bitch from hell?
The black and white dominant colobus climbed down from the trees where his group made their home and sat on the deck railing, watching me intently. For all I knew, he could be running a research project on human behavior, with me as his main subject. There was so much purpose to these animals, so much determination in every individual and every species that inhabited the Serengeti.
I was considering calling it an early night when my door rattled with a knock and burst open to admit Sarah and Lara, decked out in cute sundresses and perfectly accessorized.
Sarah dropped her makeup bag on my desk and checked herself out in my mirror. “Why aren’t you ready?”
“It’s eleven minutes and twenty seconds to nine,” Lara informed me with the precision of a human chronometer.
Sarah set her cell on my desk and turned up the music. “We’ve got to get going.”
“Going where?” I shouted over It’s Raining Men.
“To the party, silly.” Sarah plugged her hair dryer in the socket by the mirror, turned it on, and tested it on her short platinum mane. “Come on, Jade. We hardly have any time to do your hair.”
“Um…” What to say to these well-intentioned souls? “I was thinking maybe I’d skip.”
“We’re not letting you skip,” Sarah said, wielding a round brush in the air. “Tonight we’re having fun, and that includes you.”
“But—”
“You will not be a party pooper,” Sarah insisted. “You need a night out and so do we. We need our complete crew. You’re coming with us and that’s that.”
I hated to disappoint them. They were always so nice to me and, God knew, I needed an outlet for my frustrations. So I got up, dragged my butt over to the chair, and plopped down. I also allowed Lara to put some mascara and lip gloss on me while Sarah blow dried my hair in record time. My hair ended up even more straight and symmetrical than usual as it fell over my eyes.
“Really sharp looking.” Sarah admired her work, running her fingers through my hair just as the blow drier quit and the lights went out at nine on the dot. “What are you going to wear?”
“Me?” I looked down on my shorts and T-shirt. “I was thinking of wearing this.”
Sarah turned on her flashlight and rummaged through my closet. “This is cute.” She held up a hanger with the black sundress that Mom had packed in my duffel. “How about you wear this?”
By the time the girls were done with me, it was almost nine thirty. My sundress turned out to be a short, backless little number, with a weave of straps that tied behind my neck. It was made of the softest cotton, fresh and comfortable. The flat silver sandals were comfy too. The girls wanted me to wear hoop earrings, but I stuck to my guns and kept on my jade elephants.
We trekked over the elevated walkways and approached the main lodge, which was all lit up for a change. The combination of torches and lights suggested the director had allotted some extra-generator time for the common area. By the time we arrived, the party was in full swing and the music’s bass throbbed in the night like the pulse of a frantic heart.
“Oh, my God.” Sarah stared at all the people crowding the hall and bumped fists with Lara and I. “Tal
k about phenomenal success.”
“Where did all these people come from?” I asked, as we parted the crowd and made our way to the improvised bar.
“Word went out to all of the tourist lodges,” Sarah said with a satisfied nod. “I WhatsApped and texted literally everybody I’ve met since I got here. Anybody who’s anybody in the Serengeti is here tonight.”
Anybody but Matthias, of course, I noticed, as I scanned the place. Some of his rangers where around, but of him? Not even a trace.
“Hey Jade!” Cara waved us over from her place behind the makeshift bar she’d set on the buffet table.
“Are you the bartender tonight?”
“I am.” She flashed her dazzling smile. “Lowest bid. Volunteered. What can I get you to toast my upcoming promotion?”
“Promotion?” I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Haven’t you heard?” She waved her hands over her flowery sundress. “I’m going to be the interim assistant coordinator for the Schumer’s Rhino project.”
“Wow, congrats,” I said. “What happened to Stoats?”
“He put in his resignation this morning. Nobody knows for sure what went down, but he had a long talk with Matthias and the director and now he’s a goner, poof, disappeared. So the Schumers are going to need a new assistant coordinator. Ergo, me.”
I knew exactly what had gone down. Matthias had confronted Stoats and asked him to leave the station. It had happened because I’d told Matthias about Stoats and Lara. I wasn’t happy about being the cause for someone’s dismissal, but personally, I wasn’t going to miss the creep or his sullen glares. Had I been in a more charitable mood, I might’ve given Matthias the credit he deserved, but he was top-ranked on my shit list and I was still raving mad at him.
“So,” Cara waved a hand over her well-stocked bar. “What is it going to be?”
“I’d love a martini glass, please, with a big shot of water from the cooler.”
“So you’re not drinking, but you’re going to pretend you are.” She laughed. “Classic Jade. One water martini coming up.”