They’d meant to kill her too, making up the insane plot for her to leave Mark in the Alaskan wilderness. Which made no sense—if his body was never found, it could be decades before he was officially declared dead—but Eva was too stupid to realize that, and she’d taken the bait ridiculously easily.
So now Malcom had to hope the Boss could hire someone skilled enough to head out to where Mark and that bitch, Zoey, had been stranded, find them, and kill them in a way that seemed fitting in the wilderness.
Everything was too damn complicated now, and it was seriously stressing Malcom out.
Taking a deep breath, he told himself to trust the Boss. The entire situation would be cleaned up and, in the end, he’d own half of Heritage Plastics.
“You aren’t going to win this time, bro,” Malcom said under his breath. “Not this time.”
Chapter Ten
Zoey had lost count of what day it was. They all kind of blended together now. They’d wake up in the morning, take their shoes off and air out their feet, eat some berries for breakfast, walk for a few hours, stop for a break and a snack, walk some more, Mark would find a place for them to camp for the night, she’d attempt to start a fire—with no luck—then assist with their shelter. Mark would either fish or set a snare for their dinner, they’d sit around the fire talking, then she’d fall asleep in his arms.
She was tired, dirty, and getting more and more worried by the day.
Mark said his friends would find them, and she believed him, but she was beginning to think they’d walk themselves out of whatever area they’d been dropped in before that happened.
“Hey, are you okay? How’re your feet doing?”
Zoey looked over at Mark. “They’re fine. Your armpits did a great job of keeping them warm this morning.”
He grinned, but then sobered. “I know this isn’t ideal.”
Wasn’t ideal? Was he kidding? He was close to getting back to that too-positive thing that irritated her so much. She grunted in response.
Of course he wouldn’t let her get away with that. Mark was the chattiest man she’d ever met. Weren’t SEALs supposed to be all closed-mouthed and stuff? God, what she’d give to be able to sulk in peace.
He stopped in front of her and waited for her to look up at him. “What?” she asked, a little more grumpily than she’d intended.
He studied her for a bit before saying, “I know this is hard.”
Zoey couldn’t help it. She snorted. “Mark, hard is getting up because you know you have to go to work even when you’re hungover. Hard is passing a geometry test when you haven’t studied for it. Hard is what a guy’s dick has to be before any hanky-panky can happen. What this is, isn’t hard. It’s impossible. We’re basically attempting to walk across Alaska with nothing but a knife, a flint, and a few other odds and ends.”
She hadn’t thought about her words. Had just spit them out. But of course the second she shut her mouth, what she’d said registered and she closed her eyes in embarrassment.
Mark chuckled, and she knew she blushed even harder. She kept her eyes shut, not wanting to look at him right now.
But instead of resurrecting Positive Polly, he surprised her. “You’re right.”
Her eyes popped open and she stared at him. “I am?”
“Of course, Zoey. This sucks. I’d rather not be here. No one would. I have no idea how much longer we’ll have to go before we find any sign of civilization. I’ve been dreaming of a huge ice cream sundae and, believe it or not, chicken fingers. I’d give anything to be bitching about having to go to the grocery store or about the traffic in Riverton right about now.”
She waited for the inevitable upbeat pep talk to start. But when Mark didn’t say anything else, she practically gaped at him. “And?”
“And what?”
“Go on. Tell me that your friends will find us soon. That we’ll be eating that ice cream this time tomorrow. Be your usual positive self,” she told him.
He sighed. “The truth of the matter is, I’m struggling. Just like you are. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’d almost rather be in the middle of some far-flung country exchanging gunfire with the bad guys. At least then I’d know there would be an end to whatever we were doing.”
Zoey reached up and grabbed Mark’s biceps and said, “No.”
“No, what?”
“No, you can’t do this. You’re the positive one. The upbeat one. The one who’s so sure your friends will find us. As much as it annoys me, and even though I told you a few days ago that I needed you to be more real, I changed my mind. I need you to be the annoyingly positive guy right now.”
“I’m not perfect,” Mark said. “And this does suck.”
They stared at each other for a heartbeat before Zoey couldn’t help but smile.
“I have no idea what you’re smiling at,” Mark grumbled.
She took a step toward him and wrapped her arms around him and held on as tightly as she could. She was relieved when he hugged her back. How long they stood like that, she had no idea. Neither of them smelled good and she knew her hair was limp and greasy from going a week without washing it. Her clothes were dirty, as were his, and she could hear his stomach growling.
Looking up at him, she said, “We’re going to be okay.”
His lips quirked upward. “Now who’s being the positive one?” he asked.
“Hey, we can’t both be negative. And you said that we had to be positive to make it out of here.”
“True.”
Taking a risk, she reached up and palmed his face. His stubble had grown out until it was almost a full-fledged beard, and she could see how much dirt was under her fingernails, but she forged on. “One thing your dad always said to me when I was sad or depressed was,” she lowered her voice, mimicking Colin’s deep voice, “Zoey, girl…as bad as things look now, they can always be worse.”
She loved the smile that crossed Mark’s face. “That sounds like something Pop would say.”
“As we both know, things could always be worse. It could be December and there could be two feet of snow on the ground. One of us could’ve been injured in that landing if things had gone differently. We could’ve been killed outright. There are any number of things that could make our situation much worse than it is. I’m not always the most positive person, but I’ve still tried to do the best I can. I’m totally out of my element here, but you’ve made this so much better than it would’ve been. I like you, Mark. A lot. And I admire you. I did before I even really got to know you, thanks to your dad, but after a week with you out here, I see so much more than I ever would’ve imagined.”
He didn’t respond, so she went on. “I see a man who loves his friends enough to know without a doubt that they’ll be there for him. A man who has regrets and freely admits them. A man who can also admit when he’s wrong, and who has an immense amount of knowledge about keeping himself safe and alive. You haven’t complained about me not being able to do my share of the work, and you’ve been patient with me as I try to fumble through things that you could easily do in seconds. I can be the positive one for a while, but if you fall into your head and I can’t pull you out, we’re gonna die out here.”