Page 67 of Sloth
“We’re lost, aren’t we?”
“We’re not lost. Just time to do some good old fashioned Alby Mangels shit.”
“Who’s that?”
“Australia’s Bear Grylls of the Seventies. Except he traveled with hot babes.” Max waggled his eyebrows. “Kinda like a traveling James Bond.”
“Yeah, okay, you old perv.”
“You weren’t calling me that last night. In fact, I think you shouted something about me being God.” He dodged the pebble she ditched at his head with a smirk. Then he dropped his pack and rifled through it. “Be prepared to be amazed.”
Sloan couldn’t fight the smile on her face. This was the old Max. The one she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. Effortless and enjoyable banter. She could chat about anything and everything with him for hours. Just wait until they sat down at a console together. Which game would they play?
All of them. She laughed evilly in her head. All of them.
He pulled out a little metal box, opened it and stood.
“A compass?” She folded her arms. “That’s your amazing Alby Mango shit?”
“Mangles,” he corrected. The cheeky, dimpled smile he shot her made her stomach flutter. The compass was old, beat up and rickety, but it worked. They said nothing as he adjusted himself to point North. When he found it, his silence stretched and a slow trickle of emotion wriggled into Sloan’s gut.
Sadness.
Confused, she puzzled over his emotion and then noticed an engraved G on the side of the metal compass casing.
She ran her hand down his forearm and covered his hand. “The compass was Gale’s wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
With her other hand, she embraced him and laid her head on his shoulder.
“He gave this to me on our first solo camping trip before we enlisted. His dad had given it to him for good luck, but… he gave it to me instead.”
Sloan turned him until they faced each other. “I wish I could have met him.”
“Me too.” Then his gaze hardened. “We need to keep walking.”
He picked up his rucksack and put it back on. “Keep telling me about Beatrix. Will she be at school? What’s the school like? Is there easy access?”
“Whoa, dude. Hold your horses. We can figure all that out when we get there.”
“No. We keep planning, and you need to keep working on your emotions. The more prepared we are, the more likely we’ll have a positive outcome.”
“You don’t think we can do this?”
“Look. I just…” His voice trailed off.
“Okay.” Sloan stopped. “Now, it’s your turn to spit it out. What’s going on?”
“It’s just—I think maybe I agree with Parker about last night.”
“What?” She blinked. “I thought you were on my side. I thought you said I wasn’t a whiny bitch.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. This is coming out wrong.”
She folded her arms and raised a brow. “Uh-huh.”
“I meant… with Barry. You kinda just jumped in. And at the time I thought I should just go with it. I trust your instincts, I really do.”
