Page 62 of Totally Wrecked
“He’s frozen,” Rex tells me. “I’ll try and go around him to help, you stay below OK?’
“Sure.” Honestly I don’t know if I can do this climb.
I watch Rex do a crab movement across the rockface, and see Harvey. Rex is right, he’s freaked out and paralyzed. I’ve seen this happen before to new recruits. It’s always a pain in the ass. It can take hours to talk them into moving again. I rest against the rocks and listen as Rex patiently coaxes Harvey to start climbing again. The breeze feels good against my face. I’m grateful my dizziness is wearing off again. If this were a bit more comfy, I could totally do a nap.
That’s what I’m thinking when a loose boulder cannons down and hits me hard, sending my flying onto the jungle floor.
DAISY
The first thing we do when we wake up is head back to the pool.
It’s just so beautiful. There is a small waterfall, only a few feet high, that cascades over the dark rocks and into the pool below. All around the clearing are purple, yellow, and white flowers. And green; green is everywhere you look. Wild and lush.
A brightly-colored bird flies overhead. It looks like a chicken had a baby with a parrot, and I actually think this might be a bird of paradise.
I stop looking at the bird and turn my attention to Leander. His eyes are roaming all over my body. I cross my eyes at him. He shouldn’t ogle me in front of Keyara (even though I really like it).
I swim to the far side of the pool and try not to think about our sexy time. There is a connection between us, and it feels so good. Even though I’m an identical twin, connection is something that has always been missing from my life.
Because I wasn’t a jock or a mega-brain, I had no connection with Dad. He just wasn’t interested.
“Try out for softball?” Mom would say. “It will make your dad so happy.”
“But, Mom, it won’t make me happy…”
“Sometimes you have to put others' happiness before your own, Daisy-Mae. Especially if you are a woman.”
I love my mom, but we never clicked. She was disappointed in me, because I disappointed my father. Disappointment dominos.
I drop my head into the water and try to wash away all the feelings that have somehow stolen their way back into my mind. Everything that has happened with Brooke through my life has never stopped me loving her. We are just so different in every way, apart from genetically.
And even though she has taken me for granted, and left me alone time and time again, there’s a part of me that will always need her… even if she doesn’t need me.
Dad and Brooke have always been tight. Dad likes winners. Mom likes what Dad likes. The three of them would take off to Brooke’s track meets, or math tournaments, or half-marathons, leaving me behind to look after the dog and the house.
Lots and lots of lonely weekends, with only Rambo and my books for company. I always told myself that if I ever had a family, I would never leave one of them behind.
What I really want in my life is a family that never leaves me behind.
With this thing blooming between me and Leander, I’m aware Keyara might feel on the outside of our little group. That absolutely will not do. She needs to be the center that Leander and I revolve around.
We have to take every care with her.
But my insides melt whenever I think of Leander.
Darn, Leander has me all kinds of worked up.
A shadow passes over me and I glance up through the trees, to the gap in the canopy.
Clouds.
They are gray and heavy-looking, and rain is coming.
KILLIAN
Feck.
Instead of giving in to panic, I lay on my stomach, put out my arms, and basically heave Harvey to the top of the cliff.
