Kiss of Cambodia

Chapter 19

Amora watched the two of them a little uncomfortably. She didn't like how Matthias touched her friend, or how he looked at her, and eventually, she too turned so her back was to them. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, and then rested her chin on top of her knees. Biting her lip uncertainly she looked over to Darin. His mouth was clamped shut in a hard line and he seemed to be staring at the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He was probably just as uncomfortable as she was. She had to do something to make this less awkward.

"Thank you," she said quietly. He turned towards her slowly with a blank look on his face.

"For what?" he asked. Amora ducked her head in embarrassment, feeling the heat rush to her face.

"Um..." she said twisting her hands together and looking down, "Th-thank you for being there." Darin paused for a moment, shocked. He knew there was so much more to her statement, but he didn't know what to say. He cared too much to leave the statement there, but he didn't know how to say what he needed to.

"You're welcome," he said smiling as he looked at her. She looked up to meet his gaze again and she was surprised by the emotion she saw there.

"Amora?" the question can from behind them. Amora turned her head around to see Rowan was asleep in Matthias' arms. "Did your team map out this part of the temple?" Amora's heart sped up in nervousness with Matthias' gaze on her. She felt something on her back and flinched, but she soon realized it was Darin's hand rubbing her back in an effort to comfort her and she relaxed, only slightly.

"A little, but I thought you said we were just going to go back the way we came," she said leaning towards Darin as Matthias continued to stare her down. Even though he had saved her friend he still intimidated her. Matthias' eyes darted to Darin's hand on her back and back to her eyes.

"We are already deep into the temple, there has to be more here to discover," he said. Amora felt like his eyes were drilling into her soul as he stared at her. She flinched away from his glare and she felt Darin's hand stop and wrap around her side in a protective gesture.

"Matthias..." Darin hadn't yet turned around as he uttered the warning, but Amora didn't doubt that he would if Matthias irked him one more time.

"Darin, you know why we came here to begin with," the edge in his voice had Amora tensing up and turning around to avoid any more eye contact. Darin tightened his grip around Amora's waist. He could almost feel the stress coming off of the girl beside him.

"We've been in here long enough," Darin growled out. Matthias stiffened at his tone.

"You were just as curious as the rest of us to come walking down here," Matthias shot back. Amora could see Darin clench his jaw out of the corner of her eye and she could feel the tension in his arm that lay across her back.

"What's all the grumbling about?" Amora turned around quickly at the sound of Rowan's voice. Amora slipped off the jacket that Rowan had given her earlier and moved out of Darin's grip to give the jacket to her friend. Rowan smiled in thanks and Matthias released her long enough to let her slip the jacket on now that her body heat had increased. 

"We were talking about going on to explore the rest of the temple," Matthias said gently as he pulled Rowan back against his chest once she zipped the jacket. Amora froze and glared at Matthias, standing up. 

"No!" she exclaimed stomping her foot loud enough for Darin to turn and look up at her. "We need to get out of the temple!" Rowan smiled at Amora's outburst, but she disagreed with what she said. Sadly, Matthias beat her to it.

"We came in here to escape the natives, they are probably still out there waiting for us. And I don't know about you two, but Darin and I came here because of what is in this temple. I intend to find out exactly what this temple holds." Matthias' stare had Amora's heart beating out of her chest. She heard Darin get to his feet behind her. Amora glanced at him nervously before sidestepping so that he was no longer at her back. 

"Matthias," Darin said stepping forward while Amora inched back, "you almost died jumping into that dumb hole in the ground! We need to find a way out of this temple, and at least the way we came in we know is safe." 

"We're fine," Rowan said pushing off of Matthias and climbing to her feet. Amora could see the goosebumps forming on her friend's legs as she moved. Matthias quickly jumped to his feet and moved in front of Rowan to cover her exposed body and to protect her from the fuming Darin standing across from them. Darin's eyes shifted in her direction as she spoke, but quickly focused back on Matthias. 

"If you didn't get yourself killed, you almost got her killed," Darin said gesturing toward Rowan without looking at her. Matthias clenched his jaw and his fists clenched and unclenched rapidly. 

"And I don't think that would have bothered you one bit," Rowan spat out before Matthias could say anything, taking a step forward so she was standing beside Matthias instead of behind him. Darin glared at her. 

"You're right, I might not care about what happened to you, but you wouldn't be worth anything dead," Darin said harshly. Amora's eyes widened and she took another step back running into the wall behind her. She could physically feel her heart ripping itself out of her chest as she comprehended Darin's words. They were still just money to him, he didn't really care, not in the way she had thought he did after Rowan had fallen into the ground. Amora looked to Rowan to see how she would take the news, but she seemed unaffected. Amora's gaze then dropped to where Rowan's hand was tightly grasped in Matthias', but she didn't seem concerned with that either. In fact, it looked as though Matthias was trying to comfort her. Amora shook her head, feeling the tears welling in her eyes. This couldn't be happening. After everything they had gone through in the past week, everything she had gone through, this was the moment when she broke. She glanced once more at the faces standing before her, none of them were looking at her. This was her chance, her last hope. She tried to make eye contact with Rowan to silently beg her to come with her, but Rowan looked happy to stand half naked next to the man that had killed another not four days ago. Matthias would keep her safe, Amora could see it in his eyes and in the way he held her friend's hand, Darin wouldn't be able to use Rowan for ransom. She knew she would not be so lucky, however, if she didn't take this chance. Amora glanced quickly to Rowan once more, wishing her friend a silent goodbye and good luck. Then she turned and ran.