Kiss of Cambodia

Chapter 34

Darin woke with a start, the dream of Amora's soft red hair fading as his eyes flashed open. He wasn't entirely sure what had woken him. Matthias was still sitting where he had been when Darin dozed off, binoculars in hand. The sun was just beginning to rise and some of the birds were waking up to chirp their own little annoying songs. Darin was tired of the jungle, but that still didn't explain why he had jumped awake.

"Have a good nap?" Matthias' tone was sarcastic as he glanced to Darin before turning his gaze back to the camp where Rowan was surely sleeping soundly. Darin grumbled as an answer.

"You should sleep," he said instead, shifting his position slightly as his muscles protested from being in one position for so long. Matthias opened his mouth to protest, but Darin cut him off.

"You aren't going to be able to approach her right now. She is surrounded by her team and I'm sure she'll be engrossed in whatever skeleton she'll come across today. You need the sleep if you are going to be in your right mind to talk to her anyway," he said, trying to be kind with his words despite the fact that he wanted to be anything but. Truth be told he was jealous, extremely so. Here Matthias had a chance at talking to the girl that had captured his heart after he had forced Darin to leave the one that had captured his and wouldn't let him even try to find her.

"Fine," Matthias grumbled missing the glare of envy that shown in Darin's eyes, "but that means you keep watch. I don't want another run in with those natives. We don't need a repeat of last time." If only he knew how much his words pierced Darin's heart.

"We wouldn't want that."

Matthias set the binoculars down and tried to find a comfortable position to lay on the jungle floor. Darin clenched his fists tightly before forcing himself to release them and take a deep breath. Matthias had been right to make them leave the girls, but there wasn't a day that went by that Darin didn't wish he had chosen to stay with Amora. He was scared for her and he didn't really understand why. She was back home, where she would be safe. He was positive Rowan wouldn't have left her unless she was sure that Amora was going to be okay. But, if she was plagued with nightmares that were anything like Darin's he knew that she was far from okay.

Darin couldn't remember the last time his dreams weren't filled with Amora. Sometimes they were nice dreams, like the one he had just woken from, but the majority of the time they were nightmares. They often included the men from their old team and the way they had grabbed at and tried to abused her body. Other times they were in the temple and they kept getting separated by the tunnels collapsing or Amora would get swept away in the underground river. In each and every dream there was nothing Darin could do. It seemed like the harder he tried to reach Amora, the farther away she became. Just like it was in real life.

Darin was happy that he had been able to find which museum Amora worked for and was able to send her a letter, without Matthias' knowing of course. The only reason he was able to find her was because he remembered the name that had been embroidered on the shirt that man that had come back to find the girls was wearing. A little bit of research later and he was able to find the address to the museum and was able to send off the letter. He could only hope that she had gotten it and that she believed him when he said that he would come find her. Matthias had basically threatened him not to go searching for the girls, but here he was waiting for the opportune time to approach Rowan. Hypocrite. Darin shook his head, taking another deep breath. He shouldn't be thinking like that about his brother. Matthias had done everything that he had to keep them safe. He should be grateful. Here was one person who he could trust with his life and that he knew would never leave him or forget about him as his parents so often had. There was no guarantee that Amora could be another one of those people. For all he knew she could hate him and never want to see him again, but for some reason, he really doubted that.