#featured
#216 in Romance
#42 in ChikLit
Faye rolled her eyes. "You're such a loser."
"And you're so hot in that."
She looked at him and found him staring at her, his eyes glinting as if he was some kind of a predator. Her face heated up and her jaw...
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It has been five days since Faye and Nathan sought shelter with the tribe and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable doing nothing. Sure, she had learned how to make the medicines to treat him but he was already well and with that went away the only thing she could do apart from ignoring Nathan. Which is pretty much doing nothing.
And doing nothing had always been her worst nightmare. For it to actually be happening felt like the most torturous thing in the world. Her mind felt like it was constantly on the brink of breaking point without actually getting there. It was even worse than actually turning insane. At least insanity would not let her mind become numb to the strange pain of boredom.
If that wasn't worse, everything had reversed since he recovered.
This time, Nathan was the one skittering around her. He never got within arm's reach of her and every time they did, he jumped far away from her as if she had leprosy. He never spoke a word to her not even when she was in the way. He only waited for her to move on her own before he passed.
She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she didn't want to come off as chasing after him. At the same time, she wanted to know if she had done something awful, because in truth, the only one who had been awful was him. Nevertheless, the fact that he avoided her rankled her as much as being bored did.
She knew she had to do something before she completely lost her mind. Finally, she decided on talking to Chinook about it.
He smiled. "That is what is wrong with you city people. You do not know how to relax. You can learn to meditate."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. Relaxing for me means doing something. Doing nothing is stress for me. It's just the way I am."
He nodded. "I don't understand but I will give you work if you like."
"Oh, good," She said. "What's the work?"
"Kill and remove the insides of the hogs so the village can eat them. I will teach you," he said casually.
She opened her mouth to protest but shut it. Gutting a hog would be the most disgusting thing she would ever do. During her childhood, the worst thing she did was run over a stray cat in the middle of the night. She had never intentionally killed any living thing before.
"I see you are not comfortable with it. I will ask Nathan to help you. He does not look right either. Do you know why?"
"No," she admitted.
"Ah. Maybe he does need to work like you, yes?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think we'd be able to work together."
He shook his head. "Oh, that is not good. The spirits will not be happy and you will stay here longer. You have to work together. Be at peace."
"You talk to him, then," she agreed reluctantly. She knew she couldn't handle killing and gutting a hog alone even if Chinook was going to teach her.
