𝙑𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙣 || 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙧

Sixteen.

Chapter sixteen: Fuck your money

Now, they were at the edge of another cliff, far, far away from the jungle terrain. It was a breath of fresh air and not having to swat away pestering bugs was relieving and not having to hear the trickling of waterfalls in the distance was serene, however, now they were no longer covered by a thick, mustering heat. The further away they parted from the rain forest, the closer they came to accept the cold drop of temperature the harsh mountains had to offer.

Perhaps it was the heat that made her feel sick but now, she felt somewhat relived, either it was true or she fooled herself into believing a lie to make herself feel better. Either way, with sore muscles and the weight of the world on her shoulders, she began to attach the money bags onto a rope that dangled for the men to lift, seeing as how there was no possible alternative for the donkeys to climb up, also meaning they would have to part ways with them.

"Are you sure you want me to get rid of the mules?" Catfish yelled up to his teammates. He was on the second last rock and watched them climb above.

William responded with seemingly more knowledge than the rest of them. "This rock side's twenty foot deep. We're not getting the mules through."

Sticking his thumb up in approval. "Yeah! It's on us now!" Tom shouted from beside Pope. They were both at the top and waited patiently for the rest of the crew to climb above.

Margo couldn't help but chuckle as Catfish made childish noises, chasing the braying donkeys to scare them away. Once they were out of sight, she continued pulling the makeshift rope system to ascend the bags towards the top of the mountain to where Pope and Redfly gathered them. She grunted with each tug and when the last one was up, she followed closely behind William and in attempts to rock climb without a harness, she swallowed her fear and stalked carefully, placing her hands on the ledges in front of her whilst moving her legs up.

Once she was hoisted up by Pope, she panted a 'thank you' through her shortness of breath and he patted her pack in encouragement. William was the next person to come up, followed by Ben then Catfish. Ben pretty much did the same. At the edge of the rocks, he spluttered for air to embrace his lungs but once he saw Margo standing with her arms folded, looking to him with that damned smirk she always wore so perfectly, she got himself up from his knees and patted his chest, keeping a thin-lined lip and with his arms then extended, he hugged the smaller woman tightly and she found herself doing the same.

"We haven't talked in awhile." Ben stated, holding her tighter as though that were possible. "I've missed you."

As his husky voice serenaded her, she remained under control but felt the need to let loose just this once. She'd been strong for too long and perhaps it was now time to let go of every little insecurity wore on her sleeve and stand naked in front of the man she'd surely grown to love.

She then rested her head on his shoulder and when her eyelids opened to reveal William who stood aside and watched them through saudade lenses. He didn't move. He stood talking to Pope but his eyes remained on the girl he once loved in the arms of another. Silently, it was killing him and maybe it did the same to her, knowing the relationship she and William shared would only go down the drain due to unwanted feelings that she'd simply embraced and made her own.

"I missed you too." Her raspy voice fell upon his ears but as her lips moved, William read them and gathered that she missed more than Ben.

Ben reluctantly pulled his arms away and looked down to her, scanning for any alarm bells that would scream out the descent of decay but from what it seemed, she was good at hiding her pain, but it wouldn't kill him to ask, and so he probed with care.