a roses thorn

Chapter Twenty One

We had finished cleaning up the damaged homes faster than expected. Everyone in the village was on board with us when we proposed we move them more inland, and I couldn't be more excited to get everything in tact.

Everyone is helping as much as they can, and I couldn't be more grateful for that, too. Even Duma is keeping us company and helping us carry sticks over to where we were setting them to burn. Everyone is offering to help in some form of way, whether it be handing us tools or pitching in with moving equipment.

Duma loves being here, and I know she loves the weather the most. California has a moist kind of heat, and it lasts all day. But, here in Africa its closer to the equator so it makes the air more dry than moist and sticky. And I hate that feeling so much so I'm not complaining.

"Hey, Ki." Garrett called for my attention.

"Yeah, hang on!" I shouted to him as I moved a large bag of cement onto the golf cart.

I walked over to him after I brushed off my hands and I took a sip of his water bottle he had in his hands, "Yeah?"

"That's mine." He said with a straight face.

I glared at him with my mom look, my period is coming and I can feel the tension in my uterus starting and I wasn't ready for the dementors to attack it yet but whatever. I can't do much about it anyways. "Now it's ours." I'm going to be sabotaged by my baby box and I can't do anything about it. Everyone else gets to live with the pain, too.

"Matty told me to remind you to eat something for lunch."

"I'm fine, I'm not hungry." I shrugged him off as I took another sip of his water and wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead and upper lip.

"He told me you'd say that, and so he told me to remind you that you've been working since seven thirty this morning and that you had a light breakfast." He grinned at me as I continued drinking more of his water.

"I'm not even hungry, I need to keep working." I turned around to start walking away but Garrett grabbed ahold of my hand and wrapped a bracelet around my wrist.

"I said I'm not hungry Garre—" I tried ripping my hand away from his grip but I wasn't given much opportunity as I looked down and saw myself handcuffed to him, "What the hell?"

"Language, young lady." He started walking away while dragging me with him.

I tried stopping him by digging my feet into the ground as much as I could but it was just useless and a waste of energy, I'm only one hundred and forty three pounds and I'm a pebble compared to him, "Get this off of me and stop dragging me!"

"He said if you denied it a second time that I'd have to do this in order to get you to come." He chuckled, "The more you pull, the more it tightens and hurts."

"Fucking handcuffing me to you?"

"Well, that's what happened isn't it?" he gloated sarcastically.

"I really dislike you right now." I ripped my wrist back to stop him from pulling me, "Can you at least slow down?"

"Are you going to cooperate?"

"Can you take the handcuffs off?" I snarked at him.

"When we get there."

"Get where?"

"You'll see."

Garrett dragged me behind him for a good ten minutes before finally coming to a stop at an enclosed glamp tent in the middle of no where.

"What is this, Garrett?" I'm really starting to get annoyed. I have work to do. A mission. I can munch on a bag of potato chips if I get hungry enough. I don't need a full course meal. These people have been starving for the past year. I think I can live without a lunch for one day.