have to WWE the dude. You did see his size, right? You’d be responsible for me having to get my jaw re-wired. You sure you want that on your conscience?”
The amusement falls from her face. She studies me a beat. “You’d do that for me, Sam? You’d stand up to a guy like that? For me?”
I’ve known Nina for two weeks, spent four days traveling with her, and I can say without a doubt I’d let that giant pummel me into the ground if it meant protecting her. But I keep it light. “Like I said before, my pops would skin my ass if I let a girl like you get hurt. So the choice is yours. Are you gonna go over there to flirt with the guy who’ll likely pulverize me, or do I get to hang out with you for the rest of the night?”
“I’m yours,” she says softly, and it almost kills me to hear those words.
The older lady who sat beside me in the show touches her on the shoulder. “You were great earlier. Enjoy the rest of your evening, you two.” She winks at me and leaves.
I look away from Nina, wishing like hell we’d be doing exactly what that lady thinks, the two of us naked and sweaty under my sheets. To do that, I’d have to be honest with Nina. It felt great to tell her about the accident, about my mom. It was hard. Always is. But it felt good not to hold onto it like some dirty little secret. Still, I pussied out when it came to my legs. “I banged up my ankle” is the understatement of the century. I got twelve stitches in my chin, another twenty in my scalp, my front right tooth was knocked clean out, and my face swelled so bad I could barely see.
My legs were the worst. Most of the bones from my left knee to my ankle were shattered, and I’m lucky I was dragged from the wreckage when the fire engulfed my feet, working up my calves. They stopped the flames from claiming more of my body, but not before the fire chewed the shit out of my legs. It’s a damn good thing I was unconscious.
Nina nudges my arm. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
I blink the ugliness away, tired of reliving it. It’s not as hard as it once was, not with those green eyes on me. “Actually, I was planning on going to Taupo. Spend a night there, then head on a hike. Or what do they call it here, a tramp? The Tongariro volcano is there, and there’s a one-day crossing. I was thinking of splitting it into two days and staying at a hut overnight.”
She looks down at her feet and says, “Oh.”
“Oh?” I ask. “What does ‘oh’ mean?” God, I hate when she looks sad, and that’s how those frown lines read.
Nina, the open book.
She scrapes her teeth over her bottom lip, releasing it with a sigh. “Nothing. I mean, it’s been fun hanging out. I’ll just, I don’t know, hop on another Kiwi bus. I still have my pass.”
She thinks I’m ditching her. Like it’s possible for me to leave her on her own. To not have her next to me every minute. When I go to my dorm at night, when I get stuck in my head like just now, heaviness settles in my heart. The weight of the last year. The second I see Nina, though, it dissipates. I don’t know how this happened in four days—make that four months in travel years—but I’m not letting this chick out of my sight, fake girlfriend or not.
“Hey.” I place two fingers below her chin and tilt her face toward me. “I didn’t mean I was taking off. We’re traveling together, remember? The fucked-up guy and disaster-magnet girl taking on the world? I’ve been planning to do that hike since before I got here. It just came out wrong. Besides, I’m not hiking that thing on my own. I’ll need someone to carry my pack for me.” When she doesn’t laugh, I drop her chin and inch closer. “Is that cool? To do the hike, I mean.”
She frowns at my damaged legs. “You’re sure it’s not too tough for you? I overheard a group at the hostel talking about it. It sounds like an intense climb.”
“Nina, I was this close to taking on King Kong a second ago, and you’re not sure I can go for