Love without a Compass. Lindy Zart

because I knew he’d pair me with Avery, but because none of us city folk have any right trekking through a mountainous countryside. He laughed and told me to grow a pair. Nice guy, that Duke Renner.

      “Where are you going?” Avery demands when I veer off the path toward a tree.

      “I’m taking a piss. That okay?”

      “Yes, actually, it is, and by the way, I hope you piss all over yourself,” is called from behind.

      Half of my mouth lifts in a fleeting smile. Plain and simple, no matter that I can’t stand her, Avery routinely amuses me.

      I unzip my shorts and relieve myself, hearing what sounds like a squeaking sound as I finish up. Sure it’s a rodent scurrying about, I’m not overly concerned until I turn around and find the area Avery-less. Which would be good under regular circumstances, but out here in the wild? Not so much.

      “Avery?”

      When there continues to be no response, I ask, “Did you find a mirror and get lost in your reflection?”

      Silence greets me.

      I turn, annoyance flaring through my veins that she’s reciprocating my bad behavior toward her. Only one of us is allowed to be immature, and right now, I own that right. I take in my surroundings, looking for an inimitable shade of golden hair with matching eyes I’ve only seen on one particular woman.

      Nothing but nature faces me.

      A wisp of alarm threads itself around my chest, tightening enough to let me know something isn’t right.

      I turn in a slow circle, pausing to glance over the cliff’s edge. I quickly step back. My stomach dips at the thought of how far up we are, and how far someone would fall if they went over the edge. I swallow. “We’re a bit old to play hide and seek, don’t you think?”

      Not able to let fear become even a thought, anger takes over.

      I storm back in the direction from which we came, eerie quiet my only companion. Even the birds and bugs are silent. It makes my skin crawl. With her white shorts and pink shirt and shoes, Avery should stick out like a peppy cheerleader-type target among the neutral-toned land. I spent the hour-long drive to our drop-off point wondering who in their right mind would wear white shorts to hike through a mountainside. Now, all I want is to catch a glimpse of her white shorts—and not only because they’re microscopic.

      “Avery.”

      Why is she not answering me? I run a hand through my hair, jaw jutted forward as I make my way around a rock ledge that partly covers the trail. I look for clues on the ground, but I’m not a detective of any sort, or all that good of a tracker. I see nothing in the dirt to let me know where my coworker went.

      “Avery? Can you hear me?”

      Another sound, much closer and definitely human, catches my attention. I turn to the left, looking at a small valley where trees reside, and come up short. I stare for a minute, trying not to smile as I meander toward one particular tree. My heartbeats slow with the knowledge that Avery’s safe.

      “How’s it hanging?” I greet.

      Avery smiles thinly, not replying.

      “Let me guess—you’re imitating a tree, right?” I tilt my head sideways to better meet her eyes. I probably shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as I am, but it’s Avery.

      She stands at an odd angle, her hair held hostage by a tree limb. Her arms are crossed as she stares death at me. “I just thought I’d like to see the world from a different perspective.”

      I rub my jaw. “I see. How’s that going for you?”

      Avery’s expression turns lethal.

      I pat her shoulder, feel the muscles spasm beneath my touch, and turn. “Well, have fun with that.”

      “If you leave me like this, you’re fired.”

      A patch of green-and-yellow shrubbery holds my interest as I weigh her quiet words. She’s right, but I’m still considering it. I face Avery, watching her skin turn pinker the longer I gaze at her. Shifting my jaw back and forth, I remove a switchblade from my pocket, flick it open, and advance.

      “What are you doing?”

      I grin evilly.

      “You’re cutting the branch, not my hair, right?” Her eyes dart from the gleaming silver blade to me.

      “Yes.”

      “Yes? Yes, what?”

      Glancing down, I hide a smile before moving behind her. I allow myself one second to study the elegant slope of her neck before taking the limb in hand to saw it in two. It frays, then snaps, and Avery screams like I slit her throat instead of the tree branch holding her hair hostage. She hops around as she disentangles the limb from her hair and manages to trip over the same branch as it hits the ground. She falls, landing on her back in the dirt. A grunt leaves her upon impact.

      I watch the rise and fall of her chest as she pants, her gaze deadly and aimed straight at me.

      Her creamy skin is pocked with dirt and her shoulder-length hair is a golden poof around her head with twigs and leaves caught in it. The rubber band she used to pull back her hair is now but a memory. Avery’s shorts and T-shirt are brownish gray with debris, and her grapefruit scent has all but dissolved. This is sweet justice, it really is.

      Avery’s eyebrows slant down, and she scowls up at me. “Why are you smiling? You’re stuck with me for the next four days.”

      The smile drops from my face. I close the knife and shove it back in my pocket before I decide to use it on her. “You’re welcome.”

      Avery huffs behind me, but luckily for me, she remains quiet.

      I make my way down the rocky incline at a brisk pace, thinking the faster we find our flags and checkpoints, the faster we’ll get out of this hellish place. I misstep on a pile of rocks and roll forward on my boots until I gain control of myself. A branch scrapes my cheek as I pass by a tree too closely. I breathe in the scent of crisp leaves and fresh air. If not for Avery, this might not be all that bad. I’m not much of a nature guy, but this feels peaceful.

      “Ben! Wait up!”

      I wince. And there goes the peacefulness.

      The sun peeks through endless branches, heating my already hot skin. I almost cheer when I hear the sound of moving water. I slow my pace to allow Avery to catch up.

      The end of earth comes upon me quickly, and for a moment, I feel weightless. I jerk back from the edge of a rocky cliff. Where the hell did that come from? Without warning, the world ended. My heartbeat takes a drastic leap directly into calamity, and I carefully step away from a ride I’d rather not take, putting a couple feet between me and the drop-off. I set a hand to the rough bark of a tree and look down hundreds of feet to the rushing water below. It looks unapologetically wicked.

      “What is it? Why are you stopping?” she asks.

      There is one instant—one immoral, spiteful second—where I consider letting her find out on her own. Chances are, Avery would stop walking before she fell to her death. Probably.

      I partially turn and look over my shoulder. “Don’t come any closer. It’s a drop-off.”

      Avery skids to a stop, her eyes wide in her dirt-smudged face. A chunk of golden hair falls forward to obliterate one eye, giving her appeal she doesn’t need, and that is wasted on me. Pretty face twisting, she throws her hands up. “What is the point of this? We’re just supposed to wander around in the wild for days? This is asinine! There’s no reason we couldn’t learn how to work together as a team at a nice resort, not out in the wilderness. I don’t understand why Duke would do this to us. It’s like he’s punishing us.”

      My lips press together. Oh, I am definitely being punished.

      “I feel like