THE LUNA CHOOSING GAME - Season 5 Episode 99

Nicholas carried me into the cave and then gently laid me down. With my back against the cave wall, I could sit up enough to see. If he had placed me flat on my back, I never would have had the strength to sit up on my own.

The cave itself wasn’t too deep. It didn’t go beyond a few more yards, from what I could tell. Though the shadows were thick that far in.

“I’m going to try to build us a fire,” Nicholas said. He knelt down beside me and looked me over. “Maybe find you some food. When was the last time you ate?” I couldn’t remember so I just shrugged.

The worry line between his brows

deepened.

“11 find you something to eat,” he said, more forcefully.

I didn’t have the strength to argue. My eyelids felt heavy.

Between one blink and the next, I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again, Nicholas had built a small fire near the cave opening and was cooking what appeared to be rabbit over the flames.

My stomach grumbled. I was hungry.

But more than that, my teeth began to chatter.

Somehow Nicholas heard the clatter over the roar of the storm. Maybe he was just attuned to me. I knew that feeling. Sometimes I felt like all of my nerves and senses were focused SO

much on Nicholas, that little else mattered.

He left the meat of the fire and crossed his way back to me. Scooping me up, he brought me closer to the flames, presumably to warm me. It was too hot. I tried to push away from him, but my limbs felt like spaghetti noodles. I had too little strength.

After laying me down, Nicholas lifted his hand, pressing the back of his palm to my forehead.

“you have a fever,” he said.

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He reached for me again, I continued trying to push him off. Not just because he was too hot, but because now, with my initial fear pushed down, I realized how dirty I was.

Mud and dirt covered me head to toe.

The rain had washed some of the dirt I’d previously made away from his rain jacket, yet there was still a level of grime there on his chest that I must have left there.

“Piper,” Nicholas said firmly.

“Ill get you dirty,” I said.

“You think I care about that?” Nicholas unzipped his jacket and tugged it off. Underneath, he had a thin t-shirt. Without missing a beat, he yanked it up over his head.

My thoughts went quiet. “Nick?” “You are freezing. The fire isn’t enough.” He tugged off his pants next.

“You need both heat.” When he was naked he reached for me.

Gently, he eased off my damp

swimsuit, He even helped me out of my boots. 9 “I’m dirty,” I said again, more weakly this time.

“I don’t care,” he said. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, until he was lining my entire body with his naked own, from forehead down to my toes.

I curled into the warmth of his body and let him hold me as I drifted into unconsciousness again.

When I awoke next, our closeness had not changed, only our position.

Nicholas was resting up against the side of the cave. I was draped over his chest, limbs curled around him like an octopus.

Maybe I should have been embarrassed

The storm wasn’t howling as much anymore. The winds must have died down. But the water still pelted the leaves. Our fire was dwindling, though still crackled over the wood.

Nicholas looked down and I looked up.

I felt more myself now, and he must have been able to see that.

“What happened, Piper?” he asked me.

Nicholas already knew that Veronica and I had teamed up to find his treasure before Bridget could, so I didn’t have to explain all that.

“Veronica and I were following the instructions,” I said. “I was just walking. We were counting our steps.

Then the ground opened up beneath me and I was trapped.” “A man-made trap?” Nicholas asked.

“Yes,” I said, remembering the net that had been stretched over the opening of the hole, covered with dirt and twigs and leaves to hide it.

“Veronica tried to get me out, but I was stuck. So she went to go get help.” I hesitated over the next part, debating whether I should tell him about Bridget. Whatever their romantic feelings — or lack thereof — for each other, they were friends first. I knew the truth would hurt Nicholas based on that alone.

But I couldn’t leave it out. He deserved to know.

“I saw Bridget,” I said.

Nicholas went so quiet, I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing.

“She had a rope. I asked her for help.” Nicholas waited for me to continue, not uttering one syllable. The truth was obvious now. For me to still be in that hole told the story on its own. But I decided to elaborate anyway.

“She said she would be back after she found the treasure,” I said.

“She never came back,” Nicholas replied. It wasn’t a question, but I decided to treat it like one anyway.

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“No,” I said.

Nicholas arms tightened around me.

He didn’t say anything more about it,

but I could feel how furious he was by the tension in his muscles and the way his jaw locked.

Stewing in anger would solve nothing, so I tried to redirect him.

“How did you find me?” I asked.

He blinked a few times, then looked down at me again. “I had a bad feeling.

I couldn’t shake it. So when the boats were heading out to collect you, I went with them. Then I saw Veronica waving her arms, frantically trying to get help.” My heart warmed for my friend. She had tried her best. Unlike Bridget, she truly had stuck to her word. Veronica wasn’t going to leave me behind.

“By then, the storm was showing on the radar. No one wanted to risk

coming in to get you.” His eyes darkened. “But no one could stop me.” Feeling stronger now, I lifted my hand and placed it to his cheek. I remembered too late, how filthy my fingers were, and began to pull back, but he caught my hand in his own and held it to his face. He leaned into it.

“Who found the treasure?” I asked.

“Bridget,” he replied.

Ah. So she really did abandon me. She found her treasure, and then didn’t come back to save me. It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. Bridget was no friend of mine. But to know she would have just left me there during the storm…

I could have died.

I didn’t, thank God. And now life could continue on.

But if Bridget found the treasure, that meant she was going to be the one to £0 on a romantic boat date with Nicholas.

Veronica and my plan had utterly failed.

“I’m sorry,” I’said. “If I hadn’t of fallen in this hole…” “That wasn’t your fault,” Nicholas replied.

“But now Bridget has the treasure…” “Bridget has some trinket,” Nicholas said. He tucked his forefinger under my chin and lifted my face so that we were looking each other in the eyes again.

I “You are my true treasure.”