Chapter Five

*

When they'd been meeting in the base after that first period of awkwardness between them Evie got an impression that Ethan treated her as a friend at first, maybe there was even a possibility that he’d treat her as more than just that someday. She had no clue what the protocol for courting a girl in Sirian culture was and it was hard to say whether Ethan's distance was just his personal feature or whether it was a sign he was not interested in her as a woman. She was a woman and she thought she could sense when a man was drawn to her. There were such signals a few times from Ethan or so she thought at the time at least. Now however that feeling disappeared as if it had never existed. She even started to wonder whether she hadn’t imagined it in the first place. Ethan seemed determined to keep distance between them focused only on his job of getting them to Fort Lourdes and getting her to Earth base. He didn’t try to talk to her more than their journey made necessary. All the easy camaraderie they'd built between them was gone and he seemed withdrawn and isolated in his own world as if suddenly a glass wall had been put between them. She wondered whether the fact that he was now in his natural surroundings made him behave like this. Maybe he was really like this and being friendly before was only a sign he was making an effort to fit in with his surroundings while visiting their base? When in Rome...

At noon they reached the river as he’d promised. Most of the boys went to wash and were splashing around happily now and Evie having put her small backpack on the ground made to walk a short way from them. No way was she undressing with twenty guys gaping at her underwear.

‘Hey, where are you going?’

Ethan immediately caught up with her leaving his things dumped carelessly on the ground.

‘To have a bit of privacy?’ Evie looked at him defiantly. ‘If I may.’ She raised her eyebrow.

‘Oh… Yes, sure.’ He mitigated himself, then he thought better of it. ‘I’d rather you stayed in my sight, though. There are all kinds of animals here, you know. I won’t watch, I promise.’ He raised his hands defensively.

‘Right.’

How was he intending not to watch and keep her in his sight was a mystery she'd rather not explore at the moment. The glimpse of the serpent that bit her not so long ago flashed in her mind making the prospect of a lone trip somewhat unappealing. Evie sighed and continued along the path.

Ethan stayed a bit behind indeed his ears listening to any sound that might alert him of danger as Evie took off her T-shirt and combats and looked at the river. The water was clear and she could easily see through it to the bottom covered with sand and small pebbles. Where it curved weaving through the jungle it formed small pools and she could see green plants and some small fish among them. It seemed quite different from Earth's murky rivers and frankly a lot prettier. That was also one of the first things that drew her to Sirius when she was considering moving here: its paradise-like clean environment.

Just in her underwear she walked into the river. The water was blissfully cool. After two days’ walk in sticky hot temperature Evie felt dirty and stinky. She washed her hair then rinsed her top. The combats had just a few spots so she treated them without getting the trousers completely wet. She couldn’t walk around just in her underpants so that would have to pass. Before she left the base she only packed a few essentials like a toothbrush and a change of underwear and a spare top in her small backpack hoping that when they get to another base she'd be able to replace her possessions. Now she would have to make do with whatever she had. She hung her T-shirt on a branch and called out to Ethan.

‘I’m done but I have to wait till my clothes get dry. You can come for a swim if you want!’

She was neck-deep in the water when he dived in. Evie heard a splash some way from her but soon Ethan emerged near her. She vaguely thought that it was no use hiding if he could see her underwater anyway. A hot wave washed over her face but Ethan seemed not to pay attention to her. He splashed and dived around his bronze muscular body glistening with drops of water in the sun. He seemed suddenly carefree and happy like a child and she smiled forcing herself not to stare at him. Eventually he turned back towards her and called out brightly.

‘Feels great to wash at last, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes.’ She mumbled. The sudden change in his mood disturbed her, she didn’t know what to think of it. He was standing close to her, his dark eyes more greenish now as they reflected the glittering water, the look in them one she couldn't read. His smile faded slowly and the merry sparks in his eyes vanished like extinguished fire, his gaze darkening like the sky before the storm.

Evie’s hair hang loose dripping with water. It seemed darker when it was wet and the girl’s eyes shone blue as if the water reflecting in them intensified their color. Her skin was of a light caramel color that reminded Ethan of cream flan his mum prepared whenever he was staying in the city. It would take only the smallest gesture to reach out and touch her, close his hands on her hips, pull her to himself and taste...Ethan turned his eyes away trying to control the violent surge of blood to his lower body. He couldn’t work out the emotions the girl’s appearance evoked in him. Her delicate features stirred his protective instincts but at the same time he felt the need to claim her in the most primitive way. That would be just about right, he thought bitterly, proving he was the primitive savage she must have seen him as at the beginning. But he couldn't use his advantage over her like this, could he? When Evie was totally at his mercy and maybe would be just too scared to oppose? He didn't want it- a forced relationship. So he'd have to just get her back and keep his instincts in check.

‘Okay, I’m getting out.’ He said somberly and scrambled on the bank. A glimpse at Evie's t-shirt hanging on a branch confirmed that it was still wet. His imagination readily supplied him with the way it would cling to Evie's body and as much as he would enjoy the sight he would hate the others to have this privilege too.

'Your shirt is still wet. You can have mine for the time if you wish.' He called out to her.

Evie looked away as he started to pull on his trousers but before she did she caught a glimpse of his buttocks not even a shade paler than the rest of his body. A hot wave washed over her making her heart beat faster.

‘Thank you. I’ll be right after you.’ She called trying to hide embarrassment in her voice.

‘Fine.’ Ethan said curtly and turned to go. 'I'll wait nearby.'

He was angry. Not only did he feel alien in his own camp with the girl among them but he couldn’t think straight. And he needed to be able to think straight if he was to get them all safely to the base. Why was he so obsessed with this Earthian? What did she do to his head? He had enough trouble not staring at her all the time and to add to it now he felt the urge to touch her soft smooth skin as well. The hell… Swimming with her was not such a good idea after all. It somehow diminished the barrier he'd been trying to build between them and which he didn’t intend to cross. He knew better than that. Messing around with an Earthian could only do harm, not good. Certainly not for him.

Evie slowly walked out on the river bank. After two days' march she was reluctant to leave the blissful coolness of the river. Not to say that Ethan's changing mood threw her. She wasn't intending to wear his T-shirt but one look at hers proved it was quite wet indeed and she'd think twice before she paraded in it in the camp. She stooped to pick up Ethan's T-shirt from the ground. Her fingers clenched on the fabric at the same time as her insides clenched with unspoken longing. She pulled it on and Ethan's smell enveloped her in a warm cocoon. She inhaled sharply trying to curb her urge to run her hands over the shirt which hung on her reaching her mid-thighs. She shook herself from the stupor and collecting her own wet shirt followed Ethan. He was sat on a boulder a few meters away and his eyes skimmed her with a hungry possessive glint when she came up to him. “Mine,” the thought ran through his head and he wasn't sure he was thinking of his shirt or the Earthian girl. He gave himself a mental slap. “Yours is the shirt idiot, not the girl in it,” he thought but still the sight of Evie wearing his garment made his insides melt with a strange warmth.