Chapter sixteen: Fuck your money
Now, they were at the edge of another cliff, far, far away from the jungle terrain. It was a breath of fresh air and not having to swat away pestering bugs was relieving and not having to hear the trickling of waterfalls in the distance was serene, however, now they were no longer covered by a thick, mustering heat. The further away they parted from the rain forest, the closer they came to accept the cold drop of temperature the harsh mountains had to offer.
Perhaps it was the heat that made her feel sick but now, she felt somewhat relived, either it was true or she fooled herself into believing a lie to make herself feel better. Either way, with sore muscles and the weight of the world on her shoulders, she began to attach the money bags onto a rope that dangled for the men to lift, seeing as how there was no possible alternative for the donkeys to climb up, also meaning they would have to part ways with them.
"Are you sure you want me to get rid of the mules?" Catfish yelled up to his teammates. He was on the second last rock and watched them climb above.
William responded with seemingly more knowledge than the rest of them. "This rock side's twenty foot deep. We're not getting the mules through."
Sticking his thumb up in approval. "Yeah! It's on us now!" Tom shouted from beside Pope. They were both at the top and waited patiently for the rest of the crew to climb above.
Margo couldn't help but chuckle as Catfish made childish noises, chasing the braying donkeys to scare them away. Once they were out of sight, she continued pulling the makeshift rope system to ascend the bags towards the top of the mountain to where Pope and Redfly gathered them. She grunted with each tug and when the last one was up, she followed closely behind William and in attempts to rock climb without a harness, she swallowed her fear and stalked carefully, placing her hands on the ledges in front of her whilst moving her legs up.
Once she was hoisted up by Pope, she panted a 'thank you' through her shortness of breath and he patted her pack in encouragement. William was the next person to come up, followed by Ben then Catfish. Ben pretty much did the same. At the edge of the rocks, he spluttered for air to embrace his lungs but once he saw Margo standing with her arms folded, looking to him with that damned smirk she always wore so perfectly, she got himself up from his knees and patted his chest, keeping a thin-lined lip and with his arms then extended, he hugged the smaller woman tightly and she found herself doing the same.
"We haven't talked in awhile." Ben stated, holding her tighter as though that were possible. "I've missed you."
As his husky voice serenaded her, she remained under control but felt the need to let loose just this once. She'd been strong for too long and perhaps it was now time to let go of every little insecurity wore on her sleeve and stand naked in front of the man she'd surely grown to love.
She then rested her head on his shoulder and when her eyelids opened to reveal William who stood aside and watched them through saudade lenses. He didn't move. He stood talking to Pope but his eyes remained on the girl he once loved in the arms of another. Silently, it was killing him and maybe it did the same to her, knowing the relationship she and William shared would only go down the drain due to unwanted feelings that she'd simply embraced and made her own.
"I missed you too." Her raspy voice fell upon his ears but as her lips moved, William read them and gathered that she missed more than Ben.
Ben reluctantly pulled his arms away and looked down to her, scanning for any alarm bells that would scream out the descent of decay but from what it seemed, she was good at hiding her pain, but it wouldn't kill him to ask, and so he probed with care.
"Are you feelin' better, baby?"
"I'm fine, Benny." Margo softly laughed with a pang in her heart; betrayal yet again. "You care too much."
A smile rose on Ben's unshaven features. "I haven't stopped."
As Margo gulped and her face drained of more colour, she tried to muster a response but thankfully, Catfish walked over and stood between the pair, jokingly pushing them away from each other. With his arm slung over Margo's frame, she wrapped an arm round his waist and rested her head on his chest with a fond smile.
"Okay, I want you both five feet apart from each other at all times."
Ben held his dirty hands up in defence whilst keeping the jester tone. "Hey, man. You got it."
"Can't have any teenage pregnancies now, can we?"
Margo scoffed and dug her fingers into Fish's sides to make him squeal like a pig. "I think you forget that I'm a twenty five year old woman who's practically raising a twenty three year old man baby."
"Forgive me, Vix, but the last time I saw you, you were a teenager. So to me, you'll always be a kid." Catfish then pulled her cheeks with his fingers, to which she squatted him away. "But my, look how you've blossomed!"
Blush rose on Margo's cheeks upon hearing Ben's laughter that held utter amusement. Groaning, she stood back and pouted. "Yeah, yeah. Let's keep going."
***
Margo threw the last bag of cash with a grunt onto the pile of others that sat in a bundle. With the sun that almost completed its downfall beyond the tangerine horizon, Margo took a moment to appreciate the vast mountain tops that struggled to mark their points above the tranquil sunset. From where she stood, she could see the plain divide between the jungle and the rocky biome. Even the shadows were swallowed by the encroaching darkness in the gathering gloom.
With peace resting in her disturbed soul, she didn't frown nor smile, but she did sigh in content. She admired her strength for how far she'd travelled, both far and wide, sickness and in health. After going through desperate measures to maintain the money, she guessed she would've been driven mad like their jackpot in the beginning, however, on the contrary, she didn't care much for it the same way Tom did.
She realised she was rich. It may not have involved finance, but after taking a glance around to the faces to those she beloved, she was beyond grateful to have survived with such persevering individuals. Without all their inputs to create such a powerful group, she would never have made it this far.
The feel of arms snaked round her waist and a chin rested on her shoulder, placing delicate kisses on her neck that peeked above the collar of her thick, winter jacket which Ben had given her to keep herself warm since her own didn't do her justice. She may have fooled herself to feel better but he wasn't convinced. The night would only bring more catastrophic cold drops in temperature and it was his self-given duty to provide safety.
Margo didn't jump. She didn't push away nor shout at him for exposing their relationship. She only stared beyond and watch the dark and light blend together to become dark.
Whispering into her ear, Ben kept an idyllic smile on his features whilst looking at her eyes that absorbed nature's beauty. "The view from up here is amazing."
"I want to travel more often." Margo spoke lowly and made a mental list of the places she'd visit.
Ben had an idea. "You said with the money you'd move to Ireland, right?" After a small nod from Margo, he continued. "What if I come with you?"
The wishful thinking made Margo turn to face him with uprising joy. She didn't want to get her hopes up but even if they weren't able to return the cash prize back to America, she still wanted to spend the rest of her days with Ben. From now on, anywhere she went, he went, for he was home and so was she.
William sat down with his back to the uncomfortable pillow of dollars. He blew out the fresh air and with his eyes averting from the couple, he folded his arms and spoke to nobody in particular. "You could freeze and Eskimo's asshole out here."
Chuckling, Ben led Margo by the hand and together, they sat down, her in between both Ben and Santiago who chewed on some sort of food.
"I demand a fire."
Margo sighed, reminding him of Tom's orders. "We cold camp, courtesy of captain fuckface over here."
Ben barely smirked upon seeing Tom give Margo a cold stare. Then, he cupped his hands together and blew air into the hole to try and warm his palms up, but it wasn't enough. He didn't regret giving Margo his jacket. She needed warmth more than he did and as he kept her best interest in mind, he unzipped the bag closest to him and took out a wad of cash. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and lit the tip of the stack on fire, watching the flame dance along the paper.
"Fuck you." Ben looked at William. "This is my 'fuck you' money."
William was unamused. "Dude, what the fuck are you doing?"
Oddly, Tom took light of the situation and chuckled lightly. "We don't have enough people to carry all this money so we might as well be warm."
Ben threw the glowing embers of paper onto the ground in front of the semi circle. As the hundred dollar bill curled, turning into a flaming pile of ash, Ben took another pile of money out and like he did before, he lit this stack and threw it down to create a millionaire's fire.
Margo felt uneasy. The rest of the men began to laugh at how absurd Ben's behaviour was. Of course, Margo knew the night would be frosty and hold them all captive in its sub-zero touch, however, she knew Ben was deluded and the millions were polluting his brain. Glancing over the fire to William, he mirrored her worry and he could only give her a sympathetic, thinned lip while they both listened to the cackling of men and the crackling of the cash.
"That's more like it." Frankie chuckled.
"Este loco." Santiago agreed.
Tom sprung up from beside William and suddenly, he opened a suitcase with at least ten thousand dollars and watched the green hit the rocks, quickly igniting the pile to keep the fire alive. This only brought more pleasure to the men and they laughed harder. Meanwhile, Margo sulked. She'd folded her arms and watched the embers flicker.
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