Author's Note:
Hey people. Thanks for all of the positive response. I need to mention that the other story I'm working on, Jackson's Other Lives, ties in to this story, but you don't need to read it to understand this one. It'll be a later chapter here. It's just a really detailed account of something Jackson in this story doesn't remember. YET. And when he does…Tum te tum tum…
Chapter Four
Trinity
Day 70 Afternoon
The three teens walked slowly through the dense underbrush of the jungle island, hacking a very rough path in their search. Jackson was, as usual, in the lead. Mel was in the middle and Eric was, inevitably, in the rear. The heat was oppressive, the vines seemed almost alive and the mosquitoes were , in Eric's humble opinion, ginormous . One of the bugs flew by Jackson's ear making a noise that sounded like a baby helicopter. He winced and swore as the vampiric varmint drilled him. He swatted it so hard he felt his ear ringing like a bell. He heard Mel complaining about the swarm behind him as well.
" I'll need a transfusion if these mosquitoes keep this crap up! Is there any sign of a clearing or anything yet Cody?" she asked, trying to fashion her white bandanna into a type of netting around her large tan sailor style hat.
He sliced at the vines steadingly wit his machete, held in his left hand while he swatted bugs and shoved vines with his right. " I can't really see anything, but I hear something. I'm not quite certain, "he panted, sweat and damp light brown hair in his eyes, " but I think it's running water."
"With our luck, it's probably a stream full of pirannas, carnivorous clam, flesh eating leeches or fifty foot pythons, " Eric grouched as he tried in vain to cover his ears with his beloved straw hat. " Or something worse."
" All right Nathan, quut being such a cockeyed optimist all the time." Mel said. You could almost see the syrup she slathered upon her words in the humid air.
" You're getting better at that," Eric said approvingly, " you just need to put a little more panache into it, a little more sting. Try looking mean. You know, do the street rat look like Jackson does." he turned his best innocent expression on as Jackson stopped hacking and turned to glare at Eric, who pointed at him with glee. "That's it! That's the look!"
Jackson stood still, He tried his level best not to grin, but his cheek muscles betrayed him with a twitch as Mel began laughing gustily at him.
He had a slightly aggrieved look on his face as Mel went up and put an arm around hi. " Well, I guess I have a thing for street rats then."
Jackson looked down at her and then, to her and Eric's surprised eyes and ears, the big guy went " Squeek!"
Melissa punched Eric's arm and hissed, " You finally did it! You corrupted him! Are you happy now that you've ruined him for the rest of the world?'
" Damn right I am, " the slim man shot back happily, " I'm as proud as Frankenstein was of his monster."
" When are you two gonna take your comedy routine out on the road?" Jackson grumbled back, his ears red . But it was noteworthy that there was a grin on his normally somber face. But just for a moment.
" I hate to break the party up, but we'd better get moving. We're racing against sunset here."
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A handful of minute later, the faint sound Jackson had heard had become louder and louder. The threesome decided to go to the noise in hopes of at least escaping the mosquitoes, which were rapidly progressing from a nuisance to a genuine source of pain. Finally, Jackson saw a break in the omnipresent branches and vines. He could see the unmistakable glare of light reflecting off of water. He waded through the bushes and stopped in his tracks at the sight in front of him.
It was a waterfall. A fairly large one, as well. It poured in three distinct branches off from a roughly two hundred foot hillside. There was a huge pool of water, shallow enough that they could clearly see the bottom , seven or eight feet down. And there was a small river flowing swiftly off form it. The hills and the bottom of the waterfall gleamed with obsidian like a huge black bowl. The wind from the river gave a pleasant relief from the flying insects, who rightly feared the mist rising from the falls.
Mel touched him on the shoulder as she looked about too. " Whoa, it's like something off the Blue Lagoon or something." she whispered, feeling a strange urge to be respectful of the serene valley.
Obviously, Eric felt no such urge. " Cool, let's take a swim!"
" We can't spare the time, " Jackson said regretfully, " I want to find the cave the stuff is in and we can't be far. I just wish Russell hadn't torn up his brother's map."
" Cody, we're probably at the right spot." Mel said, a thoughtful look on her attractive Oriental face, " I mean, this has to be the center of the island and I'd bet there's a half dozen caves in plain sight." She pointed up at the hillsides.
And, to Jackson's chagrin, she as right. There were five by his count. And if his memory served, on the map, it was in a valley like this, although there had been no mention of waterfalls on the map. Russell may have just to thought to put it down. Or they may have not been his maps in the first place; he was a thief after all. And, I reek. I can smell myself. And I even smell Mel. And I don't even want to get started about Eric; he's got more musk glands than a pack of ferrets. Poor guy.
"I give, I give. I admit it, I'm dying for a swim in something other than salt water. We'll take an hour for our selves. We don't have any towels or dry clothes so we'll have to go native," he warned, raising an eyebrow.
" And, we don't have any secrets left here!" Eric answered as he began hurriedly peeling his clothes off, " And we've seen it all before anyhow, done a lot more than just lookin' , too." he grinned salaciously as he whipped his boxer off his narrow hips, exposing his rampant erection.
" Eric, " Mel gurgled, embarrassed. And more than a little impressed, " are you , er, a little excited about something?"
He wasn't embarrassed in the slightest, " I'm buck naked. I'm about to see the two people who I love the most and who I'm the most turned in the world by naked and there's no bad guys with gun or drugs making us do anything. I'm fuckin' turned on!" He ran into the water with a shout of pure joy.
She turned to look at Jackson. Her eyes widened at what she saw. He was already nude and just as erect as Eric. He looked at her, his emotions showing on his face and in his eyes. " I feel just like he does Mel. I'm here, alone with the two people I love. The only question here is, have you made up your mind about Eric. Do you really love him like you do me or not?"
Her thoughts shattered as the question was finally put to her bluntly. Memories of how he'd humiliated her by helping announce her feelings to Jackson so long ago. Thoughts of all the caustic comments that peppered his speech. Of the horrible jokes. Of the deceitful things he'd done so frequently to her. Of how ungrateful he'd seemed, begrudgingly giving her thanks when she'd saved him from drowning.
And of the gratitude he'd shown when she had saved him fro his allergic reaction to the shellfish. Of the steadfast way he'd endured horrific , repeated rapes to help her save Jackson. Of the way fear clutched at her heart every time he had been threatened by Mark Watson. Of the courage that he'd seemed to have developed since falling in love with Jackson. And he way he still always deferred to her when it came to Cody, even now, to make sure she knew that he respected her love for Jackson even as he loved him as well. And then, she knew it .
" No."
Cody looked like crying in that instant.
She went on. " No, I don't . I don't love him like I love you. I fell for you the second I first saw you. It's grown with every single day I've been around you. With every good or bad thing that's happened. And I didn't fall in love with Eric like that."
Jackson stood silent. His eyes had the glint of barely restrained tears in them.
" I fell in love with Eric when I realized how much you meant to him. When I saw how much he wanted to change after he realized it. And he did. He started to really treat everyone like they were people. And I realized ho hard it as for him to realize you really do love us both. And then I realized that he was falling for me like I fell for you. And now, I don't want to ever want to know what it's like without either of you because any combination of just two of us is so much less than all three. No, I don't love Eric like I do you, but I love him just as much and I want to show you both exactly how I feel."
Her clothes pooled to the ground moments later. Eric came up from the water.
He stood to the left of Cody, Mel to the right. They both leaned in and began to trade kisses with Cody as well as each other. They slowly walked into the water, a loving trinity.
*I freely admit, I stole the street rat shtick from CerberAsta!