Page 24 of Delirium

“You can help me out by taking a seat right there.” I pointed to the chair pulled up to the narrow island. “The rest I’ve got handled.”

“You sure?” she asked.

“Absolutely.” I reached across the counter, grabbing the foil covered leftovers that hadn’t made it to the dining room. “My Gran had another saying. Make enough food for the crowd, then double it. I always have extras.”

The foil was still warm to the touch, and I started dividing it up on two plates. “Lucky for us, it’s still toasty, so we don’t need to sit around waiting for it to heat up.”

“I don’t mind sitting around with you.”

I snapped my gaze up from my plate to meet her eyes. “You don’t?”

“Why would I?” She reached across the island, grabbing one of the plates and pulling it toward herself. “Sorry for not standing on ceremony, but I’m starving.”

I brought my plate around to the side and sat down next to her, trying to ignore the creaking still echoing through the boat. I was certain no one else other than me would be able to hear it, but it felt like it wasallI could hear.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you like the food.” I paused with a fork in midair, unable to stop myself from watching Scarlett eat like my food was the best thing she’d ever put in her mouth.

“HocouldInotlike…” She quickly swallowed her mouthful, and looked up at me. “You probably think I’m an animal. But seriously, how could I not like this? It’s delicious.”

Scarlett turned back to her plate, and I started eating mine slowly, enjoying simply being in her company. Any lingering thoughts of James were gone, replaced with the charismatic woman sitting next to me, who simultaneously cared far too much about other people, and couldn’t care less about what they thought about her.

Maybe my Gran had been right all along. All I needed to win a woman over was a good batch of fried chicken.

Chapter

Nine

JAMES

Ihad no idea how Nash managed to live out here for so many years, because it was hot as fucking Hades, and I was fairly certain I wasn’t breathing air anymore, but water. Water vapor, at least.

I flung myself onto my bed, unbuttoning my linen shirt and trying to position myself directly in the wind’s way. Very little breeze managed to squeeze in through my cabin window, and while it would be a fair bit cooler on the main deck, I had thus far done my best to avoid the rest of my shipmates. Best to stay the course.

Especially after Nash’s and my anticlimactic standoff, when Scarlett abandoned her plate in search of our overly sensitive captain, which only made me roll my eyes. If she only knew the real Nash, she’d know he wasn’t sensitive in the slightest. The Nash I knew was just as cold as he thought I was. She’d left, regardless of what I thought, and I spent the rest of the meal chewing the half-decent food Nash provided, and watching Camp eat like a man on death row. Which, for all I knew, maybe he was.

Several days had passed since then. We were deep into the rainforest now, Nash’s rickety boat chugging along like it wasn’t held together with duct tape and hope. I’d heard the others, sure, echoes of their conversations trailing in through my window. Nash trying to impress them with some eco-bullshit, monkey-this, toucan-that. But I saw no purpose in speaking with any of them, or worse yet, makingfriends. Scarlett had obviously made her decision of whose side she stood on, and it wasn’t mine. But if she wanted to stand with criminals, more power to her. Whatever moment we’d shared on the first day was obviously nothing more than an illusion.

I was beginning to feel like this entire goddamn river trip was an illusion. I’d told Nash nearly everything in my email, at least as much as I could tell him without breaking any laws or NDAs. Still, the man had little to no sense of urgency.

I’d taken over for my father in the family company two years prior, and since then, things had been…less than smooth. So when Clancy, one of his oldest friends, came to me with the investment of a lifetime, I knew this might be my last chance at saving the family’s business—and our name.

It sounded simple enough. Exciting, even. The kind of thing you dreamed about when you were a boy, watching action movies. A team of men would head into the rainforest where a recent storm had uncovered what looked to be a hidden city. The team needed funds for supplies while they worked, which we could front, and in return, Clancy and I would split the profits of whatever treasures were found clean down the middle. Clancy volunteered to go with the team, and up until three weeks ago I’d gotten regular updates to my emails showing the incredible progress the expedition was making.

Until the emails stopped. Radio silence. I emailed again, and my email was bounced back to me. I tried calling the number of Clancy’s satellite phone, only for the ring to go dead.

Something was amiss, and if Clancy was screwing me over, he’d be sorry he ever thought he could get away with it.

I groaned, sitting up, and attempting to crank my window open even further. There had to be a draft somewhere on this godforsaken boat.

My father was probably rolling in his grave knowing I’d invested our dwindling fortune on what he’d calla harebrained scheme. A childish dream, not a decision made of logic. Of course, it was also his fault the fortune was dwindling in the first place.

Fuck. It was hot. I was miserable. And I was stuck on a boat in the middle of the rainforest, with a group of people who hated my guts. I wasn’t sure this could get any worse.

What I needed was a plan. A plan was good. A plan always helped. I needed to convince Nash this trip was of the utmost importance, and we needed to find Clancy andmyteam fast. The longer this trip took, the more time it gave Clancy to run away withmymoney, or turn the menIhired against me. I didn’t like either scenario.

Of course, convincing Nash meant I actually had to speak to him, which was a problem in and of itself.

I shouldn’t be bothered. In the real world, on solid ground, outside this dream life we all currently drifted through, Iwouldn’tbe bothered.

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