Page 100 of Adrift

The trail is getting wet. The rocks beneath the greenery are muddy and slick. “Let me take the pots.” I reposition things and reach for Haley’s load.

She frowns. “I’ve got them.” She holds them closer to her chest. “Really, Zane, I do.”

“Okay.” I walk behind her on the trail, minding her every step. She’s limping, and I can’t help but throw a look over my shoulder at Easton. He shrugs.

“Let me have the pots, Haley.” Easton pushes past me.

“I’ve got them.” Haley smiles back.

“No, come on,” Easton growls. “We don’t want you to strain your ankle again.”

“I’m good.” She lurches even as she says it.

I’m with Easton. She needs to pass them over, but being all grabby isn’t going to convince her.

“Haley?” Easton’s not letting it go.

Calvin drops the net on the side of the path. “Fucking Rockwell. Did you not hear her? She said she’s got it.” Calvin’s in Easton’s face.

Easton drops the chair and other things he’s carrying. “It was a question, Cal.” He emphasizes “Cal.”

Chapter 40

Retreat

Haley

My heart slams against my chest. “Calvin, it’s fine. Easton was trying to be kind.” The peacemaker in me wants them to get along.

Calvin’s tone is low. “I’m fucking sick of it. You’re just like my brother.” He glares at Easton.

“What, your brother doesn’t like you either?” Easton goes chest to chest with Calvin.

My breath hitches. Easton doesn’t know about Calvin’s brother, but I do. Shayla told me all about him when we were scrubbing the plastic-film residue from the shower in the Fortune suite. “Easton!” I call out, but it’s too late. Calvin punches Easton in the jaw. It echoes in the humid air. It is a crunching sound I can’t describe. A sound I know I’ll hear in my sleep. I’m going to hear it for the rest of my life.

Easton shakes his head and spits out a glob of thick blood. And I’m about to step between the two of them again, but Zane grabs me around my waist. The things he was holding are pitched to the side.

My legs are flying. I can’t see Easton or Calvin anymore. Zane’s holding me like I’m nothing more than a flopping stuffed animal. The world blurs around me. The green of the jungle and the dark stormy sky are bouncing blobs. Each plodding step he takes on the trail splatters sand up onto his legs and onto the green undergrowth next to the trail.

I twist, trying to see the guys. Even the big droplets of rain splattering the palm leaves don’t slow Zane down. He runs fast enough that we really are running between the raindrops. Between his rhythmic breath and the rain, I can’t hear anything else. He runs past the stream.

“Put me down.” He doesn’t slow through the clearing. “Really, Zane.” We are almost back at our beach. Another thirty feet and we’re home. Home? Whatever. “Put me down.” I squeeze on his shoulder. “Please.”

Zane makes it to where the beach and jungle blend before he slows. “Right, sorry, Little Bird. I don’t want you anywhere near those two knuckleheads. Let them do what they have to do.” His grip loosens, and he sets me down. My feet hit the sand, and I resist the urge to go back and see what damage the two of them are doing to each other. I’m more afraid for Easton than Calvin. I’m hoping that Calvin... can stop himself. I shake my head and look off into the distance. The ocean and sky are both churning an angry gray.

“Do whatever it is they need to do?” I can’t resist, and I turn back to the head of the jungle path. “They could really hurt each other.”

“No Haley. If they need to pound on each other, let them do it.” Zane turns me back to the raft.

Dante laughs.

And Zane and I stare at him. The wind howls through our encampment, but the rain for now has stopped.

“What, pound? It’s funny.” Dante’s under the small kitchen rain shelter, and he glances between us and the jungle. “What’s going on?”

“Those two daft sods are going at it again.” Zane throws his thumb at the jungle.

It’s only then I remember I’m still clinging to one of the two pots I managed to not drop when Zane picked me up. “We?—”

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