Page 57 of Adrift

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to talk about Candy. Since she’s dead and all. But that was her idea. She wanted my dad to retire early, and she wanted me and my sister to come on the yacht. I had nothing to do with it, other than having a work schedule that only fits this time. So you can point your finger somewhere else.” He wraps his arms around himself. There’s something else going on, but it’s none of my business.

“Calvin, we don’t need to get all worked up about this, not right now.” I hush him, not wanting to say anything to wake Haley. The fins are still poking through the surface every so often. And Calvin’s right, she hasn’t really had any downtime since she boarded theRock Candy. “We can hash this all out when we’re back on land.” We need to remember to act as a team. All the survival certification trainings run through my head.

“Right, land.” Calvin’s mopping up the rest of the tuna blood with the sponge, wringing it out into the bucket.

“Yes, land. Because we’re going to get out of this.” Easton checks on Dante. He lifts Dante’s eyelids.

“Well, golden boy. Life isn’t always easy.” Calvin mops and wrings some more. He’s using the mostly clean bucket of sea water to clean up the last bits of fish scales.

“Life doesn’t have to be hard.” Easton crosses his arms across his chest.

Fuck. I’ve known Calvin for a year. And if the wrong guy in the right type of bar said that to him, they’d be on the ground. One punch and his massive fist could crack every bone in the Olympian’s face. Calvin’s life has been shit, from the few stories I’ve heard.

“Whatever.” Calvin dips the bucket into the ocean and rinses it clean.

The rest of the day ticks by. I fall asleep, and when I wake, somehow Haley and I have slipped to the floor of the raft. She’s using my belly as a pillow, and I’m holding her to me. I can feel daggers on my skin when I spot Easton giving me a death stare. I turn to Calvin for support, but he’s got the same expression on his face. I know it well because it’s the same one I gave Easton this morning.

“Comfy?” Calvin’s wrestling with the windows. The swell is picking up, and the spray batters the side of the raft.

I give him the finger.

Dante coughs. And his hands twitch.

Calvin and I stare, but Easton’s at Dante’s side immediately. He turns his head sideways, and Dante dry-heaves.

Chapter 24

Dawn Watch

Dante

Ithrow up, but there’s nothing there. My stomach convulses. And my head feels like garbage. I’m not going to be able to make dinner, let alone breakfast. I have no idea what time it is. “Where the fuck am I?” The boat is really rocking and my cabin stinks like fish. “Why does it smell so bad?” My throat is sore. Like I’ve swallowed battery acid or cheap Russian vodka. Which are basically the same thing.

I open my eyes. The deck awning has a pink glow to it. It’s not an awning.

Haley’s here, a weird purple bandana over her head. Like a babushka, or a crunchy girl. I wouldn’t think of her as a crunchy girl. Not when she’s going around making out with the captain.

That’s when I remember. I got up to make the dough for my morning cinnamon rolls, and the ship listed hard. Hard enough that I had to lunge for the pan.

I push up onto my arms. “What the hell happened?”

“We—” Haley tries to tell me something, but the primary’s son stops her. Why is he here?

“For fuck’s sake, Sassy, just tell me.” The gagging is back, and Zane hands me a bucket. A bucket that on a normal day would make me want to lose my shit anyway. It’s like the inside of a clogged sink incinerator. I pull what’s left in my body up from my toenails, hurl it into the bucket, and collapse onto a soggy pile of towels.

Whooshing echoes in my ears when I go down. Everything hurts. I grit my molars together and wait for the next bout of nausea.

And it comes. “Fucking hell.” The only good thing is Haley’s fingers running through my hair. My cock doesn’t care what’s going on in my stomach or my head. Little asshole.

I hold Haley’s eyes as I go in for another round, then clench them closed. Everything clenches.

“I’m glad you’re awake. I was really worried.” The bucket is gone. She puts her knee under my head.

I’m using her for a pillow, and I smell like the bottom of a seafood restaurant dumpster. But she doesn’t. I’d bury my nose all the way into her if I could. She’s stroking my hair, and I almost relax. My groggy head has figured it out: we’re in a fucking life raft. “I’m guessing there’s a lot to worry about?”

“You’ve got a big bump on your head,” says the owner’s son as he leans over me from the side opposite Haley. Zane is washing out the bucket, and the engineer is leaning against the side wall. I close my eyes. “We’re going to have to wake you with concussion protocols. Do you want some water? Just a few sips to start. I’d like to take a look at the injury. Can you lie flat?”

I want to growl “no” at him. But instead, I move onto a small cushion, one from theRock Candy’s back deck. It’s covered in a blue and white striped towel. I lie down and let my head rest on the soggy thing.

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