Page 68 of Adrift

“I need your help, Easton. Please.” Calvin shoots the word out like it hurts his throat.

“See, that wasn’t so hard.” Easton stands and slaps his thighs like he’s leaving the pub for the night. “What are we doing?” Easton takes a few steps, and the stench of the boar hits him. He shakes his head but doesn’t back down. Which I’m sure as hell happy about because I’m not exactly jumping up and down to volunteer for what I think Calvin wants.

“We need to get some palm fronds to make a clean spot to process the boar.”

“Right.” Easton shuffles off with Calvin, and I think I’ve got a moment to myself.

Calvin yells over his shoulder, “We need more firewood.”

“Right.” I stand and pull off my shorts and my shirt. And for the hell of it, I pull off my knickers too. I don’t look back at the fire, but someone whistles—Dante, I assume.

“What’s he doing?” Haley says in the wind.

I jump in the water. It’s clear. The sand under the breaking waves is light brown, and little fish dart about my feet. I’m in to my waist when I duck underwater. I can swim—I’m not an Olympian, but my mom made sure I learned to swim. The drop-off to the ocean happens slowly, and the waves are calmer. The stench of the pig and the blood coating my hands fades away. I’m floating, arms relaxed, eyes closed, tilted to the setting sun.

I open my eyes and go back to the beach. Easton is standing next to Calvin, who has his hands on his hips and his neck bent talking to Haley, still by the fire. Dante says something, his hands gesticulating to the ocean, then to Easton, and finally resting next to his head. Calvin unfolds himself to upright, then bends down and scoops Haley up. Dante’s up too, and Easton is saying something. I’m heading back to the shore, but then Dante’s got his clothes off and Easton does too.

Haley’s smacking at Calvin’s arms, and he lets her down and slides off her leggings. Her long T-shirt is covering her knickers, but then she points at them and they all turn around. I don’t,though I should. She seems like the bashful type. She pulls the shirt off, but then Calvin has her up against him again. She gives him another playful smack, and I have to head back into the water because, damn, I didn’t know I like watching so much. But the taps she gave Calvin might as well have been on my arm.

From here, the help sign and the unlit pile of brush for the signal fire look good. Even our little cooking fire is going strong, but not strong enough to set anything else on fire. I should swim over to the reef to see if we can catch fish. But I can’t stop watching them come into the water. Calvin steps up as his knees hit the waves. He’s wearing his underwear, as he calls it, and so is Easton. But Easton is helping Dante into the water, and Dante’s going natural.

Haley squeals when the first wave hits them. But soon they are beside me.

“I can swim.” Haley has her arms looped around Calvin’s neck. She’s taken her purple Rockwell bandana off. Her hair is loose and floating around her shoulders.

“I’m sure you can, but how are you going to get out?” Calvin hasn’t let her go.

“We’ll figure that out when I want to get out. You’re right, Easton, the water feels great on my ankle.” Haley swims away from Calvin and bobs near Easton. She’s like a magnet that draws us all in. I can’t leave to go look at the reef now, not by myself.

Haley floats next to me. “Feel better?” I ask.

“Yeah. That was a lot,” she says. A large wave swells, and we lift on it. When it puts us back down, we’re next to each other. “I’m glad you were there. Thank you. It could have really injured me without you. And I like to save the injuring of me to be done by me.” She laughs. The dim light catches her blue eyes, making them sparkle with flecks of green. Another wave pushes her into me.

I grab her. The water douses us both. We come up laughing. She wraps her arms around my neck, and now I’m king of the island. Our eyes are locked. I lean in to kiss her. My pulse thuds in my ears as the water surges around us. I see it then—panic. She turns her head as a wave crashes above us.

Chapter 28

Overboard

Easton

The water rejuvenates me. I’ve floated away from the rest of them. I’m calm and at peace with this island here in the ocean. And that’s fucking crazy. I’m happier shipwrecked with a bunch of strangers and no food than being back in the boardroom with my dad.

Fuck. I hope he’s okay. Emily too. Damn it. I hate that I don’t know what’s going on with them. That they don’t know I’m alive. But I can’t control it.

I let it go. I ride the waves with my eyes closed and release my anxiety. I’m not like Calvin. I can make out every pent-up frustration in the strain of his thick neck. Thankfully, Haley’s convinced Calvin we’d all fall apart without a break. But I know it’s Dante who put the bug in her ear. And thank fuck.

I helped Dante into the water. He told me he was good, so I let him go.

The waves are gentle, and there’s no riptide. I for one am glad for the moment to relax. Because I’m no fool—the second we’re done with this swim, we’re not just gathering palm fronds butskinning a pig. And whatever else Robinson Crusoe shit Calvin has planned.

I start making my way over to Haley. She’s clinging to Zane, and they’re laughing. Her laugh almost outweighs the weird noise Zane is making. I dive under the water and swim below the waves to where Zane and Haley are. I break the surface but end up getting a good eyeful of Zane’s junk first.

A wave crashes over us, separating Haley from Zane. Now I’m laughing, and so are they. Zane’s more thrashing in the water than swimming, but he’s staying up mostly. I’m not going to criticize his technique; the guy killed a beast with a twig.

I reach out to take Haley’s hand, but she reaches past me. “Dante.” Her eyes are wide.

A splash behind me makes me turn, and fuck, the chef is sinking like a rock. A big breath, and I dive down. His arms are flailing around, but we’re barely in eight feet of water. Hell, if Calvin wanted to stand, he probably could. I pull the water away from me and grasp Dante from behind, hauling him up by his chest. He’s stop thrashing, but he is coughing.

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