Page 90 of Adrift

She tilts her head to mine, and I kiss her nose. I was aiming for her mouth, but when she lets out a giggle, I’m glad I hit her nose. She grabs my chin and gives me a soft kiss before turning over to Zane and kissing him too. I’m not sure how this is going to work. Easton has gone outside, and I don’t feel guilty for taking his spot next to Haley. I don’t even feel guilty for takinghis spot with the cushion. But I do think about getting up and seeing if I can get the fire going again.

The flap smacks the side of the raft. “Where’s the flare gun?” Easton yells. “Where’s the flare gun? There’s a boat. There’s a fucking boat. Get out here.”

It’s a scramble of legs and arms to make it out of the raft. It’s fucking pitch black, cloudy, foggy, and zero visibility. There’s fucking zero chance he saw a boat. But we’re all up, all of us, standing on the wet sand outside the raft, naked. The moon strains through the clouds. I can barely see the tips of the waves as they crash on the shore.

“Where’s this ship?” I ask. Because it sure wasn’t a boat if he saw it out there. I’m holding the flare gun in my dry shirt.

“There to the north.” Easton points.

I bite the inside of my mouth, holding back from calling Easton a privileged prick. Mostly for Haley’s sake. Because the whole owner-crew, employer-employee thing? That’s over for me.

“That’s west, you numbnuts.” Dante’s up and out of the raft.

“Whatever. West,” Easton says.

We stand shoulder to shoulder like we did last night, when we saw the other small boat sail away. Maybe I was wrong? Two boats. Maybe we will find our way off this island in one piece. But I know for sure, we’re risking our lives by both firing this gun and not. The traffickers and pirates in this area are dangerous. We’re in international waters, with vigilante law in place. It was one of the reasons we wanted an extra week or two to get the damn yacht in shape. And now look at us. Always go with your gut—that’s what my brother used to say before he married my girlfriend. I knew something was up then too.

I’m not letting anyone near this gun. The ship we use a flare for has to be close enough that we can tell they’re not pirates.

Chapter 36

Unmoored

Dante

“You know what would be fucking fantastic?” I shove the coconut full of crabmeat and seedy bananas at the golden boy.

He’s got his steely blue eyes turned up to me. He’s not going to answer me.

“If you’d shut the hell up about the damn boat. What you saw was the Loch Ness monster. It didn’t exist. All right? And if it did, it doesn’t matter. It’s not here anyway.”

“I’m telling you; I saw it. A large white boat.”

“With no lights on?” Zane adds. “This is good, Dante.” He raises his bowl at me.

“Enjoy it. That’s the last of the bananas you found. We’re out until we find another tree or some more ripen.” I scrape the rest of the residue off my rock grill and push coals over it to heat it up for the next meal. All morning, Easton’s been going off about the fucking boat. I’ve had all morning to listen to him gripe about it. Ship this, right there. He needs to shut the fuck up.

“I’ll find some more,” says Zane. “I’m going to do a scouting mission when I go out to get some more firewood.”

“I saw a boat. I’m not imagining it.” Easton gathers the dirty coconut bowls and my two prized spoons the lug made for me. He stands there. His glare doesn’t affect me. I’ve worked in some stressful kitchens all over the world with chefs that are two cabbages shy of a coleslaw. Easton crosses his arms over his chest and looks between Zane and the water instead of heading there and being a good dishwasher. Granted, there’s really no such thing.

“Right, well, boats don’t just vanish.” Zane licks the inside of his shell and hands it to Easton.

“It was a post-sex delusion.” I push the coals around and put a new log on top. The pile of wood is getting low. If the damn pain in my head would stop, I could walk around for more than a few minutes and actually be useful. Am I salty about not being in the damn Haley pile? Fuck yeah. Am I mad that I woke up just as they were finishing and didn’t get to watch? Damn right I am.

Haley joins the kitchen circle.

“How was it?” Zane asks Haley.

“It’s a hole with palm fronds around it.” I shake my head at Zane. She’d made it clear she wanted to go relieve herself in the new latrine by herself. It’s a hundred feet up the beach. Calvin and Zane dug the hole this morning. Shockingly, the two of them are getting along like two peas in a pod. Guess sharing is caring. I huff a laugh and scrape the grill rock with my sharp rock. I’ve already done it, but it’s keeping me busy.

“Dante. It’s nice. Better than just going along the trail. I’ve got some ideas on how we can make it a little better.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Haley. Two boats in one night. We won’t be here long.” Easton squeezes her arm and takes off for the water.

I glance over at Haley. “Ready for some food?”

“Please.” She nods.

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