Page 39 of Corrupted Lies

“No idea.”

“Are you okay? Did it wake you?”

“I was already out here. Woke up, couldn’t go back to sleep, and thought I'd come and look at the stars. It knocked me to my knees as I got to the deck. Are you okay?” Alannah paused to givehim a quick once-over. He looked all right. Actually, he looked more than all right. With his hair sleep mussed and wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants hanging low on his hips, he looked delicious. Like a tasty treat she wanted to devour.

Focus, Alannah.

“Fine. We need to figure that out, though.”

“We should put on life vests,” she added, already moving to grab them from the small cupboard beneath the controls. Since both she and Jake could swim, and they were planning to be out on the ocean for a while, it wasn't like they were going to wear a life vest permanently. But with the boat acting up it was better to be prepared for the worst rather than get caught out.

Right as she was reaching for the bright yellow vests, she noticed it.

A slip of paper eerily reminiscent of the one she’d found in the glove compartment of her car right before a burning vehicle came barreling toward them.

“J-Jake,” she stammered, unable to reach out and pick it up.

She hadn't put it there.

That she was certain of.

Why would she write herself a note and hide it with the life vests that she’d never used?

“What?”

“L-look?”

Following her trembling hand, she knew the second he saw what she was pointing at because his entire body stiffened.

“I think …” Alannah trailed off unable to say it out loud.

Because saying it out loud was acknowledging it.

And acknowledging it was admitting that someone else had been on her boat without her permission.

Not just someone but the people who were out to hurt her to try to convince Jake to back off and stop looking into what happened to his dad and stepmom.

If she accepted all of that, she also had to accept that whatever was wrong with the boat wasn't an accident, and it wasn't a malfunction.

Someone had guessed she might come to the boat so they’d sabotaged it.

Jake picked up the piece of paper, opened it, and read it. If it was possible his body went even stiffer at whatever it was that he read.

Even though she didn't want to know, Alannah couldn’t seem to stop herself from asking, “Wh-what does it say?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, shoving the paper into his pocket.

That lie was as obvious as the fact that they were out on the ocean on a boat that was no longer safe.

As if to prove her point, the boat suddenly shuddered again sending her flying sideways. Jake’s hands snapped around her biceps before she could hit the deck, dragging her up against his bigger, stronger body.

“What does it say, Jake?” she asked again. It was bad, she knew that already, but she had to know how bad. Had to know if the boat was about to catch fire. They were surrounded by water, so they could avoid the fire, but it would only end with them trapped in the water because there was no land nearby.

Could they make it back to the marina?

Or the closest island?

“It says your friend should have listened, now you have to pay the price.” Jake growled, and she knew he wasn't angry with her, just the situation, and maybe himself as well.

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