Page 41 of Hate Wrecked

Just one moment.

Just one fucking moment.

But I don’t have that.

I don’t know what I’m hearing at first. It’s hard to hear over the birds as we return to our supplies, but something captures my attention. When I look at Riley, she has a strange look on her face, and her eyes dart around. Then, finally, we both stop, turning slowly, eyes searching the trees.

When I see it, I blink twice, shaking my head. Riley follows my line of sight to the orange furball by the tree line. The cat has a rat in its mouth and is meowing around its capture.

“Oh my gooooooodddddd,” Riley exclaims, dropping to her knees. She beckons the cat to her without hesitation.

“Riley, it has a rat in its mouth.”

“So?” She glances at me before making kitty sounds to the cat.

I reach for her arm, attempting to pull her up. “Riley, that cat doesn’t look domestic.”

Riley rolls her eyes before walking toward the cat. But, as I suspected, it growls around the dead rat in its mouth, then runs into the trees.

“Fuck,” Riley whispers.

“C’mon,” I say, walking away.

Riley rushes to catch up. “Why is he all alone here?”

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“I don’t know. It’s an orange cat. Most orange cats are boys.”

“Who knows why it’s here? Stranger things have happened.”

“Someone left it here. All alone,” she says as we make it to the airstrip.

“On an island with rats and birds,” I retort. “Sounds like a cat’s dream.”

“But without anyone toloveit.”

“Not all animals need love, and he looked happy with his feast in his mouth.”’

Riley scoffs, crossing her arms as we reach the edge of the airstrip and Falcon Island. “It was looking into my damn soul, Rowan. It was meowing. And all animals need love.”

“Not true.”

Riley rushes past me into the water, turning around to look at me as she walks backward. “Are you an animal that doesn’t need love?”

“I’m exactly that kind of animal.”

Riley shakes her head before turning around. “Yeah, right. Don’t talk to me like I don’t know you.”’

“Youdidknow me. Past tense.”

Riley doesn’t reply as we approach our belongings.

Above us, the sky is getting dark. The blue deep and ominous. Riley looks up, too. “Another fucking storm?”

“This island is one of the rainiest places on the planet.”

We pick up our pace, and I wonder if we should stay in the Hilton. I don’twantto stay in one of the buildings until we’ve cleaned it up a bit and planned for us to stay in the tent the first night on Falcon Island. But it looks like we may not have a choice.

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