Page 46 of Love Off Course

“Liar. She’s gotten to you. You going to let this fucker steal your girl?”

“She’s not mine,” I snap. “I’ve known her for three days, man. Three. You can’t fall in love in three days.”

His eyes twinkle. “Nah, you’re right. Three is overkill. Usually it only takes one.”

“Fuck off,” I grunt, storming through the heavy puddles toward the hotel.

He splashes after me, staying quiet for once. When we arrive at the hotel, I curse. A portion of the roof is completely gone. I knew this place was getting worse and worse.Mamáwasn’t bringing in many new visitors, so she didn’t have money for repairs. This is going to kill her.

“Oh boy,” Carson groans. “This fucking sucks.”

“Yep. Let’s see what else got hit.”

The front office is fine aside from a huge crack in the glass door. Several trees have fallen on the property.Abuela’s spa issafe aside from standing in about six inches of water. All the villas are okay since they’re newer. Eddy’s remains unscathed.

It could have been worse, but it definitely could have been better too.

“Mijo!”Mamácalls out from Eddy’s open doorway. “What is the damage?”

Sheridan stands beside her frowning. “Is everything okay?”

I’m soaked and pissed and hurt for a multitude of reasons.

“No, Sher, everything is not okay,” I snarl, unfairly pointing my venom her way. “Mamá’sshitholeis even shittier now thanks to Rodrigo. The damages are going to be ridiculously expensive. I bet you can’t wait to get the fuck out of here so you can get back to David.”

Mamáwalks up to me and smacks me.“¡Suficiente!” Enough.

I glower at her. “It’s the truth. This place is a mess.”

“And so are you,”Mamáhisses. “Get yourself together.”

Sheridan swallows hard and then turns to walk back inside without another word, which is unlike her. She’s feisty and stings like a bee. Where’s her fight?

“You’re just going to walk away?” I call out. “Just like that?”

She looks over her shoulder, hurt flashing in her eyes. “Yeah. Just like that.”

“Over there, CZ,”Carson barks out as he points to yet another limb littering the airstrip.

After my meltdown earlier today, Carson, Alejandro, Nicolás, Mateo, and I all left to assess the damages at the airstrip.Toro came along for the ride and hasn’t been doing shit except running full speed through the deep puddles.

The place is a mess with debris, but the hangar is safe and so is the plane. Carson spent a good hour on the phone with the powers that be, reorganizing the flight schedule. As soon as we get this place cleaned up and we get the all-clear to fly, we’ll be out of here and on our way to our original destination. Costa Rica. To David.

“Quite an arm on you,” one of my stupid cousins calls out. “You should join the NFL.”

I shoot him the bird and pick up another limb to heave off the airstrip. Throwing sticks and tree limbs is satisfying and doing wonders to calm my rage. Why am I so pissed over a one-night stand? That’s all she was. We fucked. No big deal. I’m acting like she broke my goddamn heart.

The heart in question clenches painfully in my chest.

I need to get the hell out of Tahueca and back into the sky. At least up there, I can quiet my thoughts and breathe. Right now, I feel as though I’m suffocating.

We work for hours straight. The guys take a break to raid the breakroom in the hangar. Carson and I sit on a bench out front, staring out at the cleared airstrip as the rain continues to pelt us.

“So?”

“So what?” I grunt.

“We going to talk about it?”

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