Page 67 of Wayward
Down at the resort’s private beach, we wait for Haley outside of the beach restroom before continuing down the beach. There’s only a few chairs and things not put away. We find a large ottoman-like chair that hasn’t been covered up for the night.
“Here?” I ask.
“I love a cabana bed.” Haley jumps into the middle of it.
“It has a name?” I crawl in beside her.
“If you can charge more for it, it has a name,” Dante says, playing with Haley’s hair. And I think about how nice it would have been to have one back on our beach.
The laughter from the car ride fades away, and we all turn silent like we were back in the temple. It’s been an exhausting day. From the hotel phone ringing and Anan wanting to talk to Dante to finding Stella and her amazing deal to get us back home. The beauty of the temple and the amazing tastes of the market. Now . . . I pull Haley to my chest and close my eyes, listening to the crashing of the waves on the manicured beach. I can’t help but think about our island and about Penny back with Esmeralda, but we wouldn’t have been able to be here with Penny. We wouldn’t have found a way home. I will bring Penny home, but first I need to think about Haley. And only Haley. “Penny would have loved it here,” I say.
“You think Stella’s going to keep her promise?” Zane asks Easton.
“Why wouldn’t she? What would be in it for her to not keep it? She didn’t come off as flippant or uncaring to me. Do you agree, Haley?” Easton places his hand on her leg.
Haley rolls onto her back. “I do. She was really kind when she was on Charlie’s boat. What benefit could it be to her? If anything, it gets us out of the villa and away from her wedding without bringing in the press. Despite what Stella said about the media not reporting on positive things, we’re going to have our fifteen minutes of fame. I’m not looking forward to it. There’s bound to be all sorts of questions.”
I grab her foot, and when I look around the cabana bed, all the guys are touching her in some way. She’s not wrong. “I won’t let them defame you, Haley. None of us will. What we are is no one’s business but our own. We’re a family. We lead with that,” I say.
“A family,” she repeats. “You’re right. It’s no one’s business but our own. I don’t have a family, but you all do. What are your parents and siblings going to think?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Little Bird. But I know my sister is going to adore you. And my mum is going to be glad that I didn’t decide to marry a football.”
Haley laughs. “You would if you could.”
Zane shrugs. “But shite, I can get a real football now and show you how bloody brilliant I am.” Calvin pushes at him with his foot, and Zane dramatically rolls off the cushion, then jumps to his feet and stands with his hands on his hips. “I’ve got the moves. I’m as fast as Harry Kane. He’s a football player,” Zane adds and nods at Haley.
“I know. You might have told me about him once or twice before. You definitely have all the moves, Zane.” Haley laughs.
The sun dips below the horizon, and we head back to the villa. The room has a giant fruit arrangement on the table, like the one in Stella’s suite. There’s also a rack with six hanging clothing bags, each with one of our initials on it.
“Looks like Stella’s been busy using that black card of hers,” Easton says and unzips the one with an E on it. “Two shirts and two pairs of pants. There’s also a small plastic bag of underwear and a blue tie. Fucking hell.” He moves the rack, showing a tower of boxes of men’s shoes. “Guess Ms. Freeman wants us to show up with a little bit of style to the airport.”
“It’s really nice of her.” Haley takes her bag. “There’s a note from Stella. It says she’s arranged transportation for us tomorrow. It’ll pick us up at three. We need to get her our passport names and numbers so she can get it to the crew by tomorrow morning.” Haley looks over to Dante. “Is that going to be an issue?”
“Shouldn’t be, Anan said any time after ten. Ten’s morning to me.”
Haley nods. “The rest is just her wishing us well.”
“I’ll send a nice wedding gift when we get back to the States.” Easton kisses the top of Haley’s head.
“That would be great.” Haley flops into the swivel chair, her bag of clothes on her lap.
There’s a lot of silent negotiation between the guys as to who’s going to sleep where. Calvin’s the first to crack. “I’ll take the first watch. We might have a plan on what and how we’re getting out of here. Doesn’t mean that Ed or Z’s men aren’t still looming around the resort.”
“I’ll take the one after you.” Dante sits on the sofa and spins the seat Haley’s sitting in.
“I can take a shift.” Haley crosses her arms over her chest.
“You should get more sleep, Haley. Make sure your ankle is healed,” I say. My own leg is healing up surprisingly well.
“It’s almost healed.” She stops the chair from spinning with her good foot. “But I didn’t think I was going to get a resounding yes from any of you. I’m going to choose to think that it’s because I’m not one hundred percent healthy.” She spins the chair the opposite way and immediately stops. “Yeah, I’m too old for the teacups now. I’m taking a shower and heading to bed.”
Zane and Easton take off after her and close the door behind them.
“You’re not going to the party, Cap?” Dante asks.
“I’ll take the early morning shift. But I want to head out and check the slips, see if any of the Zambrano fleet are back.” If I thought I could get away with calling again, I would. But the harbor master would be suspicious, seeing that theRosewooddidn’t arrive yesterday.
