Page 56 of Reckless Girls
“Let me think of something, okay? Maybe I can fix them, or—”
I can’t stop the incredulous laugh that bursts out of me. “What, with coconuts or some shit? I likeGilligan’s Island,too, Nico, but get real.”
“Lux is right, mate.”
Jake has his arms crossed, his expression unreadable behind his mirrored sunglasses. “Radios are fucked. There’s no fixing that. But I have a satellite phone. Not the most reliable thing on the planet, but if I can get it up and running, I can try to get in touch with any boats in the area. See if anyone is headed this way, if they might have a backup radio or two that they can spare.”
He shrugs. “It’s not much, but I think it’s our best option right now.”
“Right, because you always know what’s best,” Nico says. There’s a sinister expression on his face, one I’ve never seen before, almost a sneer.
Jake matches it with a confident grin. “In this case, reckon I do.”
Before they can get into it, Amma steps forward, laying a hand on Nico’s arm. “We should check the island, see if we can find him. Because maybe he’s not even here, right? He could’ve done this as one last ‘fuck you,’ and then taken off.”
She turns to Jake, cool as can be. “You have a gun, right?”
He nods, feet planted solidly on the deck. “It’s not a bad idea.There’s only one other place to anchor here, over on the east side of the island. Let’s go see if his boat’s there. If it is, well. We’ll deal with that. If not, then we can assume Amma’s right, and he did this before leaving, just to fuck with us one last time.”
Jake looks to Nico. “You in?”
Nico nods, not looking at me, and then Amma says, “I want to come, too.”
I wait for someone to tell her that’s a stupid idea, but no one does, and before I know it, the three of them are in the Zodiac, motoring to the other side of the island.
“Are you alright?” Eliza asks, squeezing me, and I shake my head. I’m scared and pissed off.
She always acts like the fucking sky is falling.
Like I’ve been some nag holding him back this entire time, a total drag, instead of the other way around.I’mthe one who got theSusannahfixed for him.I’mthe one who cleaned hotel rooms so we could pay rent—even though he could have solved both of those problems with a single phone call, if he was man enough to swallow his pride.
“Come on,” Eliza says. “Let’s go have a drink.”
We do, sitting on the quiet, dark deck waiting, until finally, about two hours later, we hear the quiet hum of the Zodiac’s motor.
I see it pull over to theSusannahfirst, watch Amma and Nico climb aboard, and then Jake is heading back toward us.
“Nothing!” he calls up almost immediately. “No boat, no asshole. Think Amma’s theory was right. This was one last ‘fuck you’ before he went crawling back to wherever he came from.”
It should be a relief, but I still feel anxious, scanning the shoreline like Robbie will come flying out of the jungle at any minute.
“Want me to take you back over?” Jake asks, and I look over my shoulder at Brittany, who has, somehow, managed to fall asleepon the deck and is now slowly coming awake, rising out of the little cocoon of towels she’d made.
“I’m ready,” she says, already grabbing her shoes, but I shake my head.
“Do you mind if I stay here tonight?”
If Jake is surprised, he doesn’t show it. “Fine by me.”
“You sure?” Brittany asks, stopping beside me. Her eyes are sleepy, her hair messy, and she smells faintly like the red wine we had earlier. “I can stay with you if you want?”
It might be nice, but that would leave Amma and Nico alone on the boat together. I definitely don’t want that. I shake my head.
“No, go on. I’ll be over in the morning. I just…”
I trail off, and she nods, leaning in to hug me. “You need a break. Got it.”
I watch her climb over the side and into the Zodiac, then sit out on the deck long after Jake comes back. There’s another cabin below, but I decide to stay out there, lying on the deck, watching the stars overhead.
