ELLIS
Leland sidles up next to me. “Ellis.”
“Yes?” I ask.
“If I were you, I’d just throw myself off this boat to not have to listen to him,” Everly says.
Leland gasps. “Everly, you willinglygot on the boat.”
“With the promise of pushing you off. And if I could stand without getting murdered, I would do it.”
“You are going to grow to like me, and you’re going to love it,” Leland threatens.
Weirdly, Everly doesn’t seem so certain.
“Ellis, you sweet summer child,” Leland says as he presses into me, and since Cassel is to my right, I’m just pressed tightly against him in an attempt to get away.
“Why do I always end up being the sausage?” I whisper.
“Don’t talk about sausages around Leland, he gets easily confused,” Cassel says.
“Will you guys stop so I can explain our plan to Ellis?” Leland asks.
“You better hurry up; we’re going to be reaching land soon.”
This slowly settles in before I look at them in shock. “Why the hell did you wait until the last minute? You said there wasn’t a plan and now there’s a plan, and am I the only one who doesn’t know it?” I ask in disbelief.
“I got… distracted,” Leland says.
“You sang the song from theTitanicmovie for half the trip!”
“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it. It’s fine, Ellis. You’re with me.”
“Everyone ready?” Cassel asks.
“For which part?” I ask.
“Ready,” Micah answers.
“Ready to get off this damn boat with you,” Everly says as the guy slows the speedboat. It causes it to drift toward the island, but before we can reach it, Micah and Everly just hop off into the water.
“Why are they leaving us?” I ask.
“It’s part of the plan,” Leland explains.
“Jackson?” I ask.
He startles awake. “Huh? What? Sorry, I fell asleep. Leland’s singing does that to me sometimes.”
“It’s like a lullaby,” Leland says proudly.
“Or like his brain’s way of protecting him,” Cassel retorts. “Leland, Ellis, you’re up next.”
“I want to go with you guys,” I say as I point, in case they’re not aware of who “you guys” are. I make it pretty damn clear when I grab on to Jackson.
Leland simply pries my fingers off Jackson’s body. “You’re with me. We’re going to be sneaky sneaky, okay? Now put your tasers in that case—it’s waterproof—and come with me.”
“I couldn’t have done this half an hour ago?”
