“I already paid you to getmethere,” he says, his voice low and threatening.
“That’s okay.” He waves him off. “This young lady needs help. We can’t leave that nice lady here.”
“Yes, we can,” the jerk grunts through gritted teeth.
I raise my voice. “No, you can’t.”
He turns to me with a murderous look on his face. “Yes, we can.”
I come up to him and press my finger between his pecs. “No, you can’t. Is it your boat?”
“That’s my ship, Miss, and I’m the captain,” the shorterman chimes in, and I turn to him with a sweet smile on my face.
“Of course it is, Captain,” I reply in a sugary voice.
The man beams, and I know I won this round. You know how else I know? The man beside him is clenching his jaw so hard, he may crack a tooth. I wonder if his asshole is clenched just as tight. It probably is.
I look him right in the eyes. “You’re going there anyway. What’s your problem?”
His body grows even more rigid as he scoffs in disgust before storming inside.
The captain looks around worriedly. “The water is getting rough, Miss, you might want to head inside with him.” He makes a move to pick up my suitcase, but I stop him with a wave.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be easier to drag when we arrive. How long will it take by the way?”
“About an hour.” He looks at the horizon, a crease forming between his brows as he looks back at me. “Go inside, Miss.”
I look through the glass at the sulking giant and then back to the water in front of me. The waves are small at the moment, shimmering in the low sun, but obviously the captain knows more about what to expect than I do. The choice is obvious. “Don’t worry. I’ll go inside in a minute; I just want to get some fresh air.”
“Sure, Miss,” the man says as he makes a move to the door. But before he can disappear, he turns back to me one more time, a stern look in his eye. “Be careful though. Once it gets too rough, I want you inside. That’s an order.”
“Aye-aye, Captain!” I salute my hand to my temple, making him smirk.
When he disappears behind the door, I pull my black shorts out of my bag and pull them on. I slide the skirt offover them, fold it neatly, and place it back in my suitcase. I wanted to make a good impression when I showed up today, but with the way I’m looking right now and the time I’ll be arriving, that ship has clearly sailed. Pun intended.
“Why are you here?” a voice asks, startling me.How long has he been here?
I roll my eyes because of course he’d come to ask that. I’m actually very curious about why he’s here too.
“I’m trying to get to another island.” I nod at his direction. “The same as you are.”
He crosses his arms over his enormous chest. “Are you stalking me?”
My brows jump up. “Stalkingyou? Are you stalkingme?”
He’s holding my stare until he grunts and disappears back inside the tiny cabin.
He’s right though—what are the odds of us being next to each other on the same plane, and then together on the same boat heading toward the same island?
Shrugging off the weirdness of the situation, I take a seat on the floor and lean against the railing. It’s the first time I let myself really look around me and take in what’s happening. The wind has gotten stronger since I had my less than friendly conversation with the rude clerk at the ferry station, and sitting here now, I can feel it whip against my already sunburned face. I can’t tell if it’s cooling the sting a bit or making it hurt more.
I close my eyes, allowing myself to feel it all.
But what I don’t notice is that my eyes are closed for far more than a minute. And that the wind gets stronger. Quite a bit stronger. Or that the boat starts shaking. No. Instead it just feels like some kind of lullaby.
I sleep through it all.
11
