I ran my hands through my hair in total devastation and screamed out into the night. My brain was a whirling mess, trying to think up some kind of plan to get me to her. But everything seemed hopeless.Ifelt useless.
I didn’t know what to do, so I swam back to shore. Then I waded out of the water and headed for the house. As I dragged myself up the beach and back into the garden, I saw the back doors wide open and the mess they’d left behind, inside the house. Drawers had been yanked open and emptied onto the floor. Tables and furniture were upended, and smashed glass littered the floor. I picked my way across the living room, trying to avoid getting the glass in my feet, but not caring when I did. Hearing a yapping noise coming from the bedroom, I ran upstairs, taking the steps two at a time to get to the dog. The door had been busted open, but Xena was still inside, standing next to her dog bed, barking away like a mad thing. I scooped her up into my arms and held her, burying my nose in her soft, warm fur.
“What am I gonna do?” I cried, and sat on the bed with Xena in my arms, rocking back and forth. “WhatamI gonna do?”
I heard the front door slamming, and then a familiar voice saying, “Shit,” as they saw what’d gone down here tonight. “This place is fucked up.”
I put Xena back in her dog bed and told her to stay. Then I grabbed a pair of trainers to avoid any more damage to my feet from the mess downstairs. When I ran into the living room, I could see Jax standing at the doorway, looking out towards the beach. He turned when he heard me and frowned. “What the fuck happened? I thought you got away? Shit…”
I fisted my hair and started to pace the living room, the glass crunching under my feet as I did.
“They were on the boat,” I shouted. “They were on the fucking boat.” Then I bent down, doubling over with the pain that all my fucked up thoughts were giving me. “What am I gonna do, Jax? How do I get her back?” My stomach rolled over and I couldn’t hold back from crying out. “I never even told her that I loved her.”
“It’s okay, we’ll find her,” he assured me.
“How? How are we supposed to find her when she’s on a fucking boat in the middle of the goddamn sea?” I knew I was taking my anger out on the wrong guy, but I didn’t care.
“GPS,” he said without a hint of panic in his voice.
“What?”
“GPS. I called Luca the minute I got off the phone to you. His yacht is fitted with it. When we found out that’s how you were getting away, he called his boat guy to come down here and he’s on his way. I was gonna trackyoudown, but it looks like we’re tracking them now.”
“What the fuck are we waiting for then?” I launched myself past Jax and out of the house. I needed to get my ass back in a boat and fast.
“Gus should be here any minute,” Jax called out behind me.
I reached the jetty a second before him, looking out to sea. I could just about make out a ripple of waves in the distance and the shadow of a boat coming towards us.
“This is probably him now.” Jax stood next to me and blew out a long and pensive breath.
I made my way to the edge of the jetty, eager to get on-board and get going. Gus’s boat had seen better days. In fact, I doubted it’d take the weight of the three of us and get us anywhere anytime soon. When he saw us, Gus waved from his cabin and set his boat perfectly beside the walkway where we stood.
“Nice brisk night for a bit of fishing.” He chuckled, misreading the mood of his audience. “Lost-boat fishing, that is.” He clutched his belly as he laughed. I had no idea what he found so funny. His joke was lame. It wasn’t even a joke, and we needed to get going.
“I hope your equipment is up to the job,” I snapped, not caring who I offended.
“My wife has no complaints about my equipment, I’ll have you know.” He guffawed, then seeing that neither one of us were laughing, he sighed. “Yes, my equipment is top of the range. You won’t find better in this town. My old girl might look like she’s ready for the boatyard, but she’s still got a lot of life left in her.”
We followed him into the cramped, cold cabin and the lights and technology that glowed back at us put some of my doubts to rest. Gus did know his stuff, and what he didn’t know, we’d find out from the flashing lights that ran all the way around us.
“She’s not too far. It looks like they’ve slowed her right down just north of here,” he said, pointing to one of the many monitors he had assembled in his cabin.
“How long till we can get to them?” I squinted down at the monitor, seeing the little red dot that must’ve been Paige on the screen, and praying it didn’t move.
“Well, that all depends on whether they speed up or not. At a guess, I’d say… thirty minutes.” He started tapping away on a screen and flicking switches, and then the boat shifted, and we held onto anything we could grasp as we surged forward into the darkness.
“Make it twenty,” I spat back, peering across the horizon, as if the yacht would magically appear before us.
“She’ll be fine, mate.” Jackson squeezed my shoulder and gave me a rueful smile.
“She’d better be.”
“I thinkit’s about time we took our little dog on a walk down memory lane, don’t you, brother?” Scarface sat down on the couch next to his brother and half scowled, half grinned at me glowering in the corner. I didn’t care what they had to say, I was numb and everything felt pointless.
“Seems like the best way to get it through her thick skull that she’s as guilty as fuck.” The younger one gave a low laugh, then a curtain of pure hatred came down over his eyes. “Little Miss Innocence isn’t as innocent as she likes to think.” He glared at me as he spoke, and for the life of me I had no idea what they meant.
I was innocent. The worst thing I’d ever done in my whole life was return my library books too late, and even then I paid the fine right away.
