Delirium (Captive Love: Forced Proximity Standalones #4)

Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

NASH

I ’m not going to lie—it wasn’t often I had a dull day on Carpe Diem . However, this was probably the most eventful day I’d had in a long time.

See, there was always stuff going on. Problems to fix. New people to meet, and educate on the complexities of the environment. The rainforest was always changing, and I was always adapting. I’d show them how the upper and middle layers of the forest were shaded by the tangles of vines and ferns while we coasted through the wide, dark waters. I’d point out technicolored birds as we scanned the shores. Even Humphrey did his part to make sure my days were full and exciting. It was probably better that way. Too much quiet left me uncomfortable, wading through a brain with far too many thoughts than I knew what to do with. It was better to keep busy, keep my brain quiet, reciting touristy facts my passengers at least pretended to find interesting.

Dwelling on the past was good for no one.

But a wanted criminal leaping onto my boat, after the prettiest passenger I’d seen in a long time encouraged him to jump? That was a new one.

I didn’t like to pull the captain card often either, but I had a feeling if I let Scarlett and James duke it out amongst themselves, no one would win.

Scarlett had a soft heart. I’d picked up on it the moment she’d boarded Carpe Diem . I had a knack for seeing through the masks people wore every day, covering the scars and stitches they’d hidden away beneath.

It probably came along with seeing so many people come and go on my cruise. You learned pretty quickly who was a good egg, and who was rotten.

James was one of the odd cases. Cold exterior. Not a crack or flaw in his porcelain mask. But beneath it, sometimes he warmed up, just enough.

Now, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t kick Camp off the boat without a second thought. If he felt like Camp was the slightest threat to his mission, Camp wouldn’t know what hit him.

But what Camp had done didn’t make him a bad person, at least by my standards.

Completely the opposite, I had a feeling Camp could’ve told Scarlett he’d murdered an innocent man just for a slice of pizza, and Scarlett would sympathize, offer him her own slice of pizza, and her room on the boat to boot.

I knew this, because I had the same kind of heart. Soft. Too soft, probably, for a man of my stature, who’d been through the experiences I had.

It never bothered me.

What I told Scarlett was true—I was the last boat to launch out of the docks before the rainy season. The weather became too unpredictable once the rains started, and the currents turned nearly impassable. Unfortunately for me, Carpe Diem needed some fixing—fixing that could only happen downriver, and I’d only be able to afford the repairs with the money I was making on this current cruise. She’d make it there no problem, and as long as there weren’t any unforeseen issues, we would make it to the next docks with no trouble at all. I’d done this trip a thousand times. One last trip, a bit of cash in my pocket, and Carpe Diem and I would both be shining.

I kept my gaze focused on the river, steering around the hidden rocks I had mapped out like the back of my hand. Getting out of the marketplace pier was tricky, but usually from there on out it was smooth sailing—pun intended. Once we got deep into the hike, where the rainforest turned to jungle, that was where things got tricky again. Luckily, I didn’t have any concerns with James or Scarlett. As I navigated the familiar waters, my mind wandered to the dark-haired beauty, wondering why a girl as delicious as herself was on my boat in the first place.

Drifters, I got most often. Adventurers, they called themselves, or travelers. But they were all the same. Looking for an adventure so they didn’t have to settle down in a rhythm of life where they lost themselves altogether. Sometimes people booked my cruise because they were running from problems—not the law, but breakups, or deaths. Sometimes I got people starting over.

Instead, this time, I had James, who really should’ve chartered a private boat to take him to his investment, and Scarlett, who looked all too put-together to be running away from anything. A strange mix for sure. For a moment, I let my mind wander, roving over the effortless way she’d pulled her hair up, exposing the delicate skin on the back of her neck. In the 1800s, surely that would’ve been a scandal, to see such a hidden flash of skin. I could understand it though. In a way, the small glimpses of her flesh were sexier than if she’d been in front of me in a miniskirt and heels. Not that I would’ve minded that either.

But Scarlett was a mystery, one I didn’t have a map to, and one I wanted to explore every inch of, if she’d let me. Of course, alone time on the boat was going to be few and far between. Luckily, it was my boat. I could find ways.

As if she could hear my thoughts blasting out of my skull, Scarlett sidled up next to me, filling the air with the sweet scent of vanilla. I tried to stop the blush from heating my face, but it was futile. Hopefully, she wouldn’t notice.

“Are you really going to send him back to be arrested?”

I glanced down to see her frowning up at me. “I’m assuming you have a better solution?”

I didn’t want to send Camp back to the authorities either. Everyone deserved a second chance. But it wasn’t just my opinion that mattered. Everyone in the market now knew I was harboring a fugitive. Besides, I was curious how Scarlett wanted to spin this.

She shrugged. “Let him go. He’s right, you know. He’s not hurting us. He didn’t hurt anyone except a pipeline, so at worst, he might have lost some rich guys some money. But he looks so young, and I don’t know if sending someone that young to jail for years would sit right on my conscience.”

“Young?” I laughed, looking Scarlett up and down, estimating her to be barely out of her twenties, if that.

This time, it was her turn to flush. “Younger than me, by any means. But seriously, Nash, I just don’t know if I could stomach being the one to send him back. I know we didn’t make the decisions, but it still feels like we’re the ones hanging the noose, you know?”

I did know, because I felt the same way. I wasn’t built to be an executioner, let alone the jury and judge.

But explaining this to James would be another matter entirely.

“I don’t think you’re wrong, darling,” I said softly, kicking myself at the endearment that seemed to roll off my tongue all too easily in her presence.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her look up at me. “Do you call everyone that?”

I kicked myself again, and once more for good luck. “Call everyone what?”

“Darling,” she said. “You’ve called me it a few times.”

“Have I now?” I could play this one of two ways. I could pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about, and I called everyone darling, or I could own up to my actions. I didn’t know which she would take more kindly to, but I only knew one way would feel right. “I guess you’re just bringing out my sweet side.”

She laughed, and I relaxed. “I haven’t seen anything other than a sweet side.”

I shrugged. “Only because you haven’t been on my bad side.”

“You have one of those?”

“Everyone does, don’t they?”

Scarlett was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Sure, I guess. It’s just hard to imagine someone like you having one.”

My mind flashed back, memories I’d rather forget flooding to the forefront of my brain. No. Not today. “It’s there. It just doesn’t make an appearance too often.”

I could feel her looking at me, sense the way she wanted to ask me more, and waited for the question that always followed. Except it never came. “I’m not sure Camp deserves our bad sides quite yet.”

“No. But James is on this boat, too, and we can’t make a decision without including him,” I reminded her. I swatted at the bugs surrounding me. They were always bad during the rainy season, but today’s batch was something else. I grimaced as a mosquito sank into my skin before I could get to it.

Scarlett fell silent beside me. Not wanting to force her to say anything, I turned my attention to my environment. The rainforest was thick, and seductively lush. The thought the rainforest was little more than an illusion always lurked in the back of my mind. How else could something be this green? It was surrealism at its finest. A vibrant world only some of us were lucky enough to experience with our own eyes—photos never did it justice.

When Scarlett finally spoke up, I hadn’t realized how much I’d been waiting to hear the sound of her voice. “You never said how long you’ve been here for.”

It was smooth and melodic, fitting right in with the orchestra of the strange world we floated through. A lullaby, maybe, or the dulcet tones of a hypnotist, lulling me into a false sense of safety.

Whatever it was, I never wanted her to stop talking, even if it was a poison slowly filling my blood.

“Let’s see.” I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, counting off years. “I think I was twenty-five when I got here? Give or take a year, but twenty-five sounds right. Time moves differently in the rainforest, you know? Different pace out here.”

“Well, I guess when you don’t get seasons the same way we do, so it’s hard to feel like the years are passing,” she mused.

“Exactly that, darling. Exactly that. Plus, sometimes it’s kind of fun to live outside the reaches of time. Like I’m untouchable. Immortal, even.” I grinned down at her, and she smiled back.

Her smile touched a piece of me, something deep inside I had forgotten even existed.

Poison. Magic. Hypnotic. Something about this woman’s aura was bound to do me in.

“But, back to your question. If I was twenty-five when I first arrived at this beautiful little slice of life, and I’ll be thirty-five in the next few weeks here, I guess that makes it a nice, round decade.”

A decade. Had I really been here that long? Some days it felt like only yesterday. Other days it felt like a century.

“It suits you. Or maybe you suit it. I don’t know which way around.”

“You just saying that because I’m tanned and shirtless?”

She laughed, and the tips of my toes curled. “I mean, it does help the ‘jungle boy’ aesthetic.”

“Jungle boy…” I cocked my head, weighing the name. “You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been called that.”

Scarlett mock-gasped, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling down at her. “You’ve shocked me, Nash. I thought for sure that would’ve been a standard nickname from your guests once they got to know you.”

Pure. That’s why her aura spoke to me. Everything about her was pure. Life hadn’t tainted her. How had she made it through this world unscathed?

I laughed, smiled, joked, and made people happy, but sometimes it felt like little more than a mask.

Scarlett, with those brilliant blue eyes looking up at me, and a smile that could melt even the iciest of hearts, everything about her was real .

And real was rare.

I liked rare. I liked it a lot.

“Well you see, there’s a bit of a problem with your logic,” I said.

“There is?”

“Mhmm…” I nodded seriously, steering us around a jagged rock. “Your logic assumes my guests get to know me as more than Captain Nash.”

“Don’t they?”

“Not usually.”

“You’re letting me get to know you.”

You’re a unique situation . But I feared I had already given too much of myself away, so I pointed across the deck. “Look. Right in the low branches. Do you see it?”

She followed my finger, squinting into the trees. “A parrot?”

“Yep. And that weird bald thing next to her? That’s her baby.” With all the commotion of Camp boarding the boat, I had forgotten the real reason Scarlett was even here—for an experience. Regardless of my feelings for her, I needed to make sure I gave her at least some of what she paid for.

She laughed. “I don’t know why I expected a baby parrot to be rainbow colored already, but I definitely wasn’t expecting a weird bald dinosaur-looking thing.”

“They aren’t the cutest, that’s for sure. But they grow into it. Before you know it, she’ll be as beautiful as her mama.” We watched in silence together as the mother parrot fed her baby, a moment that felt as intrusive as it was beautiful.

It seemed to be like that for a lot of things in this world.

But the moment was cut short, because all hell broke loose behind us.