23. Life Boat
Chapter 23
Life Boat
Zane
O ut past the arc of red sinking into the ocean, the Savu Sea just seems endless. The sun bounces off the water, making everything shimmer, and the horizon’s a blurry line between blue-on-blue. Then, outta nowhere, there’s this rumbling sound from below. Before I can even guess what it is, I spot a massive shape moving beneath us. A blue whale!
I can’t believe how huge it is. Even from where we are, it makes our raft look like a kiddie pool toy. It’s wild to think about, especially when all I usually compare stuff to is my life back in Birmingham. The vastness of the sea and the sheer size of that whale—it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The big guy doesn’t get too close, but just seeing it, watching it move about, is nuts. Nature’s properly wild out here. I barely notice the sharks gathering close by.
Haley shakes, but she’s doing all right. I put my arm around her and pull her into my side. “It’s okay, Haley.”
“I know. I know sharks aren’t what the movies make them out to be. That not all breeds are the same.” She’s sounding like a tape from an aquarium.
“True.” I glance over at the diminishing stain we’re floating away from. And while I wish I could tell her there’s nothing to look at, that the sharks aren’t anywhere near us, a fin has broken the surface. But sharks, like dolphins, have learned that boats mean food. And now there’s another fin on the other side of the boat, which means no fishing for us for a while. Not that we would be fishing anytime soon. We’ve all eaten our fill of raw tuna. I’ve never understood sushi, but protein is protein, and it’s better than the high-calorie bars in the toolkit. I’ve eaten one, and that was enough for a while. That’s the point of them: to fill you up. While tasting like cardboard. “Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”
“Like what? What do you want to know?” Her voice is a whisper below the waves.
“What’s your favorite thing to do at home?” I put my toes on her thigh and give a little poke.
She glances outside the window. It’s too hot and still to put them up. She shakes her head, but I’ve got to get her to calm down. In all the certification classes I’ve taken, they repeat the importance of not letting tempers fly. And the most dangerous thing after dehydration and hypothermia? Boredom. The mind can start playing tricks on you if you’re not careful.
“We should all play. I’ll go first. Back home in Birmingham, it’s me and the boys. It’s a bit, well, typical. We go down to the club and play football. You know, soccer,” I say in my best, worst American accent. “And then later we head to the local pub for a pint. That’s my favorite Saturday.” I look at her, but she’s still not with me. Her eyes are wide, and I’m nervous for her. Grabbing her hand, I pull her to my side and wrap my arm around her. “You go next, Calvin.” I wave at him.
“Hard pass,” he grunts.
“Oh, I was kind of hoping you’d tell me.” Haley’s glued to my side now. “This is helping.”
“I’ll go.” Easton is hanging next to Dante. The bloke hasn’t moved in a while. I’ve been spending far too much time just staring at his chest.
Fuck me. I don’t want him to die, and I also don’t want to pitch his body over the side of the raft for the sharks to have more of a feast.
Easton reaches out and squeezes Haley’s toes. “My absolute favorite day is when I’m home in Florida. When Dad’s not at the estate—house—it’s just Emily and me. She has a habit of dating guys who are absolutely shit. But I get all the shitty food I never let myself eat. Burgers, chocolate-covered peanuts. Popcorn. What else? Oh, pizza. And German chocolate cake. I don’t know if it’s really German, but man.”
“Shut up about the food,” Calvin snorts.
“Then I get in the pool and swim underwater. Or just goof off.”
“For fun you swim?” I’m shocked. I’m not sure why.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Easton leans forward but then scoots around to the other side of Dante. He’s pinching part of Haley’s foot.
“I guess I figured you’d have had enough of the water with all the training you do.”
He laughs. “I love swimming. It’s work, but I wouldn’t have done it for as long as I have if I didn’t love it.”
I’m not much of a swimmer. I passed the exam for ratings. Putting the jet skis in and out of the water is fine, but I’m not going to spend extra time in there. “I like being on top of the water better.”
Easton nods. “What about you, Haley?”
“I like walking my dog in the park on Saturdays. Not that I have a dog anymore.”
“I’m sorry.” Yeah, thinking about a dead dog isn’t exactly going to cheer her up.
“Oh, the dog is fine. He lives on a farm in New Jersey now.”
“Oh.” I catch Easton nodding his head. We’re all thinking the same thing: someone lied to this girl.
“Seriously! He does. My shitty ex took him back and gave him to his mother. She lives on a farm in New Jersey. He’s not dead. She sends me pictures on Insta all the time. When I get a place and stop doing yachting, she told me I could have him back. That she wouldn’t even tell her son. I’m not delusional.” She pulls her arms around herself.
There are three sharks. Haley’s not looking outside, but I can tell she knows they’re there because she’s buried her head in my shoulder. I glance over at Calvin. A little head nod to Haley. He gets it. I’m saying Come on, man.
“Fine. I’ll play your stupid game.” Calvin huffs. “I like taking apart a small motor and seeing how fast I can put it back together again.”
“Wow, that’s cool. I mean, not for me. But cool,” I say.
“Five minutes, ten seconds.”
“That’s your best time?” Haley leans around me.
“Yeah.” Calvin’s breath rushes out of him, and he turns away from her. “World record is four minutes, two seconds by some kid in Peru.” Calvin’s looking out the window. Two fins now. One massive, the other smaller.
Haley looks too. “I’m sorry,” she mutters every few minutes, clinging to me. I’m an ass because I really don’t mind. In fact, I hope the damn sharks hang with us for a while. I’m not going to be the one to tell her when they leave.
“Favorite food?” I ask.
“Pizza,” Haley says into my chest.
I should have picked a different question. I’m feeling like I’m a walking advert for Birmingham because, honestly, it’s fish and chips, with Indian a close second. I pick my third favorite. “Waffles with fried chicken,” I say, which wasn’t something I’d had until I went to Fort Lauderdale. But it’s good—I mean superb. “But not with real maple syrup. The fake stuff is what I grew up with and like best.”
“Gross. I only like real maple syrup, not that I’ve ever put chicken on waffles,” Easton says.
Haley snickers into my chest.
“What are you laughing at?” I want to tickle her. I bet I can get her really going.
“It’s just Dante went on and on about your preference sheet. How you had to have chicken and how chicken doesn’t belong on a mega yacht.” Haley lifts her head to Easton.
“What do you think Dante’s favorite food is?” I ask her, smoothing the hair sticking out of the purple bandana down her back.
“Something Italian, I bet. He’d make the pasta from scratch. Something solid with meat. Fresh, simple, but delicious.” She lifts her head to Easton.
He’s pinching different parts of her feet. “One of the best lobster raviolis I’ve ever had. I just wish I’d had the whole meal now.”
I have no idea what the guests were fighting about, but I heard the yelling from the bow of the boat where I was wiping down the railings.
“I like popsicles,” Calvin bursts out of nowhere.
I really don’t want to think about the tattooed giant sucking on a kids’ treat. But Haley’s soft laugh vibrates from her chest against my side. “What flavor?”
“Red, orange. None of that green shit.”
“I love the green ones.” Easton changes his position at her feet.
“You would,” Calvin says in a gruff tone. He’s watching the sharks out the window. There’s only one fin breaking the surface now, and most of the blood slick has vanished.
“That feels really nice, how you’re rubbing my feet. Thank you.” Haley’s head dips into my chest.
“Pressure points.” Easton takes her other foot. He removes the water shoe. Her skin is pruned. From behind him, he takes the semi-dry towel hanging on the support beam and dries her toes. I’m mesmerized by what Easton’s doing. Drying, rubbing, and then pressing on certain parts. He hands her shoes to Calvin, who silently puts them in our spare gear bag. Calvin scowls at Easton and then me.
Haley’s breathing has changed. Deep breaths spaced farther and farther apart. Her neck limply rests against me. When have I ever taken the time to watch someone fall asleep? It’s really an amazing thing. Sleep. We can repair ourselves. I glance over at Dante and hope the chef will pull through.
“She’s out,” Easton whispers after a long time.
“No wonder. Adrenaline will do that to you,” I muster back.
“She was overtired.” Calvin’s voice is deep, and I know there’s more that he’s not saying, but now’s not the time. “She wasn’t sleeping on the boat. She had too much to do because the fucking owner wanted to leave early.” Calvin frowns at Easton.
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to talk about Candy. Since she’s dead and all. But that was her idea. She wanted my dad to retire early, and she wanted me and my sister to come on the yacht. I had nothing to do with it, other than having a work schedule that only fits this time. So you can point your finger somewhere else.” He wraps his arms around himself. There’s something else going on, but it’s none of my business.
“Calvin, we don’t need to get all worked up about this, not right now.” I hush him, not wanting to say anything to wake Haley. The fins are still poking through the surface every so often. And Calvin’s right, she hasn’t really had any downtime since she boarded the Rock Candy . “We can hash this all out when we’re back on land.” We need to remember to act as a team. All the survival certification trainings run through my head.
“Right, land.” Calvin’s mopping up the rest of the tuna blood with the sponge, wringing it out into the bucket.
“Yes, land. Because we’re going to get out of this.” Easton checks on Dante. He lifts Dante’s eyelids.
“Well, golden boy. Life isn’t always easy.” Calvin mops and wrings some more. He’s using the mostly clean bucket of sea water to clean up the last bits of fish scales.
“Life doesn’t have to be hard.” Easton crosses his arms across his chest.
Fuck. I’ve known Calvin for a year. And if the wrong guy in the right type of bar said that to him, they’d be on the ground. One punch and his massive fist could crack every bone in the Olympian’s face. Calvin’s life has been shit, from the few stories I’ve heard.
“Whatever.” Calvin dips the bucket into the ocean and rinses it clean.
The rest of the day ticks by. I fall asleep, and when I wake, somehow Haley and I have slipped to the floor of the raft. She’s using my belly as a pillow, and I’m holding her to me. I can feel daggers on my skin when I spot Easton giving me a death stare. I turn to Calvin for support, but he’s got the same expression on his face. I know it well because it’s the same one I gave Easton this morning.
“Comfy?” Calvin’s wrestling with the windows. The swell is picking up, and the spray batters the side of the raft.
I give him the finger.
Dante coughs. And his hands twitch.
Calvin and I stare, but Easton’s at Dante’s side immediately. He turns his head sideways, and Dante dry-heaves.