25. Land, Ho
Chapter 25
Land, Ho
Calvin
H aley’s awake. I feel the second her breathing changes. Dante and Zane are talking, but I tune them out because Haley’s grinding herself on my morning wood and, Lord help me, I’m about five minutes away from losing my load in my pants. She pushes on my chest, and I let my hand loosen from around her waist. She pushes Easton back too. Unlike the entitled little prick, I’m not pretending to sleep.
She sits up. “Wow.”
I want to grab her and pull her back to my chest the same way I used to hold my stuffed bear. That is now gone. But I’m a grown fucking man who’s lived through war, pirates, and shitty captains. I’m not going to get upset because my fucking stuffed animal is at the bottom of the ocean. Along with one of the best captains I’ve ever had. No. Fuck no.
I haven’t sat up yet. I’m waiting for my wood to soften. Thinking about Captain and my bear is working. “What is it, another whale?” I ask, looking at the ceiling of the raft.
“No. Land.” Haley’s scooting out from between us.
I sit up and there it is, between Dante and Zane’s big heads. An island with a sandy beach, mounds of palms, and nothing but ocean on either side of it. It doesn’t look that large from this perspective, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s all we’ve got.
“Here, Swimmer Boy.” I hand Easton a paddle and head to the opening next to Zane and Dante, sticking my own paddle into the water. “We’ve got to get over the breakers, or the rip current might slingshot us around the island.” It’s not ideal to paddle with the top on, but leaning over the edge is going to get it done. I scoop at the water, my muscles on fire with every stroke. I’m leaning hard. My body is parallel with the waves. We’re getting closer to it.
“Damn, how far away is it?” Easton’s screaming into the wind.
“More than a kilometer. Want me to take a turn?” Zane’s hanging next to Easton.
“I got it,” Easton says.
Sweat is pouring down my cheeks, every muscle in my arms on fire. I’m pulling as much water as I possibly can with each stroke when Haley screams, “Easton!”
I turn back, and Easton is gone. “What the fuck?”
“He dropped his paddle and jumped in.” Haley’s leaning over the edge. I grab her leg—not that I think she’s going to jump in, but... Dante sees what I’m doing and grabs her leg lower down, allowing me to move her away from the edge.
Zane’s hanging off the side too.
My eyebrows dart up. “The two of you aren’t thinking about jumping in after Swimmer Boy, are you?”
“No,” Zane says.
He totally was.
The breakers are coming up, and there’s not much we can do now but steer. I get my paddle and use it as a rudder, hopefully guiding us in.
Easton’s a few feet away from the paddle when he reaches out and grabs it. Thank fuck. If we need to get off this island on the raft, we’re going to need two paddles. He holds it over his head like he’s in some sort of movie from the 80s.
Haley’s clapping.
Swimmer Boy tosses the paddle into the raft. I reach my arm out to hoist him in, but he shakes his head. Grabbing the rope circling the edge of the raft, he tugs us into the breakers. Which sounds like a good idea but is the exact opposite.
“Get the fuck in here right now.” I’m screaming at him over Haley’s pleas. Dante has moved over to the other side of the raft. “There could be rocks. Fucking rocks! Dipshit.” We so don’t need a hero.
He’s not listening, and I want to grab him by the earlobe like my Nana used to do to wayward children. Stupid fucker. He’s pulling us.
“He’s doing it!” Haley clasps her hand over her mouth when I glare at her.
“Don’t egg him on. And when he’s torn to shit, don’t help him.” I push the paddle into the water to steer. The current is taking us over the breakers. We’re tipped up and down like we’re on a whitewater rafting tour.
Easton lets go, or he’s ripped off by the current. I don’t know. But I’m furious at him. I’ve got my foot anchored under one of the taut support ropes stretched over the bottom of the raft. Dante is holding on to Haley, but she’s not leaning out of the raft anymore and has her arm secure under a wall of rope. We scrape over a shallow reef and bounce into a quieter area before the raft is pushed closer to shore and backward a bit and forward with the waves until we bottom out. I let go of the ropes and jump out. Zane’s with me. Haley too.
I point my finger at Dante. “Stay put.”
“Yes, sir.” He laughs like it’s a fucking drill.
I glance back at Swimmer Boy. He’s bobbing next to the reef. Hopefully, he’s smart enough to not rip up his feet.
“On my mark.” I wait for the next wave to almost hit the side of the raft. “Go.” We sink into the sandy, pebbled beach and yank the raft all the way to dry sand. Zane drops to the sand, rolling in it like an oversized puppy. Haley’s jumping up and down. Dante’s out of the raft. He puts a towel on the sand and lies on it. Like this is a crew day out.
Haley grabs my arm. “See, we made it. We made it.” She gives me a big hug, and I have to squeeze her back.
She’s so happy. I don’t want to be reminded that this isn’t Singapore. And from the looks of this beach, it’s not inhabited. The coral is perfect, and palm fronds litter the beach. If there were humans living here, the mounds of exotic shells would be gone. From our approach, there’s not another island in sight. A bird screeches in the distance. That makes me happy. We might get something to eat besides fish.
I walk the perimeter of the raft, and fuck, just as I thought, when we went over the coral, we scraped the bottom. It took a gouge out of the bottom layer of thick plastic. The second layer is sitting there.
Zane comes around the side. His eyes are wide. “Shit.”
“We’re lucky fuckers to have found the island during good weather and daylight. Help me get the gear out. We need to find water and firewood.” My brain is whirling at what we need. I toss my life vest in the pile of the others.
“Copy.” Zane gets right to work taking the box and the bailers farther up the beach to the tree line.
My eyes rake over Dante, but I won’t tell him what to do. We had the same ranking on the boat, and he’s injured. He’s peeled off his life vest and is using it as a pillow.
“I’ll work. Give me a second,” Dante says with closed eyelids.
But that fool in the water, he’s floating on his back over the reef. Easton turns over and catches the next wave in. Assholes like this make me furious.
“We made it!” Easton runs the rest of the way to the shore like it’s some sort of old Baywatch rerun.
“What the fuck were you doing out there?” I’m in his face, keeping him in the surf and off the dry sand. It’s a dick move, but I don’t care.
“I dropped the paddle. I went and got it.”
“Not that, stupid fuck. Trying to pull the raft. I told you to get in the raft, and you ignored me.”
“So what? I’m fine. We’re all fine.” He taps my arm and rounds me to the upper beach.
“Fine? Fucking fine?”
“Yeah, fine.” He’s hugging Haley. Like he’s won some sort of prize.
“You could have died. Are you trained for deep sea swimming?”
“I’ve got my scuba cert.”
I give him a nod. “From where? A five-star hotel off Oahu?”
“Maui, actually, if you want to know. Dad’s last wife had a thing for Hawaii.”
“Yeah, well, we aren’t that way here. There’s a hierarchy in a crew. And you’re the fucking bottom. Keeping your fancy ass alive is our job, so pay the fuck attention when I tell you something.”
Easton slowly blinks at me and steps away from Haley. “You got a beef with me? Come at me. I know you want to hit me.”
“Stop.” Haley jumps in between the two of us. Her ponytail’s flopping. She’s taken off her life vest and her long shirt with it too. She’s wearing a purple sports bra and black underwear.
“Move, Haley.”
“You have a problem with rich guys or just all men who don’t think you know everything?” Easton yells. “Because as far as I can see, there’s no fucking boat.”
“Cal,” Zane barks at me.
“Shut it, Zane. He’s right. There’s no fucking boat.” No boat means I can handle this the way I want to. With my fists. I’ll beat some sense into him if I have to. I pull back my arm, but Haley runs in between the two of us. I react fast enough, tilting my hips to avoid hitting her.
She skids to a stop, but a stone in the sand catches her leg and she goes flying forward. It all happens in slow motion. I reach for her at the same time Easton does, and the three of us land in a pile, the waves crashing around us.
Stumbling, I stand, pulling Haley with me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her bandana floating away near Easton. He’s able to snatch it out of the water.
Haley’s struggling to stand. No, she’s limping.
“Are you okay?” Easton is there by her side.
I try to take her arm.
She shakes me off and then pushes him away, too. “Stay away from me. Both of you.” A wave crashes around her ankles, and she collapses forward.
I pick her up. “Where does it hurt?”
“Put me down. I don’t want either of you thugs touching me.” She pushes at my chest, reminding me how we were on the raft not too long ago. The anger in her touch makes me almost regret trying to hit the prick. But if she’s really hurt, I won’t forgive myself. “Put me down.” She smacks my chest.
I grip her tighter. “I will. Let me get you to the raft. Out of the sun and sand.”
She glares but stops struggling. I set her down on a towel Dante has laid out.
Easton drops to his knees in front of her. “Is it your left ankle?”
“Yeah.” She’s glaring at him too.
“How’s this feel?” He moves her ankle around side to side.
Haley winces.
“Watch it.” I’m ready to pick him up and throw him in the ocean if he hurts her.
He ignores me and moves her foot, feeling around like he might actually know what he’s doing. “It hasn’t had time to swell. I don’t think it’s broken. But since we don’t have any ice, put it up.”
Zane has the bag of supplies under her leg, and Dante’s got the cushion on top of it. I have to admit, I thought throwing the towel and the cushion into the raft was stupid, but they’ve already come in handy.
Easton sits down next to her on one side, and I’m on the other. Dante’s lying on the towel. He’s got his hand over his eyes.
I’ve had two concussions before, neither from football. Fell out of a bunk bed in college and the second time I hit my head on a beam in an engine room. I felt like shit for five days, and that was with drugs. So I get it.
“I’m going to get wood to start a fire,” I say. “We’ll need it for signaling a plane. And other things.” Do I believe a plane is going to see us? Hell no. But I know she does. I hold my breath. “I’m sorry, Haley. I would never want you to get hurt.”
“I know, Calvin. But you shouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“I’m sorry too.” Easton is sucking up to her. He doesn’t mean it. The rich SOBs never do. “But you should never get in between fighting men.”
“I know that now.” She’s giving him the I-don’t-need-to-be-mansplained stare.
“What were you going to do?” I ask.
“I was going to flash both of you.”