Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
RILEY
The last thing I wanted to do was go to school. Everyone was talking about Morgan's accident and how it must have been the drugs the Tritons were taking. I found myself reaching in my backpack throughout the day to grip the hilt of my knife to stay calm.
"Did you hear me, Riley?" Tory waved a hand in front of my face. I looked at her in confusion. "Ivy is at the door."
"What?" I looked to the door and Ivy stood outside, talking on her cell phone. I looked at the time on the computer. "Shit. I forgot she was picking me up early."
It was a yearbook stay-late, but Jax had left after school to go see Morgan. I wished I could have gone too, but they had moved him back to the city to recover.
I was horribly curious about what an underwater city looked like and how it had stayed hidden from humans for so long. They kept bringing up Poseidon, and while I believed they were tritons and I was a siren, I still had a difficult time grasping a Greek god existing.
Because if he existed, that meant all of them did.
I quickly shut off my computer and picked up my stuff. I opened the door and Ivy quickly hung up and gave me a tight smile. She was still dressed in her volleyball practice gear and looked more tired than usual.
"Hey. Everything all right?" I walked beside her as we headed to the parking lot.
She had been acting strange all day, but wouldn't tell me why. I thought we had made things better, but I guess she was still upset.
"Everything's fine." We got in her car. "Dylan is cooking dinner and wanted me to invite you."
My stomach turned sour. "Do you want to invite me?"
"Of course. Sorry. I've been in a mood for like a week now. It's like I'm permanently PMSing."
I snorted. She had no clue just how much I could relate to that. I hugged my bag to my chest, thinking of the knife and how it calmed me down and she gave me a funny look.
"I have a funny feeling about Mr. Gale." I bit my lip as I watched her slight smile turn into a frown. "He showed up at the crash site."
"He told me about that. He took Morgan's bike to a shop to see if it could be fixed.
" She backed out of the parking space. From what I had seen of his bike, it was totaled.
"He really is great if you would give him a chance.
You've only seen him here at school. He's different outside of school.
.. I guess in a way he's kind of like your guys. "
I sat up straighter. "What do you mean?"
She laughed. "I just meant that some people see him one way, but behind closed doors he's different. Just like I think your Tritons are assholes, but you say they aren't."
"Touché." I laughed as she turned out of the parking lot.
"You owe me this, Riley. I want you to like the man I'm in love with."
Shit. She was in love with him? I had a feeling that even if he ended up being the nicest person in the world, he'd eventually break her heart.
"Just for dinner and then you'll take me home?"
"Of course. It'll be an hour, tops."
I didn't really want to, but maybe I could learn more about him and see if he really was out to get the Tritons. While Ivy drove, I texted Blake and Jax, even though they wouldn't get the messages until they got back to land.
"Wait until you see his place. It's absolutely amazing." She pulled off the highway and drove toward the marina.
"Wait, where are we going?" I sat up straighter as she pulled into the marina parking lot.
"His house. He lives on his yacht." She turned off the car and grinned at me. "He's a trust fund baby."
"No shit." I put my phone and knife in my hoodie pocket.
Ivy brought her entire bag as we got out of the car. I followed her to the boat ramp and stopped before stepping onto it. "I don't know if I can do this."
Ivy turned and grabbed my hands. "It's pretty big, Ri. We aren't going out on the ocean. It'll be fine."
I nodded, and she held my hand as we walked down the ramp. "Is that his?" My eyes went wide as we approached a gigantic yacht that looked almost like a small cruise ship.
"Yup! It's like one hundred and sixty feet long. And get this, it has a freaking helipad on it. Can you believe that?" Her excitement was contagious, and even I couldn't stop a smile as we walked onboard.
It was like a mansion on water, and my mouth hung open as we climbed on board. If this guy had this much money, why the hell did he need to be a school counselor and swim coach?
"Riley, I'm glad you could join us for dinner." Mr. Gale walked right up to Ivy and kissed her in front of me.
I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't want to watch them make out. "This is your yacht?"
He pulled away from Ivy and wrapped his arm around her waist. "It is. Would you like a tour?"
"Ugh, maybe later. I shouldn’t be out too late. I have a lot of studying to do." I followed him and Ivy through a door that led to a large living room area with attached dining both inside and outside.
"Why don't you girls get comfortable while I go check on dinner? Help yourself to beverages." He left us, and Ivy made a squealing noise that was unlike her.
"Can you believe this place?" She spun around in the middle of the room before taking my hand and dragging me to the outside dining table. "He took me out on it on Saturday and you can barely feel it moving."
"Wow." I mean, what else was I supposed to say? "I could use a Sprite if he has any."
She opened a stainless steel mini fridge that blended right in with the wall and handed me a can. "I know you're still weirded out by this."
"No, not at all." I was. "I've just been really slow to process things lately."
Ivy nodded and gave me a sympathetic look. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
I snorted and took a drink of Sprite. "I can't believe he lives here."
"I sometimes can't believe it either." Mr. Gale appeared, holding a tray of plates with lids. He placed them around the table. "Dinner is served."
He lifted the lids and my mouth watered at the smell of garlic. Did he have a chef, or did he just know how to make risotto with seared scallops?
I ate in silence while Ivy and Dylan, as he told me to call him, talked about some movie they had watched over the weekend. It almost seemed normal to be sitting on an expensive yacht with my best friend and school counselor.
Almost.
Dessert was just as delicious as dinner, and once we finished, I felt like I was going to go into a food coma. Ivy and I ended up on the couch in the living room watching a movie while Dylan cleaned up the dishes.
"Isn't he dreamy?" Ivy was practically swooning and it made me feel dizzy.
"Oh yeah." I yawned. "So dreamy."
I took off my hoodie and dropped it on the side of the couch.
I put my head on her shoulder. "We should get going soon. Or I can see if one of the guys can come get me."
"Mmm." Ivy wrapped her arm around mine in an arm hug and yawned. "I miss hanging out with you."
The couch was really comfortable, and I sank back into the cushions. "Are we moving?"
Ivy didn't answer and I struggled to sit up. I managed to stand, but listed to the side and nearly fell to the ground, but Dylan caught me.
"Time to go to sleep, Riley."
Everything went black.
I sat up with a gasp. I was in a bed across from Ivy, who was crying into her pillow. The moon shined through three square windows, and I sat up and looked out to see ripples of dark water. It looked like we were moving.
"Oh, no. No, no, no." I stood and sat back down almost immediately. My stomach rolled with nausea. "What happened?"
"I'm so sorry." Her face was red and blotchy from crying and I moved to the bed she was in. "He said he was worried about you and I should be too."
"What did you do, Ivy?" My chest felt tight and my breaths became faster.
"He said he wouldn't hurt us." She cried into the pillow and then hiccupped. "I didn't know he would do this."
I shut my eyes and tried to catch my breath. "Do what?"
She sobbed. "I think he kidnapped us."
I had already figured that much given I'd passed out and woke up with water outside the window. "Where's my hoodie?"
"I don't know." She sniffled and sat up. "Riley, I'm scared."
"I need my hoodie and we'll be fine." I wasn't sure about that, but I had to pretend we'd be fine or I was going to freak out.
I stood and went to the door, despite my stomach clenching as if I were about to vomit. The knob turned, and I peeked out into a hallway.
"Are you coming or staying here?" I looked over my shoulder and she stood, stumbling a bit but steadying herself. "He must have put something in our food."
I was trying to stay calm, but it was difficult given our situation. Ivy took my outstretched hand and we left the room as quietly as possible. We held tight to the railing as we went up the stairs to the living room.
Dylan was nowhere to be seen, but my hoodie was lying on the floor next to the couch. I rushed to it and pulled out my phone. I breathed a sigh of relief that there was a signal and called Jax.
The phone rang several times before going to voicemail. "Mr. Gale drugged us and took us out to sea on his yacht. I have no clue where we are. Help." I hung up just as Dylan walked into the room.
"Hello, ladies. Did you have a nice nap?" He laughed and Ivy whimpered.
His grin was quickly replaced by a frown when I pulled out the knife and pushed Ivy behind me. "What do you want?"
He tilted his head to the side. "I want the knife." His voice had changed, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was the water monster.
I shook my head as he took a step closer. "You can't have it."
He laughed and stood up straighter. "I was fairly certain you brought it with you. I guess I didn't look hard enough when I searched you for it."
My lip curled in disgust at the thought of him touching me to search for it and then carrying me to the room he'd stuck us in. "My phone has a tracker on it. They're going to find us any second."
He picked my phone up off the couch and squeezed it in his hand. It broke and the pieces fell to the floor. My mouth opened, but I quickly hid my expression.
"That knife belongs to me." His eyes hadn't left it since I pulled it out. "So, the question is, are you going to give it to me willingly, or are things going to get ugly?"
I didn't respond. I needed to think quickly. I had no clue how far offshore we were or how long we'd been asleep. It was almost midnight, so at least six hours. Exactly how far could a yacht get in that amount of time?
He rubbed his jaw. "Come here, doll."
Ivy moved toward him, and I tried grabbing her. She shoved me away and went to him. Her eyes were focused on the floor and she didn't react when Dylan put his arm around her shoulders. It wasn't normal and tears sprung to my eyes.
"Doll, why don't you tell Riley what's going on?" He ran a hand over her red hair and kissed the side of her head. "Hurry now. We don't have time for theatrics."
"The knife is his. He wants the knife. Give him the knife or he'll hurt me." She sounded robotic and tears dripped down my face. How was he controlling her? Is that why she had been acting so funny lately?
"This was all entirely way too easy." He laughed and pulled a gun from behind him. He started backing slowly toward the doors leading outside. "I thought I was dreaming when your friend Aiden asked about the knife."
My stomach dropped and I thought back to the day he told me someone said it could be worth millions. "You're KnifeGuy?"
"Very good."
"R-R-Riley." Ivy was whimpering again and she looked at me with fear in her eyes.
He pressed the gun to her head. "The thing about only being half siren and male is that my compulsion doesn't last long. Especially on this one. She is devoted to you and has fought me every step of the way. Isn't that right, doll?"
Fuck.
I needed to keep him talking to give us any hope of being found. It didn't seem promising since Jax hadn't answered his phone.
"I didn't know there were male sirens." For every step he took back, I took two forward.
"There's a lot you don't know. There's a lot they don't know." He scoffed as he continued to walk backward toward the back of the boat. "Everyone will know soon, though."
I took a deep breath as the ocean surrounded me. The yacht was moving, even though inside it was hard to tell. "Know what?"
He stopped at the railing. "Give me the knife or Ivy's going overboard."
"Please." Ivy was sobbing and shaking her head.
I didn't know if she was shaking her head for me not to give him the knife or saying no to him. Her eyes were pleading with me to do something, but he had a gun and I had a knife.
"Why do you need the knife so bad? Is it because you're going a little crazy?" I took a few more steps forward and he pressed the gun even harder into the side of her head. "We can come up with a schedule and share it, or maybe even have it split into three."
He cocked his head to the side. "You know nothing about that knife, do you, silly girl? Trying to split it would destroy its power, and then what good is it to me?"
"Wh-what?" I was shivering without my hoodie, but also because I was scared shitless he was going to throw Ivy overboard and then shoot me.
"Think, child. What can the knife do?" He clucked his tongue. "Time’s up."
He hit Ivy in the side of the head with the gun and she fell to her knees, her hands going to the side of her head. He fisted a handful of her hair and pulled her back up.
"Stop, please!" I stepped forward. "I'll give you the knife!"
"No, Riley!" Ivy was sobbing again. "Don't give it to him!"
I put it down on the ground and kicked it to him. He shoved Ivy my way and picked up the knife. "You made the right choice."
I helped Ivy stand. We were both shaking and my heart ached seeing the knife in Dylan's hands.
"Get off the yacht." He pointed the gun at us.
"But I gave you-" He fired a shot in the air and Ivy dug her nails into my arm. "Please, just take us to shore."
"Five... four... three... two... one." He fired the gun.
Pain ripped through my leg and I screamed. Terror and anger like I had never experienced before washed over me and I grabbed Ivy around the waist and jumped.
The cold water enveloped me and I panicked for a second before Ivy's arms wrapped around me and pulled me above water. The yacht was already far enough away; there was no hope trying to cling to it.
We were surrounded by water and we had two choices... sink or swim.