50. Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Forty-Nine
Scarlett
Sitting in the shade with Trick is so relaxing that I actually start to enjoy myself. This is how it should be on a nice afternoon on a beach. He’s easy to talk to, and it’ll make the interview easier later since he’s already opened up to me a little bit.
I move and lean back against the closest tree, the one that’s about a foot apart from his.
I can’t slouch in this dumb dress, so I might as well use the tree trunk to prop me up.
Trick crouches in close and I realize he’s moving the empty bottles that are close to where my ass is now parked.
“I’ll need to take these to the jet when we’re ready to leave,” he explains, leaving them in a pile between the two trees.
I glance at the greenery I can see between the trees, and I wonder what the jungle beyond might be like. It looks so tropical from where I’m sitting, all vibrant hues of green, pink and orange.
The urge to go for a walk is strong.
But it’s probably not the smart move.
It’s definitely not something Sapphire would do.
That keeps me sitting in the sand, for the moment.
I’m not gonna leave without exploring, I know that without a doubt, because when am I ever gonna have this chance again? But I don’t need to get up and walk into the jungle in the next five minutes.
“So, what if Riley doesn’t pass out?” I ask, remembering what he said about the sedatives he’s got in his pocket. They’re not supposed to be mixed with alcohol, and Riley seems determined to drink as much beer as he can get his hands on.
“It kinda depends,” Trick answers. “He’s not usually this adverse to getting on the jet, but considering how we got here, we’re gonna have to make sure he’s completely out of it before we can get him on board.
If he doesn’t pass out, we might be stuck with trying to get him to drink sedative laced water in the morning. ”
“You don’t sound too sure about that plan, but it’s our only back up, right? If he doesn’t drink enough to pass out, that’s what we have to go with?”
“Well, yeah. The problem is he’ll know what we’re doing.
So, if he decides he doesn’t want to be sedated, he won’t drink it.
Then we’re really stuck.” He shrugs. “To be fair, being in a crash, even one that didn’t turn out to be devastating, that’s traumatic enough.
For someone who hates flying, I don’t blame him if he decides he’d rather be stuck here for a while. ”
That makes me smile. The same reason I ended up here, might be the reason I’m stuck here for longer. It’s kinda funny, when I think about it.
“My sister is the same way,” I admit. “In fact, she’s worse than Riley. She would never willingly get on a plane. Sedatives or not.”
“You have a sister?” he asks, sounding intrigued.
Oops. I probably shouldn’t have let that slip.
Gotta be careful now.
Don’t say too much.
“Yeah. We were supposed to go to come to a beach resort once with our parents and she completely flipped out when we got to the airport. Turns out she never liked the idea of being in the air, and actually seeing the planes out the window in the departure lounge made her freak out. We had to completely change the vacation. Mom was kinda annoyed at the time, but she got over it.”
“How old were you?”
“Uh, I think around twelve. Yeah, something like that.”
“And she never got over her fear?”
“Nope. Never. She doesn’t like to admit it, of course. It’s kinda cool that Riley can still make himself do it, even when he hates it so much. It’s not easy to push back that kind of fear.”
“I never really thought about it like that. We’ve always had to sedate him so he can get through it, but this is probably gonna be the first time we have to carry him on board.” He smiles wryly. “He’s gonna hate that so much when he wakes up.”
“I can imagine.” I chew on my lip.
We’ve probably got at least another day for me to find a time to take off into the jungle, but talking about fears makes me even more eager to explore.
I never want to be so scared of anything that I stop taking chances.
Life can be amazing, but it needs to be lived to be believed.
“Do you think those two would care if we took a walk?” I ask, nodding back at where Kian and Riley are sitting. This time, I don’t even look their way.
Trick seems surprised by the question. “Uh … Do you mean down the beach, because I don’t think Riley will like it if we get to close to the water …”
“I was actually thinking more along the lines of a walk through the forest.”
He blinks at me, before getting to his feet and moving over to stand in front of me, hand outstretched. His smile shows up, and I return it in kind as I take his offer to help me up.
I leave my purse behind in the sand next to the tree.
His hand is warm and I bump lightly against his leg as I stand up.
There’s something so electrically charged about the energy between us while we’re physically connected that makes it so much harder to let go of his hand.
I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking while I feel what he’s feeling, a spark of desire-tinged excitement burning from him to me and back again.
My body is all warm and tingly when I let go.
It’s a normal response to being around a hot guy.
At least that’s what I tell myself.
But I’ve never felt anything like this when I’ve been around random attractive men before, not even the ones I’ve dated. This is different. It’s so potent. It’s a feeling that should scare me, but it only makes me want to get closer to see how much better it could get.
I have no doubt it would feel good to let our spark decide my actions.
That’s why when he offers his hand, I lace my fingers in between his before I can overthink it.
“I’ll walk a little ahead, in case there’s anything dangerous lurking out there,” he tells me, thumb rubbing slowly over the skin of my hand.
His gaze is fixed on mine as we stand there.
Everything inside me just wants him to lean in.
Being so close to him, feeling so entranced, I don’t care about anything else.
Why would I? In this moment, nothing else exists but the two of us.
“Great,” I murmur, forgetting what we were even talking about.
What are we even doing here? Besides not acting on our instincts?
He blinks slowly, looking a little dazed as he nods.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
I almost ask where, when I finally remember.
Oh, yeah. That’s it. We were going for a walk.
He leads the way, and I follow.