57. Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Six
Xane
Riley’s burst of laughter does nothing to kill the tension between Kian and Trick when we finally find out where he went with Scarlett. I knew, as soon as I heard the running water, that we had to walk toward it to find them, and I was right.
They’re drenched. She’s holding his shirt in front of her body, not quite high enough to hide her red bra from view, but at least she’s kind of covered up down to mid-thigh.
“Shut up, or go back to the beach,” I mutter at Riley.
He snorts before he shrugs by way of silent apology.
Trick moves in front of Scarlett as a sweet, unfamiliar scent starts to spice the air.
My breath catches as I realize what it is.
“Everyone, turn around,” Trick demands.
I nod at Kian when he automatically looks at me, because he doesn’t take orders from Trick.
Riley’s too busy trying not to piss himself laughing to notice, so I take a few steps and manually move him to face away from them, keeping my own back to them at the same time.
My heart is pounding so hard as we wait for them to dress, that I can barely fucking stand it.
She’s an Omega, her perfume has been trigged, and all five of us are actually stranded here.
I breathe out of my mouth, trying vainly to get rid of her scent.
It’s impossible to completely ignore it, but I’m gonna have to try.
If Kian’s right about who she is to us, this could be the best thing that ever happened to any of us.
And if he’s wrong, then we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with a desperate Omega who’s gonna feel the urge to be mated until someone’s giving her exactly what she needs, and that can’t be any of us.
I won’t allow it.
It can’t happen.
Riley sighs. “I need to piss.”
“Go back to the jet. We’ll meet you there.”
“Okay, but I’m not getting back on that thing.”
He walks away, almost making it out of sight before I hear him stop and sigh harder.
The sound of him relieving himself against a tree is enough to make me grimace.
This whole thing is turning into one long nightmare.
And I don’t even get to decide when it ends.
“You good?” Trick asks, clearly talking to Scarlett.
“No, hurry your ass up,” Kian complains.
“I’m all good,” Scarlett answers quietly.
“You can turn around,” Trick says, raising his voice.
I turn at the same time as Kian, and the scent of her perfume gets stronger.
Breathing through my mouth makes it less potent, sure, but it also gives me a taste on my tongue that’s gonna be hard to lose.
The light, sweet scent is dangerously appealing.
It only makes me want to get closer.
That’s what it does.
An Omega’s perfume is made to lure Alphas for mating.
It’s not smart to be around her while she’s triggered.
She looks different with her hair wet and hanging loose, wearing the shirt Trick stole from Riley.
It was oversized on Trick, and it’s like a shapeless dress on her, except she’s still kind of wet so it’s clinging in some places, and I shouldn’t be noticing any of that.
I clear my throat. “I need to talk to everyone.”
“So do I,” Scarlett admits, in a bold tone that surprises me.
She glances at Trick, and he takes her hand in his.
He’s already completely smitten.
I can’t blame him.
“Sapphire first,” Kian blurts.
She looks at me. “If that’s okay?”
“Sure,” I murmur.
“Well, first off, my name isn’t Sapphire,” she starts, wincing slightly. “It’s Scarlett. Scarlett Faris.”
Kian’s mouth drops open beside me.
It’s not news to me. I already knew her real name from the pill bottle.
“Scar …” Kian hisses, his eyes widening. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry I told you my favorite color is blue!”
She laughs. “That’s okay. I know it’s actually red.
That’s the other thing. I’m not a writer for a magazine.
I’m a musician. Not well known, obviously.
My agent just ditched me, actually. But that’s not the point.
I have an identical twin sister. We switched places this weekend because she’s afraid to fly.
That’s why I’m here. I offered to do this for her because her boss told her she had to do it and she really couldn’t. Also, I’m a fan. Sorry, not sorry.”
She throws up her hands.
“I knew it!” Kian grins.
Trust him to decide that’s all good news.
She glances at me, and I don’t have a smile for her.
It doesn’t matter that she’s telling us the truth now.
Trust needs to be earned.
And she’s starting on a negative balance.
If I had a way to do it, I’d fly her straight back home before this disaster could get any worse.
“So, what is it that you wanted to tell us?” Trick asks me.
I glance back to see Riley leaning against a tree.
He’s within earshot.
Even if he’s not, it probably doesn’t matter.
He’s not gonna remember much in his current state.
I look back at everyone and I sigh.
It fucking sucks to admit this, but I have to do it.
“We don’t have enough fuel to get back to Cressidan City.”
Everyone stares back at me, like they’re waiting for more.
“The jet is practically empty. We can’t get off this island.”
“Is that why we crashed?” Scarlett asks, an eyebrow raised.
I can feel Kian staring at me, as if he’s willing me not to say it.
But stranding us here never sat right with me even when he somehow made it make sense.
I can’t keep up a lie about it.
Either she’s ours and she’ll understand that, or she’s not and she won’t.
It doesn’t change anything.
“No,” I tell her. “We didn’t exactly crash. It’s a long story, and we can talk about it, but my first mistake this morning was miscalculating the fuel we needed to get out here and back again. I messed up. So, we’re really stranded here.”
“Wait. Really?” Kian asks.
He sounds entirely too delighted with the prospect, as if everything is working out exactly as he planned. The only difference is, his plan included the ability to easily leave the desert island whenever we decided we were ready.
That isn’t an option now.
I doubt the consequences of that have sunk in, or he wouldn’t be looking so pleased.
“I know we all needed a vacation, but it’s not good news,” I remind him.
Trick nods slowly. “So, what do we do?”
“If nobody has a better plan, I suggest we get a good night’s rest and get walking in the morning. It should take three or four days to get to Golden Palms on foot.”
Scarlett tilts her head. “Golden Sands? You mean we’re on the same island as the resort we were going to?”
“Long story short, yes. The deserted part makes up almost eighty percent of the island’s surface. The resort was only permitted to cut down a certain percentage of the jungle.”
“Huh,” Trick murmurs, as he shoves his feet into his sneakers. “Three or four days?”
“Depending on our progress,” I confirm. “We don’t know what the terrain is like.”
“And it’s not like we could just google it,” Kian adds, still sounding much too pleased.
I glance at him, wondering if he might have heatstroke.
This is probably just his usual kind of crazy, but I’m not ruling anything out.
“We all need to drink some water. And no one gets to walk off on their own from now on. Agreed?” I nod at Trick and he nods back, after a couple of seconds.
Scarlett puts on her shoes, and Trick picks up her dress.
I turn away from them.
The ground is flatter on the path I retread to walk us back to the jet
I can only hope the path we take to Golden Palms is half as easy.
We’re stranded here because of my mistakes.
If anything goes wrong, it’s all on me.