Chapter 29
NATE (PRESENT)
Blistering heat beats down on the back of my neck, causing rivers of sweat to trickle into the waistband of my jeans.
It’s a cruel taunt, as though the searing sun is mocking the freezing, sleepless night we had.
Ellie’s petite body expelled entirely too much energy shivering into the early morning hours.
I wrapped her small frame in my shirt and gave her as much of my body heat as I could, but it wasn’t enough to stop the chills.
I could feel her silent tears falling onto my chest all night, but she didn’t voice her discomfort.
She just burrowed herself tightly against my body, fusing our skin as if we were one person.
I’ve spent so many nights aching to have her that close again, craving the sensation of her body as she cuddles up against me, hitching her leg over my hip.
The way we used to sleep. Her small, delicate hands would curl up between us as she rested her head under my chin, her sweet little breaths tickling my neck.
Last night was not a soft, sweet reminder of what we once had. It was a nightmare. One we can’t afford to suffer through again. Hypothermia is probably the least of our concerns. Not only are we almost dangerously dehydrated, but we are also in desperate need of protein.
In the last twenty-four hours, we’ve swam several miles while fighting the strong ocean current, hiked a mile through the jungle, put together a shelter, weaved baskets, sharpened spears, and spent the night exhausting more energy than we had to give.
We are working on fumes today. Our leisurely pace is betraying the urgency our situation requires.
“What’s on the agenda today, Gilligan?” Ellie asks after draining a bamboo shoot filled with rainwater.
The humor of her statement doesn’t match her tone.
My girl is spent. Weak. I can feel it within myself as well.
The act of surrender claws at my muscles, begging me to yield.
Every move I make is less determined than the last, constantly reminding me that my resilience is fading.
I can almost feel the reaper at my heels, waiting, biding his time like the invisible vulture he is. What he doesn’t understand is that I have something more powerful than his promise of death.
I have a reason to live.
After eight years of warfare, she’s finally mine again. The hand of death can scavenge somewhere else. He has nothing to gain here. So long as Ellie is breathing, I’ll be breathing right beside her.
“If you’re Ginger, then I’m putting in my formal request to be acknowledged as the Professor from now on,” I quip. Gilligan doesn’t win Ginger in the end, and there is no way in hell I’ll allow that to happen.
Ellie blocks the sun from her eyes as she looks up at me.
She gives me a wide smile and nods her head in agreement.
My heart stutters in my chest. The brightly shining innocence of that smile, the almost childlike display of giddiness, is so much like the girl I fell in love with nine years ago.
The one who looked at me like I was not only her savior, but her future.
I watch her as she steps out into the ocean. She uses the remainder of the yucca leaves to wash her body, cupping the salty water in her small hands as she rinses off. I can’t help but stare at her ethereal beauty. Nine years since we met in that library, and she still takes my breath away.
Loving this girl is as easy as breathing.
She looks back at me and gives me that wide, innocent smile. The one she’d give me early in the morning, right before she had to sneak out of my house. The one she’d give me right before she fell asleep in my arms.
She’s what forever looks like.
I would give her all of my mornings. All of my sunsets. All of my moments. Just to see her smile at me like that for the rest of our lives. Like I’m her reason.
Because God knows she’s mine.
She’s not just my reason to live. She’s my reason for everything. For every choice I’ve made. Every sacrifice. Every step I took to get us to this point, even the ones I’m not proud of.
Before I met her, I was going to escape. I was going to leave for school, and nothing was going to hold me back. No connections. No real relationships. I was going to get the hell out from under Nathaniel’s thumb. I was going to be free from his taunts, his fists, his threats.
Then I fell in love with the beautiful girl sitting across the library.
My tutor became my everything.
I’ll never regret it, though. Falling for Ellie was the best thing I ever did, but it also gave Nathaniel a secret weapon. He used the person I loved most to control me, and once Ellie broke free of her family, he kept using the people I loved to get what he wanted.
Until I finally beat him at his own game.
He wanted me to be just like him. He just never expected me to be better than him. I never felt greater satisfaction than I did when he finally realized I was going to win. His life, his career, and chances of political advancement? They were all going to go under with him.
He was too busy digging up dirt on everyone else that he never bothered to properly bury his own.
He created a protégé just like he wanted, but he made a fatal mistake. He turned me into a monster. One he never tried to tame. So, he lost the upper hand. His pupil became the teacher. The monster that was suppressed deep within my soul only had one enemy…and I let it loose.
On the one who created it.
It took me years to unleash myself. To collect the kind of ammo that would ensure my victory. To get everything in order so that I could get Ellie back. So that I could let Katie go. Enough ammo to keep everyone I loved safe.
Somewhere along the way I must have pissed off the fates, because once everything was finally in place, our damn plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
It doesn’t matter. The fates could throw me smack dab in the middle of Antarctica; nothing would prevent me from being with Ellie.
Nothing will prevent me from living the life with her we should have had all along.
She’s mine now, and nothing is going to change that.
Not a bribe. Not a threat. Not a fucking plane crash.
I’ll live the rest of my life on this goddamn island as long as I have Ellie beside me.
“Okay, Professor.” She flutters her eyelashes dramatically, lowering her voice into a sultry tone. “What’s on the agenda today?” Her blatant attempt at flirting causes a pretty pink blush to creep up her pale, gaunt cheeks, reminding me how desperately I need to get food and firewood.
“Food, first. Then fire. I need to get you fed and warm.” She raises her brow as she looks down at the sweat dripping between the valley of her breasts.
I roll my eyes. “For tonight, Pip. Direct my eyes there again, and we aren’t getting shit done today.” I smirk, glancing back at those generous mounds that I can’t wait to wrap my mouth around.
She laughs. “What would we be doing instead, Professor?”
“Working up a much bigger sweat,” I mumble as we start walking toward the tree line.
As daunting as our situation is, I can’t help but take in the breathtaking landscape.
Sunlight filters through the leafy canopies, creating a speckled radiance that highlights the scenic forestry.
The sounds of the jungle create a peaceful symphony of wildlife as we walk through the hostile terrain.
The distant calls of howler monkeys harmonize with the chirping birds flying above the canopies.
The enchanting melody produces a serene cadence, making our hike pleasant regardless of our dire circumstances.
Ellie and I walk side-by-side, despite the thick vegetation.
My need to have her close outweighs any other rationale.
If she is in front, she will be first in line for any dangerous encounter.
If she were behind me, I would not be able to ensure her safety.
Hell, at this point, I’d glue her to my side if I could.
“Look!” Ellie exclaims, pointing at the low-hanging coconuts above our heads.
Protein.
Thank fuck.
I use one of the spears we made last night to help knock them down and drop them into our weaved basket.
“Good eye, Pip.” She beams under my praise, right before stopping dead in her tracks. She stares off in the direction of a large rock overhang. “Do you think any big animals live inside there?” she says as fear coats her voice.
I squint into the distance to try and get a better look. “Probably not. It doesn’t look like a cave, just a cliff overhang with a deeper alcove.” I note the location so we can check it out later once we’ve gathered food and dry wood.
We keep walking, collecting dry branches along the way.
The air is thick with humidity, indicating a storm is likely on the horizon.
We need to find food and head back to the beach before it’s too late to insulate our shelter.
I’m not sure we can survive another freezing night, especially if we don’t replenish all the nutrients we’ve lost.
I look over at Ellie as she tugs a brightly colored flower out of the ground. She looks at me with a small smile. “Hibiscus. To help with our blood sugar. It’s not much, but it’s something,” she says almost shyly, as though she’s afraid I’m going to be disappointed with her discovery.
“Great find, baby. How did you know what that was?”
She shrugs. “I applied to join Doctors Without Borders. I had to learn about edible plant life and nutrient-rich foods that can be foraged from the forest. I even took a course on the medicinal properties of jungle vegetation. I’m supposed to…
I was supposed to leave right after your wedding.
” She looks down, but I don’t miss her grimace.
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
I hang our basket of food on a tree branch and take a step closer to her, our bodies nearly flush.