47. Chapter Forty-Six #2
It doesn’t track. This has got to be the craziest thing Kian has ever done.
Something’s been going on with Xane, sure, but I still can’t see him saying yes to this.
Kian shrugs. “We didn’t exactly crash, did we? He just did a controlled bumpy landing.”
“Okay, even if I believed he felt something for Sapphire, I don’t know why he would agree to changing course for a desert island. If you wanted us to spend time with her, we could have done that at the resort.”
That’s the hardest part to swallow, for sure.
Kian comes up with crazy ideas all the time.
Xane usually shoots them down with a heavy dose of common sense.
Kian looks at me expectantly, but I don’t know what he’s expecting me to say or do.
I frown back at him. “There’s no real reason we have to be here, instead of the resort.”
Kian nods, and it clicks the second I realize he’s nodding back at Riley.
He didn’t want Riley to hear any of this. Because Riley would be pissed off that he landed us here, instead of the resort, where he could be served by women in bikinis …
Oh. Right.
Why would Riley spend time with Sapphire when he could be drinking by the side of the pool staring at women in bikinis all day long?
“You stranded us here so Riley couldn’t chase women at the resort.”
I know I’m right before he even smiles back at me.
“You know as well as I do, he would have screwed everything up.”
I can’t say he’s wrong. Riley’s vacation proclivities are predictable.
He’d probably have a random woman in his room before the rest of us could put our luggage away. I’d hate to see Sapphire hurt by his behavior, and that would be inevitable.
“So, you wanted us stranded here together on purpose.”
It sounds insane, because it is.
Anything could have gone wrong.
“Yeah, and before you get mad at me, we’re not that far away from the resort. If anything went south, we’re only on the undeveloped side of the island, and there’s nothing dangerous in the forest, FYI. I checked everything out before I decided this was the plan.”
“That makes me feel a little better,” I admit. “I wish you’d clued me into the plan, but I get it. And I think … I’m glad you did this. It’s weird, but it feels right. Being here, with her.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. Fated mates are supposed to be driven by destiny, not by one Alpha who everyone thinks is part Omega.”
“Well, sometimes destiny could use a nudge. I think we’ve spent long enough begging our one true mate to show up in our lives through our music. It’s about time we met her. We’re long overdue for this.”
He downs the last drops of his beer. “And how do you think Riley’s going to take it?”
I can’t help but laugh. “Oh, he’ll be the most pissed off we’ve ever seen him once he finds out. That’s for sure.”
“Which part is gonna piss him off the most, do you think?”
“Hard to say. He’s already mad about the crash-landing, and about being here instead of the resort, and he’s annoyed at us for acting like idiots over a woman.”
Kian snorts. “Yeah. He’s not gonna be happy in the slightest.”
“It’ll be worth it once he feels what we do.”
Fated mates don’t meet each other every day.
Once he’s sober and awake enough to feel what she means to us, it’s gonna hit hard.
“Well, you can tell him,” Kian says. “He won’t kill you.”
I shake my head before I move out of the shade of the tree to grab a bottle of water from the food cooler. I take a long drink from it before I sit back down in the shade.
One of us needs to keep a clear head.
Since everyone else has had at least one beer, it might as well be me.
I push my hair back from my face and then take another drink of the water.
It cools me down more than I expect.
When I’ve had enough, I cap the bottle and look back at him.
“You’re the one who gets to tell Riley the truth, since you’re the one who did all this.”
He grimaces. “I’ll do it once he’s sober.”
“You can’t keep it quiet forever.”
“Ha ha. The beer’s gonna run out not long after that cooler’s empty.” He sighs. “He’ll be covered for tonight, I think, but tomorrow’s gonna be a problem.”
“Wait. So, if we stay out here, he’ll have to dry out?”
He nods slowly. “Hopefully that’s a good thing, but I don’t think he’ll be happy about it.”
“Maybe he will be if it lets him feel what Sapphire is to him.”
“Yeah, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long.”
“If we’re stranded out here, and you planned everything out, we’ve got as much time as we need. Right?” I ask, wondering how many days he planned for exactly.
“We’ve got food and water that should last about a week,” he tells me. “That’s the most I could sneak onto the jet without Xane asking questions since it adds extra weight that he has to factor into the fuel intake.”
Right, because his plan was a sneaky one.
That’ll be why Xane’s hiding now, I guess.
He’s too honest to be enjoying anything about this, even if he decided to let it happen.
“So, we’ve got a week.”
It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s got to be enough time to help her see we’re meant for her, like we know she’s meant for us. I don’t know how much we can bond with a mate within seven days, but before today I didn’t know true mates were real, so who knows?
If a woman like Sapphire is meant for us, anything is possible.
“One whole week,” Kian murmurs, looking out to the water.
It’s funny how much more relaxed I feel now that I know.
She’s with Xane at the jet, and she’s resting.
He’ll take care of her.
She’s our destiny.
She’s not going anywhere.