132. Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-One
Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-One
Xane
It’s another perfectly beautiful day on this island paradise, and if you didn’t see yesterday’s storm, you’d have no idea that the ground had turned into marshland less than twenty-four hours ago. There’s no sign left of that today, at least not where the jet is parked. Not on the slope, either.
We’re all good for take-off, at least on that count.
My nerves are shaky as hell, but that’s a whole other story.
I’m used to doing things alone. This isn’t about that.
It’s because I’m not used to taking risks.
And this is a big one, as far as risks go.
There’s only so much I can do to control what happens.
The rest is up to gravity, and the universe.
I walk back down the slope toward the jet’s entrance.
The pile of mud-encrusted clothing to the side of the steps looks like a pain in the ass to deal with, so I think I’ll leave that to Kian. I’ve got enough on my mind.
Everyone’s eating when I step back onto the jet, so I do the same when Kian leaves his seat to get dressed.
“Mmm trail mix,” I joke as I pick up the small packet.
“It’s not so bad,” Scarlett tells me. “I’ve had worse breakfasts.”
“It’s not that it’s a bad breakfast,” Riley adds. “It’s brunch, really. That’s what makes it bad. It’s not enough food.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kian says from the corner, while he pulls on a T-shirt. “It’s not gonna have to last that long. We’ll be at the resort before lunch is over.”
I laugh. “We might not get rescued that quickly, Ki.”
“We’d better be,” he says. “Golden Palms has a reputation to keep up.”
I shake my head and Scarlett smiles at me.
“How’s it looking out there?” Trick asks, before he takes a sip of water.
“Good,” I admit. “I’ll have to run through some more checks, and then you guys will need to pull the bed out of the jet, and maybe the chairs, if we can get them unscrewed.”
“Sounds like a lot of work,” Scarlett says. “How about we relax a bit first? Eat, and in a little while we could visit the lake to cool off before we get the jet ready for take-off?”
She seems a little nervous, and I have to wonder if I’m giving off that kind of energy.
Omegas can be sensitive to that. It’s probably making her worry.
“Ooh, the lake!” Kian exclaims, coming to Scarlett’s side. “That sounds like a great idea.”
“It is really hot,” Riley admits. “And we’re gonna sweat like crazy lifting that shit outta the jet.”
“I’m sweating just thinking about it,” Trick mutters.
“So, we’re in agreement. We’re heading to the lake once we’ve eaten and relaxed.”
“Yes,” Kian hisses.
He kisses Scarlett’s shoulder.
“Okay. Let’s make sure we get prepped before we go out to the lake. Ki, you can go wash the mud off the clothes we threw outside last night.”
“Huh?” Kian asks, pulling a face. “What? Why is that my job?”
“You finished breakfast first. Would you rather fly the jet?”
Kian sighs. “Fine. I’ll make sure I eat slower next time.”
He leaves, muttering complaints under his breath as he goes.
“I should help him. I’m done.” Trick starts to get up.
“You could take the back packs and stuff out of the jet,” I tell him. “Make sure they’re all closed tight. Get dressed first.”
“Where do you want me to put them?” he asks.
“In the shade of the trees on the beach.”
“Uh sure,” Trick murmurs.
“It’s so they’ll be someplace they can be seen, even if we’re not,” Riley explains before I need to.
“We don’t know how long it’ll take the resort to get someone out here after I’ve told them where we are and that we need help. We need to start thinking about what we’re gonna do until they locate us.”
“I guess we’d better make the most of our time at the lake,” Scarlett says, drawing a questioning look from Riley. “Uh, because we’ll be stuck out in the open on the beach after that.”
“You don’t like the idea of being stuck on the beach?” Riley asks, like he’s offended.
She laughs. “I liked it when we were in zero danger of being caught naked there.”
Holy shit. They’ve bonded.
I can’t believe I didn’t notice.
She has four marks now.
And he has one.
The things you miss when you’re passed out cold.
I eat my breakfast, and they finish theirs.
“Oh,” Scarlett murmurs when she gets up. “I never grabbed clothes before Trick took the bags away. I’m gonna go grab some to change into. I’ll be right back!”
She gets up and leaves.
Riley leans back in his chair. “I found the bottles.”
I sit up straighter, my gaze moving under Trick’s usual seat.
The bag’s gone.
“I shouldn’t have kept them.”
“Yeah, if I’d found them sooner, I might have been tempted.”
“I thought … I wasn’t sure if getting rid of them completely was smart.”
“I understand,” he says. “But from now on, wherever we’re calling home needs to be a booze-free space. It was a test, and I passed, but I’d rather not be tested again.”
“Did you throw the bag into the forest, or something?” I ask.
“I asked Kian to empty the bottles. Then he took the bag into the bedroom with him.”
He nods toward the door to the bedroom.
If the bag was in there, I didn’t notice.
It was dark though, and I was too warm to think about anything other than leaving the room.
“I’m sorry for keeping them. I won’t do that again. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Neither of us have been doing the smart thing,” he admits. “Not for a long time. Everything needs to change now. We can’t go back to the way things were. Scarlett deserves better.”
He’s not wrong. It makes me feel like an asshole, but he’s not wrong.
“She does.”
“Glad we agree on that,” he says, with a wry smile, as he gets up from his seat. “Now, I’m gonna go help Ki. He could use a hand with those clothes.”
He limps his way out of the cabin, leaving me alone with the breakfast wrappers.
I start cleaning up, opening the cooler we’ve been using as a trash can and stuffing them inside before I go looking for the bag of empty miniature bottles.
I toss the empties into the cooler trash can and close it.
Then I grab the bag and go take it to the beach to put it next to the rest of the bags.
I find Scarlett there, being handed a T-shirt from Riley.
“Are you sure you’re good with me wearing this?” she asks.
“It’s all yours,” he says with a smile.
I notice Trick is wearing a black dress shirt and pants.
“You sure you want to stick with the funeral look?” I ask. “We might be on the beach for a while.”
He shrugs. “We’ll get back at the resort pretty fast. If it takes forever, I can always change later.”
Kian’s at the edge of the water, pushing a T-shirt under the surface and swirling it around.
He has his pant legs rolled up, and I think he’s still muttering complaints under his breath.
“It’s a gorgeous day,” Riley says, making me turn.
I catch Scarlett pulling the shirt down over her toned stomach and thighs.
She looks incredible, but she’d look that way in anything.
“Can someone find my underwear?” she asks. “And we should grab the towels for the lake.”
“I’ll get it,” Riley says, nodding at Trick. “You could go help Kian. Before he loses the will to live.”
Trick sighs, rolling up his shirt sleeves before he goes toward the water.
“We’ll come help in a second!” Scarlett calls after him.
Riley doesn’t even protest.
Everything feels so calm.
Is this what it can be like?
I had no idea we weren’t functioning as a pack before we got here, but it’s been getting clearer that everything was messed up, and we weren’t doing a damn thing to fix it.
It’s not gonna be like that anymore.
And it’s all because of Scarlett.