Chapter Twenty-Six
Present Day
The Island
Alex
It was the same bungalow. The same curtains. The same storm brewing outside—lightning on water and a hot, wet wind blowing
off the sea. In a way, it felt almost like they’d never left. But in another...
Alex looked at the bed and didn’t even try not to gape. “Is that supposed to be...”
“I think so.”
In Alex’s defense, she’d never seen the female reproductive tract made out of rose petals before. Hopefully she’d never have
to see it again.
King scanned for bugs while Alex took a shower. When she got out, he was already lying on a pallet on the floor. They’d shared
the bed eight years ago, but that was then and this was—
“I’ll take the floor tomorrow night,” she told him, and he nodded, but his face was blank and the night was dark and the silence
hung in the air like the rain. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking... with any luck we’ll be gone by then.”
Alex crawled into bed. “Don’t be silly. When have we ever been lucky?”
In the darkness, with the blowing breeze and coming storm and animals calling through the night, it felt like an excellent
question.