Chapter Five #2
Just as Jackson reaches them, Captain Keith grins and says something. The words are lost to me, but Ben clearly hears it. His face turns bright red. His shoulders snap back. Every muscle in his back tenses, and I know what’s coming before it happens.
Ben punches Captain Keith in the guts.
Emmy shrieks and scrambles along the bench seat to get out of the blast zone. “No fighting, you idiots!”
Ben hauls back for another punch but Jackson catches his elbow, and holds him away.
Captain Keith dives forward and wraps his arm around Ben’s neck, squeezing him into a headlock.
He tries to drag Ben away from the helm but Ben grabs onto the wheel and the motion wrenches it in a half turn.
The boom swings overhead with a groan. The boat tips, lifting my side high into the air so fast I’m scrambling to grab onto the lifelines again.
Ben and Keith land hard on the deck.
Jackson all but dives between them. He pries Keith’s arm from Ben’s neck, and when my side of the boat rocks back, he uses the motion to shove Ben against the wheel.
Captain Keith stays sprawled where he landed. He laughs at the sky. “Is that all you’ve got?”
Ben lunges for him again, but Jackson’s between them this time, pushing Ben away with both hands on his chest.
Ben settles for screaming instead. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You said you’d get us back before the storm hit!”
Captain Keith snorts, propping himself up on his elbows. “And I will.”
Ben jabs a finger at the sky. “Too late, asshole!”
Keith blinks as if he hasn’t noticed the dark clouds. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Once again, Jackson holds Ben back.
Captain Keith barks out a laugh, then another, until he’s balled on his side in a fit of hysterics. “This isn’t good,” he all but wheezes.
Oh sure, just what you want to hear from the guy in charge. Anxiety rips through me and churns my already motion-sensitive stomach. These waves are not helping.
“Which way to the marina?” Jackson asks. “Maybe we can outrun the storm if we hurry.”
“Nah.”
That’s it. That’s the entire response from the captain of our fucking boat.
“Nah?” Jackson repeats. “What do you mean, ‘nah’?”
Ben gets a leg in front of Jackson and sidesteps him in one fluid motion. He bends over Captain Keith and jabs a finger in his face. “Listen here, you frat-boy bitch: You’re going to take us back to the marina right the fuck now, or you can kiss the other half of your money goodbye.”
Captain Keith’s jaw sets. “You’re not gonna order me ’round on my own boat, you privileged little shit.”
Ben pulls back his elbow to land another blow.
Jackson tries to stop him again, but Ben snaps his arm farther back instead of forward and catches Jackson right in the nose.
Jackson’s head rocks back with the impact, and he staggers onto the bench seat beside his sister.
Blood gushes from his nose and down his chin.
“Jesus, Ben. What the fuck?” Emmy crawls to her brother, dragging her pretty white cover-up over her head. She presses it against his face.
Captain Keith climbs to his feet. Ben is already charging at him, and as another bolt of lightning fills the sky, the two of them become a tangle of fists and elbows and grunts, staggering toward the side of the boat as the growing waves toss us from side to side.
I lunge toward them. I have no idea what I’m going to do or how to stop this, but if I don’t find a way, someone’s going to get seriously hurt.
Ben takes a hit to the side of the head and rolls against the lifelines.
I try to get between them. “Captain Keith, stop! You can’t—”
He shoves me backward, and I trip over Ben’s ankle. I land hard on the deck and stars dance in my vision. I can’t make myself take a breath.
Jackson’s bloodied face appears in front of mine. “Are you okay?”
I still can’t breathe.
He places his palm beneath my collarbone and gently shakes my chest. “It’s okay, Hannah. You just got the breath knocked out of you.”
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
I want to shout it, but I still can’t make my lungs work. The inside of my ribs feels more and more hollow with every second. Jackson takes my face in his hands, and even with the massacre of blood on his face, he seems calm as hell. Like he knows a breath is a second away.
And he’s right. I gasp, and his shoulders relax. Emmy appears at my other side and the two of them help me sit up.
The idiots are still fighting.
Ben surges up, punches Captain Keith in the kidney. Keith returns a jab to Ben’s ribs. They both grunt in pain and Keith shoves Ben away from him.
“I never should have taken you shitheads on my boat!” Keith screams over the wind.
Ben grins and lands a punishing blow to Keith’s jaw.
His head snaps back with the force of the hit.
Almost in slow motion, Ben grabs Keith by the temples and yanks his head down as he lifts his thigh.
Ben’s knee connects with the captain’s face so hard, I hear his nose break over the roar of wind and water.
Captain Keith drops like a rock, landing flat on the deck.
Jackson swears and steps over me. He loops his forearms through Ben’s elbows and rips him away from the fight.
Emmy and I roll to the side to let them pass, and Jackson drags Ben all the way back by the helm, commanding him to sit the fuck down.
Emmy goes too, arms waving, mouth moving.
I can’t hear what she’s saying, but it sure looks like she’s ripping Ben a new one.
I crawl to the captain, relieved to find him conscious at least. He’s lying flat on his back, cupping his nose with both hands. His knuckles are split and bloody. More blood streams down both of his cheeks, collecting on the deck. As I lean over him, he lets out a groan I can feel in my chest.
“Jackson, I need your shirt!” I shout over my shoulder.
He appears a moment later, dangling it in front of me, and I gently press Sherlock Holmes against Captain Keith’s blood-geyser nostrils.
How the hell did we get here? We were watching dolphins and eating sandwiches, and now there’s blood all over the fucking boat.
“I need you to sit up, Keith,” I say, gently pressing my hand to the back of his shoulder. “The blood might make it hard to breathe if you stay on your back.”
Not to mention if too much of that blood winds up in his stomach, he’ll be throwing up blood and tequila all over the deck. We’re in enough of a mess as it is.
Captain Keith follows my instructions, but the sound that comes out of his mouth as he rolls to a seated position is part whimper and part yelp. I carefully pinch the bridge of his nose, and he tries to bat my hand away.
“I know it hurts, but I’m trying to stop the bleeding,” I tell him.
His eyes are bloodshot and angry, but he nods and mumbles a thank you, dropping his hands. He tries to lift his chin, but I pull it back down to keep the blood out of his throat. Beneath my fingers I can feel the deviation in his nose. His face is going to swell up faster than Ben’s temper.
I find Jackson watching over my shoulder. “Can you try to find some ice?”
He nods. “On it.”
Another clap of thunder shakes the sky, and the clouds open up, covering the deck with water in minutes.
Captain Keith swears under his breath. “We should have been back at the marina by now,” he mumbles. “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to…”
“I know you didn’t.” I pull the T-shirt away to wipe his face, and I’m relieved to see the blood is significantly thicker. It’s already clotting.
At the next strike of lightning, Captain Keith seems to run out of patience. He pushes my hands away and tries to get up. I drop the shirt and help him as best as I can, but he’s much heavier than he looks. He takes a step toward the helm and sways on his feet.
I catch him by the elbow. “Be careful. The blood loss and the swelling might make you dizzy.”
Half his mouth tugs into a smile. There’s blood caked between his teeth and crusted in the hairs of his mustache. “You’re a cool kid. I don’t know how you got mixed up with him, but be careful. Nobody decent smiles while he hurts someone.”
I feel the shock on my face. So I wasn’t imagining the grin.
Captain Keith slowly shuffles toward the back of the boat, and I follow close behind in case he pitches to one side.
Jackson climbs out of the hatch. “I couldn’t find any ice. Sorry.”
Ben jumps to his feet, looking furious. “Don’t apologize to him! He’s the reason we’re in this mess in the first place!”
Emmy grabs Ben’s hand and tries to pull him back down to the seat beside her, but he rips out of her grip and takes the wheel. “I’ll get us out of here.”
Jackson grimaces. “Can you?”
“It won’t be perfect, but I can do it.”
“Twenty minutes ago the weather was too much for you, and now you’re suddenly so capable?” I ask skeptically.
Ben scowls at me. “Twenty minutes ago I thought this idiot would do what I paid him to do. Now it’s up to me to navigate us out of this mess.”
I swear to god, his chest puffs up. It sounds like he’s rehearsing for a press conference. I can see the headline now: “Hero Saves Friends When Sailboat Charter Gets Caught in Storm.”
Keith barks out a laugh that turns into a painful wheeze. He grabs the lifelines to steady himself as he doubles over.
“What the hell are you laughing at?” Ben demands.
“An entitled shithead who couldn’t navigate his way out of an infinity pool,” he says, righting himself. He steps up to the helm. “Now get your hands off my boat.”
Rain pelts the deck around us, falling faster by the minute.
Ben’s jaw tightens. He looks Keith dead in the eye and unties the rope keeping the boat steady. “Fuck you. I’m in charge now.”
Keith glares at him. “You can’t fake it at sea. The ocean doesn’t give two shits how many hundreds you wipe your ass with, and you don’t know the first thing about sailing in a storm, Summer Camp. So for the last time, get your hands off my boat.”
Ben glares at him, still gripping the rain-slicked wheel like he has no intention of moving. “I’ve got an idea: Why don’t you fucking make me?”
Emmy climbs to her knees on the seat. “Benny, please? No more fighting.”
“Yeah, Benny. Don’t make this any worse for yourself,” Keith mimics.
A wave pitches the boat to the side again. Jackson grabs at a lifeline. Keith trips over the back of the bench seat and lands ass-first on the teak walkway.
Ben turns the wheel so we coast over the next wave instead of being broadsided. The boom moves slowly over the top of my head, and I duck toward the hatch to get out of the way. Ben’s gaze flickers to the sail and back to Captain Keith. “What the hell does that mean? Make what worse for myself?”
“It means when we get back to shore, I’m pressing assault charges,” Keith says, pointing at his broken nose. He climbs to his feet. “Let’s see you buy your way out of that.”
Ben’s jaw sets. “I won’t have to buy my way out of anything. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I imagine the police will disagree with you, considering I have witnesses,” Keith says.
Lightning splits the air above our heads. The answering thunder rocks the sky a fraction of a second later, making me flinch. Emmy squeals and slides lower in her seat.
Keith points to the cabin. “Get below deck, all of you.”
Before anyone can move, a burst of wind hits, pitching me into the hatch frame. The sails catch, and the boat careens so far to the side that Captain Keith’s feet dip into the ocean.
Emmy and Jackson look up at the sail. Captain Keith looks down at the water.
But I don’t take my eyes off Ben, and he only has eyes for the captain.
One side of his mouth ticks up into a grin…and he very deliberately lets go of the wheel and throws himself back on the deck.
The wheel spins wildly out of control.
The boom rips through the air over my head, and Jackson dives out of the way with a shout. Captain Keith looks up at the sound, but it’s too late. The boom smashes into the side of his head. His eyes roll back.
The momentum of the impact pitches him over the lifelines.
And Captain Keith goes overboard.