It wasn’t much, but it was just enough that my stomach stopped complaining quite so loudly. With my stomach settled, I was able to scour the beach. There wasn’t much, but we were able to scavenge a life preserver and the rope it came with, along portion of the railing, probably the railing that Jin Woo had clung to, and a flat piece of metal about a foot wide. Not the best, but not the worst.
My finds gathered in my arms, I turned to Oskar, determined to thank him, properly this time, for the granola bar.
He was looking at me, gazing at me. His face was full of something like wistfulness and a soft desire sosingular,it took my breath away.
As soon as he noticed me looking, he turned, his shoulders raising and his back hunching. He quickly moved away, striding down the beach. It was probably only a 20-minute walk to go around the entire island, but it looked like he was trying to do it in ten.
Making my way back to the cabin, I tried to remind myself of the betrayal and hurt that he had dealt me, but I couldn’t shake the expression on his face.
Maybe the boy I knew wasn’t completely gone after all.
Chapter Five
Dusk fell fast and hard. It always did during the fall, but it surprised me regardless. One minute, I was standing outside enjoying the weak rays of the sun, and the next, it was past dusk, and everything was painted in shades of grey and indigo.
I leaned against the outside of the cabin. It was rough wood on all four sides, with mossy rock on the ground, preventing the growth of grasses in a wide circle around the building. From where I stood, I could see the ocean, part of the ring of trees, and some of the pasture.
I didn’t smoke (I had tried once, and it had caused me to puke so hard that I had never wanted to try it again), but it seemed like a cigarette would perfectly fit the vibe. I could almost smell the smoke, but that could have just as easily been the whole exploded-volcano thing. It was chilly, maybe fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and dipping, but I didn’t want to go back inside.
The cabin was the size of a big shed, or like half the size of the average elementary school classroom, and it felt claustrophobic, especially with Oskar brooding in the corner. Even Jin Woo and Ettore had been entirely consumed with each other. They had been whispering aggressively ever since we had gotten back to the cabin.
I knew that the key to survival in this instance was waiting for rescue, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to wait in the cabin the entire time. Instead, I would freeze my ass off pretending to smoke out in the cold.
My eyes half closed, I had drifted into a daydream of a huge buffet that I justhadto eat, or everything would go to waste, when a noise close to me sparked me into alertness.
Leaning against the cabin’s wall was a tall man. He was wearing only a t-shirt and some tech-ish-looking pants, and only one shoe. I said the first words that came to my mind.
“Thank fuck! Is this your island? Do you have a boat? We were shipwrecked here yesterday, there are four, no five of us!”
The man stared at me blankly for a long moment.
He had dark, slightly curly hair, with long eyelashes and a twist of his mouth that oozed arrogance. Dipping one last time to the Greek gods, he could be no one else but Hades. He seemed…familiar.
Finally, he spoke, “Bro. I was shipwrecked, too. We’ve been in the cabin all fucking day. Jeezus fuck you’re blind, blind and painfully unaware.”
I was a patient woman. I couldn’t have done my job without having my temper well in check. However, I was hangry, tired, dirty, and emotionally drained by Oskar’s bullshit. I had no patience to waste on this asshole.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” I ground out. He may have flinched, may have bunched up his naturally tanned skin, but I was too enraged to take note.
“I said,” as he doubled down, “that you were blind and a fucking idiot.”
I was in front of him in a flash, my forearm pressed against his neck, my nose practically brushing against his, our breath mingling.
“If you ever,evertalk to me like that again, I will cut your balls off.” I could feel the unhinged smile that always came out on my face whenever I had completely lost control. He was about three inches taller than me, but the slight rise of the land that led to the cabin’s door made us the exact same height.
He parted his mouth to speak, but before he could, I pressed harder against his neck, leading him to half-whine, half-moan in a wheeze.
“I’m not joking. I’d get away with it. This is a fucking deserted island, and so there is no one to save you. Will you ever speak to me in that way again?” I asked with the tone of an old-timey schoolmistress with a couple of screws loose.
He tried to speak again, and I pressed even harder, causing his eyes to roll back slightly.
“Nuh-unh! No need to speak. Nod if you agree.”
After a long moment of me staring into his grey eyes, he nodded. I stepped back, a sated snake of satisfaction curling in my stomach.
“Good boy.”
I walked back into the cabin. Maybe I had hit my head when I had been thrown overboard. Maybe that was an explanation for why my blood was hot and rushing in my ears and how much I wanted to march right back outside and push him against the wall again.
